The MySugu website allows students to sell their textbooks, clothes and almost anything online. It was started by George Karikas, an alumnus of Hopkins, and Andrew Wang, a current senior, when they realized that there must be a more efficient way for graduating seniors to sell their property and then move out of their homes.
“I tried to use Craigslist and sell my own stuff, but no one showed up,” Karikas said. “I decided there had to be a better way.”
3,000 students agree and now have an account on MySugu. After creating an account, users can post any item that they wish to sell. The item can then be bid and sold. While this sounds similar to Amazon and Craigslist, MySugu differs because only Hopkins student can use the site engine.
“That’s why it’s safe,” Wang said. Students know that their items are being sold to students just like them in the Baltimore area. Freshman Kierra Anne Foley chose to sell her textbooks on MySugu rather than on Amazon.
“I feel safe using the website” she said, “And I like how I know that the kids buying my stuff are just like me.”
This level of comfort, felt by its users, is one of the many reasons why MySugu has been such a success. The textbook exchange, which Wang and Karikas added after MySugu started as a general market, is definitely most revered and popular in the eyes of Hopkins students. Students are not only able to exchange books, but they can exchange information about shared classes.
Textbooks on MySugu tend to be much cheaper than books sold at Barnes and Noble because students set the price. Life: The Science of Biology, the used textbook for General Biology II, is priced at $154.85 on the Barnes and Noble site. On MySugu, one is able to buy the textbook for as low as $35. Barnes and Noble representatives were not available to comment on the price differentiation.
Students are not only able to exchange books, but they can exchange information about shared classes.
“I found out from a seller that she never used a textbook that I was about to buy, for a certain class,” an anonymous junior said. Since for many classes, the required textbooks end up not being necessary to the acquirement of the course content, students spend money that could have been saved. MySugu allows its users to communicate about the information found in each textbooks, and which are most essential for the classes. This open communication allows both sellers and buyers to get a good deal.
“A lot of times you see students messaging back and forth, negotiating. [MySugu] eliminated the middle man,” Karikas said. Many students who bought their books at Barnes and Noble were surprised at the extremely high prices
“I found that [purchasing online books] was very convenient, however after having seen how expensive the books were, I was turned off,” junior Elizabeth Duval said.
Sophomore Pearl Amaechi was angered by the prices of the textbooks by Barnes and Noble.
“We are going to school here to get an education, and since Barnes and Noble is affiliated with the school it should be focused on student interest” she said.
While the books on MySugu are cheaper, they are used. Some students feel more comfortable buying their textbooks from Barnes and Noble because they feel that the books are ensured to be in perfect condition.
“[Barnes and Noble is] more expensive, but high quality,” freshman Marcella Lunn said.
Freshman Kara Deppe buys from Barnes and Noble because it’s much more accessible. “I think the prices are a little ridiculous, but its a lot easier than going online and buying books”she esaid.
Regardless, the online market MySugu is continuing to become more popular here at Hopkins. Karikas and Wang hope to create networks on MySugu for other schools in the area such as Loyola and Towson. They want to give students there the same option of selling their textbooks and items specifically to students at their campus.
“It’s a great way to bring the community together and we hope to be at [Towson] by the end of the semester” Karikas said.
