In this first‑person narrative, Tom Krieglstein explains how he turned a single frustrated textbook purchase into a $1.5 million resale business while still in college. The story begins when a $150 law textbook is rejected by the campus bookstore because it is an old edition. Tom discovers the same book sells for $75 on Amazon, lists it, and makes a quick profit. Realizing many classmates face the same problem, he offers to buy their old‑edition books at a discount, resells them online, and repeats the process across multiple classes. Leveraging his campus network, he approaches faculty and other departments, offering to purchase their unsellable books at even lower rates. When his supply dwindles, he negotiates with the campus bookstore’s back‑room inventory, buying bulk piles of old books for pennies per pound and expands the arrangement to seven additional Chicago‑area stores. He eventually quits his regular student job, scales the operation to include electronic products, and after graduation reflects that the market is now crowded, noting he no longer runs the business but that the model remains viable for others.
Chapters
Oftentimes I get asked this question how I started a business in college that grew to $1.5 million in sales. So I figured I'd share the story with. How it happened was I was in this business law class, and the book costs $150, which for any college student is a ton of money. But the saving grace of textbooks is at the end of the semester, you can go back to the bookstore and we can sell this book back. So I'm walking back to the bookstore, and I go to the bookstore lady. I'm like, hey, I want to sell this book back. And she looked at me and started to laugh. And I was like, why are you laughing? This isn't funny. And I found out that it was an old edition textbook that they wouldn't buy back. Old edition, meaning they didn't need it anymore. I was really frustrated because it was out $150. So on my way back to my room, I stopped at the computer lab to look to see how much this book was selling for online. So I went to Amazon.com and looked it up, and I found it was selling for $75. So I listed it. I went to a class, came back about an hour later, logged back in and said, you've got mail. And sure enough, in one hour, that book sold for $75. I was like, this is great, you know, like, I made some money back. But then in my mind, I started to think, wait a second. That class that I'm in, they all have that same book. They're going to get rejected, and they're not going to think to sell it online. So then the next day, I walk in front of the class, hey, everybody, I know you have these books you can't sell back because they're old edition. But because I'm so giving to my time, my energy, and my money, I'm willing to buy all your books for $45 a piece. They agreed. There were 40 people in the class, bought all their books, went back to the computer lab, listed the books for $75. Several days later, looked at my email, logged back in and said, you've got the mail. And sure enough, every book sold for $75. And I remember at the time, I was like, holy smokes, I'm not eating ramen noodles tonight. I'm going all out. I was so excited. But then I started to realize, wait a second, there's probably other classes on campus that have the same old edition textbooks. And because I was so involved on campus, I knew all the faculty and all the faculty knew me, so I could walk into anyone's faculty office, even class I wasn't even in. And I'd walk in and ask them when their book is turning over. So then I started to find out the other classes on campus that were having old edition books and walk in front of those classes, and I'd stand up front and I'd be like, hey, everyone, my name's Tom. I'm not even in your class, but I know you have these old edition textbooks that you can't sell back. And because I'm so giving to my time, my energy, and my money, I'm willing to buy all your books for $25 a piece. And they agreed. And then I go to the next class, the next class. I go the next class and the next class, and I kept listing them online. And at one point, I was actually making more money selling these old edition textbooks online than I was with my regular student job. I actually left my student job just to sell textbooks online. And at one point, it got to the point where I was starting to run out of textbooks and I felt like I needed more. And it was the textbook dealer. So I went back several months later, and the lady's still there. And I walk up to her and I said, hey, I'm just curious, what do you all do with the old edition textbooks that you don't sell to us, but you can't ship back to the distributor because they're old edition? And she opened up this back room filled with 5,000 old edition textbooks that she told me they sell for 50 cents a pound, which is like $2 and 50 cents a book. And I remember going, hmm. I was like, because I'm so giving to my time, my energy, and my money, I'm willing to buy all your books for 25 cents a pound. Talked to the manager, they agreed. And they had seven other bookstores in the Chicagoland area that I contracted with to ship their books to me at the end of every semester. And I know some of you are probably thinking, tom, did you sleep out of a bed of textbooks? Yes, I did. I did. Textbooks everywhere. There were like stacks and stacks and stacks of textbooks, but I didn't care because after I graduated, I was selling a million and a half worth of textbooks and other products, such as electronic, to people all over the world. And when I go to college campuses now, I see these textbooks sitting there in the garbage and the recycling. I live near a New York university here in New York City, and I'll walk by at the end of the semester and I'll see a textbook sitting in the garbage and I'll look at it. Ooh, that's like a $55 book. Do I dumpster dive? When I was super involved on campus, I built a relationship with the faculty, staff, and administration that allowed me to just walk into their office. I also started to think about school as much more of just a car to class experience. All these other things that were going on at the college campus, such as the co curricular that allowed me to build those relationships, but also to have this idea that wait, I don't just need to use this book for the semester and be done with it or sell it back to the bookstore. There's other options. So that's how I started this million and a half dollar business in college. The good news for you is I no longer do that business. The bad news for you is that thousands of people now do that business. I was one of the first people to do it, so not as easy as it was when I first started.
