Every May in the residential districts of UC Berkeley, the market economy gets dropped on its head, and the retail sector floods in a manner that would give Robert Reich a migraine.
The combination of graduating seniors, wide-eyed freshmen moving into apartments, and the population's four-year wash cycle create an ever flourishing the market for college-student commodities which peaks at the end of the year. Play your cards wisely, and you can snag an acoustic guitar for $5, a 21-gear bicycle for $30, a designer-brand backpack for $10, sectional couches and a $300 electric guitar for free! First come first serve! (If these metrics mean nothing to you, it's like buying a year-old Prius for $3,000)
As a new student with years ahead of you, time is in your favor! The stream of seniors rushing to leave town creates a flourishing hunting ground with which to fill your shiny new apartment. Dishes, chairs, futons, bunk beds, power strips, lamps, musical instruments, are yours for the taking, IF AND ONLY IF you can be the first one to snap them up!
"Free!! First come first serve!" "Everything must go by tonight!" "No holds on items."
Instead of monitoring Free & For Sale 24/7 or being forced to fork out thousands of dollars on stuff you'll have to sell before you turn 21, simply input the items you're looking for along with a price cap.
The moment a procrastinating senior places his Epiphone Les Paul or Sector 9 Longboard on Facebook, his phone will ding with a message that you're interested and/or on your way! No more messages of "sorry, already sold this" or day-late regrets of missing a full-apartment give-away!
(I furnished my entire apartment for less than $100. Bunk bed, desks, book shelves, guitar with stand, lamps, silverware, futon, coffee tables, and office chairs. It's a pretty sweet gig)
Currently in development. System is switching to Python.
The basic framework consists of a main class, a page reader, and two messenger bots, one to message the app user, and another to message the item seller.