Back to the books
UPEI students returning to campus today will have an easier way to find used textbooks
Vimal Ramaka and Alkarim Bhalesha want to make campus life a little easier, as well as cheaper, for students. With UPEI graduates, Ramaka in 2015 and Bhalesha in 2016, know first-hand the extra expenses students can face on top of tuition.
It’s especially true for textbooks with some students being able to save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars if they can buy used instead of new.
Ramaka and Bhalesha are hoping to enable more students to buy or sell used books through a new web app called “Bazr” they launched earlier this week.
“This project is kind of special for us because we just graduated from UPEI... we know what UPEI students are thinking these days, we’re not detached from the university,” said Ramaka.
Ramaka said the app’s name comes from the bazaar marketplaces, with students also being able to sell other school-related items.
“That’s the major idea for Bazr. It’s a marketplace for students where they can buy from their peers.” While Bazr is now only available at UPEI, with Holland College being added later this week, Bhalesha said the two hope to spread the app to as many schools as possible. “The last thing you want to do is spend an hour stressing out over finding a textbook for a course … there are things that should become simpler and simpler as we go ahead in time. This is our attempt to kind of simplify that process and take it a bit forward,” said Bhalesha.
The book business is not unfamiliar to Ramaka. He currently manages two popular Facebook pages, UPEI Used Books and UPEI’s Textbook Exchange, that have more than 5,000 combined users. Ramaka said he has wanted to implement the idea into an app for the past several years.
However it wasn’t until last weekend, when Ramaka and Bhalesha challenged themselves to a 48-hour “hackathon,” that they were able to get the idea off the ground. Over a single weekend, Ramaka coded the application while Bhalesha was able to come up with the design and marketing concept.
The application was then launched on Monday solely for UPEI and within a day saw more than 200 registered users with more than 5,000 page views.
As more universities are added, each will have its own network of buyers and sellers comprised only of students at the respective school. This is possible by requiring a Facebook account, as well as a university email address to register as a user.
Ramaka said this increases both security and transparency between the users. Ramaka said he plans on releasing a standalone mobile app (it is currently available as a web app) later this month but wanted to make the service available for students returning to school this week.
“It’s the perfect time to launch something like this,” said Ramaka. “I definitely think this will be a great thing to start at UPEI and I’m very proud.” Currently, the app can be accessed by computer, phone or tablet at www.bazr.ca and www.bazr.io.
“The last thing you want to do is spend an hour stressing out over finding a textbook for a course …“Alkarim Bhalesha