As a college student, one of the most annoying processes that you have to go through (besides making the perfect schedule) is buying textbooks. Just the thought of looking up all your classes, figuring out the difference between the class number and the section number (who the hell knows the difference), walking through the aisles like a lost puppy looking for your section, etc. gives me a migraine. And of course that beautiful moment when, after standing in a line longer than the Nile River, the cashier rings you up and tells you that you've just spent your life savings on books you'll hardly look at. So when this assignment came up, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to figure out a way to help college kids, like myself, find the exact books that they need for the cheapest price possible. And from this revelation, "In A Bind" was born. It's an interactive site that searches the web for the cheapest prices on your books, based on the information you give it about your classes, and sends them directly to you with the push of a button. All you have to do is follow these simple steps:
- Create an account
- Enter the name of the university that you attend and tell us what classes you're taking
- Sit back and let us work our magic
- ....A Special Surprise!
Step 1: Who are you?
So this part is pretty self explanatory. All we need to know is some information about you. We'll ask the obvious stuff like name, address, birthday, etc. I know that personally I tend to get a little nervous about putting my information out there, but the information that you provide us will be used strictly by our team to make sure that you get your books in a timely manner.
Step 2: Who takes all your money?
This is the fun part. You're going to enter the university that you go to and the classes that you're taking. Now, I know that sometimes people never truly remember who's teaching their courses or what section that they are in. So, we're going to make it ten times easier for you. In order to make sure that you pick the right sections you can either (a) find out what section you're in and enter each section number one by one or (b) link your account with Blackboard (or a system like that) to your account and we can use the information from there. Easy right?
Step 3: Here's the magical part!
So now that you've done all that, it's our turn. We're going to take all of the information you gave us, and go on the ultimate manhunt. We'll search high and low, going through as many sources as we can (even through your schools own bookstore) to find the lowest prices (aka get you the BIGGEST bang for your buck). Once we've found everything that you need, we'll present it to you in a neat shopping cart showing you how much the book will cost if you buy it from us and how much it would be at normal retail price. From there you can choose which books you want to buy (whether it's all of them or just a few), and check out. VUALA, you're done!
Bonus Round!!
There's one more bonus to this site, aside from the amazing qualities that it already possesses. The first would be your account. If you decide to keep your blackboard site linked to your account, you won't have to log on to your site and make a new cart every semester because the site will automatically do that for you. All you have to do is log back in to your account and see what new inexpensive goodies we've put into your account! There's one more surprise. So let's say that you bought a book from us and you decide that you really don't want a book on Greek mythology or molecular biology sitting in your room. You can send it back to us and we'll give you an automatic 50% refund (and yes I am being serious).
So if you hate hassle and have more important things to do than stand in line or figure out how to pronounce the last name of your chem professor, then use "In A Bind" and get back to doing what college kids are supposed to do: partying, eating, and never graduating.
