In the beginning of April 2025, Lute Mar-
ketplace website was set on a test run. The idea
behind the platform is to help students sell and
buy their possessions without having to ship them
or get in contact with strangers. For founder Abel
Legesse, this is exactly what PLU needed.
Legesse, a third-year student majoring in
Computer Science and minoring in Data Science,
shared that he got inspired to make something
like the Marketplace at the end of his freshman
year: “I saw people moving out and throwing out
mini-fridges, electronic stuff like vacuum clean-
ers, a lot of stuff that is actually useful but they
didn’t know where to sell it.”
“After having the idea I knew that I needed
to learn [more] because the class skills were not
enough on their own,” Legesse explained. After
watching YouTube videos, visiting online forums, and using knowledge from other projects, he was able to put the platform together. When
asked whether he faced any difficulties, Legesse
chuckled: “I had so many difficulties. There are
so many errors that can happen when coding.”
He added that he enjoys app development and
testing, so creating PLU Marketplace was an
enjoyable side project.
Now that Lute Marketplace is up and run-
ning, Legesse’s main project is to get people to
use it. He shared that on the first day there were
around 50 students on the platform. “I got a lot of
feedback from students that I know… everyone is
excited to use it.” If the PLU community contin-
ues to show interest in the platform, Legesse is
determined to improve it further: “In the future,
there will be inside messaging like any other
platform.” As for now, after putting their goods
on sale students have to include their Instagram
nickname where the prospective buyers will
reach out to them.
You can find Lute Marketplace at lutemarket-
place.com
