Our homepage is in the index.html file at the root directory of our project. To view, simply double-click the file.
The target user population is Columbia students who would like to buy/sell secondhand items like books, clothes, furniture and stationery or hire/provide different services such as tutoring of specific classes, photography, etc or rent/sublease apartments. This doesn't differ from us, as we too buy/sell secondhand items or services and rent/sublease apartments.
The problem the target population faces is the lack of a central virtual marketplace for Columbia students to buy/sell second hand items, look for apartments or rent, and provide/hire different services. The current Facebook Buy/Sell groups are not restricted to Columbia/Barnard students, which means spam posts become frequent. To solve this, our platform would require Columbia/Barnard students to sign in using their school emails. Our solution aims to target the flaws of current buy/sell platforms such as Facebook buy/sell pages, eBay, and Craigslist so that they may be better tailored towards the Columbia student demographic. We can separate this problem largely into two concerns: the type of goods/services we offer as well as a user system that allows for buyer/seller authentication and credibility checking. In this regard, our design aims to be an extension of e-commerce platforms such as Amazon in that it would additionally offer services in the form of gigs and services as well as housing that are specific to Columbia students. There is a certain level of trust which comes with buying secondhand items and our solution aims to ensure that trust since you are only buying from, selling to, interacting with and meeting other Columbia students. There is also a certain amount of convenience when you buy something from a Columbia student and then are able to receive the item on that particular day instead of waiting for shipping. We also aim to implement a seamless dialogue between finding the listing and receiving the actual goods/service. Not only should finding the item of choice be easy and convenient, but communication should be smooth between buyer/seller such that there are minimum obstacles in the process.
This problem statement is ambitious because it is an alternative to applications which are already popular (i.e. Facebook, Amazon, Craigslist, eBay) so it will be difficult to migrate students from these platforms to a completely new platform. User education will be key. It is also challenging to execute the project because there are multiple features/processes in the app, and executing them seamlessly is time-consuming. There are so many features and pages in our application that prototyping everything is also very time consuming but important. The app doesn’t just solve one subproblem – it solves a multitude of problems and to display that is crucial in understanding the importance of the application.
The first existing solution is Facebook Buy/Sell groups. They are not the most optimal solution because there are multiple Buy/Sell groups on Facebook right now and not everyone is in all of them. It is also not restricted to Columbia students so anyone can join. You have to go through a lengthy process to finalize a sale. If you are a buyer, you first have to scroll through the entire page to find out if anyone is selling. The second existing solution to buying secondhand items is Amazon/eBay/Craigslist. This again doesn’t work well because you don’t want to buy secondhand items from random people on the internet. There is a certain level of trust and convenience which comes with buying second-hand items from Columbia students. Firstly, there are very low chances of items being falsely advertised, damaged or overpriced when you are buying it from a fellow Columbia student. Another reason this doesn’t work is you can’t ever see the product until after you have paid for it and it has reached you. It can also take days for the item to be shipped to you which doesn’t work when you need something immediately. In addition, the point of CU Marketplace is to provide a platform for Columbia kids to conveniently buy/sell items--this also includes Columbia course specific textbooks and workbooks that may be more expensive and harder to get in other places. Since Columbia kids generally use a textbook for the semester or duration of the course, it is often convenient to buy textbooks second-hand and sell them after. The third alternative solution for services that are provided by the CU marketplace is the Columbia gigs instagram page where people can advertise different services or specialities they have and charge money. This is not a very safe option because anyone can submit a service through an anonymous or false account and there is no verification process for Columbia specific students. Since it is also run solely by an anonymous instagram user, there is a high chance of fraud. There is also no rating system or way to provide feedback on the person offering the service in order to ensure quality of service. There is also no search feature on Instagram so you have to read through all the posts on the page to find something you're looking for. All these solutions are able to get the job done on a surface level. Facebook groups let you get your product on the day itself no matter how taxing it can be to go through the sale finalization process. Amazon/eBay/Craigslist lets you buy a very wide variety of items, some of which might not be available on the Columbia campus. However, we still think our solution is better and users will choose our solution because it makes the process easy, quick and convenient. They will choose our design solution because it’ll just be one central marketplace which you can log into and where you can search for and then choose whatever you exactly want easily without lengthy discussion.
Our final design is the Figma prototypes. To access the website, you first must log in using your school email to prevent spam posts/users. This ensures that all transactions are secure and authorized among students from the Columbia student community. On accessing the homepage, users are able to view listings that are divided into one of three categories: Goods, Services, and Housing. Students then can browse through current listings as well as view those from specific sub-categories as displayed on the left navigation bar. Each good/service would not only display the product with supporting images, the name of the seller, a description, the price, but it would also include the credibility rating of the seller as well as an option to contact the seller directly on the web interface. A user profile page will also allow students to view the goods/services they have previously bought and sold as well as to change login and personal information. You can also rate sellers once you have bought an item/service. Anyone can also sell whatever they want on the website by clicking on the “Sell something” button. You can categorize and subcategorize your listing and add images, tags, the price and a description. You get a notification when someone wants to buy your item.