I 100% agree with this. I have just finished my first year at uni and almost all of my books (except for one I couldn’t find) I got from Amazon. The uni bookstore was about £10 more expensive than Amazon for new books, but I saved even more by getting most of them used.

As for your idea, it sounds good, I bought a load of books I didn’t need. But you need a way to encourage people to give feedback and the simplest thing the appeals to students is money (or alcohol, but money is simpler)!

Also a related idea to yours is a way for students to sell their old textbooks. I doubt I will need a lot of mine again, but I am sure someone else could use them.

The buying student pays less than they would at a bookstore and the selling students gets more back from the student payer than from the bookstore. It’s a win win. This concept started back in ’01 (my best friend started a site for this at Virginia Tech) and another guy I know now does it (and has one of the most popular Facebook apps (Grafitti)) with BooksOnCampus.com.

I agree with Steve is not a mega million dollar idea unless you had every student on every campus using the site and you received a transaction fee for the sale, but that’s really the hard part to enforce.

Overall, I’d say if you’re passionate idea, try it out to learn from it, even if it doesn’t make you a million dollars, you probably don’t have much to lose at this point.

Chris

Source – My father, a college professor who writes textbooks.

Why Amazon? There are other college textbook sites out there, that specialize in college books. I’d look for those.

And I completely disagree with Steve – there’s nothing wrong with making a extra couple hundred dollars vs. swinging for the fences each time. Steve knows my views on this. Most of you will not change the world – sorry, it’s the truth. But ALL of you COULD make an extra $25,000 / year with a simple idea like this. Build it, make it profitable, repeat. The extra income will be welcome.

Thanks for taking the time to evaluate my idea. This is actually what I expected to hear from you because they are all things I have considered. Please allow me to critique your critique.

First, I do not intend to become a millionaire with this idea. My goals are to see if this idea has any legs, establish some credibility by actually creating something, and finally to pull in some side money. Essentially, an internet lifestyle business. Low risk, low startup costs, low reward. I’m perfectly happy with that.

Second, it may be true that 98 percent of classes use a book in some way, but that some way may be a small and insignificant part of the course. I know students that refused to buy a book that was the central part of the class. If you only use the book once and pay $100 most students would probably not purchase the book.

Third, the idea is that everyone benefits from sharing their experience. Yes, I’m done with my classes and ready to move on, but if someone in another class takes the time to share what books they use then I will benefit. There is a true network effect.

Fourth, I don’t know how long ago you graduated from college but to say that 95 percent of students buy their books from the bookstore is simply not true anymore.

Fifth, I agree that most businesses trying to make money on college textbooks fail. That is why I’m redefining the meaning of success. This is not a business intended to be venture funded. Do less with less and expect less. That is success in my mind.

Sixth, how can you simultaneously shoot down my idea and then suggest college notes as a business? Now that is an idea that has absolutely no chance of making money.

Seventh, you really didn’t even address the substance of my question. Assume for the moment that this does have the potential to meet my needs for a business (not yours), then how do I increase the conversion rate so I’m maximizing the revenue I receive from these students?

Don’t take this response as me being upset. I’m not. I’m simply trying to expand the debate and clarify my expectations for the business. Maybe your readers can chime in. Thanks again.

Tyler