COLUMN: Electronic co-op could make selling used books easier

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by George Hatoun

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I PROPOSE to start a new type of book co-op to fill the void left by the Rice Campus Store and the Student Association Book Co-op.

The Rice Electronic Book Co-op will serve to provide another option for students to sell used textbooks to each other.

What I hope to be an innovative approach to this problem will also be an experiment to determine whether the World Wide Web is a viable forum for conducting book sales and other business between Rice students.

Currently, there are two formal options for buying and selling books on this campus: the Rice Campus Store and the Student Association's Book Co-op. Both of these institutions provide valuable services with regard to used books. My project proposes to complement rather than replace these existing forums.

The services offered by the Campus Store are immediate cash payment for and the sale of used textbooks.

One advantage of this system is that some textbooks that are not being used at Rice for the following semester can be sold for cash. One drawback is the relatively large margin between the buying and selling prices for used books.

The SA Book Co-op allows students to drop off books for sale and purchase used books once a semester.

One advantage of this co-op is the centralized location of the service; another advantage is that there is no risk to students of getting a bad check for their books.

The SA Book Co-op also has a few disadvantages: It only runs for a short period of time (sometimes only a couple of days) and there is a significant lag between the time when books are dropped off and the time that payment is received.

Also, there is an administrative fee (10 percent), a significant amount of paperwork and the problem of returning unsold books to their owners. In addition, while centralization is a plus for purchasers, it makes dropping off books for sale inconvenient and has likely contributed to reduced participation in recent years.

The Rice Electronic Book Co-op is the result of brainstorming by my roommate Daniel Whiteson and myself. The result of the project will be to automate creating an electronic sharelist for books.

Currently enrolled students and faculty can send submissions to the co-op list through an electronic form accessible through Netscape and other Web browsers. A computer program will automate formatting these entries.

Entries will contain such information as name, college or department, phone number, e-mail address, the title of the book offered for sale, the self-reported condition of the book and an asking price. People who view the list can elect to contact the owner of the book.

All negotiations on book price and arrangements for payment will be made between the owner and the buyer; there will be no administrative fees. When the owner sells a book, he or she can fill out another electronic form to request that the entry be removed.

A system of low-level authentication (student IDs and birthdates, for example) will be utilized to provide a significant barrier to abuse of the list. To alleviate privacy concerns, the list will not be accessible from off-campus.

The Student Association has graciously offered to pay the modest start-up costs and publicity for the project. If you have any questions or suggestions about this idea, I would welcome them.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the April 26, 1996 issue.

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