Who can use College Marketplace?

Any college student with a valid .edu email address. Verification keeps the community students-only.

Does it cost anything?

Browsing and listing items is free. You can optionally pay to feature a listing for more visibility.

How do payments work?

Buyers and sellers arrange payment in person. We recommend meeting in a safe, public spot on campus.

Is my school included?

We support dozens of campuses and add more all the time. Search for your school above to check.

Privacy Policy | College Marketplace

College Marketplace ("we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.

This policy applies to the College Marketplace website at mycollegemarketplace.com and the College Marketplace mobile application (together, the "Platform").

1. Information We Collect

Account Information

Name
Email address (including .edu address used for student verification)
School affiliation
Username
Profile photo
Verification status

Marketplace Information

Listings you create, including titles, descriptions, prices, and categories
Photos you upload to listings
Messages you send to and receive from other users
Saved items and item alert preferences
Reports you submit about listings or users

Device and Usage Information

Device type and model
Operating system and version
Browser type
IP address
App and website usage data, including pages viewed, features used, and session duration
Approximate location derived from IP address

Permissions You Grant

The mobile app may request the following permissions. You can grant or deny each one, and can change your choice at any time in your device settings.

Camera and photo library — used only to let you take or select photos for your listings and profile. We access photos you specifically choose; we do not scan your photo library.
Push notifications — used to alert you about new messages, item alerts you have set up, and activity on your listings.

Payment Information

Purchases of promoted or featured listings are processed through the Apple App Store. We do not collect or store your payment card details. Apple provides us with confirmation that a purchase occurred and a transaction identifier. Apple's handling of your payment information is governed by Apple's privacy policy.

We do not process payments between buyers and sellers. All transactions for items listed on the Platform take place directly between users, outside of the Platform.

2. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies on our website to operate the Platform and understand how it is used.

Essential cookies keep you signed in and maintain your session. The Platform will not function properly without them.

Analytics cookies are set by Google Analytics 4 and help us understand how visitors find and use the Platform. These include cookies named _ga and _ga_*, which are used to distinguish visitors and to store session state. They typically expire after up to two years.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies may prevent you from signing in or using core features.

3. Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4, a service provided by Google LLC, to measure and understand how the Platform is used.

Google Analytics collects information such as the pages you view, how long you spend on them, how you arrived at the Platform, your approximate geographic region, and general device and browser characteristics. This information is used in aggregate to improve the Platform.

We have configured Google Analytics to retain user and event data for 14 months.

You can opt out of Google Analytics across all websites by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Google's handling of this information is governed by Google's own privacy policy.

4. How We Use Information

We use information to:

Create and manage your account
Verify your eligibility for a school community
Display and organize listings
Enable messaging between users
Deliver item alerts and notifications you have requested
Process purchases of promoted or featured listings
Improve the Platform and develop new features
Detect, prevent, and investigate fraud, abuse, and violations of our Terms of Service
Respond to support requests
Comply with legal obligations

5. Sharing Information

We do not sell your personal information.

We may share information in the following circumstances:

Service providers. We share information with companies that help us operate the Platform, including hosting, database, analytics, email delivery, and authentication providers. These providers are permitted to use the information only to provide services to us.
Other users. Information you choose to post — including your username, profile photo, school, verification status, and listing content — is visible to other users of the Platform.
Legal obligations. We may disclose information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.
Safety. We may disclose information when we believe it is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of College Marketplace, our users, or others.
Business transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction.

6. User Content and Public Information

Information you voluntarily post — including listings, listing photos, your username, profile photo, and school affiliation — may be visible to other users of the Platform and, in some cases, publicly on the web.

Messages you send to other users are visible to those users.

Please do not include sensitive personal information in listings, photos, or public profile fields. This includes your home address, phone number, financial account details, or government identification.

7. Data Security

We use commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and physical measures to protect information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These include encrypted connections and access controls on our systems.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If we become aware of a breach that compromises your personal information, we will notify you and any applicable regulators as required by law.

8. Data Retention

We retain information for as long as your account is active and as long as reasonably necessary to operate the Platform, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Account information is retained while your account is active.
Listings and messages are retained while your account is active, and for a limited period afterward to resolve disputes and prevent abuse.
Analytics data is retained for 14 months.

When you delete your account, we delete or de-identify your personal information within a reasonable period, except where retention is required by law or necessary to resolve an ongoing dispute or enforce our agreements.

9. Your Choices and Rights

You may:

Update your account information at any time in the app or on the website
Edit or delete your listings
Turn push notifications on or off in your device settings
Manage or disable item alerts in the app
Opt out of analytics using the Google Analytics opt-out add-on
Request deletion of your account

To request account deletion, use the option in the app under Settings, or contact us at support@mycollegemarketplace.com.

State Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights, including the right to know what personal information we hold about you, the right to request its deletion, the right to request correction of inaccurate information, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights.

We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@mycollegemarketplace.com. We will verify your identity before responding, and we will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

10. Eligibility and Age Requirements

The Platform is intended for verified college and university students who are 18 years of age or older.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13 years of age. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will delete it.

If you are between 13 and 17 and enrolled at a participating school, you may only use the Platform with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian. If we learn that a user under 18 is using the Platform without such consent, we may suspend or remove the account.

11. Third-Party Services

The Platform relies on third-party services for hosting, database storage, analytics, authentication, email delivery, file storage, and payment processing. These providers process information in accordance with their own privacy policies.

The Platform may also contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice within the Platform.

Your continued use of the Platform after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, contact us at: support@mycollegemarketplace.com