

Ask HN: Review local used textbook startup - ABrandt

Hi HN,<p>Please take a look at my friend's startup, matchio (matchio.com). They're trying to create an easier way for students to buy and sell textbooks with their peers. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.<p>Thanks
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cryptnoob
1) "Welcome to Matchio! Get started by viewing our intro video!" --- THIS
Gives me a video that is too big for the window it's in. (Firefox 3.5.9, 1024
x 768 monitor, browser is maximized)

2) "OR WATCH A 60 SECOND VIDEO TOUR" --- DOESN'T do anything, even though it
looks like a play link

3) Why must I have a .edu account if I refuse to use Facebook? Are non
students not invited?

4) The slidedown and slideup at top and bottom of screen are cool, but I get
confused by the up/down arrows. On the bottom, they are reversed, and on the
top, down arrow seems like "minimize" to me.

5) On <http://bradley.matchio.com/tos.html> , I'm getting some weird
characters in place of the apostrophes. "Click your "Iâ€™m buying" or "Iâ€™m
selling"

6) I love the graphics. I wish my sites looked half this good.

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slindstr
Very cool idea! Looks great! Here's a couple of critiques:

1\. On the main graphic in the middle of the page where it says "Matchio is
The best way to buy and sell your books locally. Period." the letters run
together when I view it in Safari 4.0.4

2\. On the very bottom, the "Learn More" section, I feel that this is kind of
an unnecessary use of JS animation. This section is asking for feedback, and
provides useful links so if you don't expand it you might never see this info.
I would just keep it expanded.

3\. Everything under "Feedback" in the learn more section does the same thing.

4\. Privacy policy and Terms of Services links don't do anything (I'm guessing
they already know that though)

5\. I also noticed in the source that there's a lot of inline Javascript, some
in using JQuery, some not. I would try to keep it consistent and I'd throw it
all inside of $(document).ready() to keep the markup cleaner, plus everything
inside here will be ready to be used immediately after the DOM is loaded.

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adelevie
Great idea, I want it at Penn State.

You should get data that links textbooks to courses. Then all you do is enter
your current schedule. When you pick the next semester's classes, students get
matched up.

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tfurusa
Hi there, I'm Tatenda the Project Manager. Thanks for the feedback, we only
launched less than week ago but the response has been positive. Yes we have
textbooks linked to courses at Bradley University. This is our primary entry
point, and is an edu sign up only.

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ABrandt
Clickable: <http://matchio.com>

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shafqat
Good idea. But how do you make money?

~~~
tfurusa
Thanks. It is a free to use service for now. We are exloring various
monetization methods. For the moment, advertising sales are keeping the lights
on. Any suggestions?

