Getting the books to class

An ex-professor helps students buy and sell used textbooks.

Brian Jacobs was a professor at Cornell University when he noticed that many students came to class with stacks of photocopies because they couldn't pay the steep price for new textbooks. If that was happening there, he thought, it was probably happening elsewhere.

In 1999, he founded Akademos Inc., partnering with publishers and used-book wholesalers to sell books directly to students via the web. In 2002, the company launched TextbookX.com, where students could advertise used textbooks for resale. Now, when a student searches the site for a book, both used and new copies are included in search results.

Jacobs says his Norwalk, Conn.-based company lists more than 1.3 million titles and processes tens of thousands of purchases a year, posting annual percentage growth in the strong double digits. A TextbookX.com customer pays about 54 percent below the retail price of a new book, on average. Listing fees are borne by sellers, who pay 15 percent of the sale price plus 99 cents per item.

The key to the company's continued growth, says Jacobs, is quick, reliable shipping. Akademos currently offers UPS Ground service, but because students sometimes need books right away. The company will soon introduce UPS Next Day Air® and UPS 2nd Day Air® shipping options.

Guaranteed swift delivery “is hugely important,” says Jacobs. “It means that students need no longer choose between paying full price for a new book and buying a used textbook but risking it arriving late for class.” Adds Jacobs, “The highest growth in our business comes from academic institutions that seek to outsource their textbook operations and put them online.”

A textbook solution

Jacobs says he chose UPS because its tools allow his company to track the progress of a package through the UPS system, and also because of the wide reach of the UPS network. UPS technology integrated with Textbook X.com’s systems also lets the company manage each transaction from beginning to end. Sellers simply choose one of the shipping options offered on the site, and once a sale is final, Akademos generates a shipping label and sends an electronic link to the seller. The seller then drops the book off at a UPS location. As soon as the package enters the UPS shipping system, Akademos can track its progress with UPS OnLine® Tools. UPS Signature TrackingTM is especially valuable to the online retailer, helping Akademos avoid “I never got my book” calls from buyers. Sellers are paid three days after the UPS tools register a delivery, giving buyers time to make a complaint if the wrong book arrives.

With the new UPS shipping options in place, even college bookstores won’t be able to get books to students much faster than TextbookX.com. “It’s really the first instance I’m aware of, within the context of a peer-to-peer marketplace, where the buyer can purchase a used book and have it delivered the next day,” Jacobs says. In other words, textbook shipping is about to pull an all-nighter.

To learn about faster delivery options for time-critical shipments, visit ups.com/serviceguide.

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