Site set up by GSU students goes head to head with local bookstores
There's a new way for college students in Statesboro to buy textbooks.
EagleBookSwap.com is a Web site that is the brainchild of seven GSU Information Technology students that allows students to go online to buy, sell or swap used textbooks free of charge.
"This is a textbook revolution — it will change the way that books are handled," co-founder Casey Adams said.
Run by college students, for college students, the site is a spin-off from a project management class assignment that Adams and fellow student Joe Rainone created along with five other students. The group further developed the project into what is now EagleBookSwap.com.
"People in the group dropped off the project until it was just me and Joe. We found a programmer, Nathan Graves, who is a sophomore at GSU, to do the programming for the Web site," Adams said.
The three men went on to create a company called Eagle Student Solutions L.L.C., with EagleBookSwap.com as their first "solution."
Eagle Student Solutions L.L.C. has plans of additional "solutions" to include listings of apartments available to sublease, as well as a local restaurant and bar rating system, Adams said.
"There are a thousand things you can do on the Internet, and we want to use EagleBookSwap.com as a beginning to that. We are open to student ideas."
The EagleBookSwap.com site, which is free for students to use, requires students to register using their Georgia Southern, Ogeechee Technical Institute, or East Georgia College e-mail account. Once a student submits their registration information, they are sent a verification e-mail with a link that takes the student back to the Web site and automatically logs them in.
Once on the site, students have several options. If a student needs a book, for example, they can add that book to their "Wish List" and the system will search for it. The student can then search by title or by ISBN number.
GSU students can even enter in the classes listed on their schedules, as the site gets records of books required for most classes from the GSU Bookstore.
"Most of the classes, course references or prefixes are on there. If class isn't on there, students can send an e-mail to the site requesting book requirements for their specific class," Adams said.
Once a student inputs their class schedule onto the site, their "Wish" and "Add" lists will grow to include the textbooks they need for each class that the site has textbook requirement information for.
When a student knows what books they need, the site offers students two different ways to get those books.
The first method, called an "EagleSwap," allows the student to either trade a book for a book, or trade a book and money for another book with another student registered on the site. Once a student finds a suitable offer, they can click on the "Accept Offer" button, review the trade, and pick from a list a time and place to meet the other user to make the trade.
Trading locations feature public locations on campus and include the student union and the Information Technology buildings, and trades can only be scheduled to occur between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
"The training locations are well lit, public, and the students can only meet during daylight hours," Adams said.
"If a student cannot meet for a trade, or if they do not feel comfortable, they can contact the site and we will facilitate the trade — we want students to feel comfortable."
Once a trading time is selected, the student clicks "Accept Offer." When a common meeting time is reached between both trader and tradee, both parties are e-mailed with the meeting time and place, cost of the book, and how much cash they need to bring for trade, if applicable.
The second method, "EagleBuys," compares the books included in the student's wish list to the books available in the database for a match so that the student can simply pay for the book. A price comparison tool shows all local prices, as well as prices from four online affiliate bookstores including Amazon.com and Half.com.
"The tool shows the live price on the site right then, so if a student can't find book locally, they can get it online and it's still cheaper than going to the bookstore," Adams said.
Students who want to sell textbooks they no longer need from the previous semester can list their books under the "Add Books" option on the site. From there, students can enter in a desired amount they'd like to get back from the book using a tool on the site that suggests how much the book is worth.
All of the features on the site are available free of charge, and at this time, Adams, Rainone and Graves are paying for all the costs associated with providing and maintaining the site for student use.
"The site is only run by us three — no backers, no sponsors," Adams said. "All the money to fund the site has come from all three of our pockets. We take no commission whatsoever. The only way we make money is through advertising or affiliates. We are looking for advertisers but are still in the midst of developing that part of it."
To defray the costs of advertising and running the site, EagleBookSwap.com has programs in place to encourage students to spread the word.
Students who register on the site are given a referral code to pass along to their friends, who then enter in the code when they register. Every time a student's individual referral code is used, that student earns one point on the system. At end of referral program, the student with most referral points wins $100.
The site also boasts a $250 book giveaway to a randomly selected user as soon as the site's registered user list tops 1,000 students.
"We want to stress that we are making no money off of (the site) and want to keep the site completely and totally free for students — at no time do we ever ask any money from the students, ever. The point is for us to help the students," Adams said.
"The bookstores are making a profit — that's what they do. If we don't start a change, it will always be this way … people in 10 years will be paying too much for books at the bookstore," Adams said.
According to GSU Bookstore marketing director Holly Berry, the bookstore's textbook buyback program pays students up to 50 percent of the latest new book price providing the textbook is being used on the GSU campus, is needed to fill the bookstore's quota and is in resalable condition.
"Resalable condition means your dog didn't chew it up, it isn't illegible, water damaged, et cetera. Whether it's highlighted or brand new it doesn't change the buyback cost of it as long as it is resalable and we can use it here in the store," Berry said.
Originally published in Connect Statesboro, December 6, 2007, under the byline Vanessa Jenkins.