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College Marketplace is the student-only buy and sell app for James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Every account is verified with a @dukes.jmu.edu email address, so you're only ever trading with other Dukes — not strangers from Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.

JMU requires all first-year students to live in university residence halls for the entirety of their first academic year, which means campus turns over an enormous amount of stuff every August and May. First-years land all over the map: the Bluestone area's Alger Hall, Converse Hall, Gifford Hall, Harper Allen-Lee Hall, Hoffman Hall, Logan Hall, Wampler Hall and Wayland Hall; Hillside's Bell Hall, Hillside Hall and McGraw-Long Hall; Eagle Hall and Shorts Hall down by the lake; Skyline's Chandler Hall, Chesapeake Hall, Paul Jennings Hall and Shenandoah Hall; the Tree Houses — Cedar Hall, Dogwood Hall, Magnolia Hall and Oak Hall; and the Village suites at Chappelear Hall, Dingledine Hall, Frederikson Hall, Garber Hall, Hanson Hall, Huffman Hall, Weaver Hall and White Hall, plus the newly opened Potomac Hall. Students who live on again as upperclassmen can end up in Apartments on Grace. Whichever building you draw, everything you need is already on campus. James Madison 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: a bed frame with a mattress, a desk with drawers, a desk chair, a dresser and a closet or wardrobe. Most halls use adjustable loft beds and the Village suites use adjustable/bunkable frames, so what you're really shopping for is bedding and under-bed storage. Air conditioning is the big divider — Residence Life bills Eagle Hall, Shorts Hall and the older Village suites as non-air-conditioned while the rest of the inventory is air-conditioned, and window units are banned outright, so fans move fast in September. One mini fridge per resident is allowed, capped at 5 cubic feet; microwaves are only permitted in Apartments on Grace kitchens or as a rented MicroFridge unit. Bed risers are fine as long as they have no electrical outlets (USB ports are allowed), and extension cords, halogen lamps, space heaters and open-element appliances are all prohibited.

Meet up somewhere busy and central. Madison Union, the Festival Conference & Student Center, Rose Library, UREC, D-Hall and the Quad are all easy walk-ups with steady foot traffic — no shipping labels, no delivery fees, no meeting someone off campus.

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