Spring Break
New Site Encourages Student Book Sales
Heather Murdock
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: News
A new Web site that claims it can reduce the cost of textbooks for college students nationwide by creating competition for campus bookstores was launched early last week.
BookThief.com has made itself available to 3,200 schools, according to a press release, and it is designed to allow students to buy and sell books to each other on their individual campuses. For 99 cents, a student can post an ad to sell their used book. Buyers, who don't pay to read ads, can contact the seller directly to arrange a meeting to finish the deal.
The process works like the Facebook Marketplace, a site where users can post items like sports tickets for sale, and then meet to exchange cash for the item. Unlike on Facebook, however, the books are listed by subject, and it takes only a few minutes to find out if a specific book is for sale on campus.
The site also has sections to list other items for sale, housing classifieds and social events. At present, however, there are no items posted by UConn students.
Gary Chubb, who co-founded the site with Deborah Gray, said in a phone interview yesterday that he thought it would take three to six months for the site to "build a network of students that are tired of paying higher prices."
"Students are very, very open to this," Chubb said. "We think that they are looking for an alternative."
"If this has started, it's starting for a reason," said Mark Oliver, a graduate student working on his Ph.D. "I think UConn students are being a bit more savvy, and they are looking to things like this. Textbooks are expensive."
The cost of college textbooks tripled between 1986 and 2004, according to a 2005 Government Accountability Office report.
William P. Simpson, the president and general manager of the UConn Co-op, attributed the rise in prices partially to publishing companies printing longer and more colorful books with extra items like CD-ROMs included.
BookThief.com has made itself available to 3,200 schools, according to a press release, and it is designed to allow students to buy and sell books to each other on their individual campuses. For 99 cents, a student can post an ad to sell their used book. Buyers, who don't pay to read ads, can contact the seller directly to arrange a meeting to finish the deal.
The process works like the Facebook Marketplace, a site where users can post items like sports tickets for sale, and then meet to exchange cash for the item. Unlike on Facebook, however, the books are listed by subject, and it takes only a few minutes to find out if a specific book is for sale on campus.
The site also has sections to list other items for sale, housing classifieds and social events. At present, however, there are no items posted by UConn students.
Gary Chubb, who co-founded the site with Deborah Gray, said in a phone interview yesterday that he thought it would take three to six months for the site to "build a network of students that are tired of paying higher prices."
"Students are very, very open to this," Chubb said. "We think that they are looking for an alternative."
"If this has started, it's starting for a reason," said Mark Oliver, a graduate student working on his Ph.D. "I think UConn students are being a bit more savvy, and they are looking to things like this. Textbooks are expensive."
The cost of college textbooks tripled between 1986 and 2004, according to a 2005 Government Accountability Office report.
William P. Simpson, the president and general manager of the UConn Co-op, attributed the rise in prices partially to publishing companies printing longer and more colorful books with extra items like CD-ROMs included.
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