By Lindsay Crone

When Brian Burbank saw the prices of textbooks at his Tufts University bookstore during freshman year, he knew he had to do something about it. Burbank, a 23-year-old computer engineering 2003 graduate of Tufts University, saw posters advertising books for sale between students and “thought it would be cool to have a Web site.” The Web site Burbank created, www.schoolswap.com, was launched in the spring of 2003 as a senior project. The Web site allows students from universities all over the country to log on and register to sell books to each other. Now the updated Web site includes links to rate classes, professors, the campus, find out what campus events are going on, post opinions in a forum and even search for apartments and jobs. Burbank said the site “appeals more to students since it’s free.” After creating the Web site, Burbank spread the word around by telling friends, posting flyers and contacting student groups at Tufts to see if they would e-mail members. Since Burbank does not make any money off the Web site, he cannot afford to pay for professional advertising, he said. The only problem Burbank ran into while making the Web site was the e-mailing system. Students must use their college e-mail accounts to prevent hoax e-mails sent out to buyers or sellers. “The e-mail is protected and it is a safe Web site,” Burbank said. Right now, there are 13 Northeastern textbooks listed on the site for sale, ranging from computer science to civil engineering. Prices range from $10 to $45. While purchasing textbooks online may be convenient for students, the Northeastern University bookstore has not noticed a decline in sales. “We haven’t noticed as big of a drop as we feared,” said Jon Julien, auxiliary enterprises manager, which includes the NU bookstore. The Web sites that sell books will not take away from business because the bookstore guarantees all books to be there, while a Web site will never have every textbook students need, Julien said. Furthermore, the bookstore offers 50 percent off the retail price of the book back if it is going to be adopted in the next semester, Julien said. This may be more than a student is willing to spend for a book purchased online. Although she hadn’t heard of the Web site, Kerin Eyler, a freshman theatre major, said that she would consider using it in the future. “I sold three of my books to girls on my floor last year,” Eyler said. “But I would use the Web site if I didn’t know anyone who needed my books.” A profit would be necessary for PJ Miles, a sophomore architcture major, to consider selling his books online. “I would use it [the Web site], but I want to make money off of it,” Miles said. “If the bookstore would buy the book for $30, I would sell it for a few dollars more.”