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College students today know they can save money buying textbooks online. They go to the campus bookstore and write down ISBN numbers for their courses. But do they know for certain they wrote down the correct ISBN? They joke about it on their web site, humorously naming a condition "Chronic ISBN Transposition", as if it was some kind of disease. Seriously though you can write down the wrong number or switch number positions which is transposing. Therefore you have the wrong ISBN and will have to go back to the campus bookstore. TextBack has made it easy. While in the bookstore simply send keyword "ISBN" followed by the 10 digit ISBN number to short code 4INFO (44636). Isn't it better to text the ISBN to confirm you have the right textbook when you go online? After you send a text message they store the book on the website in a mobile cart so can purchase online from Amazon Market Place. They also send you a text with online pricing and the title. Giving you confidence knowing you have the right textbook. You don't have to sign up or join. More importantly, you don't have to give them your cell phone number. They place a numeric code in their response messages. All you need do is enter the code on the site and they will display all of the books for you. The system is good for any book not just textbooks. Technical professionals can use the system for those expensive tech books too.
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"No need to wait until you get online to find cheap textbooks. Begin your search while you're at the campus bookstore."
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| Why it might be a killer | |||
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They are addressing a simple but real problem with a simple solution.
TextBack.net has teamed up with 4INFO.net who has a nationally recognized short code 4INFO (44636) and they manage the ISBN keyword. Both are easily recallable. TextBack has viral potential. They are going to give people the capability of adding their mobile cart to their FaceBook or MySpace profiles directly. Also people like to brag about saving money and all they need do is mention send ISBN to 4INFO for instructions to use the service.
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Will they add new features in the future to get more visitors?
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written by parent 11 Months 29 Days ago | |
| Cell phone text messaging is viewed as a major expense to most parents. But here is where text messaging actually can help cut down a major expense for parents and students. Specifically expensive college textbooks | ||
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written by roakes 12 Months 6 Days ago | |
| Well next thing you know they'll stop students from bringing their cell phones into the bookstore. This is really a dis-service to students and parents paying for tuition and books. I Googled that Harvard story and did find an article about how a student was asked to leave the CoOp because he was taking down notes. He wasn't part of any online site. No wonder students are transposing ISBN numbers. They have to hurry as though they were a part of some covert operation. Perhaps the prof could just just announce the ISBN in class and let everyone text it to TextBack and save them the trouble of going into the bookstore all together. Let the students vote with their dollars. Thats why I created this company and service. Here is the link to the story.-----http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=519564 | ||
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written by bookbuyer 12 Months 6 Days ago | |
| Yeah, that's lame! ISBNs are assigned by an international agency. If the books have one, how could they not be public and their ISBNs in the public domain? They were just playing the "that's illegal now go away" card to scare them off. I'd probably do that too if a competitor was using my own store against me but whatever.Regardless, no one is going to hassle a student who's copying down the handful of ISBNs for his semester of courses. The reason those guys got hassled is because they were blatantly copying down hundreds of them for their own business. They weren't just trying to find deals on the ones they needed for their own classes. I don't see any issues with individual students doing it especially if a competitor to the campus bookstore on gov't property could get away with it! | ||
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written by shocked 12 Months 8 Days ago | |
| What bothers me is the following I found on the net. Doesn't Harvard teach Freedom of Enterprise in its Business school? What happened to competition to drive prices down?Here is an excerpt from the article.The alternatives are not pleasant. UTD could have gotten into long legal entanglements with Barnes and Noble and other booksellers to try to force them to release ISBN numbers. In some cases, students attempting to take matters into their own hands have turned ugly as well. In the Harvard Coop, Harvard's version of the UTD Bookstore, campus police were called to remove students copying ISBN numbers from textbooks for release online from the premises. The management of the Harvard Coop even went so far as to call ISBN numbers their "intellectual property" in order to protect their right to avoid making them public.Barnes and Noble manages the Harvard Coop.http://media.www.utdmercury.com/media/storage/paper691/news/2007/10/29/Opinion/Utd-Finds.Excellent.Solution.To.Isbn.Problem-3060673.shtml | ||
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written by Joe Aggie 12 Months 8 Days ago | |
| Fight the Man! Campus bookstores price gouge. This would have been awesome if it were available when I was in school. Go browse their shelves and punch in the numbers. Kind of like a gift registry. The gift is you save yourself some dough to spend on partying later! w000000000! | ||
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written by mannii 12 Months 9 Days ago | |
| kool | ||
