By SUZANNE BONNER
suzanne@du2.byu.edu
Finally there's an alternative to buying textbooks from bookstores. Bigwords.com is a Web site designed to sell textbooks to college students nationwide.
Matt Johnson, 23, is the founder and CEO of Bigwords.com. Johnson started working for Internet companies four years ago and began researching the idea for a Web-based textbook company in 1997.
'I recognized the need for students to buy textbooks over the Internet,' Johnson said, and on August 1, 1998, Bigwords.com was incorporated.
'We have a database of about 2 1/2 million titles and we're working on that constantly,' said John Bates, 35, co-founder of Bigwords.com.
Leri Greer and Jeff Sherwood are the other two co-founders for Bigwords.com.
Johnson started out advertising to eight schools in southern California. Within 5 1/2 weeks, Bigwords.com was selling textbooks to over 200 different schools, Bates said.
Bigwords.com also sells used textbooks. Visitors of the Web site can simply click on the 'Used if Available' icon to see if the textbook they are searching for can be purchased used. If a student cannot buy the textbook used, Bigwords.com promises it will have a new copy of the textbook, Bates said.
'We think that it is really important to come to us with any book you want. No one else is doing that,' Bates said.
Carol Meiselman, a public relations agent for Alexander Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, said other competitors are aligned with bookstores and are not working solely with students.
'(Bigwords.com) is the only independent company in the industry right now,' Meiselman said.
Bigwords.com believes its textbooks are cheaper than textbooks sold in bookstores.
'If you come price one book, it may or may not be less expensive. But price a whole bunch of books and it's more than likely your order will be significantly less,' Bates said.
Students who have ordered textbooks from Bigwords.com found this to be true.
'(Bigwords.com) was fun, easy and saved me $15,' said Lindsey Ricks, a senior from Sunnyside, Wash., majoring in communications studies.
One feature Bigwords.com offers is free shipping service. Utah delivery service is between five and seven days, Bates said.
'We figured we'd rather do something good for the students instead of doing commercials,' Bates said.
Bigwords.com sticks to a return policy that pays for all expenses if it was the one that made the mistake. If someone decides to return the textbooks, he or she will be expected to pay a $5 fee.
'The goal of our Web site and the whole organization of Bigwords is to make students' lives better, less expensive and more convenient,' Bates said.