Which is the best way to operate my business idea?

[Whizzkid-000]

Hello all I am a fairly new entrepreneur and have made a little bit of money online (around $20,000) by buying and selling various items. But my wish now is to invest this into a solid business which has one focus. I am interested in launching a txtbook rental service but i am very unsure as to going about it? I have done some research on various competitors namely ( Che gg.com , boo krenter.com , sko obit.com).

But i am very curious as to how they operate?
Would these companies have massive warehouses full of textbooks or would they have deals in place with major book stores that when a student orders a book from their site its the major book store that delivers the book?

Having a large warehouse would be risky as you will not know how much book or how popular a book was? How should i go about starting this kind of business up with my kind of budget? Is it only possible with the help of investors?
Would appreciate a reply thanks in advance

[Whizzkid-000]

is there anybody that will hep me out?

[bananaman]

I don't know what textbooks you have in mind.

However, considering that university texbooks are ridiculously expensive($50 - $150), this may be a good market to tap into.

Alot(if not all) of universities have a second-hand bookshop where students sell/donate books that they no longer use. Hence, these books are very specific to the courses at that uni. And the books are already onsite.

You could lease the books from the bookshop, to students who want that particular book. The bookshop could keep 20% of profits, you keep 80%. You could lease the book to the student for, say, $20 - $30 a semester. Once they've finished with it, they return it to the bookshop.

I suppose you could also use other book retailers, not just the uni bookshop.

Good luck.

[toronto.personal3]

Few things in the world are as exhilarating as starting a new company.
Metaphors abound, and we’ve all heard them: starting a company is like
having a baby, falling in love, and running a marathon. Few folks,
however, want to continue the metaphor when things go bad at a
startup. If they did, we would be having discussions about running a
startup being like divorcing your spouse, collapsing from exhaustion
in the 20th mile of the marathon, or–God forbid–losing a child.

[PsiPro]

They in all probability do NOT have a deal with the publishers. My mother used to be a professor and also used to work for McGraw Hill, and they are working very hard to kill the used book market (So you may be getting into a industry that is slowly dying).

And that price for textbooks, $50-$150 is very low. When I was in school (not terribly long ago) majors books ranged from $150-500 a piece. The average book has a 6 cycle life (according to McGraw Hill in their campaign against the used book market), so figure a 'rented' book would actually go from anywhere 4-6 owners (semesters).

So renting it for 25% of the new price should turn you a profit around the 3 renter (assuming most book stores markup by 30% to get the purchase price for a wholesaler).

Of course you could buy the books used from students, just beat the bookstores price and you will have the cheapest way to start building your selection up. But you also would miss the first season the books were in use.

Another consideration is you will need to get the book list from the university, so you know what to stock for next year.

I think there are a lot of considerations in this business, but I think it is a model that can work.

To answer your question, I find it unlikely they have any deal with the publishers but it is possible.

I wouldn't start in a warehouse, start in your garage.

I think with a few thousand you can get started. Start specializing in only one department so your very focused (you don't need to blanket the entire campus to advertise, just one building) and start by buying used books and renting them for just a bit more then you bought them for.