Remember all those textbooks we toiled over as students? Or if you are still a student, then you definitely know what we are talking about. But what happens when you move on to the next year and those particular textbooks are of no use to you? They are left in a corner gathering dust or are sold away to the kabadiwala. Through the platform bx-zone.com, your books can find new takers and benefit others. How? To find out we spoke to Abhishek Nagar the Chief Architect of this website, which is not only very popular but extremely beneficial for students. It was founded by his father, Ajay Nagar.
Let's rewind
It was more than three-and-a-half years back that Abhishek identified a problem which was that while at one hand, students wanted to buy textbooks at a cost lower than the market price and on the other hand, there were students who wanted to do away with their textbooks since they were starting their new semester. "And bx-zone.com is the portal where students can sell and buy second-hand textbooks," says the 32-year-old. He is based out of Pune, but this portal is used in 200 cities of the country. While on the list are major metropolitan cities like Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Tier II and III cities like Zunheboto (Nagaland), Chamarajanagar (Karnataka) and so on also use this portal extensively. The model is simple, the seller uploads the details of the book (like its state) they want to pass on and when an interested student establishes contact, they decide a mutually-convenient place and time to meet, bargain and purchase the book. Quiz the Bhopal-born chap about people who might sign up with the intention of duping others, he says that they don't have any payment gateways, hence, it makes things difficult for people who sign up with the wrong intentions.
A very green idea
They have a subscriber base of 18,000 who have already purchased or are in the process of purchasing or sold or are in the process of selling pre-loved books. "And this is good for the environment too," Abhishek chimes in. This youngster, despite having a job, puts in all his energy into the website and for him, this is his labour of love.
"It is a people's website, not just textbooks we have all kinds of novels as well. Just a few days ago, someone uploaded details of Bhagavad Gita and we already have the Bible as well," he says with a smile. And he strongly believes that their website works because it creates a win-win situation for both book purchasers and sellers. As for the future, they intend to expand to other countries. They already have a steady demand coming in from Mexico and the USA. Abhishek also started a blog a year ago which now has 50 posts.
For more on them, check out bx-zone.com
