SBG’s SWAPitt may let students swap, auction

At the end of every semester, there are students who can’t quite comprehend how a book they… At the end of every semester, there are students who can’t quite comprehend how a book they bought four months earlier for $100 could depreciate to less than half its value.

When these students go to sell back their books to the bookstore, they often take whatever money they’re offered – even if they think they should be entitled to more.

With the Student Government Board’s help, students will have an alternative to selling back their books to a bookstore – they will soon be able to SWAPitt.

The new online program, SWAPitt, will act as an e-Bay-type system on which Pitt students can sell their used books. But unlike many other schools throughout the country that allow students to sell their books, Pitt’s site will allow students to auction their items.

Other schools that outgoing SGB member Stephanie Hadgkiss researched had sites with classified listings for students to sell their books and other possessions, but they did not include an auction feature.

“I hope we’re going to be the buzz,” she said of the new auction feature.

Bob Winners, who worked on the technical side of the site’s development throughout the semester, said the auction feature was not more difficult than a classified system to develop – it just requires more time to work on it. He added that this feature should make SWAPitt unique, even among other Pitt book-swapping programs.

During the summer, when the members and president of SGB went on their annual retreat, they discussed the idea of buying a server for the board. At the time, Hadgkiss knew nothing about servers.

Board member Scott Morley informed her that a server could act as a storage place for programs, such as professor profiles and a book swap.

When Hadgkiss heard about the potential for a book swap, she was immediately interested. Initially, she called it Pitt Swap, which prompted another board member to think of SWAPitt.

“I’ve never been good with the naming,” Hadgkiss said.

She said she was drawn to this project because it had the potential to be a long-standing program at Pitt, adding that she thinks those are the types of programs SGB should focus on. Other long-lasting programs that SGB started in the past include Arrival Survival, Telefact and Van Call.

This – like other longstanding projects – is not something from which the board is looking to make a profit. The site will simply provide a place for students to log on for free to sell or buy books.

When listing a new book for auction, the seller can put in, not only the author’s name and title, but also the book’s ISBN number. An ISBN number serves as an identification code, so that students buying books will know the texts are the exact copies of the books required for their classes.

After listing a book for sale, the seller can put in a base-selling price for it. This will allow the seller to make sure she gets at least the amount of money the bookstores would give her if she sold it back to them.

The site will suggest that students selling books request a cash payment from the buyer. Credit cards will not be accepted, Hadgkiss said. The site will not act as a third party in the billing process; rather, once an individual wins an auction, he and the seller will be sent e-mails. The students will have to contact one another to set up a meeting place to exchange the money and the books.

“Other schools have found these sites very successful,” she said.

On the University of Toronto’s site, there are about 15,000 books listed. At Ohio University, there are usually between 700 and 800 books listed, she added.

Knowing nothing about computer programming, Hadgkiss had to find someone who could help develop SWAPitt. During Arrival Survival, a mutual friend introduced her to Winners, a senior computer science major. He had set up a similar program for one of his classes, so he already had the basic codes to set up the site.

“I’m just getting a kick out of it,” he said. “It’s something that students will be using, and I worked on it.”

While employed by Pitt’s Computing Services and Systems Development during the summer, Winners worked on programming. He currently works for ResNet, the on-site computer help program for students living on campus.

Before the site officially opens, the University’s lawyers need to look at it to make sure that it complies with law. Hadgkiss said she hopes that, after the book swapping succeeds, the site will let students auction off furniture and other possessions. The board also needs to decide where the site is going to exist – whether it will be put on an outside company’s dot-com, on a new, SGB-owned server or on an existing Pitt Web site. They are currently waiting to hear from Student Life for advice on what to do.

The Board is also looking for beta testers, students who will try out the site before it is opened for general use, to see how it works and to provide suggestions on how to make it better. According to Hadgkiss, she’d like at least 100 students to be involved in the testing. Those involved will not only get a sneak peak at the site, but a free, “snazzy” T-shirt as well.

The site has safeguards to prevent students from bidding just one cent more than competitors, or from bidding extraordinary amounts of money. There will be a minimum increase requirement of two percent and a maximum of 75 percent. The maximum cap is necessary so that no one can bid an unrealistic amount of money, such as a million dollars, and prevent students who actually want to buy the book from bidding, Hadgkiss said.

Hadgkiss hopes that, in the future, the site will be capable of automatically bidding for students until the auction reaches a set maximum.

Though her term is nearing its final days and the site is not up for student use quite yet, Hadgkiss said that she will stick around to make sure it is completed and will work with the new board to get it finished.

Joe Pasqualichio, who was recently elected to the Board, ran part of his platform on the development of SWAPitt.

“I think it just shows the broad appeal of the program,” Hadgkiss said, adding that its appeal will make the program more successful through the transition of boards.

Hadgkiss laughed when she talked about an article from The Pitt News’ April Fools edition several years ago. The article, about the things that SGB takes credit for, included online trading, she said.

Now, she said, it is something that the Board is actually bringing to Pitt.