Tyler Gottlieb, a freshman at Colorado State University, is ready to launch his startup company called Swap Universe.
“We are going to take what e-commerce is today and we are going to give you everything you ever wanted: every ability, every feature that you ever wanted, in one site,” Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb’s vision is a three-dimensional e-commerce experience where users have the ability to sell, buy and trade items in one location.
With a category system on the homepage, users will be able to search for items they want to buy, or upload items of their own. Then, users can decide to buy items right away through PayPal, or potentially “swap” and trade items for free with other users.
Each swap has the option to use a “coupon” which essentially discounts the first stated price of the item. In this way, one textbook could be bartered for another. If one textbook is arguably more expensive than the other, the prices can be discounted and adjusted through the coupon feature. Shipping is verified through PayPal, which is one way Gottlieb says the website screens for user safety concerns.
Gottlieb says his two main goals are to create a user-friendly interface that is also eco-friendly. “
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Gottlieb said. “We are just taking that to a grand scale which is going to make it (bartering) a part of the 21st century.”
Gottlieb has been working for six months to turn his vision into a reality. Among his board members are CSU senior and Chief Financial Officer, Bobby Moreno, and CSU freshman and Chief Operating Officer, Alec Christian.
Swap Universe will launch sometime next week, and updates can be found on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/swapuniverse.
The CEO says his focus is, “not to cut corners. We want this thing to help students. That is why we are building it.”
CTV11 news Reporter Kay Bennett can be reached at news@collegian.com or on twitter at @KayBennettCTV.
