Tired of spending hundreds of dollars on books and selling them back for a fraction of that?

Two entrepreneurial students at The University of Akron recently founded Tricaso.com, a website that allows UA students to buy and sell used textbooks from other students on campus.

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Tired of spending hundreds of dollars on books and selling them back for a fraction of that?

Two entrepreneurial students at The University of Akron recently founded Tricaso.com, a website that allows UA students to buy and sell used textbooks from other students on campus.

Steve Short, a first-year UA student majoring music education and co-founder of Tricaso.com, said he was first inspired to change textbook transactions at the end of the fall semester.

I had completed all my classes for that semester and started to wonder where and how I was going sell my books, said Short. I went to the bookstore, like most students would, and found out my $121 statistics book was worth a measly $23.

Short then decided to try to sell his books online on websites like Amazon and Half.com after hearing recommendations from his friends.

I wasn’t about to give up 15 percent of what I made on my books to an online site and then go through the hassle of shipping the book out, said Short. Buying and selling textbooks shouldn’t be that hard.

Before starting his own website, Short tried selling books on Facebook, but he failed to reach the audience he needed to sell his textbooks. Short realized he needed to break free from Facebook and other social websites and start his own system.

If a student wanted to sell a book, all they would do is list it on the site, said Short. A student looking for a book would search the book by ISBN, then the students would get together and trade money for book.

Students could sell for more than the book store and buy for less than the book store and both students would still save money.

Short then contacted his high school friend, Matt Graham, a second-year UA student studying Computer Information Systems. Graham and Short spent time developing a model for the website, including a service that sends a text message to a seller when someone is interested in buying a book. Graham and Short decided against shipping services in order to simplify the process.

Our service is fast, said Graham. When you buy a book, we immediately send a text to the seller so they can get in contact. There’s no shipping.

Tricaso.com is only for The University of Akron. If everything is local, there is no need to ship books.

We want students to literally be able to get the books they need the same day, said Short. UA is perfect for a service like this. We’re personally students here and we have a mission to create a useful service for our fellow students.

To search for a text, go to www.tricaso.com and sign up using an e-mail address ending in zips.uakron.edu. Trial accounts are available that allow interested students to buy and sell one book.

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