New online marketplace exclusively for Trojans

Students looking to buy or sell books, furniture or housing online have an abundance of options, but USC’s Undergraduate Student Government is attempting to make the process safer and more streamlined with Tommy’s List, an online classified ads website designed specifically for USC students.

A Trojan version of Craigslist, Tommy’s List allows only students with a “usc.edu” email address to post and respond to classified listings.

“We loved Craigslist’s simple ideology and clear-cut categories,” said Chris Cheng, USG’s director of outreach. “We wanted that but just for USC students, so that we can have a safe market place — something for our own little niche.”

USG’s communication department created Tommy’s List for students to safely buy and sell books, electronics, tickets and other goods within the USC community, and to make all transactions on campus, with no shipping costs.

“It’s such a great idea, you can look for anything from jobs to internships,” said Paige Hill, the senior director of communications for USG. “It just makes things easier for students. It’s not as broad as other sites, you can know who you’re buying from and you don’t have to drive far.”

Cheng also suggested that the site could be an alternative source for students to buy secondhand textbooks.

“People will still go to bookstore but they do run out of books a lot,” said Cheng. “This is a way to make a more convenient change for the students if they don’t want to pay a store price and want a trusted seller.”

Though the site was created in the spring, USG only recently began publicizing it.

“After the [student government] elections last semester we never got to have a huge promotional push,” Cheng said. “And this year I was wondering whatever happened with that site. I brought it up and it worked and was good to go, so we started the campaign this week.”

USG plans to continue to promote the site, which currently contains about a dozen listings, through fliers and promotional boards.

But with websites such as Craigslist, Uloop and Facebook marketplace, some students question whether Tommy’s List is necessary or effective.

“It’s a cool idea but I’m not sure how viable it is since Craigslist is available and massive in its scope,” said John Hervey, a senior majoring in political science. “I probably wouldn’t use it.”

Other students, however, said the exclusivity of Tommy’s List would be a welcome safety measure.

“That’s a great idea, I would definitely use it, especially for schoolbooks,” said Cheyenne Pierce, a graduate student in the School of Social Work, who said she already uses other online classifieds sites. “Craigslist is too broad. This sounds more safe, especially for a lot of the freshmen who are not from this state and don’t know the area.”