I hate the student bookstore.
 

Basically I want a way for students at my school to sell textbooks locally online.

I am thinking of setting up a free message board where students can sell their old textbooks for more than the bookstore's buyback value, but less than the bookstore's used price. I will probably get proboards or some other free provider to host this. It would be free to use and non-profit. Think if TFP had a classified ads section.

Is there anything like this at any other universities? Are there any legal issues I should consider? I am worried that the bookstore on campus and the student run book co-op off campus will send their goons after me for taking away customers. Are there any glaring flaws in this idea that I don't see?

I assume I can't use my university's name or mascot, so coming up with a relevent name for this project is tough.
Suggestions? I am a Junior at UC Santa Cruz (our mascot is The Banana Slug) by the way.

This idea has been floating around my campus for a while, and I think it was actually attempted once but failed.

Slimytexts.com?

There was something like this at Maryland for a while, run by students, but it basically died from no one going there.

whatever you do... make it super easy to use...and put flyers up all over the school so it doesnt die before it starts...

Heh, I always hated our student bookstore too. At one point there was an article in the school paper about how our NONPROFIT bookstore had somehow accidentally made something like 2 million in profit the year. lol, I think some people got fired over that one.

Anyway, your plan sounds good to me. I think someone was starting something similar to that at my school but it hadn’t taken off yet when I graduated so I don’t know how it turned out. Good luck.

try ebay or half.com

you might find some there

I think its a great idea. College book stores are such a scam. Hey look this kinko's looking packet, authored by the instructor of the class, coming in at a wopping thirty pages is twenty five bucks. Horse shit.

Check with your university to see if some of the student clubs hold exchanges (basically a time and place to meet) when they allow people to buy/sell used textbooks.

Check out www.tusbe.com for ideas. A great site for students attending colleges/universities in Toronto who are looking to buy/sell used textbooks.

thats an awesome idea... i just spent $138 on a calculus book
if enough people jump on you could have something big on your hands

We have something like that at my school.

Actually its not just my school, its called-screwthebookstore.com

i would definately suggest half.com

i bought my books at the university book store, and it ended up costing my $450 for 8 books. i was pissed to say the least...thats more than $100 more than my most expensive semester, and i'm a junior now.

i decided to check out someplace else and ran across half.com, and got all the same books, in better condition for less than $300. the only real problem with buying books off the internet is the risk of not recieving them, getting something other than what you thought you bought, and having to wait more than a week to get the books that are far away. i luckily had no problem, and saved myself a lot of money.

Buying books on-line is definitely the way to go. Usually you can hunt down used copies of all your textbooks. As far as getting a website devoted to your individual school, the interest level will probably not hold up to warrant it. We have a site here at Clemson for not only books but also other items for Clemson students to sell, but the site is not used that often.

Whatever happened to buying a book, photocopying it, returning it, and blowing the money on partying?

http://www.rx7club.com/forum/images/...s/beerchug.gif

Online is the way to go. I no longer even try fighting to gets books at Purdue's bookstores. I know a ton of people who are up a creek in my math class this semester because the bookstores don't have the book, and it is now out of print.

there are a few sites but i haven't sold books on them, i have bought books. good prices.

Out of print? Are they out of date? Are the problems like "If one Reb can whip seven Yanks, how many Rebs are needed to whip 21 Yanks?" (similar questions were found in Civil War-era texts supposedly)

I suggest filing a greivence or something with the administration. If the book can't be found is is OUT OF PRINT, it shouldn't be allowed as required reading.

amazon.com has used book seller option as well. I bought a few used books from people through amazon and I had no problems.

Sounds like a lot of work, but it would probably work.

Also don't forget used book stores for any kind of literature text, the version that matches the teachers is usually the most expensive version.

Start your message board too, if it doesn't work for everyone, you might be able to get a good deal through your friends and associates.

A bookstore at a college close to me was giving out free t-shirts saying they got used. It's fucking stupid how much they charge for books.

the university of kansas does that

but hardly anyone uses it becuase it's such a pain of the ass there is a board to post stuff but once poeple have sold their books, it takes fucking forever to get someone to delete your "ad" and also, hardly anyone even knows about it

if the school would get behind it,it would be successful. but then again, that'll never happen because 3 of the bookstores are owned by the school

Here's an online store that I used to use instead of the university store:

http://www.bigwords.com/

Thanks for all the replies so far. I've used half and amazon used, and I recommend it to everyone.

I checked out screwthebookstores.com and that seems like it would work out. I just need to crank out tons of flyers and get on the college radio and plug the website on the to each class on the first day of the quarter.

The biggest problem is is that no one wants to go through the trouble of typing up a description etc if they can just drop books off at the book store.

Ned's. They had the worst service and the stupidest staff too. That and you had to buy all of your course packets there. Still anything is better than the 'Student' Book Store.