SwoopThat.com

SwoopThat, LLC.
Company typePrivate
IndustryPrice comparison service, online textbook price comparison
Founded2009
HeadquartersSan 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, and specialized in college textbooks but included high school textbooks as well. The company's "books by course" search engine let 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 included a textbook exchange feature through which students could buy and sell books from other students.[2] The website also included a textbook buyback platform through which students could sell their textbooks back to online vendors. SwoopThat was 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 changed to focus on textbooks based on a books by course model. It added course and textbook data from over 2,300 colleges in the United States. Through SwoopThat, students could compare prices for new books, used books, rental books and ebooks.[6]

Renamed HubEdu in 2012,[7] it was bought by Rafter shortly after.[8]

References

  1. ^ Komando, Kim (4 January 2011). "Save money on textbooks". The Kim Komando Show.
  2. ^ Bernard, Tara Siegel (23 August 2011). "The Bucks Guide to Finding Cheap Textbooks: 3rd Edition". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Coffey, Laura T (25 August 2011). "11 ways to beat the system when buying college textbooks". Today. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011.
  4. ^ Mitchell, Robert L (11 August 2011). "Swoopthat scoops up college textbook bargains". Computer World.
  5. ^ Fitzpatrick, Jason (22 October 2010). "SwoopThat Compares Online and Local Merchant Prices". lifehacker.com.
  6. ^ Podplesky, Azaria (6 April 2011). "SwoopThat: Website saves average student 50 percent on textbook costs". The Easterner.
    - Laird, Brittany (12 April 2011). "New site seeks to help students". The Liberty Champion.
    - Miller, Dan (7 September 2010). ""Back to School" = More Shopping Mashups". OpusResearch.
  7. ^ Rosen, Judith. "Finding the Right Course". Publishers Weekly.
  8. ^ "Rafter Scoops Up HubEdu To Help It Challenge The Textbook Industry". TechCrunch. 27 June 2012.