New web site allows students to get more for their money

A new web site, created by a recent law-school graduate, is enabling students to buy their books at cheaper prices, as well as sell them for more than the bookstore would pay.

After attending four years at New York University and four more at the Southwestern University School of Law, Chris Banescu decided that he was tired of spending hundreds of dollars on textbooks only to have the person at the buyback counter tell him, "This book is out of print, and this one has a new edition, but we'll give you $12.00 for this one."

Banescu decided it was time for students to have another option for buying and selling their textbooks. Last September, he came up with the idea to create a web site where students could buy and sell textbooks to each other.

After three months of working extra hours and ironing out problems, the site, www.ezfindit.com/ezbooks, is now operational. Banescu says he hopes the site, which is a free service to students, will eliminate the worries of having to spend hundreds of dollars on books only to have the university buy them back for practically change.

The site is self-explanatory and offers students a quick and easy way to post and to search for books. By entering the title, author and publisher, a student can post a book to be sold. Students can search for books by title, school, the course or subject, or any combination of the three.

Students have the option of searching for and selling books not only at their school, but to students at nearby schools as well.

Currently, there are nine schools at which students can look for books, including UCLA, USC and Cal State Northridge. Banescu also updates the site, adding more schools as postings come in.

The web site has just started to get off the ground but already seems to be working.

John Limansky, a second-year biochemistry student, saw one of Banescu's flyers and decided to try out the web site. Within about a week, Limansky had sold his book for more than the Textbook Buy Back Store would have given him, but for less than the current used book price. Both Limansky and the buyer were better accommodated. This is Limansky's first time using the site, and he says he would definitely use it again to sell or buy books.

Christina Hwang, also a second-year student, is trying to sell an Earth and Space Sciences 16 textbook. The class is not being offered next quarter, and the buy back store would not take the book back. The web site, however, will keep Hwang's book posted until it is sold. Hwang heard about the site from an e-mail, and decided to give it a try because she was tired of selling her books back for half the price that she paid for them.

Until April 4, the Textbook Buy Back Store is buying back books for up to 50 percent of what the students originally paid for them. However, students do not always receive that much for their books. It depends on if the book is being used in the following quarter and how many used books are already in stock.

At the present time, there are only 35 books listed on the web site. Seven of those books are from UCLA students for classes such as Geography 3, Astronomy 3 and Management 1B. Banescu says he hopes the web site will soon take off, and by word-of-mouth, more students will hear about the site and post their books.

© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board