Tradeversity: The new online trading platform made by JMU students
Students got tired of not being able to sell their books so they started building a better marketplace
You’ve just finished yet another semester at the university many refer to as “Disney World.” You’re now stuck with all those textbooks you bought from the dreaded bookstore or that dude you chatted up on Facebook. Back to square one. You go back on to the class Facebook groups desperately trying to sell your textbooks, posting weekly because your post gets lost in the feed. Everyone is trying to sell their damn textbooks! Will you be stuck with these books you couldn’t care less about? Will you go donate plasma to make some money?
A few places that are go-to’s for getting rid old books include Facebook, eBay, and Craigslist. Are these really the most effective places to sell?
With reference to Facebook groups, you’re unlikely to get responses on this page. You see 6 posts but there are 310 other folks just waiting for someone to message them.
Ebay? Too high of a commission, no thanks. Well, you could always try Craigslist. A great looking site that leads to no sketchy transactions at all! Give me a break. And then the Godwin bookstore is the bane of our existence.
You’ve got a problem and you need a solution. Look no further than some of your peers!
The Tab spoke with Marketing majors Ian Fuller and August Erickson about their approach to the problem. Along with a few high school friends Evan and Mike Meyers, they started Tradeversity, an iOS and Android app that serves as a convenient and reliable platform to sell your used textbooks, amongst other things.
(left to right: August Erickson, Ian Fuller)
Evan and Mike Meyers’s father Dan Myers sold sports equipment and would get backpacks for free and one vacation from college when Mike was back, he had nothing to do. Here’s the synopsis.
August: “Mike was in debt and his dad said he could sell the backpacks in the garage and keep any profit he made. He tried selling them on eBay, Craigslist. He thinks to himself, everyone needs a backpack and there’s no good marketplace for it. That’s when the light bulb went off. It quickly went from an idea to a website and business. It’s so bizarre that the marketplace wasn’t there. You look around now, everyone has a backpack.”
So here we have a kid experiencing the issues of selling as well and this team, they want to make the platform something that really vibes with students. They’re always open to feedback and taking any ideas students may have to make the app better.
Ian: “On the original app, you could buy and sell but you couldn’t rent or list services. We want to make something that students will be inclined to use. It’s a fluid process, we’re always trying to match what students want.”
So what’s the call to action? Aside from not getting sales, why should you use Tradeversity instead of Facebook, Craigslist, OfferUp or 5Miles to name a few apps?
August: “We’re safe, we’re secure, and we’re local. The number one thing is you know you’re dealing with JMU student or staff which we verify via a .edu email. Anyone can be in Facebook groups. When you’re speaking to someone in say, the James Madison University Class of 2017 group, it’s not guaranteed that they’re a student. We suggest meeting places like the bookstore for this niche audience. There’s no need for shipping but more so a need for safety.”
Ian: “You look at the posts in Facebook groups and it’s just organized horribly and it’s inefficient.”
August: “There’s no organization, no categories, posts will get buried.”
Ian: “It’s not only safer, but much more efficient.”
August and Ian make some good points. Think to yourself, how many books do you have from classes you took two years ago? How many times have you posted them in the “JMU Class of 20xx” groups? Or even the JMU textbook groups? As Ian and August point out, Facebook wasn’t created so you could sell your college textbooks, they have other things to focus on. While groups do offer selling features, it’s clear that is not Facebook’s priority at the moment. Their customer service won’t be as responsive either, again since Facebook has a vast array of things to take care of.
If you bought your book from the Godwin bookstore or from Amazon or Chegg, they won’t buy them back at a reasonable price and if you try selling on Craigslist…well, good luck finding people on there to sell to! Even if you do find someone, who knows how far they live from you and what kind of shady acts they could commit? With Tradeversity, Ian and August are fostering a safe and secure environment with people you know. With regards to that, what if something did go haywire?
August: “We’d be able to pull the two individuals, where they were. We also have a customer support staff that would be able to address any issues like that. There’s full transparency. Anyone can make a fake Gmail account and join a Facebook group. We have their college email address. If there’s any incident and we have to go through the university, we know exactly who it is, we have their exact student e-mail address and we can handle it appropriately. We have the power and resources to handle safety situations.”
Ian: “From a student perspective too, one of the features we’ve added is user reviews so if I was to sell something and you were unhappy with the product you can leave a review on my page so when Gus goes to buy something, he can see that seller’s rating. It creates accountability among students and transparency in the marketplace.”
Ian and August hope that they can mitigate risks as much as possible and are in the process of setting up a “Tradeversity” location on campus, possibly a sign by the bookstore where students could safely make transactions. Aside from that, what else can you expect for the new year though?
August: “We’ll be offering more things within the app. Offering the ability for a storefront. expanding to new schools. We’ve got a lot in our arsenal and we plan to constantly update the app and implement our ideas Scan the ISBN and see if it’s in the marketplace.”
Ian: “Another thing we’re trying to accomplish is to go from being seen as a marketplace to a sharing economy. It’ll be a place where you go to interact with other students.”
This is capitalism folks, so go ahead and start trading items with students you can trust! Made by students, for students.