BookThief.com - The Textbook Black Market

BookThief.com hopes to upset the textbook market by forcing bookstores to compete based on price, locally. Once called a ‘broken market’ in a study commissioned by Congress, the used textbook market has had little competition for too long. Collectively, 18 states have current or pending legislation aimed at reducing textbook prices. BookThief.com isn’t a real textbook black market of course, but the Web site hopes to give students a viable alternative to buying and selling textbooks at the campus bookstore. For the price of a download (99¢), students can list used textbooks on their campus; they pay nothing to search listings. There are over 3,200 colleges and universities listed on BookThief whose goal is to connect students at the local level. It’s not an auction site—students list a textbook for sale and provide their name and contact information (basically a targeted classified). The potential buyer contacts the seller, agrees on a price and arranges a meeting. Instead of making a trip to the bookstore, you meet your fellow classmate at the coffee shop. BookThief will allow students to avoid the cost and time associated with buying or selling used textbooks online by providing a local, secure, spam-free venue. In addition to listing and buying textbooks, BookThief.com will offer students the opportunity to list and buy furniture, lofts, appliances, and post ads for leasing and subleasing.

“BookThief.com was created to help college students save money by giving them a common Web site to list and buy used textbooks on their campus!”

According to the Association of College Bookstores, the used textbook market is valued at 1.6 billion dollars with approximately 44 million used textbooks changing hands each year. Textbook prices have risen at twice the rate of inflation for over two decades. BookThief.com hopes to change the competitive level on a national scale by making the site available to every college and university in the United States. This will be the 'black market' for everything college students need to buy and sell on their local campus. Most importantly this Web site will give college students a way to bypass the campus bookstore.

Will people pay to get this service? Is this service really reliable?