It is the beginning of a new semester and most students know what that means - breaking the bank to buy new textbooks.
Kyle Livesey, a Kean University sophomore, has created a new way to ease the bookstore burden by launching College Ad Board, a Web site where students can buy, sell and trade textbooks for free.
He said he first got the idea to build the site after he tried to sell back a $150 accounting textbook and his college bookstore would only give him $20 for it.
"Bookstores are such a rip off," Livesey said. "They are only willing to give you back $20 after you've only used the book for one semester and it's in mint condition. That really bothers me."
To sell his books, Livesey put up flyers on his campus bulletin boards. He said only one flyer did not get torn down, but the response he received was huge.
"Within a week, I got 45 calls, three or four text messages and four or five e-mails regarding the eight books I had," he said. "I thought I had something there."
He said that is when he decided to help students like himself find an easier way to sell and trade their textbooks by creating the site.
College Ad Board is a free site that any student, faculty or staff member at a university can use to buy, sell and trade anything they want, from textbooks to work out equipment to off-campus housing, Livesey said. Members can create a profile and post their items as they would on a bulletin board.
Livesey said he had never created a Web site before and he only knew a few things about it. To get the best quality, Livesey said he hired a web development company, Super Tech Boyz, to create the site.
"I really wanted it to be done correctly, 100 percent," he said.
Ori Segall, owner of Super Tech Boyz, said he thinks Livesey had a great idea.
"I think it's going to be a huge success," Segall said. "It's already growing a lot bigger than I thought it would be."
The project, which cost Livesey somewhere between 15 to 20 thousand dollars after trademark and copyright fees, lawyer fees and full web development, is an investment, he said.
"It was very costly but it will pay off in the long run," he said.
The site, which has had approximately 11,000 hits since its launch on Dec. 16, is the latest way students are avoiding paying high amounts at bookstores, Livesey said.
"College textbooks have risen twice the rate of inflation over the last 20 years," he said. "It's ridiculous."
Jennifer Libertowski, a spokeswoman for the National Association of College Stores, said it is important to keep the prices in perspective.
"Tuition is also rising each year, and the price of higher education is rising each year," she said.
She said textbooks are also being packaged differently. Many of them now come bundled with CDs, which makes the book cost more.
Molly Wilwol, textbook manager at Delaware Book Exchange, said textbook prices are high because new editions come out every one or two years and professors often request the latest editions. She said students spend an average of $500 a semester on textbooks, depending on their year and their major.
"That is absolutely too high," Wilwol said.
She said there seems to be a general trend of students turning to online resources to buy their textbooks, but problems such as long shipment times and complicated return policies prevent many students from purchasing their books online.
Jennifer Galt, manager of the University Bookstore, stated in an e-mail message that there are advantages to buying at the local bookstores, such as getting the correct book and edition the professor requested.
"Another advantage to buying locally is that returning in the case of add/drop is much easier at the local level then online," Galt said.
While that may be true, Livesey said he tried to make his site as easy to navigate as possible.
"With the Web site you can post your stuff, no one can tear it down, and you don't need to get permission either," he said.
Livesey said he would like to focus on getting the word out to students in any way possible, which included making YouTube videos of himself and his friends doing goofy impressions for publicity.
"I really made an ass of myself," he said. "I think it helped a little bit. I got a few more hits and a few more members."
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