LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State University students, seeking a better price for their used textbooks than that offered by the campus bookstore, have started an Internet marketplace that now trades more than books.
About 15 students launched Aggie Xchange, an eBay-like Web site, in December, said Travis Melham, a graduate student in business who helped develop the idea.
At least 60 textbook sales have been made since then, he said.
"Obviously the need was there," Melham said.
But students quickly moved beyond posting textbooks to electronics, furniture and vehicles.
Community members then also began using the site to sell things, Melham said.
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Felipe Scobell, who designed the site, said he got the idea during an internship in 2003 in Shanghai, China. He said that city's population is so large that many online bulletin boards have been created to help people meet others with like interests.
Scobell, who graduated from NMSU in December, said he thought a similar site would work as a book exchange.
"The simplicity is what struck me," he said. "It's utilizing a technology that has connected the world, but for a more localized area."
Unlike eBay, the students' Web site does not process payments. Because the buyers and sellers are in the Las Cruces area, people are able meet to deliver items and make transactions, Scobell said.
Melham said the project was a chance for students to apply what they had learned in the classroom. Two student groups - the Association of Information Technology Professionals and the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization - were involved in designing and testing.
Garrey Carruthers, dean of the NMSU business college, said he thinks the site is an excellent idea, and approves of how students applied what they learned.
"They saw a market opportunity, and they took advantage of it," Carruthers said.
