From study books on your shelves to money in the bank. Three students have started a new 'Ebay' for used study books: Boocki. 'Many students have 300 euros worth of books at home.'

‘Who still has this book from that course, I want to buy it!’ Business economics student Vic Aalbers read this question often in whatsapp groups with his fellow students.

Aalbers and friends Joël Malefason (TIO university of applied sciences Utrecht) and Lars Janssen (HAN) came up with the idea of developing a new website. The three students met in high school. Boocki.nl is a new Ebay for study books. ‘All three of us are interested in entrepreneurship, so it was easy to find each other.’

But doesn’t Bol.com also sell these books? ‘Yes, it does’, says marketing student Joël. ‘But there, you pay a commission for the website. Bol.com takes a big piece of the pie. With us, selling and buying books is free. We hope to make money from advertisements.’ And what about Marktplaats (dutch Ebay)? ‘That website is not custom-made for study books. Boocki is.’

Automatically on top
You have to admit: the website looks professional and manageable. You can find a book by its ISBN number or author. After you have registered, it is very easy to offer books for sale. The site is programmed in a way that books that are being sold by people from the same university or school, automatically appear on top of the page. ‘That is the easiest, of course’, says Aalbers. ‘It saves shipping costs if you can just meet up.’

The site has been online since June, but this month, the students started marketing it. ‘We are completely satisfied with the website now.’ Aalbers says that they put up posters in almost all student cities. They hope that the number of books offered now, around hundred, grows soon.

Aalbers: ‘Most students have at least twenty unused books at home. If you sell those, you can make at least 300 euros. Everybody wants that, right?’