New textbook company allows students sharing

After someone offered to sell him a book at half price, Ilham Kabir had an idea.

Kabir, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at
Chicago, created the website Felicks to help students buy textbooks from one another without additional fees.

Since the website’s successful launch in August 2013, Felicks promoters, or ambassadors, have been hired at 12 campuses to help generate interest in Felicks.

Sophomore Michael Stack serves as IU’s ambassador. He said the website has more than 3,000 users at UIC.

“Although it’s new at IU, in the past six days there are 560 users on campus,” Stack said. “We will be at over 2,000 in the next two weeks.”

Stack said he promotes Felicks by talking to students around campus.

“I promoted our product in classrooms, the cafeteria — basically anywhere that students hang out,” Stack said. “I have a laptop, iPhone or iPad out with me all the time to show students how easy the site is.”

Kabir said the idea for Felicks occurred when he struggled to buy a math book.

“I ordered one on Amazon and it arrived in a terrible condition,” Kabir said.

“I went to the bookstore to just buy it, and a girl said, ‘I used the book last semester. You can just buy mine.’”

Kabir said students don’t have to worry about the condition of the book with Felicks, since only students on their campus can exchange.

Freshman Kaundinya Pochampally said the website streamlines the process of trying
to buy or sell a book on campus.

“The website was created because trying to exchange books on Facebook or other sites was too disorganized,” Pochampally said. “Students need something not too
time-consuming.”

Kabir named the site Felicks after the Latin word “felix,” which means lucky or fortunate.

“I felt as students, we could all use some extra hope in our lives,” Kabir said. “I changed the spelling from ‘felix’ to ‘Felicks’ because I thought it was something people would remember.”

The website is intended to make it easier for students to either buy books or place books on the website.

“In about 20-30 seconds, a student can post a book online,” Kabir said.
When a student enters the site, he or she chooses to either buy or sell, and creates a profile.

Unlike Amazon, eBay or Chegg, a student selling or buying through Felicks doesn’t have to worry about going to the post office to send the book.

Instead, students exchange books with each other on campus.

“Other websites charge shipping fees, selling fees and tax, which can become expensive for a student to sell a book,” Kabir said. “When a student is placing a book, the price is completely up to them.”

Follow reporter Angela Hawkins on Twitter @angelalhawkins.