Craigslist isn’t the only kid on the block anymore with the recent launch of TritonTrader.com, an online classifieds resource that caters specifically to the UCSD community.

UCSD students, staff and faculty are able to post listings for items such as books, furniture and sporting goods for free. Clubs and organizations are able to post their events on the Web site as well.

The idea for TritonTrader.com arose when Thurgood Marshall College junior Haleh Khadem moved off campus and had to buy furniture for her apartment. She did find a chair she needed from Craigslist, but it was 20 miles out in El Cajon. Khadem’s partner, John Muir College senior Tommy Chheng, coincidentally thought of the idea at the same time.

The bulk of listings on the Web site is for textbooks, with approximately 25-35 entries at press time.

“[Web sites like Amazon.com] collect commission from its sellers, but we don’t take any money whatsoever,” Khadem said. “We don’t charge because it’s not in our philosophy. When I was using Amazon.com, I felt like I was getting ripped off; why should they take a percentage of what we’re selling? College students are all broke anyway, so why charge us for it?”

Chheng agreed that it is impractical to charge users for the services TritonTrader has to offer.

“We want to get as many people to use the Web site as possible,” Chheng said. “It’s unrealistic to charge college students, it’s meant for the budget college student, so it’s beside the point to take money from them.”

In many cases, people do not even have to pay for shipping and handling because the trade can be made at school, or if it is more convenient, somewhere off campus instead. What makes coordinating a meeting place much more convenient is that sellers have an option of indicating whether they live on-or off-campus and specifying the building or apartment complex, such as La Regencia or Muir Apartments.

For Khadem, efficiency is important because many students who live on campus do not have cars. With TritonTrader, they can easily get what they need without driving anywhere.

“We want to focus on the lower classmen,” Khadem said.

One such lowerclassmen is Revelle College sophomore Molica Anderson, who appreciates the new and convenient site, citing it as a “localized Craigslist.”

“I think it is really easy to use and there’s not a hassle because I don’t have to pay anything,” Anderson said. “I think it’s nice to have someone to trade with within the university. I’m just waiting to sell more stuff I don’t need.”

Since TritonTrader.com was only launched the first week of winter quarter, Khadem said it is not yet as popular as she would like it to be. However, Chheng, who is in charge of computer and Web site operations, said taking into account the short amount of time the Web site has been launched, he thinks it is considerably successful. The numbers don’t lie — in one day alone, there were 1,000 hits to the Web site.

Khadem, who commands the advertising and marketing of the Web site, said the main form of advertisement is word of mouth. Many of the people who have put up listings are friends of Khadem or Chheng and heard about it through them. Not only that, Khadem is taking advantage of any opportunity she has to advertise, whether it is writing “TritonTrader.com” on the boards in her classes, alerting the Greek community or advertising in the Guardian.

Currently, TritonTrader.com is in a very grass-roots stage.

“[Maintaining the Web site] comes out of our paychecks from work because we haven’t received any funding yet,” Khadem said. Chheng hopes for funding in the future from sponsors, but he does not expect the site to become the next eBay.

“I have no plans right now for this to become a business venture,” Chheng said. “It is for UCSD students and faculty. That’s the main goal. If we happen to make profit in the future, that’s great; if not, that’s fine by us too.”

Chheng is unsure of what he will do if TritonTrader.com does become a household name, although he does want a Facebook effect.

“Once we get more people on the Web site, it will cost more to run,” Chheng said. “It will be a lot like Facebook. Once they got more people to join, they were able to implement what people wanted. I want more feedback from students and faculty. Whatever’s popular, we’ll decide if we are able to implement it or not, just like how Facebook implemented photo galleries.”

Whole galleries may not be feasible yet, but the site allows posting of photos if participants are interested.