Haleh Khadem, ’07, first had the idea when she moved off campus. Why was there no classifieds website similar to Craigslist catering to the UCSD community?

That’s when she got to talking to Tommy Chheng, ’06, who also had the same idea. The two collaborated and Tritontrader.com was born. It was launched last winter with Chheng as webmaster and Khadem in charge of marketing and public relations.

UCSD students, staff and faculty can post available apartment rooms, furniture and sporting items on sale.

“People have told us that they were surprised that no one came up with the idea earlier,” Khadem says.

The site has received up to 1,000 hits
in a day, but Khadem and Chheng are continuously improving it and many of the changes have come in reaction to comments from students. The idea of a book section came out of such a suggestion, and is now one of the most popular sections with currently over 70 postings.

“This is definitely a student-customer based website,” Khadem says.

Cliff Notes written by Marnette Federis, ’06