At the beginning of every semester most students are occupied with the hustle and bustle of registering for classes, and purchasing new textbooks for their classes. My entrepreneurial idea is bathed from the need of finding EXTREMELY CHEAP textbooks. I want to create a website which will enable students to sell and buy textbooks from each other, and it will also be open to competitors.

Firstly: as students we all NEED textbooks! Most professors nowadays vocally state that there is no achieving the maximum points achievable in a class without the specific textbook for the class. To meet this need, most schools (should say, all schools) have made a school bookstore available within the premises. This is all fine and dandy, but on taking a trip to the bookstore, the sticker prices are unbelievable! I thought the books were meant for students; the prices suggest otherwise! On the back of my mind, I believe the government is keen on helping its citizens find and meet the costs of education, hereby there being a need to subsidize the cost of text books. But I seem to be on my own on this; however where there is a will there is a way!

The central theme of my entrepreneurial idea is to come up with a student managed online store in every school which offers students the opportunity to market/ sell their textbooks online. For example, the textbook for one of the courses I am taking this semester (IST 233) is going for $200+ on the bookstore; however I was able to get it on eBay for $50, and another student who had previously taken the class is selling me his for $40.

So how will the website work? The website will be open to all schools; hence any student from any school can advertise a textbook that he/ she is selling that was previously used in a class. For example, currently I am taking MTH 183, and I had to “painfully” purchase a textbook:  Goldstein, Schneider, and Siegel (2004). Finite Mathematics and its Applications, (2nd custom ed.). Prentice Hall, Custom Edition for Syracuse University. Now, as you can see this is a Syracuse custom edition, meaning it is not only the 2^nd edition, but it is customized for Syracuse University, MTH 183 students. This is not available online, but it is ONLY mad e available in the Syracuse University bookstore. When I finish this course, I will go to the website, search under schools for Syracuse University, and under courses click MTH 183, and give a description of the textbook, and post some pictures, and finally put whichever price I am selling it at, or better still allow my customers to bid on the textbook, and have it sold to the highest bidder.

I acknowledge that there are many websites out there where anyone who is looking can get a good deal on textbooks; however I firmly believe that it is far much easier and convenient to deal with a fellow student who had taken the same class previously as he/ she has the same exact textbook and will most probably want a good deal for it. Furthermore, I know that the book store actually buys back textbooks from students, however the prices at which they buy back the textbooks are fixed, and not open to discussion hence if I am selling a book to them, it’s on their terms, not mine.  There is also the need to make available custom school textbooks, whereby some schools customize their textbooks so as to only keep the coursework which they will teach. These textbooks are only available on the bookstore of the specific school. The website will have a feature which will give the buyer and the seller the opportunity to haggle over the price of the textbook, until they reach an agreed price (which will work for both parties).  In addition, depending on the geographical area of the seller and the buyer, if they are on the same vicinity, say they are both Syracuse University students they can meet in the school and perform the physical exchange of the items.

All in all this website will offer a cheaper, and more convenient way to purchase and sell textbooks, and give people (students) a chance to interact amongst themselves!