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

Most new students start in the numbered units just south of campus — Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3 — or head uphill to Foothill and Stern in Unit 4, out to Clark Kerr in Unit 5, or into Blackwell Hall and Martinez Commons. Continuing students and transfers spread into the campus apartments: Channing-Bowditch Apartments, Clark Kerr Apartments, Enclave Apartments, Martinez Commons Apartments, Panoramic Berkeley, Wada Apartments, xučyun ruwway Apartments, and Helen Diller Anchor House over on Oxford Street. Berkeley doesn't require anyone to live on campus, but it does guarantee two years of housing to entering first-years and one year to transfers, so most people move at least twice — and everything you need is already on campus. Cal students post futons, storage bins, desk lamps, monitors, bikes and gently used textbooks every semester, usually for a fraction of retail.

Know what's already in the room before you buy anything. Every residence hall bed is an extra-long twin, so standard twin sheets won't fit, and triple rooms come with a bunk bed plus a lofted bed. Rooms arrive with a desk, chair, dresser, mirror and closet, and every hall room includes a MicroChill combination refrigerator and microwave — personal fridges and microwaves are prohibited, so those listings mostly move between apartment residents. Lofted beds may only be assembled by campus facilities staff, for a fee, and furniture can't be stacked on bricks or bookcases. UL-approved coffee makers, tea kettles and irons are fine; candles, incense, halogen lamps and plug-in string lights are not. No official hall page advertises air conditioning, which is why fans move fast in September. Most halls also close over winter break, from Dec. 19 to Jan. 14, while Martinez Commons and the campus apartments stay open — that closure is what turns storage bins into a January staple.

When it's time to hand something off, meet somewhere busy: Sproul Plaza, Sather Gate, Doe Memorial Library, the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, the Recreational Sports Facility or Memorial Glade. Every one of them is a short walk from the units — no shipping labels, no delivery fees, no meeting someone off campus.

Popular categories at Cal: textbooks and course materials · dorm and apartment furniture · fans and small appliances · bikes and scooters · Cal apparel and game day gear · electronics and monitors · event tickets · twin XL bedding and mattress toppers · storage bins and organizers