Online Bookstore horrors

Tivoli bookstore Site needs an update

Buying books shouldn’t be more stressful than it already is.
Photo: Nicholas Dimond · The Sentry

With each new semester starting, students are expected to purchase textbooks required for their classes. For CU Denver students, they mostly depend on The Tivoli Station’s Bookstore and other outlets. Unfortunately, the Tivoli Station’s online setup is in dire need of a rework, especially during the pandemic. Their website doesn’t always work as it should, their purchase setup is nowhere near user-friendly, and their shipping and returns are not up to basic shipping standards.

When using their website, there are two major problems when students are looking for their textbooks. The first being the class search feature. When searching for books, if no classes are selected, the website will return the search as invalid. If this is something that is required, it would be much more user friendly to show a walkthrough for first time users. Without this, it’s super confusing for students when their completely valid searches come back invalid. When the department search is not loading, students will have to depend on secondary websites to get their texts. This can lead to wrong editions of a text, scams, or purchasing books from sellers who jack their prices way up. Though the Tivoli’s website may be hard to work with internally because of the three universities using it, it should be a priority to have it working properly for students to get their books with the least amount of stress possible.

Another aspect of their site that is frustrating to navigate is the purchase setup. When buying texts, students sometimes have to create an entirely new account in order to get their books. Students are not allowed to login through their university credentials that already exist with their schools. When creating this account, students have to fill out all their information again when it should already be on file. Once this is settled and students checkout, they sometimes get an email that their payment method is invalid and items will be canceled, even if the payment is valid and goes through. It’s confusing to get two emails saying items are ready to be shipped and are canceled.

The last kink The Tivoli can work out is their shipping and return policy. When students need to return any item to the store, they don’t provide the shipping labels for students meaning students will have to pay for their items to be transported back. Even companies like Amazon provide this for customers for full satisfaction. Students are already paying so much money for the books, the least they could get is a shipping label from the bookstore.

The Tivoli Bookstore is the place students depend on forgetting their texts. However, the website is not up to standards, this is unacceptable, especially with many students being remote learners. With a few fixes, their website could be a great place for students to get their textbooks.

This is a selection from the Feb. 10 issue. To view the full issue, visit: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/570586/