Online service Essaybay lures athletes
Athletes make up almost half of online essay service's customers
Franklin Kanin
Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: Campus Watch
Athletes make up almost half of students who purchase essays online from EssayBay.com and most do so with the approval of their coaches, according to a study conducted by the custom essay site.
EssayBay writers prepare academic essays, job applications and resumes for their customers. In its "About Us" section, the Web site says it "connects writers with buyers that need custom essays, term papers, theses and dissertations and allows writers to offer their services directly based on the strength of their reputation and past results."
A Feb. 14 article in the Miami Hurricane reported that a "customer profiling exercise" conducted by the British service revealed that more than 45 percent of EssayBay customers are athletes using the site to ensure their grades are high enough to qualify for sports scholarships and that 70 percent of those students have approval from their coaches. The study also found that over 90 percent of athlete customers are hoping for admission into a top university.
Jed Hallam, a representative for EssayBay, said the site offers more than most in the essay industry.
"Some places do free essays, but they're not customized to the student's requirements," he said. "The market needs to advance far enough to where EssayBay is - where you can list a word count, an academic level. You can have someone from Oxford write your essay."
Hallam described the process of buying and posting as a "reverse auction." Buyers are able to link the topic of the paper and all the qualifications they want for it - length, grade they want to achieve, types of references they want and sources the writer should use - and then writers bid on the paper in terms of how well they think they can meet customers' needs.
The practice of students buying essays on the internet can raise questions about academic honesty, especially with the recent controversy over coaches urging their athletes to use it, Hallam said. But he said he was not surprised that coaches told their athletes to use EssayBay.
EssayBay writers prepare academic essays, job applications and resumes for their customers. In its "About Us" section, the Web site says it "connects writers with buyers that need custom essays, term papers, theses and dissertations and allows writers to offer their services directly based on the strength of their reputation and past results."
A Feb. 14 article in the Miami Hurricane reported that a "customer profiling exercise" conducted by the British service revealed that more than 45 percent of EssayBay customers are athletes using the site to ensure their grades are high enough to qualify for sports scholarships and that 70 percent of those students have approval from their coaches. The study also found that over 90 percent of athlete customers are hoping for admission into a top university.
Jed Hallam, a representative for EssayBay, said the site offers more than most in the essay industry.
"Some places do free essays, but they're not customized to the student's requirements," he said. "The market needs to advance far enough to where EssayBay is - where you can list a word count, an academic level. You can have someone from Oxford write your essay."
Hallam described the process of buying and posting as a "reverse auction." Buyers are able to link the topic of the paper and all the qualifications they want for it - length, grade they want to achieve, types of references they want and sources the writer should use - and then writers bid on the paper in terms of how well they think they can meet customers' needs.
The practice of students buying essays on the internet can raise questions about academic honesty, especially with the recent controversy over coaches urging their athletes to use it, Hallam said. But he said he was not surprised that coaches told their athletes to use EssayBay.