bookugly.com

in summer of 2012, a student entering into his beginning intensive french class emailed french professor frank jacobus at davidson college and asked if she could get her textbooks cheaper than at the bookstore. dr. jacobus said to himself, "why, that book is only about $30. what's the problem?" to his astonishment, the bookstore charged $290 for the textbook, a cd, and a workbook. students could buy the textbook used for $180.75. he later learned that the bookstore bought the textbook back used from students for a total of $24. it turned out that students were upset at bookstore prices, often had to go there, and sometimes went online. interviews with 49 students showed that even the online sellers created problems, according to them, with delivery time, book condition, and truthfulness. delivery could take 2 weeks to a month in some cases. occasionally pages were missing. and students often got only an online credit when they sold their books there. students, however, thought they cou