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Free College Books For Students

moshquerade

moshquerade

No Lifer
I don't know these guys, so no self promoting here, but I saw the link posted on another site and thought this was a great idea:

A friend of mine and myself just launched a website to let students get books for free. It's 100% free to join.

http://www.socialbib.com/

You need a valid .edu email address and you can begin posting books you need and books you have but are finished with. Our site will match you up with someone who has the book you need and then they will ship it to you for free. You will also be matched up with someone who needs a book that you're finished with.

There's a built in credit system that lets you receive a book for every book that you give. But right now when you sign up you get a credit for FREE...which means you can basically get a free book.

The more people that use the site the more books people will receive for free.
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Hey...that was my post. Thanks for posting to that link.

We just launched this site last week and need to get as many students signed up as possible to make this work. The idea definitely works as we've already seen matches for books.

College bookstores are a rip off and hopefully this will be a good alternative!
 
Originally posted by: jmathai
Hey...that was my post. Thanks for posting to that link.

We just launched this site last week and need to get as many students signed up as possible to make this work. The idea definitely works as we've already seen matches for books.

College bookstores are a rip off and hopefully this will be a good alternative!
Click to expand...

Oh yeh, I know. I posted to you that I was posting it here. You're welcome. 😉
 
Wow great idea. Wish we had this when i was in college a few years ago. Spent ridiculous amount of money on college text books that are revised seemingly every other year.
 
What about $120 math book versus $6 literature book? Seems like a 1:1 is a bit off 🙂. Good idea in any case -- I'll go check it out.
 
Originally posted by: EternalVortex
I like to keep my books. Never know when you might need them.*

* This doesn't apply if you have a "bullshit" major 😉.
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So far, I've kept all my books as I can see myself referring to them for the rest of my life.
 
Originally posted by: Leros

So far, I've kept all my books as I can see myself referring to them for the rest of my life.
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Its ok that your a receiver. After all, some of us have to be the givers in life...😎
 
Originally posted by: Sirrion
Wow great idea. Wish we had this when i was in college a few years ago. Spent ridiculous amount of money on college text books that are revised seemingly every other year.
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I'm in a management class this semester, and the current (5th) edition book at the bookstore is $163...I found a 4th edition from another student for $45...but the first day, the instructor announced that former editions are not acceptable, (apparently, he bases lots of test questions on "Answer question #5 on page 204," and the different editions don't have the same questions on the same pages...One student bought the "international version" on-line for about $50 + shipping, and he made the same statement...but, SUPPOSEDLY, the international versions are exactly the same in content and pagination, so we'll see how that works for her.
I'm dammed glad my voc-rehab program pays for my books. I dropped about $500 this semester on books & supplies. I spoke to my voc-rehab counselor about buying books on-line and submitting for reimbursement, but he says that it can take up to 6 months to get my money, and it actually costs the OWCP MORE to do it that way because of all the administrative costs to process a reimbursement...:roll:
 
Originally posted by: jmathai
Hey...that was my post. Thanks for posting to that link.

We just launched this site last week and need to get as many students signed up as possible to make this work. The idea definitely works as we've already seen matches for books.

College bookstores are a rip off and hopefully this will be a good alternative!
Click to expand...

Great idea! Thx man!
 
This has promise and I hope it works. There are alternatives to buying your textbooks from your college bookstore. If you are lucky enough to go to a college whose bookstore posts the textbooks' ISBN's then you can use book price search engines like: Campusi (the best). There's also Half.com, Amazon, Amazon Marketplace, Buy.com, Overstock, Walmart, and Abebooks (purchased a genetics texbook thru Abe's brand new from a small book dealer in Vermont for less than half what the college bookstore wanted).
Both my offspring are science majors and I don't have to tell you how expensive their textbooks are. We almost never purchase books from the college bookstores, and there is nothing wrong with buying the international version of a textbook if it's the same edition. Except for a soft versus hardcover, we have found international editions to be identical in content.
 
yes! community library. book hippies. i applaud this effort and i will pass it on... since im a hippie
 
I don't mind trading a more expensive book for a less expensive if everything just goes by credits and the system matches people up automatically (so you wouldn't be stuck with a cheaper book trying to find someone interested with a more expensive one). That is how it works right? My concern would be books in really bad condition, like highlighting and scribbles and pages possibly missing. Would you guys allow me to ship a bad book to you and get a credit back? If so, I'm willing to give your system a try.
 
Originally posted by: Leros
Originally posted by: EternalVortex
I like to keep my books. Never know when you might need them.*

* This doesn't apply if you have a "bullshit" major 😉.
Click to expand...

So far, I've kept all my books as I can see myself referring to them for the rest of my life.
Click to expand...

I kept all of my books too, for the same reason.

It has now been twenty years since I graduated. I doubt I have cracked a single one of my college textbooks in the last fifteen. My library keeps growing (there weren't a lot of good C++, Java, Oracle or XML texts available in 1987!) but my textbooks have gotten no use. Now they are useless to anybody else as well, because the editions aren't used anymore. It would have been much better to have taken part in a program like this, and then donated most of my remaining books when I graduated.

I would have still kept my 15th century russian history texts and my Sri Lankan anthropolgy texts, though, cuz you never know when those might come in handy again! :roll:

This sounds like a great idea.

 
I do not see how this is a great idea... How does the trading work? Is it between the two people who are trading or is it with the site. Because let's just say one person sends the book but the other person never does. Where do you go from there?
 
Originally posted by: stevo510Would you guys allow me to ship a bad book to you and get a credit back? If so, I'm willing to give your system a try.
Click to expand...

When you post that you need a book. You can specify a minimum condition. We've already thought of that 🙂 ---- When you post a book you specify the condition it's in so we can match you with a good suitor.

 
Originally posted by: echow87
I do not see how this is a great idea... How does the trading work? Is it between the two people who are trading or is it with the site. Because let's just say one person sends the book but the other person never does. Where do you go from there?
Click to expand...

Two people don't exchange with each other. That was version 3 of this idea - the final one was version 4 🙂. Two people will rarely have books each other need. One person gives the book to another...and receives a credit in return. That credit is good for them to receive a book from someone else...and it goes on and on and on and on 🙂
 
Originally posted by: cmv
What about $120 math book versus $6 literature book? Seems like a 1:1 is a bit off 🙂. Good idea in any case -- I'll go check it out.
Click to expand...

In this first version we're considering all books to be of the same value. We may very well adjust that for the winter quarter. Depends what feedback we receive. We wanted the site to be as simple as possible...that's the beauty of it.
 
Originally posted by: jmathai
Originally posted by: stevo510Would you guys allow me to ship a bad book to you and get a credit back? If so, I'm willing to give your system a try.
Click to expand...

When you post that you need a book. You can specify a minimum condition. We've already thought of that 🙂 ---- When you post a book you specify the condition it's in so we can match you with a good suitor.
Click to expand...

Hi. I'm the other owner/developer of socialbib. I just wanted to add a little bit to what jmathai said.

As he said our system lets you specify a condition. In the very rare case that you get a book that is in terrible shape, not the condition it said it was in, and you can't use it you can always contact us or use the "problems exchanging" link provided on your matches page. We would then determine a course of action on a case-by-case basis. In a case such as you described we would work something out for you.
 
Originally posted by: jmathai
Originally posted by: echow87
I do not see how this is a great idea... How does the trading work? Is it between the two people who are trading or is it with the site. Because let's just say one person sends the book but the other person never does. Where do you go from there?
Click to expand...

Two people don't exchange with each other. That was version 3 of this idea - the final one was version 4 🙂. Two people will rarely have books each other need. One person gives the book to another...and receives a credit in return. That credit is good for them to receive a book from someone else...and it goes on and on and on and on 🙂
Click to expand...

Another feature we have is that the receiver of the book has a link to mark when they have received the book. The giver doesn't receive their credit until the receiver gets the book, so it is in the giver's best interest to actually send the book. Also, both parties have a link called "problems exchanging" that will let us know if something is not right and we can resolve it. Finally, we also have a rating system so that you can rate others and weed out those who cause problems.

We put a lot of thought into it and have many features in place to make sure everyone is honest and things go smoothly 🙂
 
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