Text and sell via mobile phone

A website has been launched that offers users a way to post classified adverts via mobile phone.

The Text and Sell site, set up by Tobias Hardy, a graduate from John Moore university in Liverpool, works in a similar way to sites such as Loot and Exchange and Mart. But it can work out cheaper and for many it will be easier and more convenient to use.

Instead of logging on to a website, people create an advert and send it to the site via mobile phone.

Buyers list the first part of their postcode, a description of the item, what it is selling for, then take the picture and send it to Text and Sell using MMS.

The price for posting an advert is £1.50 per 250MB which, with the average photo sent via MMS working out to be around 25KB, means the seller can offer a combination of pictures as well as text to create interest in the goods they are selling.

Automatic safety checks have been put in place to ensure no abusive or unacceptable text messages or adverts are accepted. Likewise, images are checked for appropriateness. Users can also report offensive images for removal.

Once the advert is posted online, the seller can log onto the site to check they have given all the requisite information; the postcode is important as it lets the buyer know where the seller is based.

The seller doesn't have to register with Text and Buy to sell anything. However Hardy said buyers do have to register with their mobile phone number as do sellers if they want to make changes or check their advert.

This is to stop the potential problem of companies harvesting people's mobile phone numbers. Adverts are automatically categorised by keywords the seller uses – so, for example, a Ford Focus would be linked to cars.

If the software used can't define a category this is then done manually.

Adverts stay up for two weeks and only interested buyers who have registered with the site can contact the seller via email. Sellers can also email to remove their advert if they have sold the item or no longer wish to advertise it.

Working on the premise that one person's trash is another person's treasure, there is a 'Free Stuff' section that allows people to offer unwanted items.