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College Marketplace is the student-only buy and sell app for California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Every account is verified with a @caltech.edu email address, so you're only ever trading with other Beavers — not strangers from Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.

Undergraduate life at Caltech runs through its eight Houses. The South Houses — Blacker House, Dabney House, Fleming House, and Ricketts House — sit around the original courtyards, while the North Houses — Lloyd House, Page House, and Venerable House — round out the affiliated system alongside Avery House. Students who would rather live unaffiliated pick from Bechtel Residence, with its 4-, 6-, 8-, and 12-bedroom suites, plus Marks House and Braun House. First- and second-year undergraduates are required to live in campus housing, and every spring the whole campus goes through a housing lottery, so room assignments — and what actually fits in them — shift from one year to the next. Which is the point: everything you need is already on campus. Caltech students post mini fridges, futons, storage bins, desk lamps, monitors, bikes, and gently used textbooks every semester, usually for a fraction of retail.

Rooms come furnished with a desk, desk chair, drawers, closet space, and a bed with a twin XL mattress, so twin XL sheets are the ones worth buying used or handing down. A few housing rules shape what's actually worth listing: refrigerators must be under-the-counter size and no more than 5.2 cubic feet; microwaves are not permitted in residence rooms except the ones the Institute provides; personal air conditioners are not allowed unless Housing Maintenance installed them; and lofts and bunk beds are only permitted when Caltech Housing put them there, though loft kits can be checked out in some undergraduate residences. Space heaters, hot plates, toaster ovens, and candles are all prohibited, so skip those listings entirely.

Meeting up is easy when campus is a ten-minute walk end to end. Trade at the Hameetman Center, grab a table at the Red Door Café, meet outside the Sherman Fairchild Library, use the Caltech Bookstore entrance, cross paths on Beckman Mall, or hand something off at the Braun Athletic Center — no shipping labels, no delivery fees, no meeting someone off campus.

Popular categories at Caltech: textbooks and course materials · dorm and apartment furniture · mini fridges and fans · bikes and scooters · Caltech apparel and game day gear · electronics and monitors · event tickets · lofting kits and bed risers · storage bins and organizers