A dim light shines over John Dean, illuminating the small garage-turned-storage-room he stands in. The walls are lined with floor to ceiling wooden shelves, filled with stacks of college textbooks.

He won’t be reading any of these books, but that doesn’t make him any less successful. Dean’s inventory of books will continue to be bought and sold by SMU students through Dean’s company website, TextBookValet.com.

Dean, who graduated SMU last year, created his company senior year after constant dissatisfaction with his process of buying textbooks each semester. Dean saw his peers would use the SMU bookstore website and wondered, “why would people go there and pay these ridiculous prices online?” He realized SMU’s convenience of online ordering attracted SMU students, regardless of the higher prices for textbooks. And like that, TextBook Valet was born.

TextBook Valet offers the convenience of ordering books online, but without the hassle of a student having to know what specific books to look for, as with Amazon or eBay. With TextBook Valet, SMU students simply enter their class schedule, and Dean and his team will do the search for them. TextBook Valet will contact the student directly and inform them what books they need and when they can get it to them. Students will pay for their books through the website, and the books will be delivered to their door in about two days. No more shipping fees, no more waiting two weeks, no more trying to track down a stranger from eBay who sold you a damaged product.

“That’s why I named the company TextBook Valet,” Dean said. “It’s an added incentive and it just makes it a whole lot more convenient.”

However, the convenience doesn’t force students to sacrifice with price. There’s no fee for having the books delivered, and the books themselves are 15 percent cheaper than SMU Bookstore’s prices.

Junior Kristen Yule used the service last semester.

“I sold back like 10 books and they took them all and I made twice what I made at the bookstore my freshman year,” Yule said.

Dean always knew he would start his own business, he just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

“I wanted to create something I would use when I was in college,” he said.

The company has only been running for a year, but students’ need for the service made it grow fast. The first semester, when Dean was working alone, he had about 25 customers. Last semester, that number grew to 206. That was when Dean began hiring employees to help manage the website, make deliveries and advertise on campus.

“TextBook Valet has very competitive buyback prices, which makes my job fun,” said employee Sam Ligon. “I’m basically taking a semester’s worth of work and giving my peers and friends cash in exchange.”

Finals week is TextBook Valet’s biggest season. Students can begin selling books and buying books for next semester at any time using SMU Textbook Valet’s online store.