By Anne Hall

Staff Writer

Students always need ways to network, make money, and get rid of those textbooks they’ve used. Now there is an alternative with CSUSM’s Cougar List.

Cougar Alumni Mario Clay, Brendan Bass and Brandon Baker have created a new website called “Cougar List.”  Much like Craigslist, this web site is intended to serve the CSUSM community in selling personal items, but it comes with a twist. It also allows users to network with customers and communicate through personal profiles, establishing music playlists that remain on your personal profile and many other fun details that are not often found on sales websites.

“It allows students to be able to get access to more affordable textbooks, do exchanging, and share information,” Mario Clay, web manager and designer, said. “Every semester students are trying so hard to buy or sell textbooks that are sometimes difficult to get from the student book store because they’re limited or the bookstore hasn’t received them yet.  Sometimes the items are just way too expensive.  Forums, blogs, chat, etc. allows the students to work together within a community platform.”

The idea for the website started out as an E-commerce class project.  Clay and his colleagues had posed the question of what a good student service would be? From there, they established Cougar List to help organize advertisements for students as they create profiles to host their own listings and be incorporated into a community profile for networking.

All of North County has the potential of benefiting from this web site.  Businesses outside of the school that focus sales towards student demographics can advertise and promote their companies.  The main focus from the creators of Cougar List is to remain open to promoting student endeavors and providing a pleasant user experience.

Currently there are 11 members with user accounts. The marketing and development of the web page is continuing, and the creators are constantly updating and modernizing the page. The 3.0 version that will eventually be released will feature an updated, sleek appearance and will function more elaborately with social media interaction (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.), and will continue to grow with shown interest from users. All that is needed to continue the service is more members creating a profile and providing feedback.

When joining the website, the creators have requested that participants contribute $2.00 towards establishing their profile as a means of satisfying startup costs. This small fee is a one-time charge that will only temporarily exist for enrollment. Once the site has established enough attention and can function independently there will no longer be a startup fee.

As a promotional consideration, there will be a contest for various prizes in the fall 2013 semester.  More information will be provided regarding the contest at a later date.  In the meantime, log onto www.cougarlist.ning.com, to create an account and start creating your profile. Share your advertisements and sell your old textbooks from this semester to people you know will need them.