BookScouter.com
Price comparison website
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BookScouter.com is a comparison shopping website that helps buy, sell, and rent textbooks and used books online.[2] The website compares offers and prices from 30 booksellers and buyback vendors in the US and suggests the most fitting place to purchase or sell a given book.[3] The website is mainly used by college students.[4]
 | |
Type of site | Comparison shopping website |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Wilmington, Delaware 39.739071°N 75.539787°W |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner | BOOKSCOUTER LLC |
| Founder | Brandon Checketts |
| Industry | Internet, Comparison Shopping, E-commerce |
| Products | books, used books, textbooks |
| Services | Online shopping |
| URL | bookscouter.com |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | August 6, 2007[1] |
| Current status | Active |
| Written in | PHP |
History
BookScouter was founded in 2007 by Brandon Checketts.[5][6][7] Checketts developed this price-comparison website to help students and recent graduates sell their used college books.[8] He first came up with this idea when he heard about how his wife's friend was selling her old college books to pay off her student loans.[9][10] Checketts created a working prototype that simplified and expedited the process by comparing prices from seven vendors at a time. The project was well-received, and Checketts kept growing it as a business.[11]
Business model
BookScouter's price comparison engine aggregates data from partnering vendors and their offers on a single book, identified by its unique ISBN.[12] BookScouter neither buys books directly from sellers nor sets the prices.[13] All the offers available on the website are set by vendors.[14]
BookScouter.com is an Amazon associate and earns commissions from qualifying purchases. The platform also offers Pro Tools for high-volume booksellers on a monthly subscription basis.[15] Pro Tools include bulk ISBN lookup, deals finder, historical price lookup, and recently searched high-value books identifier.[16]
Vendors and bookstores
BookScouter compares prices from AbeBooks, Amazon.com, ValoreBooks.com, Chegg.com, Powells.com, Booksrun.com, and other vendors and bookstores.[17]
Mobile
Other activities
BookScouter offers a quarterly scholarship of $500 for any enrolled student in the US.[22] This scholarship should be used towards acquiring textbooks and aims at easing students’ financial expenses.[23][24]
From 2019 to 2020, BookScouter produced The Studentpreneur Show — a podcast about student-run businesses and startups.[25] In each podcast episode, a guest tells about their experiences of founding and running companies while studying at college.[25]