College students now have their own version of eBay thanks to Chegg.com. Chegg is an auction-based Web site created by and for college students, where everything from cars to text books is sold.

The site serves as an online network of local classified ads put up and seen only by students. The system is based locally on every campus in order to create a network that connects buyers and sellers for a face-to-face exchange of goods and money.

Chegg was started by a group of college students at Iowa State University. Like many students at Syracuse University, they were frustrated with the campus bookstore buying used textbooks for a fraction of what the students originally paid for them and then reselling them after a huge markup.

Thus Chegg (a combination of chicken and egg) was born. A peer network was created on the Iowa State campus in which people with books, furniture, event tickets or other goods could meet face-to-face with their buyers. This eliminated any need for shipping or any other markup other textbook sites levied, keeping prices as low as possible and creating an easy, free flow of goods catered to the unique needs of students.

‘It’s a revolutionary idea,’ said Jeremy Hyman, a freshman information technology major. ‘It’s a lot better than eBay, and the way its put together is convenient.’

What makes Chegg different from other auction sites is its ‘hatch of the day’ promotion. Every day Chegg puts an item such as a Nintendo Wii, a Toshiba DVD Player or an iPod Nano up for sale at an extremely discounted price.

The quantities of each promotion is limited and sold on a first come, first serve basis. It is only open to college students and offers a wide variety of incredible products at essentially warehouse prices or below. On Monday, a Canon Powershot digital cameral sold for $115, $85 less than its normal retail price.

‘The hatch of the day is a great deal,’ said Hyman. ‘I’ll now be checking every day.’

Julie Gedro, an adjunct instructor at the Human and Health Services School saw the entrepreneurial innovation of the idea.

‘Any time you can help students on a budget exchange goods and services, that is a positive thing for the college campus,’ Gedro said. ‘I would be concerned with security in meeting face-to-face, but if they have qualifications for signing up I see this as a very good thing. The hatch of the day, if it is a real product, is a very smart entrepreneurial idea to bring good traffic to the site.’

The flood of traffic for the hatch of the day can be immense. When Chegg used the Nintendo Wii for its ‘hatch of the day,’ the site’s server overloaded from the traffic.

Hatches normally sell out quickly as the items are discounted 45 percent and more off the normal price.

Because Chegg enjoyed so much success, it quickly expanded to other campuses, and is now available at almost any college in the United States. It also expanded beyond just an auction site for exchanging goods. The site now features an online textbook store with message and video postings.

Chegg has also expanded beyond goods. The site now offers job postings, personals, community postings and more. Chegg also features a donation and free section where students can get many different goods from diabetes testing supplies to textbooks even if they don’t have the money to pay.

‘I wish I had heard about this sooner,’ said Dean Jaworski, a freshman engineering major. ‘I love buying stuff at a discount, and if I saw something I like I would just get it instead of having to search around for a sale.’

Ryan Fannon, a freshman business major, said the convenience of Chegg is an asset to students.

‘Any buying or selling online is valuable because of the discount especially with college students who normally don’t have much money,’ he said. ‘Also, you know what you are getting because you can meet whom you are buying from. It’s really good for universities because it makes it easy to get what you need, even if you don’t have transpo