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College Marketplace is the student-only buy and sell app for the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Amherst, Massachusetts. Every account is verified with a @umass.edu email address, so you're only ever trading with other Minutemen and Minutewomen — not strangers from Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.

UMass spreads its housing across several distinct residential areas, and first-year undergraduates are required to live on campus for their first two semesters. Southwest is the largest, covering Cance Hall, Coolidge Hall, Crampton Hall, Emerson Hall, James Hall, John Adams Hall, John Quincy Adams Hall, Kennedy Hall, MacKimmie Hall, Melville Hall, Moore Hall, Patterson Hall, Pierpont Hall, Prince Hall, Thoreau Hall, and Washington Hall. Central holds Baker Hall, Brett Hall, Brooks Hall, Butterfield Hall, Chadbourne Hall, Gorman Hall, Greenough Hall, Van Meter Hall, and Wheeler Hall, and Northeast has Crabtree Hall, Dwight Hall, Hamlin Hall, Johnson Hall, Knowlton Hall, Leach Hall, Lewis Hall, Mary Lyon Hall, and Thatcher Hall. Up the slope, Orchard Hill covers Dickinson House, Field Hall, Grayson Hall, and Webster Hall; Sylvan has Brown Hall, Cashin Hall, and McNamara Hall; the Commonwealth Honors College Residential Community fills Birch Hall, Elm Hall, Linden Hall, Maple Hall, Oak Hall, and Sycamore Hall; and upperclass students can end up in North Apartment A, North Apartment B, North Apartment C, or North Apartment D. With that many people moving every August and May, everything you need is already on campus. UMass students post mini fridges, futons, storage bins, desk lamps, monitors, bikes, and gently used textbooks every semester — usually for a fraction of retail.

Residential Life furnishes each room with a single bed frame, a desk and chair, a bookcase, a bureau, and a wardrobe or closet, so the shopping list is mostly soft goods and electronics. Mattresses are Twin XL, 80 inches by 36 inches, which is why used Twin XL bedding moves so quickly here — standard twin sheets will not fit. Bed frames adjust from 5 to 30 inches off the ground, so most people raise their own bed instead of buying a loft kit, and under-bed bins end up mattering more than risers. Appliances are capped: refrigerators must be 3.0 cubic feet or less with a ground adapter plug, and microwaves top out at 700 watts and 0.7 cubic feet. Candles, hoverboards, octopus lamps, and toasters are prohibited, so check size and wattage on a listing before you commit.

When it's time to hand something off, pick somewhere busy. The Student Union and the Murray D. Lincoln Campus Center have foot traffic all day, the lobby of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library is impossible to miss from anywhere on campus, and the Recreation Center or Worcester Dining Commons work well for bulky items between classes. No shipping labels, no delivery fees, no meeting someone off campus.

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