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Bookstore director warns students about misleading discounts

In light of a recent lawsuit filed against an online book company, the U of A Bookstore director is warning UA students about discounts that could be misleading.

Frank Farias, director of the U of A Bookstore, said VarsityBooks.com was using misleading statements that may have been inaccurate.

"They're trying to take sales. They're competing with the college institutional bookstores but they're doing it in a misleading fashion and that's where the lawsuit originated from," Farias said.

The National Association of College Stores, of which the U of A Bookstore is a member, filed a lawsuit against VarsityBooks.com charging it with making false and misleading advertisements on their Web site.

"The NACS is basically trying to hold them accountable in how they are projecting a false image that seems to give them an advantage over institutional campus bookstores," Farias said.

Cynthia D'Angelo, NACS senior associate executive director, said the lawsuit charges VarsityBooks.com with falsely advertising that they sell all their textbooks at 40 percent below the "suggested price" of the textbook.

VarsityBooks.com offers only a small percentage of its books at 40 percent below the "suggested price," D'Angelo said.

According to NACS, the college textbook publishing industry doesn't offer a "suggested price" for all textbooks.

The NACS wants VarsityBooks.com to cease using the term "suggested price" unless the publisher of the product issues a suggested price for the textbook.

The lawsuit also requests VarsityBooks.com to retract its false advertising and inform customers on their Internet site, according to a statement from the NACS.

Jonathan Kaplan, vice president of VarsityBooks.com, said he was not surprised the NACS filed a lawsuit, but was a little disappointed because the company just wants to give students' options.

"What VarsityBooks.com provides to college students is a choice of where to buy their textbooks," Kaplan said. "Historically, there was very little choice for college students - it was basically a monopoly."

Kaplan said the allegations against the company are not justified.

"The lawsuit of the National Association of College Stores against VarsityBooks.com is completely without merit," he said.

Kaplan said the Web site states that students can save up to 40 percent on textbooks and the company does, in fact, sell some textbooks at that discount.

D'Angelo said the VarsityBooks.com Web site used to have a banner on every page stating, "Save 40 percent off of textbooks," but it has been changed since the lawsuit was filed.

NACS is a non-profit organization and is only looking out for the best interests of college institutional bookstores, D'Angelo said.

"It's not that we're against e-commerce," she said. "Competition is healthy and good for everyone."

Besides advertising, Farias said students should be cautious of other illusions online textbook marketers use to appear better than institutional campus bookstores.

"They don't have 100 percent of the titles, yet they appear as though they have this humongous store representing all the titles that we sell here," Farias said. "When, in fact they have gone and strategically selected some titles and then made it appear as though they were discounting those titles."

Farias said some of the discounts are accurate, but the prices are misrepresented most of the time.

He added that sometimes online companies will offer books at a discounted price, but the book will be an older edition of a newer book.

The U of A Bookstore launched a campaign three years ago warning students about misleading discounts offered from large online companies.