Austin-San Marcos, TX (1888PressRelease)
April 04, 2007 - What product has the highest depreciation value in the American economy? Many people would answer a new car as it loses some value as soon as it is driven off the lot. However, the answer is a much more common product, the college textbook. For years college bookstores have made huge profits from selling and buying back books from students all over the country, while making college an unaffordable experience for many of them. A new company, iTextbooX, has stepped in to change this.
Based in Austin, TX, iTextbooX has developed a trading platform for students to buy and sell books directly from each other. Founded by Shawn Scott, an alumnus of The University of Texas at Austin and DeVry University, the site is a viable alternative to the traditional bookstore experience.
In a typical scenario a student pays a premium price for a new book, only to receive less than 30% of it back at the end of the semester. To make matters worse, bookstores turn around and resell the book for 80-90% of its original selling price and label it as used. In a survey conducted by eBay in July 2004, 43% of students surveyed said they had chosen not to purchase required textbooks for at least one class in an attempt to save money.
“With the rising cost of higher education in this country, we have to begin creating ways to make college affordable again” says Scott. “We have created a platform that allows students to deal directly with each other and cut out the middle man.” In a matter of minutes a new user can create an account and list books on the site at a price they determine. Other features include Book Bounties, which allows users to set the price they are willing to pay for an item and receive notifications when that item is posted on the site, and the Campus Connection, a personalized portal for campuses across the country.
“We are all about empowering the student to both make and save money while pursuing his/her degree” says Scott. “I wish this had been available when I was in school.”
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