Online book vendors offer cheaper deals

By: Courtney Carpenter

Posted: 1/18/05

Strained by the burden of increasing textbook costs, students are increasingly looking to fill their orders online.

According to a survey by the California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG), the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) and the OSPIRG Foundation, students on average spent $898 on textbooks in 2003 to 2004, compared to an average of $642 in 1996 to 1997.

"We've seen sales increase from 6,000 to 10,000 online orders this semester alone," said Dan Yunghans, textbook supervisor at Follett's Orange Bookstore.

The Syracuse University Bookstore has also seen an increase in online ordering.

"We had 551 online orders for textbooks this fall, compared to 466 orders last fall," said Kathy Fonda, division manager of bookstore operations at the University Bookstore.

As student's preferences change, however, over-the-counter sales are dropping overall. Follett's lost five percent of their sales due to the increase in online ordering,

Other alternatives are also crowding out the over-the-counter market.

Pearson Education publishing company introduced a new alternative for students in August - SafariX WebBooks. Safari offers students a wide variety of online versions of textbooks including agriculture, sociology and law.

Students subscribe to the content for the length of their course and pay half the price of the printed textbooks, said Wendy Spiegel, senior vice president of Pearson Education.

Orangeexchange.com, founded in May 2003 by Syracuse University graduates Jae Ahn and Dean Muscio offers SU and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students the chance to sell their textbooks to their peers.

"We thought it was ridiculous what we were paying for books, so we decided to create this site as a free service," Ahn said.

Another popular way students cut costs is through student textbook exchange sites, such as Books on Campus.

Books on Campus is an online student exchange site that has grown tremendously since it was founded last year at Brandeis University by Mark Kantor.

"Since (last year) we have increased from 12 schools to 250, including Syracuse," Kantor said.

The Books on Campus Web site allows students to post their books free of charge and set their own selling price, usually half the price of the bookstore.

According to Kantor, Books on Campus saved students $17,300 in textbook sales.

"We determined this amount based off the list price of the book minus the price of the student set. We like to have that data so we can see how much money we are saving

students," Kantor said.

Businesses are already anticipating online textbook ordering to increase.

According to the National Association of College Stores, they are responding by offering textbook reservation and using digital technology such as Blackboard to provide access to more course material.

University Bookstore plans to widen its target audience that uses their Web site by adding more products.

"We want to develop the Web site to offer not only textbooks but also non-traditional materials such as art supplies," Fonda said.

The biggest profit for bookstores, however, can be made on used books, according to Yunghans.

University Bookstore carries just 25 percent used books, Fonda said, while the Orange Bookstore carries 35 to 40 percent used books, according to Yunghans.

"Used books have higher profit margins. With used books we don't have to be as careful with packaging and usually there's no shrink-wrap or CD-ROMs," Yunghans said. "With used books there are no shipping costs. We buy them back from the students. Then we turn around and sell the book for 75 percent of the new price, making a 25 percent to 50 percent profit," Yunghans said.

Linda Chan, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, ordered two books this semester from eBay.com.

Chan ordered "An Introduction to Early Judaism" for $7 compared to the list price of $17 and "Standing Again at Sinai" for $10 even though it was listed at $18.

"I will definitely order online again because I saved a bundle," Chan said. "I don't want to be ripped off by SU unless I have to be."