College bookstores have taken their beef with online textbook seller VarsityBooks.com to a new level: the law.
"We are acting on behalf of the 13 million college students and 500,000 faculty served by college stores," Brian Cartier, chief staff officer for the National Association of College Stores, said in a press release. "Our members are deeply concerned that students are being duped into believing they're saving 40 percent on textbooks when such claims are completely false."
"Save up to 40 percent on over 350,000 textbooks, fiction, and more!" reads an ad on the VarsityBooks.com site.
NACS alleges that the site bases its discounts on the price that "publishers suggest that bookstores charge for new textbooks."
However, "there is no such price in the college publishing industry," said Jim Gianfagna, public relations consultant for NACS. "And therefore, no factual basis for the percent discounts that VarsityBooks.com claims."
The National Association of College Stores filed the suit Friday in the US District Court in Washington D.C.
NACS is not seeking monetary damages, said Gianfagna.
"They are asking the court to stop VarsityBooks.com from making these false claims and to clearly state on its Web site how its discounts are determined," he said.
Gianfagna said statements on the online bookseller's Web site imply that college stores overcharge students for textbooks.
He added that NACS was in the process of investigating other online textbook sites for similar advertising claims.
Faced with increasing competition from online textbook sellers, college stores have been going online themselves, in addition to taking steps to re-make their stodgy image.
VarsityBooks.com was unavailable for comment on the lawsuit.
