SwoopThat.com
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Price comparison service, online textbook price comparison |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | San Diego, California, USA |
Key people | Jonathan Simkin (CEO), Kevin King (CTO), Benjamin Carson (COO) |
SwoopThat.com was an online textbook price comparison service. It was based in San Diego, California, it specialized in college textbooks but includes high school textbooks as well. The company's books by course search engine lets students input their class schedules, see all the required textbooks for those schedules, and find the cheapest online sources of those books.[1] The search engine also includes a textbook exchange feature through which students can buy and sell books from other students.[2] The website also includes a textbook buyback platform through which students can sell their textbooks back to online vendors. SwoopThat has been featured in The New York Times, on the website of the Today Show,[3] on the website of Computerworld magazine,[4] and the weblog lifehacker.com.
History and business model
SwoopThat was founded by students from Claremont McKenna College and Harvey Mudd College. It originally existed as a product search engine with an emphasis on local products and stores.[5] It later shifted to a focus on textbooks based on a books by course model. It has since added course and textbook data from over 2,300 colleges in the United States. Through SwoopThat, students can compare prices for new books, used books, rental books, and ebooks.[6][7][8]
Renamed to HubEdu in 2012,[9] bought by Rafter shortly after.[10]
References
- ^ Komando, Kim (2011-01-04). "Save money on textbooks". The Kim Komando Show.
- ^ Bernard, Tara Siegel (2011-08-23). "The Bucks Guide to Finding Cheap Textbooks: 3rd Edition". The New York Times.
- ^ Coffey, Laura T (2011-08-25). "11 ways to beat the system when buying college textbooks". Today.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-26.
- ^ Mitchell, Robert L (2011-08-11). "Swoopthat scoops up college textbook bargains". computerworld.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Jason (2010-10-22). "SwoopThat Compares Online and Local Merchant Prices". lifehacker.com.
- ^ Podplesky, Azaria (2011-04-06). "SwoopThat: Website saves average student 50 percent on textbook costs". The Easterner.
- ^ Laird, Brittany (2011-04-12). "New site seeks to help students". The Liberty Champion.
- ^ Miller, Dan (2010-09-07). ""Back to School"= More Shopping Mashups". OpusResearch.
- ^ Rosen, Judith. "Finding the Right Course". PublishersWeekly.com.
- ^ "Rafter Scoops Up HubEdu To Help It Challenge The Textbook Industry". TechCrunch.