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myBookCrate in the News
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April 22, 2013 / ABC Los Angeles Website lets students buy/sell textbooks to each other on campusKimberly Ostiller got a rude awakening about the high cost of textbooks when she started school at the University of Southern California. "I think this year alone it's probably been around $400," the freshman said. Matthew Lacey, also a USC freshman, said he, too, had to adjust his budget to accommodate expensive textbooks. "Books are definitely a big deal around here. They're all so very expensive," Lacey said. |
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March 28, 2013 / NBC San Diego Beating the Textbook GameEveryone dreams of beating the system, but Erik Bogaard may have actually found a way to do it. "Students are frustrated," said the 21-year old college student who has come up with a way for students to bypass the campus book store to sell their textbooks. |
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March 20, 2013 / The TORCH Fighting high book prices onlineFounded in 2011 by 21-year old Pasadena native Erik Bogaard, myBookcrate.com is an online platform that allows college students to buy and sell their textbooks with other students on their own campus.Their unique buyer seller interaction cuts out the middle man and allows students to meet in person whether it’s in a dorm room, a cafeteria or a certain meeting spot that only students would know about. |
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February 13, 2013 / The Pasadena Star News Pasadena Man's myBookCrate Gets Students Better Return for Used College TextbooksAnyone who's ever attended college knows that textbooks are expensive. They also know that selling used textbooks back to their college bookstore is a losing proposition. The money they recoup is usually a tiny fraction of what they paid for the books when they were new. That's what Erik Bogaard is working to change. |
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December 4, 2012 / The Daily Free Press Student start-up gets national recognitionOne year after Boston University student Erik Bogaard launched myBookCrate, an online forum for students to buy and sell textbooks from their peers, he said the company has experienced nationwide success. |
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December 3, 2012 / BostInnovation 15 Companies Whose Founders Once Called Boston University HomeCurrent Boston University senior Erik Bogaard is the founder of myBookCrate, an online marketplace that connects students on campus, instantly allowing them to buy and sell textbooks from each other. |
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July 30, 2012 / BostInnovation 5 Ways to Score Your Textbooks For Ridiculously Close to Free During Back to School Season"The site [myBookCrate] first went live at Boston University back in November, and reached 1,000 members within the first two months. When students visit myBookCrate, they can search a catalog of over 8.5 million books. Buyers are then able to tell the team what books they need, and once they’re available on campus, they’re automatically notified..." |
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July 26, 2012 / USA TODAY College 5 best stores for dorm essentials"...contrary to popular belief, the bookstore should be used as a last resort for books. With sites such as myBookCrate..., there is no reason you should pay full price for your textbooks." |
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May 20, 2012 / USA TODAY College The hundred billion dollar question“As an economics major, Bogaard didn’t know the first thing about computer programming. He purchased a few books on how to write code, and formulated the initial stages of the website. The website is among the first of its kind. It is an online marketplace for local transactions for students who are buying and selling textbooks on their own campus; it eliminates the middleman (like the bookstore, and people camped out in vans). Thus, students can receive the fair market price.” |
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April 23, 2012 / BostInnovation myBookCrate: The Cheap, Anonymous Way To Buy & Sell Textbooks Without Having to Visit the Bookstore“Boston University junior Erik Bogaard had been studying economics when he realized there was one market he hated crunching numbers in: Textbooks. He discovered used books were selling for 75 percent of the new price, and he had yet to find a system built with the student in mind.” |
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March 20, 2012 / Yahoo! Finance myBookCrate.com Rapidly Expands Automated Marketplace for Textbooks“myBookCrate brings a fresh approach to the textbook marketplace. Its marketplace is intuitive, automated and free to join. Students select the books that they would like to sell and the books they would like to buy from the company's continually growing catalogue of more than 8.5 million titles. Then, myBookCrate automatically notifies students when the books in their account have sold and when the books they need become available. In addition, myBookCrate's unique payment platform makes local transactions easier than ever before for busy students, because buyers no longer need to worry about paying with cash and sellers are paid directly to their bank accounts.” |
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December 7, 2011 / The Daily Free Press CAS student designs textbook marketplace“Before using myBookCrate, College of Arts and Sciences senior Lizzie Green said she had no intention of ordering books from the Internet. Like a number of Boston University students, however, she decided to give it a try and put her books on the market. “I decided to actually just try it . . . because I have a bunch of books that I haven’t sold yet, and it was the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my whole life . . . all I had to do was put in the ISBN number and you have your book,” Green said.” |
Press Release
myBookCrate.com Rapidly Expands Automated Marketplace for Textbooks
Marketplace Now Available to Students at Colleges and Universities Nationwide
PASADENA, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 20, 2012) - myBookCrate (www.myBookCrate.com), the first national, automated marketplace for students to buy and sell textbooks on campus, today announced that it has rapidly expanded its marketplace and is now available to students at colleges and universities nationwide. By using myBookCrate, students can now receive the fair market value by transacting with classmates, instead of selling to textbook intermediaries for as little as 3% of the original sale price. In addition, myBookCrate's innovative online payment system streamlines in-person transactions by facilitating payments through a simple text message, which represents a breakthrough for the industry. myBookCrate began its beta period in November 2011.
Historically, campus bookstores and other textbook intermediaries have consistently undercut students when buying back textbooks because there has never been a convenient marketplace that allows students to transact on campus. As a result, the system has become broken and students are increasingly struggling with the high cost of textbooks. Many students have decided to rent their books, a choice that can be extremely costly. According to OnCampus Research, renting textbooks costs more than 40% on average of the retail price for the same books new.1 Specifically, in 2009 new textbooks retailed for $62 and used for $52 according to the National Association of College Stores.2
myBookCrate brings a fresh approach to the textbook marketplace. Its marketplace is intuitive, automated and free to join. Students select the books that they would like to sell and the books they would like to buy from the company's continually growing catalogue of more than 8.5 million titles. Then, myBookCrate automatically notifies students when the books in their account have sold and when the books they need become available. In addition, myBookCrate's unique payment platform makes local transactions easier than ever before for busy students, because buyers no longer need to worry about paying with cash and sellers are paid directly to their bank accounts.
"At myBookCrate, our mission is to help students across the country lower the cost of owning textbooks," says Erik Bogaard, founder and college junior, myBookCrate.com. "We are excited that we are now able to help more students at more schools across the country. We're innovating rapidly and look forward to continue bringing much needed change to the textbook market."
1. OnCampus Research. College Store Book Rental Program. Survey. http://www.nacs.org. November 2010. Accessed online. 13 September 2011. http://www.nacs.org.
2. National Association of College Stores. Higher Education Retail Market Facts & Figures, February 2011. NACS. 6 March 2012. http://www.nacs.org.
About myBookCrate.com
myBookCrate.com, a student-built company, is the first marketplace that streamlines on-campus transactions for students to buy and sell textbooks. By eliminating the intermediaries from textbook sales, students benefit when buying and selling. myBookCrate's automated marketplace is the most cost-effective option for textbooks, including rentals and digital.
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