Buying and selling textbooks can sometimes be a nightmare for students, with common questions being where to buy and sell books and whether a person is getting the best bang for your buck on textbooks.
For junior Adam Taylor, he’s thought about it a lot. He’s thought about turning it into a business in order to help students with this nightmare.
“I’ve always thought about doing it,” Taylor said. “I thought there was a demand from students.”
But the idea of how to get his business into motion actually started over winter break. Taylor was working for Amazon, putting items sold on the company’s Web site into boxes on a conveyor belt to be shipped out to people. He did this 12 hours a day for seven days over break. Taylor said it was the worst job he ever had. It was a mindless job, but it got him to thinking more about how to help students with buying and selling textbooks.
“[The idea] probably came out of one of the Amazon boxes,” Taylor said.
Over the years he’s been using the Internet to buy books for himself and only a couple of his friends. But now he’s started a Facebook group called “The Exchange Group” in order to start helping more students with the buying and selling of their textbooks.
The reasoning behind creating the Facebook group was advertising. In the first couple of weeks since creating the group he’s received quite a bit of response from it. Taylor said this has been an easier way of getting the word out than just by telling person to person.
The way it works is, if students are looking to buy a book, they give Taylor either the ISBN numbers of the requested textbook or a list of classes and he looks up what is needed for those specific classes. Taylor then provides a price quote of what all the books will cost and the customer has the choice of buying it.
If students have books they want to sell, all they have to do is bring the books to Taylor, he tells them how much they will be sold for and then packs and ships the books himself.
Then, the student gets a check once he’s been paid for the book.
While he gets some commission for doing this, Taylor said students are still able to get a better deal on their books rather than just selling them back to a bookstore. On his Facebook group profile, he says he is, “routinely beating bookstore prices by 40 percent.”
He has made it so there is no work for the students. He does it all, even the shipping. In addition to selling students’ textbooks, Taylor said he can also sell anything on eBay.
Even though he’s only been doing this a couple weeks, Taylor has been pleased with the success he’s had. So far he has helped 10-12 Baker students with buying or selling books. He’s been able to sell 30 books and has bought 15-20.
Freshman Caleb Watts used to bargain shop and buy his books online.
“I try to get the best price,” he said.
Watts said he probably used a different Web site for each textbook he purchased last semester. This semester, he still found two books on his own, but had Taylor help him get two of his more expensive books. While it ended up being about the same price as what he could get, Watts said going through Taylor was easier, more convenient and saved him a lot of time.
Once Watts gave him the list of textbooks he needed, Taylor got the order in right away, and his books came in about a week.
“He really did a good job,” Watts said. “If you want to find the best price, go through him.”
Sophomore Casey Gleue bought his books at the bookstore last year and said he spent a lot of money. He’s also tried other methods, such as the Internet and through his parents who have access to textbooks.
“I’ve tried them all,” he said.
But Gleue actually got help from Taylor with selling some of his books. He had several old copies of books just sitting in his trunk and Taylor was able to sell two of his books with a third one up for sale.
“Adam was saying he could get a lot of money,” Gleue said. “He knows how to find a really good deal. He’s always been a business guy. He’s pretty assertive and outgoing too.”
Gleue said he got more money going through Taylor and didn’t have to worry about anything.
“It’s just like extra money in my pocket,” Gleue said. “If I need some more money, I’ll try and pawn off a few.”
While Taylor said he’s not sure exactly what he wants to do after graduating, he still sees himself in 20 years owning his own business.
“I’m pretty driven about working for myself,” he said.
But for now, he still plans to keep The Exchange Group going.
“It’s been more successful than I thought,” he said. “I would like to keep pursuing it in future semesters.”
Taylor said even if a bookstore says a certain book’s not worth anything, a person might still find some value out of one.
“Look under your bed, you might have some extra books to sell,” Taylor said. “You might find value out of them.”