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We spoke to the duo who’ve set up a Marketplace exclusively for UEA students

Finally somewhere to sell my old pans!

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The LCR Ticket Exchange, everyone's favourite group on Facebook, has become the holy grail for students. Wanting to buy/sell a ticket? Ticket exchange. Found someone's ID but don't know who they are? Ticket Exchange. Left your fave green puffer jacket under the benches at the LCR and worried that you might never feel its warm embrace again? The ticket exchange is always there for you; your best friend.

However, one thing was missing: a place specifically for UEA students to sell their unwanted items. We've all experienced the pain of unreliable Depop buyers, or locals who live that little bit too far away (or on some unheard of bus line) to bother selling to. Thankfully, two UEA students; Belle Richardson and Brandon Rowley spotted a solution, and UEA Marketplace was formed!

The Norwich Tab spoke to Brandon to ask him a bit more about where the idea came from and where he thinks it could go in the future.

Brandon started off by telling us, that like all the best ideas a UEA student ever has: "The page was opened on a whim at 23:00 on Tuesday the 20th (of November). It was a Damn good day!"

What made you come up with the idea?

"Both Belle and myself are into fashion and buy and sell items using platforms like Depop and this lead to our idea. The idea when my friend and co founder Belle was browsing through Facebook market place.

"She was interested in a couple of local items that were for sale outside Norwich but unfortunately the buyers didn’t want to post these items to the university.
From this we realised that there was an opportunity to create a ‘market place’ online where students from all years can swap and buy clothes to each other!

"Belle quickly whipped up a cover photo (we’re looking for a new one by the way, if anyone has an eye for photoshop we have some ideas) and the page was up! "

How do you think it will help students?

"We felt as though it would benefit students in a number of ways. Firstly, it promotes 'sustainability' through the buying and selling of second hand items. We felt this is something we can all benefit from, especially in clothing as the fashion industry has a HUGE environmental cost !

"For students an obvious help is that it’s more also more affordable, as items are typically sold for lower than retail prices. In my opinion one of the most appealing things about this concept is it cuts out the middle man or in this case, the postal service.

"By trading clothes on campus , it provides a safe public place to ‘buy and collect’. Sellers don’t have to lose money on postage and buyers don’t have the delay in delivery. For us, the idea simply made sense. There’s thousands of students enrolled at UEA, many of a similar age and many looking to save a bit of money, why not help each other out in a quick and easy way.

What's the interest been like so far and where do you see it going?

"So far the interest has been super positive! We had a handful requests to join the page every hour within the first day meaning we were able to reach 100 members in 24 hours. We now have a number of sellers advertising into the group. We hope to spread the word as much as possible around campus, although it can be difficult as we are not able to post into some of the official university Facebook pages where everyone is connected.

"We hope that the page will continue to grow and one day reach similar membership numbers to that of the official fresher pages and ticket exchange! With the potential of having real market stalls set up for the odd student selling event which can also attract new members."

What can students sell on the page?

"We have a rule of almost anything goes. So far we’ve had clothing, shoes, bags, stationery, a phone and bike ! But we hope that students will get creative, got spare eggs that you don’t need over the weekend ?

"We don’t see why not ! The only thing we don’t allow at the moment is the sale of tickets sold by the student union as there is a ticket exchange for that!"

Did you expect it to get this much attention?

"The initial attention we have received is really good and it’s nice to no fellow students are interested. We are somewhat surprised by how quickly the page spread around but it was are intention for this to happen so that everyone who wants to be involved can be."

"As we said earlier we can only hope the attention grows and more and more students get involved and gets some great deals and also gain a little extra money."

You can join UEA Marketplace yourself right here, and get selling!