Binghamton Trading Post

The Binghamton Trading Post (BTP) started as a mix between an itch I had to push Google Sheets to its limit and a subreddit at our school called Bearcats Marketplace where people could sell school-related items. My goal was to unite these two thoughts and create a Google Sheet to unite all of Binghamton’s used market.

Currently, if you’re buying or selling on campus there’s a myriad of places to check/list your item. Facebook Marketplace, the aforementioned subreddit, Craigslist, posters around campus, word of mouth, etc.

At the same time, I had recently been made aware that you can now publish Google Sheets as web pages. This coupled with my knowledge of exporting results from Google Forms and the power of importing data across sheets and I had a direction to push the project. I was going to see if I could make a fully functioning buy/sell board entirely in Google Products. This way, the resulting software would be free to run indefinitely (since our University pays for our Google accounts), secure to the Binghamton Community (as you would need an official Binghamton email to access it), and easy to use (as everyone knows how to fill out a Google Form).

So I got to work. The workflow goes as follows

For a Buyer

1. Log onto the BTP (bingtra.de) - Google will ask you to authenticate with your Binghamton EDU email address
2. Go to the applicable tab for the item you’re looking for
3. Contact the seller via their method of choice

Each category is grouped with columns that help you find your item easier, like ISBN, condition, and class purpose.

For a Seller

1. Log onto the BTP
2. Open the sell form
3. Fill out information based on the product type
4. Sell the item!

When it’s time to take the item down (either due to personal choice or it being sold), it’s as simple as pressing submit on another Google Form and inputting the listing ID. Because Google is automatically verifying your email we can use it as a pseudo-account and no additional verification is needed. Postings are also deleted for inactivity after 3 months through some nifty logic.

The design is “dated-chic” as I call it. At the end of the day, it is a spreadsheet and I did want to stay true to that. In addition, I feel as though the design language presented builds trust with the audience and explains the free nature of the service without arousing any questions of “where’s the catch”

Since the BTP is restricted to active students at Binghamton University you’ll find some screenshots below.