By the beginning of the third week of the semester, most students have had their fill of things associated with the early semester grind: getting familiar with classes, getting forced into closed classes, taking advantage of the drop/add period for those classes that turn out to be mistakes and the most annoying of all - the immeasurable lines at the bookstore.
Students gather at the UB Bookstore to scrounge for textbooks and then wait hours on end to check out. But scrounging and waiting in lines is a thing of the past. The Internet has now given students the ability to buy and sell their textbooks online, whether they choose to shop at the UB Bookstore or elsewhere.
The UB Bookstore's Web site, www.efollet.com, is specifically for UB students to get their books.
Greg Neumann, director of the UB Bookstore, has been employed by the bookstore since joining with efollet, an online book service, for online purchases.
"We got word from efollet that we were going to be a part of the online services they provide starting in December of 1998," Neumann said. "That was almost five years ago and ever since then our sales have gone up annually."
The collaboration between efollet and the UB Bookstore gives the students a simple way to get their books. Students can go to efollet.com and select the school they attend. They can then reserve their textbooks and pick them up at the bookstore at their own convenience. There is an option on the Web site to have the books delivered to the student, though that option carries additional costs because of shipping and handling.
Some students buy their books online to avoid the bookstore hassle.
Brian Wolff, a junior communication major, has been using efollet online to reserve every book he can.
"I like the convenience of the online site and it lets me know that when I go to pick up my book, it will be there," Wolff said.
While the UB Bookstore and the efollet Web site are the primary sources for students to get textbooks on campus, some classes require students to go off-campus to stores like Talking Leaves Bookstore, located at 3158 Main St.
Owned and operated by Jonathan Welch, Talking Leaves supplies books to several departments at UB including English, media studies and art.
Though Talking Leaves has ties with the University at Buffalo and has their own Web site for information purposes, they do not buy or sell textbooks online.
"We are a local bookstore with a handful of specialties that we provide for the community," Welch said. "If we start selling and buying books online, we may lose that grounded feeling we have with our customers."
In addition to the UB Bookstore and Talking Leaves, students can also buy textbooks online from nationally owned book companies. One Web site that helps students find the best deal they can is www.BestBookBuys.com.
According to Theresa Smith, a public relations representative for BestBookBuys.com, the Web site can help students save anywhere from 24 to 64 percent on new and used books.
BestBookBuys asks patrons to list the book they need and from there, they search for the book or books at many well known online sites such as Amazon.com, Barnesand Noble.com and BooksAMillion.com. The customer is then given a listing of which sites have the book and for what prices, listed from the cheapest to the most expensive.
In a press release sent to colleges across the country from BestBookBuys.com, Money Magazine referenced the site as a one of the best at finding deals for books online. The press release also stated that about 125,000 students use BestBookBuys.com for comparing and pricing textbooks online.
Ami Stork, a junior communication and media studies major, said she has never had a bad experience buying books online.
"I bought books online last semester, it worked out great," said Stork. "It's easier and it's sometimes cheaper. The book came fairly quickly. I got it within three or four days and it was in good condition."
According to Johanna Caplan, a junior psychology major, buying books online has its drawbacks.
"You don't know where you're getting (your books) from and you don't know about the quality," she said. "You don't get the buy back money, so if you don't plan on keeping the book, it's not always beneficial."
When it comes to the end of the semester, most students who buy books at the UB bookstore opt to sell them back through the buy back program. The bookstore will buy most books from students for a percentage of its original worth. The most opportune time for students to sell their books back to the bookstore is at the end of a semester where they can get up to 50 percent of their money back. Otherwise, selling a book back at the beginning or at the middle of the semester may only fetch 10 to 30 percent of the original cost.
According to Stork, selling books back to the bookstore is not worth the effort.
" The bookstore is so expensive, it's not worth it to sell (books) back. You're lucky if you get half. You might as well keep the book anyways," she said.
The Student Association has also lent a hand to help students sell their textbooks. The SA Online Book Exchange is a system where students can post books that they want to sell and other students can search for books they need. The students then arrange their own meeting time to exchange money and the book(s).
Some students have had trouble with the exchange program.
Jennifer Kelly, a senior communication major, said that she once tried to use the exchange program to sell a computer science book, but got stood up by the person buying her book.
"I wanted to get my money back for this book and I was psyched to see someone wanted to buy," Kelly said. "I went down to south campus and waited for her to show up, but she never did. I was really mad."
Kelly never found someone else to buy her book.
In this Internet driven age, online shopping has all but replaced brick and mortar stores, and student bookstores are no exception.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
