There are several factors/concepts which affect the amount of books that can be sold second hand, and how much work the Cudi's have to put into it.
We will discuss them here and later we will refer to those factors.
The period in which students can hand in their books. The longer this period, the more accessible it is for students, and thus the more books can be collected.
You need to make sure the system you implement facilitates the buying of second hand books. If students have to contact and meet up with several persons in order to buy books, they probably won't do it, because of all the hassle.
Make it easy for the students by having one place where they can buy most of the books they need, and help them in knowing which books they need.
Communicating about where to hand in and to buy second hand books is of major importance. Therefore you need to reach out to students using different media for communication. Possibilities are social media, banners on campus, mails, asking for professors to spread the message etc.
Doing this in a proper way can be hard during the first week of the semester. That's why we recommend to collect books the semester before. Without this good communication it will be hard to resell a lot of books second hand.
Some books are as good as new, while others might be in a bad state. It is convenient if the seller can determine a price for the book him/herself. This way you maintain the natural trade rules between buyers and sellers, and the Cudi's themselves are no intermediary. Compared to a system where you incorporate the second hand books in your website, you will have to set fixed prices for books which is less convenient, since not all books are in the same condition.
When working with a site-incorporated system, the organisation hosting the site has to filter/approve books. Books which are in a bad state or have words written in it should be filtered out. Doing this requires extra working hours and gives the organisation a certain responsibility for approving or disapproving books.
In most systems with the potential of reselling a lot of books second hand, books need to be stored between two semesters. As Cudi's have limited space, this can be an issue for some student associations. But it could be overcome by cooperating with KUL.
If you incorporate the second hand books in your site, without buying them from the students, this means you will have to pay out all students once the books are sold. For now, we did not find a bank to automate these transactions, meaning it needs to be done manually, which is not really feasible on a large scale.
If the organisation is a financial intermediary, it means that you can ask for a commission when reselling the books, which is not possible in all other systems.
When using the most advanced system, the organisation buys the books from the students. In order to do so, you need a large capital and you take some risks. If, for example, you buy books which suddenly are not used anymore, you made an investment without return. To compensate for those unavoidable losses, you need a decent commission.
The main problem about second hand is the confidence in the system. If, like in most previous tryouts, the amount of available books is rather limited, less people will come. Simply because the chance of finding the book you need is smaller. This is a self reinforcing process; the less books available, the less buyers will come, the less likely sellers are to resell their books, and thus even less sellers will come. That’s the challenging part of starting a second hand book system. It requires confidence from the students in the system. They need to believe that most of the books they hand in will be sold, and that the book they’re looking for is available. That’s why you need to invest enough time in communicating about the new systems. After a few successful semesters, confidence will reinforce itself in a good way, allowing the system to work at a large scale.
In the following section, we will discuss the different possible second hand systems where the campus is involved, meaning students have to go to campus to hand in or buy books.
During one day of the first week, sellers can bring their books to a room, and leave them there, specifying a price and an IBAN. Later that same day, buyers can choose and buy the books they want. Everything is supervised by a person from the student association.
Little hassle for students
Price flexibility
No storage or financial risk
Little work
Short hand-in period
Short buy period
Limited communication opportunities
In this level you collect all the second hand books one semester prior to the sale. Once collected, you store them until the first week of the semester. During this week you present all the books in a room, and wait for buyers to come. If you want to buy a book, you pay the amount asked for, to the IBAN on the sticker.
Long hand-in period
More communication opportunities
Little hassle for students
Price flexibility
Storage required
A bit more work than one trading day
Short buy period
For this system the collection part is similar to level 2, the only difference is that you digitise the information of the seller using a simple form. The buying part is integrated in the first hand system, and therefore also in the site. By collecting all the data using the form, you now know your second hand stock. Students then have the option on the website to buy second hand books, if they are in stock. If you sell a book, the amount is paid to the seller, using your bank account as intermediary.
Long hand-in period
More communication opportunities
No hassle for students
Commission is possible
Storage required
A lot of work
No price flexibility
Software required
Filter required
The same as level 3, with the difference that now the student associations buy the books. Increasing the financial risk and reducing the pay out hassle.
Students get their money straight away
Long hand-in period
More communication opportunities
Commission is possible
Financial risk
Storage required
A lot of work
No price flexibility
Website rework required
In the following section, we will discuss the different possible second hand systems without any physical involvement of a campus. All things are arranged through websites or facebook.
There is a group on facebook and people offer their own books for a certain price. Buyers can contact the seller themselves. Apart from making the facebook group and mediating the posts, the student associations do nothing. This is a variant of a hand to hand system, where you use facebook to connect people.
Little work for Cudi's
Price flexibility
No storage or financial risk
Hassle for students
Limited offer
Limited communication/persuasion opportunities
The site offers an online 'location' where students can buy and sell books. The site brings the buyer and seller together, but they must make arrangements themselves about payment and transfer of the books. It is similar to the facebook group, but the way of connecting people is more convenient. It makes it easier to find the book you’re looking for.
More books available
Little work for Cudi's
Price flexibility
Hard to develop and maintain site
Hassle for students
Still rather limited offer
Limited communication/persuasion opportunities
On the site there is an online 'location' where students buy and sell books. The site arranges the transfer of the money and books, so no need to meet up with several persons. Sellers still need to send the book using a mail service (e.g. Bpost). The organisation can charge a commission for hosting the website.
Not too much hassle for students
Little work for Cudi's
Price flexibility
Commission is possible
Expensive E-commerce website
Still rather limited offer
Limited persuasion opportunities
The site buys books from the students and stores them somewhere. The books are offered online. If the books are purchased, the organisations send them to the buyer using a mail service. The organisation charges a commission to compensate for the losses and expenses of the website.
Students get their money straight away
More books available
Commission is possible
Financial risk
Storage required
No price flexibility
Expensive E-commerce website
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