Starting today, UW-Madison students have another way to bypass bookstores when buying textbooks: Madbook.com.
The Web site, created by UW-Madison sophomore Michael Comstock, allows students to list textbooks they want to sell at a price they choose, and prospective buyers to browse for books they need.
With the click of a mouse, students first buy and then confirm their purchase, at which point the buyer and seller receive one another's contact information via e-mail.
Comstock said he started working on the free service in the beginning of July in response to student concerns about the cost and convenience of textbook sales.
\There's a pretty big demand for it,"" he said. ""When you sell your books back to the bookstore, you don't really get that much money for them, anywhere near as much as you bought them for.""
Though Comstock said he cannot predict exactly how Madbook.com will fare among students, he said he may charge $1 per book posting after this semester and consider expanding the site if it proves popular.
""I'm hoping it will be really big,"" Comstock said. ""If it works well in Madison, I'll make it available to all of the universities basically in the United States.""
Despite supporting the idea of the site, Troy Gerkey, owner of Underground Textbook Exchange, 664 State St., said he does not expect it to be successful.
Pointing to other students who attempted similar Web sites in the past, Gerkey said he is currently not worried about losing business to Comstock because students who run such sites usually do not understand the work involved in starting and maintaining a business.
""It is more than a full time job,"" Gerkey said. ""I don't know how someone could be a full-time student and hope to manage and run a Web site where a significant number of students are going to use it.""
Gerkey added Underground Textbook Exchange has a Web site too, but the site alone does not attract enough users to replace the store.
But Comstock said he plans to make flyers to inform students about the site and hopes he will be able to send a mass e-mail to students in university housing.
Additionally, other UW-Madison students said they agreed with Comstock that such a Web site presents a financially responsible way to pay for books.
""It seems like the ... bookstore rips you off,"" said UW-Madison sophomore Dave Delach. ""Even if it took me like 12 hours to [go through Madbook transactions], I would still be getting paid a good amount of money.\
