Textbook Swappers app for iPhone and iPad

THE PROBLEM

There are several textbook related issues students (myself included) experience while attending college which sparked the idea for a textbook swapping app - Textbook Swappers.

- In my first semester I bought all the books I needed from the college bookstore. I did not have the benefit of financial aid as I was an international student. The prices where high for new books and used books where comparatively high as well.

- The campus bookstore gives you 50% of the value of the book when you use their buy back program. The amount is hardly enough to purchase the next books needed.

- Sometimes the college bookstore would not have the books needed in stock and I would have to wait until their shipment arrives which affects my first couple of classes.

- Some books ended up being bookshelf accessories at the end of the semester as I only used them for 15 weeks -- theyre still sitting at home :-)

- Some textbooks were never actually used. And you lose the value when selling them back to the bookstore or even online.

- Books produced by the campus had no resale value online as they were specific to my college.

- I would have liked to buy, borrow or share textbooks with students who had just finished the class the previous semester - but I had no way of knowing who they are or how to contact them.

- Even though this wasnt an issue for me at the time - but hindsight, it is quite wasteful and destructive to the environment.

- Low income families and individuals working hard to send themselves to school may have a hard time affording textbooks in addition to all other college expenses.


THE SOLUTION

Considering all the issues mentioned above, I have coined the Textbook Swappers app to bring students together who have the same interest - Swapping Textbooks. College students will be able to list the books they have and list the books they want with a simple user interface. All books are listed in the Swappers Market for everyone to see. Students can use the built in messaging system to chat with other students and arrange the terms themselves. For eg. A student can choose to exchange books and return them to each other at the end of the semester, or they can choose to sell their books or even swap a book with an extra $20.

The students have full control over the terms of their exchange. The app will show images of the books so you can be sure youre getting the right one. You will be able to see the condition of the book youre trying to swap before you contact the owner. You can also see which school another user attends so you can decide whether meeting on campus or at Starbucks will be better for your exchange.

THE PERK

The benefits of this app are so many.

- College students will be able to save money from swapping textbooks rather then buying them new.

- Students can get more value from swapping their books than selling back to a college bookstore for only half the cost.

- Students will be able to network with each other on their campus and they may pick up a few good tips about passing the course theyre about to take.

- Some students write in their textbooks and some people see this as extra notes to help them study, others see it as a damaged book. The former is a great perk!

- Unlike having a book shipped to you, you can schedule a book exchange at your convenience.