April 8 , 2005

Features

Illustration by Casey Ferguson Mesa Legend

Adam Eickerman
Mesa Legend

Three-hundred college students nation wide have found an easier and cheaper way of buying and selling used textbooks.
Many students are tired of paying too much for textbooks and getting back too little when it comes time to sell them at the end of the semester.
A new internet based company may have found a way to make the buying and selling process simple and affordable.
The website, collegecampusconnection.com, hosts student-placed ads for textbooks that they are trying to sell at universities and community colleges around the nation.
“Well, my site gives you a way to get more money for your books. Instead of selling back to the bookstore, you could sell to another student.
“By doing that, you get more money for your book and the person buying saves more money,” said Ken Williams, the CEO and founder of College Campus Con-nection.
The motivation of the site came from Williams’ frustration over paying too much for textbooks and because he wanted to find a way to save college students time and money.
The site became operational Dec. 15, and since then hundreds of students have registered to take advantage of the one year free membership.
The site is going to be more popular at the end of semesters when students try to get rid of their used textbooks, stated Williams.
The site allows registered students to place an ad for a textbook(s) they have for free into a searchable database.
Students looking to buy books search under the corresponding state and college, and contact the individual who is selling them.
“The user posts the book they want to sell for the price they want or say negotiate. And then the buyer contacts the seller to work out the price. The site just connects the two,” said Williams.
Most general subject books may be easier to find due to the wide demand for them, while more specific subject books may be a little more difficult to locate.
On average, about 10 new students register for the website everyday.
As the popularity grows with the site, more and more textbooks will become more readily available to students.
Amy Lopez, who is in her first semester at MCC, stated that students pay hundreds of dollars for their textbooks and bookstores figure they can pay back pennies.
“That’s really messed up because there is a new edition,” Lopez described, regarding an all too familiar situation many students have faced.
The publishers will often come out with new editions and students suffer the outcome because they can not sell it back because it is an old edition.
Students can place their old editions in an ad on the site and have a fairly good chance that it will be bought, especially if hundreds of students are looking for it.
The website is under constant development and will continue to grow in the future.
The success of the site is based upon the students because they are the ones who post the books for sale, Williams said.

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