In an effort to provide what he called "a CraigsList for textbooks at Dartmouth," Henry MacQueen '14 launched a website on Sunday that connects Dartmouth students interested in selling used textbooks with potential buyers.
Students who want to sell their used books can create listings on the site, CollegeTextEx.com, for free without signing up for an account, MacQueen said. Each listing includes the book's title, author, ISBN number, a price offer, the condition of the book and the seller's name and e-mail address, according to MacQueen. Buyers can navigate the listings by department and course, and can contact sellers to make the exchange.
"There's no transaction on the site itself," MacQueen said. "It's just to facilitate students finding each other who are in need of used books."
MacQueen is a member of The Dartmouth Business Staff.
MacQueen said he aims to lower the high cost of textbooks for College students.
"There's so much money spent on textbooks and it's so expensive compared to what it could be," MacQueen said. "There are all kinds of opportunities for changing the way the system works for the better."
MacQueen said he does not intend to make money fromthe website, which is currently not making a large profit. The venture, which cost $12 for domain registration and $3 per month for hosting, is being funded through ad sales, according to MacQueen. The site required approximately 50 hours of programming, he said.
MacQueen said he initially wanted the site to be called DartmouthTextEx but thought he would encounter copyright issues. He also said naming the site CollegeTextEx would make expanding the site beyond Dartmouth easier in the future.
"If it's successful at Dartmouth which I hope it is, I hope it changes things a lot it would be relatively simple to expand to every college campus across the country," he said.
Although other similar sites such as Swap.com, PaperBackSwap.com and textbook rental site Chegg.com already exist, MacQueen said he has an advantage over these sites as a college student with connections to friends at Dartmouth and other schools.
The site recommends that users charge from 40 to 60 percent of list price for the used textbooks, MacQueen said. He admitted that there are drawbacks to his site, including that students will need to use cash in order to make the textbook exchange, instead of being able to use a credit or debit card.
MacQueen said he has been publicizing the site by sending e-mails to campus. He also plans to put up posters to advertise the site before students leave for spring break.
"Hopefully, we'll let people know the site's there so they don't go and sell their books back to Wheelock Books or whatever retailer it may be," MacQueen said. "And then we'll have another push in the beginning of Spring term so people know to put their books up and buy from the site."
MacQueen is not the first Dartmouth student to attempt to implement such an exchange site. Geoffrey Holman '10 created DartBarter.com in September 2009 to facilitate the sale of textbooks, personal services and other products.
Holman said the site still exists, but students no longer use it and the site is no longer updated. After Holman started his site, another student created Roundable.com and worked with Student Assembly to publicize it, he said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"I think that if everyone used it, it would be a really useful service," he said. "Any of ours would. This one, I'm sure, is great. Ours would have been fine. Roundable would have been fine. It's just that without a mass of students using it, there aren't enough textbooks to really have an effective buy-sell-trade site."
Since the site's launch, CollegeTextEx has had 1,500 views, according to MacQueen.
Holman said he spent his senior fall developing DartBarter.com, but only about 400 people ever used the site. Holman said that in order for CollegeTextEx to survive, it would need a critical mass of students who consistently post and check the site for updates.
"It's really hard to get enough people excited about it and using it," Holman said. "It's kind of like a snowball effect. Once people use it, then more will start using it, but if you can't get that snowball started, there's no way it will take off."
Holman said his site was not able to compete effectively against Wheelock Books' buyback program, where students can sell their books for cash at the end of the term. Students enjoyed the convenience of getting cash back directly from the store, he said.
"It's not that much easier, but it's easier enough that people have that mentality of, Oh, I'm done with the term. I'll take my last final, I'll sell my books back, I'll get on the Coach, I'll leave,'" Holman said. "Keeping the books and selling them individually is just not something that I think people are willing to do."
Whit Spaulding '89, the owner of Wheelock Books, along with managers Josh Curcio '09 and Rayna Levine '10, said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth that the store's goal is to offer competitive prices and that it "aggressively" discounts their books.
"We welcome any competition that improves the textbook market at Dartmouth," they said in the e-mail. "Since we began back in the fall of 1991, there have been many competitors who have come and gone. Ultimately, Dartmouth students will determine the success of any new enterprise which attempts to serve them."
