Buy/Sell books on campus

January 17, 2007 5:56 PM

Buying and selling books on campus

I go to a boarding prep school that has about 800 students, and many of us have the same classes. Thus, book bartering (for money) is popular. However, lots of the students just send all-school emails, which become annoying after awhile.

Straight to the question: How can I solve this problem? Is there perhaps a forum web app or something I can manage?

posted by senterstyle to human relations (5 comments total)

Could you just set up a php BB, have Subject/course Topics and people who want to barter/trade can post within it?, Or something similar to what Freecycle does (google and check their sites for examples)?
posted by edgeways at 5:59 PM on January 17, 2007

I'm looking for something where students can easily post a book, and bargain amongst each other (whether an email being sent to the seller, or on the actual web app), and then remove it once its been sold.
posted by senterstyle at 6:09 PM on January 17, 2007

I had a similar problem. I developed a PHP web app that you could post books into the various sections with a price you'd accept and a form that would e-mail you. It worked pretty well.

Today you wouldn't need to write your own custom app, but it isn't that hard if you're interested. I could dig up the code if you want.
posted by odinsdream at 7:11 PM on January 17, 2007

half.com is good.

I know someone who is developing an app for this.
posted by jesirose at 8:28 PM on January 17, 2007

Weird -- I just saw this Business Week article and the referenced site (chegg.com) go by on del.icio.us. It's intended for college campuses, but it may work for your needs as well.
posted by misterbrandt at 8:55 PM on January 17, 2007