UA graduate's textbook trading site on the Web saves students big bucks
Published: 08.21.2006
When you've finished reading "Beowulf" for
the third time and want to trade it in for something that resembles
what you paid, skip the college bookstore.
With a growing number of used textbook and barter shops online, many students are turning to the Web.
"You use a book for three or four months and the main option is to
sell it back to the bookstore and get absolutely nothing for it," said
Elliot Hirsch, 28, who lives in Chicago.
"After going through this several times, it seemed ridiculous" said Hirsch, a 2001 University of Arizona graduate.
At his SwapSimple.com site, students and the public can get what they need for a $2 transaction fee.
Hirsch and two of his high school friends began the site in 2005.
This month, it was featured as one of Time magazine's "50 Coolest Web
sites."
The site provides a reprieve for many college students who can't
afford or would rather not pay the estimated average $900 cost for
textbooks each semester, Hirsch estimated.
"Some kids are going without the books they need to get the most
out of their education because the books are too expensive," said David
Goldblatt, 28, the company's vice president. "We have the perfect
solution for the cost of textbooks."
Goldblatt, who attended Pima Community College before graduating
from Northern Arizona University in 2001, said it is a way of giving
people the power of choice.
"I still have books that have 'NAU used bookstore' and 'Pima
Community College used bookstore' stickers on their spines," said
Goldblatt, who also lives in Chicago. "It's not even worth it to sell
them back."
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This is fabulous! I'll have to check it out. The cost of textbooks is ridiculous, and even used ones are much pricier than they should be.
This has been a problem since the 80's. A way to beat the prices is for study group members to rotate in buying a book and then some how share the info...;)
Well, its about time. I recall paying $105.00 for a textbook in a law class only to find it worth $5.00 at the end of the semester. I kept it.
The scam is out of control. There are two scams to this book boondoggle that I see. One is the "version number" which often doesn't do much except renumber the pages. That leaves the student using an old version wondering what the reading assignment for pages 86 through 117 really should cover. The other scam is just plane old greed.
The point of a college education is to be viable in the work place at higher than minimum wage. Who cares about that if they have $100,000 in student loans to pay off. And watch out for a single late payment, each semester there are subsidized and non subsidized loans so a single late payment is 2 loans times 8 semesters, or 16 slime reports that stay seemingly forever. Pay late once, forget about any decent loan rate for a car, or anything else you may need for that great job.
Its just not worth it any more, not because education is a bad thing, but because the wolves have invaded the innocent and found innocence to feed on.
Glad to see at least one person fighting back. Too bad our government doesn't step in and regulate this greedy and out of control system that we seem to have now.