Online auctioning now student-specific

College students are constantly searching. They use eBay to find textbooks and T-shirts and TheFacebook to find new friends. Along with those tools come transaction fees and addictive profile browsing. Now students can rest easy, as collegejunktion.com offers a free solution with creative opportunities in its social networking abilities.\nAt www.CollegeJunktion.com, users will find a startup site that focuses on the future of intercollegiate networking. Created by three University of Miami students, the site is an online auction site like eBay but without the transaction fees. \nThe key difference between the new Web site and eBay is that users do not have to pay anything to use the site. However, users must pay separate fees to "highlight," "bold" or have a seller's item appear when browsers launch the site's homepage. \nProducts are geared toward college students and range from textbooks and electronics to dorm accessories and off-campus housing listings. Most categories hold fewer than 30 listings, while the majority of posts are for electronics and textbooks, 179 and 124 respectively at press time. The site auctions video games and DVDs and has previously posted offers for shoes and iPods. There is also a section where students can offer their class notes. Many of the items are being auctioned by the site's creators as student exposure to the site increases.\nSome IU students have already begun to take advantage of this new opportunity. \n"The categories really cater to college students. It has less auctions than eBay, but once word gets out I think this will get pretty huge," said sophomore Jess Rothert. "It's geared towards an age bracket that is very technologically savvy so it shouldn't take long for it to become very popular," \nThe site features a security feature similar to TheFacebook. To register, all users must have a ".edu" e-mail address. This creates a smaller, safer community of users. The ".edu" requirement is something which attracts students who might be wary of scams. Being in an environment of peers allows students to feel secure and easily find items that fit their needs.\n"I enjoy that you can auction off your textbooks. I often run into the problem of the bookstore not buying my textbooks back," Rothert said. "Now I can make a profit on something I might otherwise have thrown away."\nThe free aspect of the service is something which is reason enough for eBay users to switch to the new site, said Jay Baptiste, president and CEO of Miami Merchants Inc.\n"First off, let me start by giving credit to eBay. They have truly set precedent in the online auction site industry" Baptiste, who is selling a 2002 Volkswagon Golf on the site, said. "However, after using our service, one will ask why these fees are necessary and why something like our free service was not implemented earlier."\nAfter all registration information is submitted, users are asked to respond to a confirmation e-mail. They are then free to start buying, selling and trading. When buying or selling an item, members are automatically set up for a Storm Pay account -- an online program used to transfer all fees similar to eBay's Paypal accounts. Members are free to post and browse items as much as they want. \nMiami Merchants Inc, which includes the College Junktion site, is led by Baptiste, a sophomore entrepreneurship major at the University of Miami, along with Ben Horwitz and present Vice President of Miami Merchants Joel Glynn. The site began when the three lived on the same floor of a dorm at UM.\nAfter the company's opening Feb. 18, it gained national attention. It was featured in Forbes online magazine and various other online and campus news sources. Along with its current success, the people at www.CollegeJunktion.com remain optimistic about upcoming additions to the site. Their goal is to provide a service for what students want.\n"College students represent a strong and diverse market which renews itself every year," Glynn said. "We're not about making money. We're about creating something that people will see as helpful in their daily live. What we are doing now is seeing what really works," \nAnother major feature www.CollegeJunktion.com plans to provide by the end of April is social networking software which takes the same elements of theFacebook and adds the ability to post multiple pictures, create an online journal and keep a calendar for friends to see and use. With this software, users will be able to link together by location and common interest. \n"The site puts together a lot of useful resources. Where there were once the bodegas of thefacebook, online journals and picture sites, College Junktion has created a supermarket environment," said junior Matt Mauntel. "People will be able to use all of these features in one location." \nAdditional plans include an effort to initiate partnerships with college student governments to promote the site. One proposed plan involves making incoming freshmen aware of the site during welcome week through promotional activities. \n"Student governments are meant to represent the student bodies at various colleges and universities," Baptiste said. "With a connection to the student government, this can give us more credibility and create nothing but benefits for the student body." \nCollege Junktion is a growing network that hopes to gain attention with one of its many developing features. \n"This is an ongoing innovative effort. If there is a need expressed, then we will tailor the site to it as soon as possible," Baptiste said. "Sign up for www.CollegeJunktion.com and join the future of online trading and networking." \n-- Contact Staff writer Tim Callahan at tmcallah@indiana.edu.