Justin Costa ’06 and John Golbe ’06 were on to something when they had the “random idea” to create an online forum for students to sell their used textbooks and other unwanted items to other students around campus. WESmart, which Costa and Golbe describe as “Wesleyan’s premiere virtual trading post,” has only been running for a few weeks, but already boasts 60 – 70 items for sale, Costa said, and has sold about $160 worth of merchandise.
“It’s designed to be a half.com kind of site, but you don’t have to deal with shipping,” Costa said, referring to a popular website that allows students to purchase used textbooks from vendors around the country.
Though students are mostly selling textbooks, items for sale range from a Nintendo64 to a VHS of “Ghostbusters 2.”
“We have oodles of things,” Golbe said.
Interested buyers can scroll through a hefty list of items, including brief descriptions and the prices of items for sale, or post want-ads for things not already available. All transactions go through Golbe and Costa, who post new items for sale or arrange for students to buy items from the sellers. Instructions on how to put an item up for sale or answer an ad are available on the website.
Lacy Friedman ’06 used WESmart to buy a textbook for Econ 101, because she found prices at Broad Street Books too expensive. She managed to find a textbook for half the price of her original, and has since visited the site on a regular basis to check for new items.
“Buying things is easy. You just go to the website where the items are listed and send out an e-mail,” Friedman said. “There’s definitely been a lot more stuff put on since the beginning.”
Friedman chose the site over other bargain websites, like the popular half.com, because transactions take place on campus.
“The thing with half.com and Amazon.com is that it takes a lot longer to go through the mail, especially through the Wesleyan mail center, which I’ve found unreliable,” Friedman said. “This is more accessible.”
Costa emphasized that the site is still under construction. He and Golbe hope to accomplish much more in terms of organization and variety.
“It’s not a finished product,” Costa said. “We haven’t done much marketing. It’s mostly just stuff our friends wanted to sell.”
Though the site is nothing fancy to look at, it is far from low-tech. Costa and Golbe have an arrangement with PayPal, a service used by other internet auction and buying sites that allows customers to pay by credit card. In order to afford the convenience of this service, and to make a little money for themselves, Costa and Golbe take ten percent of whatever the seller makes on an item.
Students can visit the new marketplace at www.geocities.com/areyouwesmart.
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