UPEI grads launch new site where students can buy and sell textbooks

Two recent UPEI graduates are trying to make back-to-school preparations a little easier for university students.

Alkarim Bhalesha and Vimal Ramaka launched a new website this week, called Bazr, where students can buy and sell textbooks, and other school-related items.

"We're trying to simplify that process," said Bhalesha. "So when students want something, they're looking for a used textbook, or a clicker or something, they can just go to Bazr and find it over there."

Textbooks can be expensive

Bhalesha and Ramaka said they were inspired to create the site based on their own experiences as UPEI students a few years ago.

They said the high price of some textbooks meant they along with many of their peers tried to buy used books as often as possible.

"Textbooks are sometimes about $200 to $300. Which is, which sometimes makes us wonder, like, if it's a textbook and a bag of diamonds together kind of thing," said Bhalesha.

A place to find everything in one place

There are already Facebook groups where students buy and sell items. In fact, Ramaka started two such groups when he was a UPEI student. But he says those groups weren't always easy to navigate, and he sometimes spent a lot of time looking for the books he needed.

"I found the same issue of not being able to find the textbooks of things that I need for my university at the right time very easily," said Ramaka.

They built the new site as a place for students to find everything in one place.

"There is no navigating into different pages, a lot of pages looking for stuff, and trying to filter them, all of that," said Ramaka.

They created a search function in their website, so users can easily search by keyword, or price range.

Students already signing up

The pair designed and built the site in just 48 hours last weekend, and launched it on Monday. They said they're amazed with how quickly people started signing up.

"We've been like for about twodays? 48 hours. We've had almost five thousand plus views, 200 plus registrations, about 70 to 80 posts. People are already on there and they're using it," said Bhalesha.

At the moment, the site is available only to UPEI students. Users have to register using their university email account. But, they said they hope to expand the site, and launch it at Holland College as well.

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