Go ahead and remove that futon from the trash pile at the end of your driveway. Dust off that business ethics textbook while you’re at it, too.
Thanks to a new student-developed website, members of the Penn State University Park and Behrend campuses are able to log online and exchange or purchase relevant textbooks, appliances, furniture and school supplies. The site, titled StudentTrade.net, also allows property owners to post and update student rentals.
“Think Craig’s List, but for students,” said Eric Wehler, a senior project and supply chain management major at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, who helped plan the site. “It’s a service for the students and a way to help them save and make a little money.”
Wehler worked alongside fellow Penn State Behrend students Zach Reott and Scott Klein to develop the website as part of a class project for their MIS 430: Systems Analysis course.
“My course requires that students work to identify real problems and design a solution,” said Ido Millet, professor of management information systems and the instructor for the course.
When it came time to map out a project, Wehler said he had the perfect idea.
“I’ve had this idea for about 18 months or so,” he said. “I always feel like it’s hard to sell back your books after you purchase them, or you do not get much for them. I said, ‘How can we get more money back for the students? Why can’t we connect the students directly?’”
After hearing the idea, Millet agreed that it would fit the assignment nicely. Wehler partnered up with Klein, a senior project and supply chain management major, and Reott, a senior software engineering major who programmed the site. StudentTrade.net officially launched Dec. 12, complete with sections for books, furniture, appliances, rental properties and school supplies. A University Park forum was added to the site last week after students emailed Wehler and expressed interest in the site.
Membership to the site is free. Penn State students can sign up by visiting http://studenttrade.net/.
Forums also have been added for Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and Slippery Rock University after students from those schools reached out to Wehler. He says he hopes to add more schools in the future, and a built-in “Request School” form is included on the site to help facilitate that process.
“It is a self-sustaining website, but we have to make sure that we have a mass amount of users if this is to work," Wehler said.