It is fair to say that almost every student who has gone to our bookstore has wondered if there are alternatives to its high prices. In the beginning of a semester, students spend up to $500 on books and find that they don't use their books often enough to justify their expenses. Then, at the end of the year, many students try to sell their books back to the bookstore only to find insultingly low prices and rejections for dated books that were new only several months ago.
Some alternatives to the bookstore come from the Internet. Web sites such as Amazon.com and Bookfinder.com provide lower prices for new books and drastically different prices for new and used books.
For example, on Amazon.com, students can buy a new "International Economics" textbook from an Internet seller for $46.50 or buy it at the standard price of $119. If you're a price-savvy student, the choice is clear. The reason that the prices are much lower is that the sites offer the buyer a wide variety of prices and also provide a description of the book and the quality of the seller.
It sounds like a certain bookstore could use a little competition. "The huge price differential is because historically, U.S students have been willing to pay more," according to D.C. lawyer Marc Fleischaker, a trustee with the National Association of College Stores. Fleischaker also said, "The publishers have been able to get the high prices where they couldn't other places."
One place that is utilizing the Internet in a very interesting way is BookCentral.com. The Web site, founded in part by Richard Sarkis, allows people to look for books overseas, which are often cheaper - even with more expensive shipping rates. Sarkis thought of the idea when he was a student at Williams College. One day, while searching for an economics book, he found a British site that sold him the book for much cheaper than his local bookstore. Then, he came up with the idea that if he "re-imported" books he could start a legal, though controversial, business where students bought the same books from international sellers at lower rates.
The difference between buying a book domestically and buying a book overseas is dramatic. A student taking an economics class can buy "Differential Equations" for $112.15 in the U.S. or $48.47 in the U.K.
The Eagle can only say, "God bless the Internet" for reducing one part of our tuition costs. We hope that the days of the $500 semester are behind us and that the bookstore will learn to adapt to a market that won't accept overpriced books and unresponsive booksellers.
