Illini Book Exchange Gives Students Chance to Make, Save Money
Online Book Trading Site Allows Users to Bypass Bookstores
CHAMPAIGN -- 31 August, 2002 -- Illini Book Exchange (IBX) today announced that it is open for public use. This entirely free website enables U of I students to post and purchase textbooks directly from each other, avoiding the sometimes outrageous markups local used textbook sellers often have. This relatively simple concept has not been tried on the U of I campus on such a wide scale, though newsgroups and some dorms have had local exchanges in place for years. This site has the potential to save nearly every student money, since the physical bookstore is eliminated as a medium of exchange.
The site was developed by U of I students during the summer of 2002. Fed up with paying high rates for books, then receiving nearly nothing during bookstore buybacks, these students have attempted to find a solution to a problem that nearly every student faces. For example, a new economics 102 textbook typically costs around $70. That same textbook will be repurchased for only $20, then resold for $50 the following semester.
IBX users can post books on the site, charge whatever amount they feel is adequate, and then wait for another IBX user to respond. Buyers can search for books by class, keyword, title, author, professor, or ISBN. Buyers contact sellers through telephone, e-mail, or through a secure, IBX mediated system. This form of exchange eliminates the need for a physical warehouse of books, and the whole process is free.
Students have had the ability to buy books online for years, but each of these methods had drawbacks. Off campus auction sites, such as Ebay require credit card numbers and shipping. Furthermore, most auctions last 7 days or more, far too much time to wait for a badly needed textbook.
# # #
Contact:
James Kinzer, IBX, (217) 378-7807
jkinzer@uiuc.edu