by Jeffrey Li.
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CASE STUDY / Marketplace

WU Trade

Turning unused meal points into a market.

I connected students with surplus meal points to students who needed them, using simple tools, transparent prices, and hands-on marketplace operations.

Transactions facilitated
~150
Canteen meals traded
~$47k
Operating period
1 school year
My role
Founder, marketplace design, and operations
When
2013–2014
Stage
Historical project
01

Observe

Surplus and demand existed on the same campus.

At Washington University in St. Louis, some students ran out of meal points while others had more than they could use. Trading already happened through individual messages and social posts.

Buyers had to find a seller, negotiate, check availability, and arrange the exchange. Each offer stood alone; no one was coordinating the market.

02

Understand

The missing product was a shared market and a reliable process.

I wanted students to see available offers and useful price references in one place. Listings needed three consistent fields: an order ID, points available, and price per point. Personal contact details stayed outside the public listing.

Asking prices showed what sellers wanted. Recent transactions and a historical chart added evidence of what buyers actually paid.

03

Build

Simple tools, connected to the operating work.

What I built

A Blogger marketplace with price-ordered listings, Google Forms for buy and sell requests, and a Google Sheets database for transaction records.

I built Google Sheets macros to automate the logistics behind each transaction, while remaining responsible for running the service.

How the flow worked

  1. A seller submitted an offer; I posted it.
  2. A buyer requested the listed points.
  3. I removed the offer and billed the buyer’s fee.
  4. After payment, I sent both parties a confirmation.

Shared records and macros reduced repetitive coordination and kept the customer-facing market connected to the work behind it.

Two student posts offering meal points through separate private negotiations.
Before. Scattered posts without a shared view of supply or prices. Names are obscured.
Original WU Trade website with listings and transaction-price history.
After. Listings and price history on the original website, from my April 2014 presentation.
04

Learnings

Operating the service was part of the product.

Over one school year, I facilitated approximately 150 transactions, trading around $47k worth of canteen meals.

  • What worked: organizing existing supply and demand into a service students could use.
  • What mattered: keeping listings current and communicating each transaction clearly—not just launching a website.

The lesson I carry forward is to start with an observable need and take responsibility for the operating details.