MU students open textbook buyback businesses
Frustrated with textbook costs, the Knoblauch brothers came up with a solution.
Published Jan. 25, 2008
When the week of finals arrived this past December, most students felt overwhelmed and stressed, but not Aaron and Brandon Knoblauch. Aaron and Brandon may not look like brothers or, for that matter, businessmen, but in the past six months they have established themselves in the book buyback industry with their nine-month journey to success.
What began as a mere venture to cut textbook costs in January 2007 would eventually prove the brothers to be successful business entrepreneurs.
With the original intention of simply saving money on textbook purchases, Brandon initiated a business project through the help of a friend.
"I was tired of losing so much money on my textbooks," junior accounting major Brandon said. "One day a friend of mine told me about a Web site where I could sell my books online."
This idea intrigued him. Brandon followed the advice of his friend and got more cash than he did in previous years at University Bookstore.
"I wondered, 'Why not buy my friends' books and sell them?'" he said.
Brandon ran with this idea and opened his own Web site called BooksEqualCash.com. Students would go to the Web site, type in the necessary information, and then Brandon would e-mail them back with a price quote and where to meet to finish the transaction.
"I admit it wasn't a very professional operation in the beginning [because] the students would have to personally meet me to exchange their books for cash," Brandon said. "After countless hours of work, I only got a handful of customers, mostly my close friends."
BooksEqualCash.com would eventually fall short of Brandon's expectations.
"There are many reasons why this idea failed," he said. "The greatest problem of all, however, was the absence of a storefront and the lack of advertising which led to a lack of visibility and awareness."
Brandon also recognizes that he did not launch this idea in a timely manner by starting the whole operation in February. It was the failure of BooksEqualCash.com that brought the Knoblauch brothers together as business partners.
"It was then that my brother Aaron stepped in," Brandon said. "He and his roommate came up with the idea of renting space from a business near campus during finals week."
In April 2007, the brothers, with the help of family and friends, started their book buyback business 1UP Books. Their hands-on approach, along with their computer and people skills enabled the brothers to save money by creating their own advertisements through banners, fliers and word of mouth.
"In April we sat down with a pencil and paper to come up with a name," Brandon said. "Once we came up with '1UP Books' I immediately transferred the image of the logo from my mind to the paper."
After a name was selected, Aaron and Brandon contacted two Columbia businesses, Cold Stone Creamery and Shakespeare's Pizza, about renting space at their locations.
"We knew it would be a long shot," said Aaron, a mechanical engineering graduate. "Cold Stone turned us down because they already had a deal with Beat The Bookstore, a rival book buyback company of ours."
Their luck was quick to change.
"The next day we got an e-mail back from Shakespeare's Pizza that they would be happy to let us rent space on their parking lot during finals week," Brandon said. "Aaron and I were blown away [because] we never thought it could be possible."
In preparation for the big buyback week in May, Aaron and Brandon bought $600 worth of coupons from Shakespeare's Pizza so that they could give away free pizza in an effort to draw in more customers. But when the week finally arrived, the brothers were left feeling unconvinced and unsatisfied.
"After probably the fifth book we bought, which went for around $75, Aaron and I looked at each other and promised that we would never do this again," Brandon said while Aaron nodded in agreement. "We thought we were going to lose a lot of money and not make any."
After their slow and discouraging start, business started to pick up. By the end of the week, they had purchased roughly 950 textbooks for a total of $18,000. Aaron and Brandon resold most of the books they had purchased from students through their business.
Shortly after their hectic week last May, the brothers began looking for a new location for the next buyback season in December.
"We had a good relationship with Shakespeare's Pizza, but it was just too far away from campus," Aaron said.
Their newer location was closer to both campus and a familiar rival.
"This semester we moved our blue tent closer to campus to the Flying Cow Shirt Co. at Ninth and University, right next to one of our biggest competitors, Brad's Books," Brandon said. "We have also reserved our spot at the Flying Cow for the end of the 2008 Spring Semester during finals week."
With the new location and more experience, 1UP Books was more successful in December, purchasing over 4,500 more books than their debut in May 2007.
"A better location, more experience, and more capital means more money, which allows you to buy more books and generate a higher profit," Aaron said.
Last May their finances were restricted to their own investments and loans from family and friends. 1UP Book's successful buyback during December was possible heavily due to more outside financial help from Commerce Bank and more loans from family and friends.
Although business has increased for the Knoblauch brothers since their start nine months ago, their competition is and will be an important factor in the amount of 1UP Books' future success.
"I am pretty sure that in competing with the bookstore, we are up against one of the largest book buyback companies," Aaron said. "But there is a large market out there that isn't necessarily satisfied with how the Bookstore buys back books, and one tiny piece of that pie is good."
University Bookstore pays students 50 percent of the new price of a textbook if an instructor has requested it, according to spokeswoman Michelle Froese. Froese said the bookstore is No. 2 in the nation in terms of the amount of used books made available to students
"The key is that the professor requests the book for the next semester," University Bookstore spokeswoman Michelle Froese said. "We try to get as many used books as possible and even recommend that professors use the same materials if it meets their teaching needs, so that we can save the students money."
Beat The Bookstore, a national chain of book buyback companies, uses some of the same technological resources as the University Bookstore.
"One thing that we do that they don't is that we maintain a complete university booklist, similar to that of the bookstore, which is beneficial to the students," owner Scott Runyon said. "Companies like 1UP Books and Brad's Books buy based on wholesale. They serve their purpose, but it is probably not to the best interest of the students."
Runyon has a more traditional approach when it comes to business strategies.
"Whenever you treat them with honesty and respect, the customers walk in knowing that they will get the best deal possible," Runyon said. "By and large, customers see us as a permanent presence and appreciate the value that we bring."
Although they face various competitors on campus alone, Brandon and Aaron are more concerned with their customers' well being versus simply generating a larger profit.
"We tell our customers to go to the bookstore if they can get more money there for their books," Aaron said. "We pride ourselves in being straight up with our customers."
The Knoblauch brothers are confident that their business can stand up to the rest.
"We are both very honest and it is our goal and sole purpose for starting this business that we seek to give our customers the best deals and experience," Brandon said. "All we can say to our competition is 'Good luck.'"