Students can now buy and sell notes online, a recent trend that has hit the University of Massachusetts campus.
FlashNotes.com is a new online marketplace for buying and selling notes for college courses. From anthropology to marketing and everything in between, FlashNotes claims to have class and book notes for all academic subjects.
If the site does not already have the required notes, the note-seeker can easily email their class to have someone upload them onto their site for sale, according to FlashNotes.com
Uploading is simple, with accounts being free to create. All a seller needs to do is upload notes via a document or PDF file, according to the website.
“It took me five minutes to upload my notes and market them,” said Kale Dumont of Kent State University on FlashNotes.com. “It was as easy as sending an email.”
Class and book notes aren’t all FlashNotes offers. The site also offers flashcards to buy and sell for studying purposes. Potential buyers can preview the flashcards by seeing the questions but having to buy them in order to see the answers, according to FlashNotes.com
The prices of FlashNotes vary depending on the note seller’s desires, according to the website. Sellers are allowed to name their own prices, which may vary depending on the length and detail of notes, as well as their popularity. According to FlashNotes.com there is a minimum price requirement of $1.99.
Sellers get a commission of 80 percent on each sale, according to FlashNotes.com.
The site says sellers are paid via PayPal on Fridays at 5 p.m. if their notes sell. Creating a FlashNotes account is free, as is a PayPal account for money transactions.
“I’ve made $110 by selling my notes,” said Ohio State University student Jake Miller on FlashNotes.com. “I’ve sold them three of four times in one quarter.”
If a student isn’t happy with their purchase of notes, FlashNotes.com claims it will give the buyer’s money back if contacted within a 24 hour time period of sale.
A student’s work is protected against copying or plagiarism when using the site.
“A student’s notes are his or her own personal interpretation of information,” according to FlashNotes.com
FlashNotes also claims the benefits of their notes go beyond the study room.
“A lot of professors like FlashNotes because it encourages the students selling notes to work even harder while helping students who need it,” according to the website.
Justin Surgent can be reached at [email protected].
