Building a Safer Marketplace for Teens & Students: Omar’s Journey with SAC Marketplace (Youth Spotlight EP15)

Woosung
9 hours ago
4 min read

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Omar Latifzada is a high school senior and the founder of SAC Marketplace, an online platform built for teens and students to buy and sell with each other. The idea started with a search for a cello that kept turning up scams and dead ends. We sat down with him to talk about what he built instead.

Founder of SAC Marketplace - Omar Latifzada presenting SAC at a local high school

Where It Started

Omar's path to SAC Marketplace began with a frustrating search.

"I founded SAC Marketplace because I was having a hard time finding a cello," he said. He wanted a place where teens and students could connect, sell things, and actually find what they were looking for, without worrying about scams or getting ghosted mid-deal.

His description of the platform is simple: "It's kind of like Facebook Marketplace, but for teens and students."

Homepage of SAC Marketplace, SAC Marketplace website — Homepage of SAC Marketplace, *SAC Marketplace website*

Safety Built Into the Platform

Omar walked us through the platform, and safety came up before almost anything else.

Users under 18 have to provide a parent or guardian's email address when they sign up. That guardian then receives updates on what their teen is doing on the site. Omar built the feature to bring parents into the platform directly.

"I think I came with that feature to just help attract parents onto the platform," he said.

Students can also verify themselves by uploading a school ID, which unlocks a setting called My School Only. Toggle it on, and only verified people from the same school can buy from or sell to that user, which keeps trading local and familiar.

The platform also blocks VPN use entirely. Omar built this in specifically to stop scammers based abroad from posing as U.S. users. Anyone who signs up as over 18 gets a visible 18+ badge, and if an adult tries to message a minor, the minor has to approve the request before any conversation can start.

"I'm hoping for SAC Marketplace to be more like LinkedIn, a professional platform, than like Facebook or Instagram, where it's more casual," Omar said.

Rewards, Requests, and a Premium Tier

Beyond safety, Omar built in a few features meant to make the marketplace more useful and more fun to use.

A rewards system lets users earn perks like free shipping, discounts, or extra XP by completing simple tasks around the platform. If someone can't find what they're looking for, they can post a request, say for a computer or a textbook, and other users can respond directly if they have it.

For students who want more out of the platform, there's ASB, short for All in Student Businesses. Omar compares it to LinkedIn Premium: no ads, and extra tools for anyone trying to get more visibility for their listings.

Overview of the Rewards system, SAC Marketplace webpage — Overview of the Rewards system, *SAC Marketplace webpage*

Made by Human

The first version of SAC Marketplace's interface was built using Base44, but the more advanced functionality needed real developers. Omar hired freelancers to build it out, and that process is part of why the site now carries a small "Made by Human" badge.

"It's not AI," he said. "We actually put some heart and soul into it."

Getting the First Users

Omar is upfront about the hardest part of building SAC Marketplace: getting the initial group of users on the platform.

He's currently posting videos every two to three days on the platform's Instagram account (@SAC.marketplace) and hopes to partner with schools and organizations to promote it further, including exclusive versions of the marketplace for specific schools. But that plan runs into a chicken-and-egg problem.

"The only trouble we have is we need enough users at the beginning to show them that hey, we're credible, you can trust us with your members' or your students' data," he said.

For now, his plan is to grow that first group through marketing and through friends willing to give the platform a shot before it has an established track record.

What He'd Tell Other Builders

Omar was candid about the mistakes that came with figuring this out on his own. Early on, he hired freelancers who didn't finish the work properly, which cost him money and time. Eventually he found a small group of developers he trusted enough to keep working with long term.

His advice to anyone building something similar comes from that same experience:

"Think it through before you execute something, because you might think this is a good feature at the beginning, but then when it's done, you're like, oh, this is actually kind of useless. So make sure you think it through, so you don't waste all the money and time."

Try It Out

If you're looking to make some money over the summer, or want a cheaper option as school supplies come back around, SAC Marketplace is built for exactly that, says Omar. The platform is still early and still building trust, but Omar's aim is clear: the Facebook Marketplace for teens and students, built with them in mind from the start.

If your school or organization is interested in a partnership, please email SAC at customerservicetheta@gmail.com

We hope you enjoy this episode of the ConnectUs Youth Spotlight, available on Spotify and across our social media platforms.