Put a textbook title into University Book Store's online site and, as expected, you'll see UBS' prices for new and used versions of the book. What you might not expect to see are Amazon.com and Half.com's prices for the same textbook.
The bookstore's handy textbook comparison tool may not be familiar to many faculty and staff. But students have been using it since fall 2011. The UBS site allows them to compare textbook prices, click on the best bargains and buy a semester's worth of books in the time it would have taken students of earlier eras to walk to the bookstore.
"It's convenient for students and it's saving them money," said UBS book division manager Heather Dean. "That's really important to us."
The price-comparing website also appears to be a win-win for all three booksellers involved.
Competing
It helps UBS compete in a market that includes Internet giants like Amazon. The Verba software that powers the bookstore website monitors prices on the dot-coms and helps UBS keep its prices competitive.
"We're not always going to be the cheapest or the most expensive," Dean said. "But we're competitive with the marketplace."
She added that UBS has an 85 percent "win-rate" with students, meaning that 85 percent of items are purchased through the UBS site rather than the online retailers. Statistics show that when the bookstore's price is within $10 of Amazon or Half's price, UBS generally “wins” the purchase.
That’s important, Dean says, as UBS is owned and operated by Iowa State University and is a self-operating entity that receives no state-funding.
The local store has advantages. Local returns are faster. There are more payment options (U-Bill, CyCash). UBS carries all course materials, including offering 800-1000 rental titles and 200-300 ebook titles each semester.
However, Amazon and Half like the cost-comparing website, as well, Dean said. They even provide a small commission to the bookstore for textbooks sold on the site.
How the textbook site works
- A student gets a class list and book list through AccessPlus. The book list is fed directly into the UBS textbook site from AccessPlus. Or the student can go to the bookstore website, www.isubookstore.com, and manually select books.
- For each textbook, the screen displays price lists from UBS, Amazon and Half. Generally, there are many options for new, used, rental, and ebooks. .
- The student selects a book with the usual "add to cart" button. Items from UBS, Amazon and Half all can be added to their individual carts.
- Once all selections have been made, the student selects the "checkout" button.
- If the student has purchased from more than one store, for example, Amazon and UBS, he or she will need to complete payment for each during checkout.
- Books are delivered to the address specified by the student. Delivery fees vary by the seller. UBS charges $7.99 for ground shipping, or students can purchase in-store.
Federal requirements on textbook selections
The convenient price-comparison tool for students is one good reason for instructors to get textbook requirements to UBS in early March for summer and fall terms, and early October for spring term. Another is federal compliance. The Higher Education Opportunity Act requires universities to publish, prior to class registration, a list of all required and recommended textbooks and their costs. The UBS handles this requirement by collecting and publishing fall and summer semester titles in March and spring titles in October.
