socialbib

Join The Revolution

2008-01-22T19:08:00.000-08:00

This article was just on the front page of digg about how textbook prices are up 186% since 1986.

socialbib is the revolution they are talking about. It's the way to get the textbooks you need for free. Here's how it works:

1. Join (100% free)
2. List the books you need
3. List the used books you can give away
4. Let the freeshare begin (the site automatically matches you up)

Join the revolution.

Campus Bookstores Are Trying To Shut Us Down

2008-01-14T06:42:00.000-08:00

We offer the best alternative to buying high-priced books from the bookstores and they are in fear of going out of business.

The idea behind socialbib.com is to give away your used textbooks to other students (for free), and to list the books you need and to get those from other students (for free). The concept, even in its infancy, is working and the bookstores are scared. We've saved students over $12k on books already.

The more students who participate the better the service gets, and if we get even 25% of all college students to actively participate you will be able to find almost any book you need right away for free. That means no more buying textbooks and spending $700 a semester.

Let all of your friends know about this site and get the word out. Let's show the campus bookstores that they can't screw us over anymore and that they can't shut us down!

Back From Our Hiatus

2008-01-09T06:33:00.000-08:00

We've been hard at work adding new features and getting the word out on socialbib. We've now saved students over $12,000 on textbooks and we're still growing. We were also featured on the cover of a local publication, CinWeekly.

Server Upgrade, Local News Update

2007-09-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

We moved our site to a new server last night. We are still getting users, over 1,500 now, and have saved users over $4,500! Moving to the new server will allow us the infrastructure for future expansion and to keep the site running fast and smooth for all of our users.

There is also an update to us being on WKRC news. We are moving our taping time to Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 11:30 am. We are still shooting at the Panera Bread at UC. It will be nice because it will be on the first day of classes for students and we'll have a nice backdrop of students for the shooting.

More Press, More Users

2007-09-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

We are continuing to grow and have reached 1,250 users. More matches have been made and students have saved over $2,100 on their books. This is due in large part to students who see the value in our service and have gone out and written about us or told others who have written something. Here are some links to the press we have been getting:

Killer Startups
Blog
Blog
Blog

Breaking 1,000

2007-09-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

We broke 1,000 users today and were featured in an opinion article on mashable.com. We have saved users over $1,800 on their books and our continued growth will help us save them even more.

In The News

2007-09-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

We were contacted by Paula Toti of our local Channel 12 news here in Cincinnati today. We are going to be featured on the "Money Alert" segment on Monday, September 17! If you are in Cincinnati and would like to come by and say hi we will be at the Panera Bread on Calhoun St. on the University of Cincinnati campus.

We are still continuing our growth and have almost reached 800 registered users. Matches are being made and the total money saved so far exceeds $1,600. Not bad for only having launched last week!

Gaining Momentum

2007-09-05T20:34:00.000-07:00

socialbib is steadily gaining momentum - we're about to approach the 500 user milestone. This is a great number considering we just launched last week and have had very limited marketing. It's a very exciting moment for us because it confirms that students like the idea and will save money on their textbooks. As we continue to grow more and more students will save money, and we think it can get to a point where students will only have to buy a few books their freshman year and get the rest of them for free on socialbib. Thank you for your continued support and remember to tell all of your friends about us!

More Growth

2007-09-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

Jaisen made this post today and we have seen some outstanding growth in our user base. We have over 150 users and students have saved more than $1,300. The site is being well received by those who have heard about the idea and the students using it. We are excited that students are finding the service useful and saving money on their books.

Students Have Saved Over $500 Already

2007-09-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today is an exciting day for socialbib. We have already saved students over $500 on books and have continued to gain momentum with new users everyday. The more students who sign up the better the service will be. We were also mentioned in our local newspaper The Cincinnati Enquirer.

College Bookstores Are a Rip-Off - So Do Something About It

2007-08-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

College bookstores will give you pennies on the dollar for your used textbooks and then want to sell you other used textbooks for like-new prices. You're still out $50-$120 for each textbook you need. With an average of 5 textbooks a semester, you're facing up to $1200 a year on books alone - and those are used books taking into account buy-back.

That's why Jaisen and I created socialbib - a place for college students to exchange textbooks for free. It's a radical idea, and you have to be willing to give away your used books for free, but you save a lot of money in the end and you help other students do the same. The site is 100% free and will always stay that way.

The way it works is you list the books you want to give away (by typing in the ISBN), find the books you need (by ISBN, Title, or Author), and let the site do the rest. The site will find the matches for you and then you can decide if the book needs to be shipped or if you can find a place to meet. If the book is shipped then the shipper would only pay around $3-$4 - minuscule compared to a $150 book - and this favor would be returned if someone ships them a book. There is also no worry of getting the wrong book because you are finding the exact book you need on the site and the matching is all done by ISBN.

So how does giving something away for free save you money - especially when the bookstore will give you $10-$30 for it? Let's take a look at the bookstore scenario.

You have 3 books to sell back (the bookstore doesn't accept them all since they are out of edition) and you need to buy 5 books. We'll assume a best-case scenario that you get $30 for each book you sell back. You are now $90 ahead. Now for your new books. You decide to buy them used, as frugal as you are, and spend an average of $50 (pretty conservative, huh?) per book. You end up spending $250 for your books. Now you are $160 in the negative!

What if you had gone to socialbib.com? You list all your books on socialbib (including the ones the bookstore wouldn't accept) and give all of them away. You are $0 ahead, but you do have 6 credits to get books for free (you get 1 free credit when you sign up). It turns out other students have the books you need, so you get all 5 of them for free. You end up spending $0 and have saved $160!

As you can see you will save money using socialbib.com, and after buying your first semester of books you might never have to buy a book again! Instead of spending $1200 a year - almost $5,000 throughout college - you will be saving all that money. It's radical, it's different, and it turns out to be really cool.

Our hope is that socialbib.com will help students to save money. It only works, though, if we get a large turnout of students willing to do this and willing to give their books away. So far we've had a good response and even have matches already. Be sure to sign up, save some money, and tell all your friends!