Re-Product - An online market for your "trash"

tl;dr

• I decided to participate in Fixathon
• I used Node.js, Express, and MongoDB to build my product
• this happened right after I finished the Learn Node course, so I can't say I was an experienced Node.js developer
• I could almost finish all the functions I wanted to
• the platform is live and looks like it works fine as a few users just registered on it

I already published a post about that I'm participating in Fixathon to help to fix the climate. This happened almost a month ago and the product I built for the hackathon is live. It's called Re-Product.

The problem I'm trying to solve

Well, in the long run, it's climate warming. But it would be a bit naive to think that this is the tool that will solve this issue. So I'm not saying that. But what this tool does could help a bit to reach that goal. With Re-Product I'm trying to decrease the amount of trash we are consuming.

How? By providing a platform where almost anyone can "sell" their unused stuff (that would end in the trash) without involving real money to the process.

Why? Because what is trash four you could be a treasure or at least a useful tool for someone else.

You can learn more about the whole process on the following page: Learn how Re-Product works

The tech stack

Before the hackathon started I justed finished the Learn Node course by Wes Bos and to make sure I'll remember the new skills a learned I chose to go with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. I had some experience with Node.js previously but that was just the "Hello World" level. I have to say, I was pretty lucky because Wes covered almost all the issues I had to face while I was building the product, so I highly recommend this course to anyone who would like to get a solid base and understanding of the main concepts of Node.js. Without that, I probably wouldn't finish my product on time.

What's next?

There are a ton of things I could add to the platform but the first thing I should do is to make sure that others will know about it. Maybe it's not something that anyone else would use. Or, there are already online marketplaces where a feature like this could reach a broader audience.

I don't want to make any money from this. The goal is to decrease trash. If there is another platform where this would work better I'm more than happy to support that initiative. So if you know any platform like that, let me know.

This time I chose to silent launch the project as it won’t work well without a small number of items and users on it. So first, I’ll take a look into my drawers to collect and upload all the things I don’t need/use anymore and I’ll share it with online communities later.

If you have something you haven't used in months, maybe you should consider to upload them to Re-Product as well 😄