So we have been busy getting the site ready for 2006.  Be sure to tell your friends about us.  Also be sure to post your books.

We decited to take a break from the usual bookfaced site and make something fun.  Go here and you can see where your facebook friends are from on a map of the USA.  It’s pretty cool.

In honor of Shark Week, the discovery channel added a few things to their headquarters. On my way to work today I knoticed the discovery channel’s headquarters (in Silver Spring Maryland) had added a few things. Sorry for the low quality image, this was taken from my cell phone. It’s a pretty cool sight from the ground. There’s also a tail on the other side. I feel bad for the people who used to have a good view and now are stuck looking at the back of an inflatable shark’s head.  Read More Here.

Amazon - The Past - Buying Books
In the beginning there was Amazon, and people liked their idea. It seemed that the internet was a great way to distribute books. Amazon took the bookstore experience and simply placed it on the internet. Along the way, fears had to be calmed regarding issues like online credit card security and the thought of being overcharged for purchases (assuming consumers might pay more). College students quickly realized that with Amazon they could get their textbooks for much less compared to the high prices charged by campus bookstores.

Half.com - One Better - Selling (used) Books
Soon after, people began to realize that selling books online was a good idea. At this time, a little company started Half.com (later bought by eBay). Half.com let anyone put their used books up for sale, and sellers just had to be willing to package and ship purchased items within a few weeks after they sold. Again, many college students jumped on the bandwagon. The campus bookstores that students had been selling to couldn’t offer much when they bought back students’ books. Most students were lucky to get back 25% of a book’s initial cost. However, with Half.com, they found the opportunity to sell online and make a better portion of their money back.

The Downsides
Half and Amazon are both great services, but students are still lined up at the bookstore buying and selling used textbooks every term. Why is this!? After speaking with students, we have found that there are several drawbacks to using services like Amazon and Half.

What‘s wrong with selling through Half.com?

1) Selling
First and foremost, ‘ease of use’ for the entire process was an issue. While the site itself can be easy to use, a major deterrent for most students was the actual shipping of a book sold. On a college campus, where most students don’t have cars, getting to a UPS store to pack and ship a book can be difficult. This being the case, many students sell their textbooks for much less to their campus bookstore because it doesn’t involve the hassle of packing and shipping, and there isn’t a better alternative. The cost of shipping can be a big hindrance as well. Half.com was smart to offer reimbursement for shipping, but ultimately this came out of their commissions (usually 15% of the selling price).
The second problem is that not every book is guaranteed to sell. With school bookstores, a student immediately knows whether or not a book will be bought back. This kind of instant notification doesn’t exist with Half.com; a book could sell in 20 minutes, 20 days, or never. (Unfortunately, students are rarely pleased with the amounts they receive upon selling books back to the campus bookstore. Typically, students get back 0-40% of the initial price on books that are still used by their school, and older unused editions are worth almost enough to buy something from the McDonald’s dollar menu).

2) Buying
Even though selling through Half has its drawbacks, wouldn’t students use it to buy if they are going to save? Often, schools make it particularly difficult to find out what books a student will need, and for which classes (this is no accident… professors very rarely supply required book lists before the first day of class). At our school, students go to the bookstore with a copy of their schedule and employees bring them the appropriate books. We believe a website can be just as convenient and easy. At many schools, students don’t have access to required book lists (which often vary for different professors teaching the same course), but maybe we could change that. (Keep reading…)
The next issue deals with the time it takes to receive a book purchased from an online store. In most cases, students need to have their textbooks within the first week of class during a new term. With Half (and Amazon), it can take two weeks or longer just to receive the book(s) purchased. What good is buying a book for less if it’s not there when a student needs it?

Overcoming these Problems
A common solution to these problems seen around college campuses involves typing up a page that shows every book a student wants to sell, providing contact information, and then plastering copies of it all over campus. Our kiosks are filled with these things. On a very small scale, they seem to work! When someone sees a posting for a book they will need, they contact the seller, meet with them, and handover cash in exchange for the book. This solves the problem of time, as well as some of the ‘ease of use’ issues (no shipping).
This process poses some new problems, though. First, a sheet has to be made which contains the book(s) for sale, then (assuming a book sells) sellers must keep track of meeting with buyers. Once a book has finally sold, the posted sheets should be updated accordingly (unless the former seller enjoys random voicemails inquiring about the long-gone book). To solve all of the above issues, we pose a unique website that attempts to create a new and effective method to resell and redistribute used textbooks on a college campus.

The Solution

1) Localize
To start, we decided to localize our service to individual campuses. For book sales this isn’t a problem, since the person who will likely have a needed book is someone at your school who has already taken the course which uses that book. Even Half.com sells a lot of books to people on the same campus. Before searching for books, users simply select their campus.

2) Search by Course Title, Numbers, and Professor
When searching through Half and book flyer postings, it can be unorganized and difficult to figure out what books one will need. To help end this problem, we have the seller specify what course the book was used in. They enter the course letters and numbers, course name, and the professor’s last name. This allows a buyer to search for books by course, and see which professors use that book. Students can just go through their schedule and find the books they need, without ever having to try to track using ISBN numbers or book titles (these search options are still provided).

3) Schedule and Track Meetings
When the desired book is purchased, a meeting can be arranged with the book’s seller using our on-site scheduling feature. This feature is flexible and straightforward, ensuring that both parties can easily establish a convenient time to meet. The site then tracks arranged meetings and notifies the appropriate party if there are rescheduling requests, and reminds both parties of upcoming meetings via e-mail. Simple, yet effective.

4) Security
Security allowing all this to work is absolutely crucial, and we came up with an original process that succeeds. The process begins when users pay for books online with a credit card or with PayPal. First, the money spent by a buyer goes into a limbo/holding account. The seller only receives this payment when he logs into his account and enters in a unique 16 character verification code. This code is provided to the seller by the buyer when they meet to exchange ownership of the book(s) purchased. To authenticate a buyer’s identity, we provide the seller a partial verification code prior to the arranged meeting, so he can make sure the displayed characters on his code match with the corresponding characters on the buyer’s complete code. If the seller never enters this code, then we completely refund the buyer his money (This implies that if the seller doesn’t get this code, he doesn’t handover anything to the buyer). This process is described in greater detail on our site, and it secures the person to person exchange of items purchased online.

The Site in Action
http://www.bookfaced.com/ is our domain. Right now Bookfaced.com is in its early stages. It’s up and running, and any help spreading the word would be appreciated. We welcome all comments, ideas, and suggestions.

The Bookfaced Team