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

Where Wahoos buy and sell

Every incoming first-year at UVA lives on Grounds, and housing assignments are made randomly across a handful of residence areas — so a full class furnishes rooms from scratch every August without much say in where. Whether you land in the McCormick Road halls that everyone calls Old Dorms, in Alderman Road hall-style or suite-style — the New Dorms — in the Gooch/Dillard suites, or in a residential college at Brown, Hereford, or the International Residential College, everything you need is already on Grounds. UVA students post mini fridges, futons, storage bins, desk lamps, monitors, bikes, and gently used textbooks every semester — usually for a fraction of retail. Second, third and fourth years living on Grounds or around the Corner and Rugby Road use it too. Same rule applies: verified students only, and the person on the other end is someone you'd pass on the way to class.

One rate, one random assignment — and a lot of trading

First-year students all pay the same rate regardless of area or room type, which means the differences between Old Dorms and New Dorms come down to layout and amenities rather than price. Old Dorms have larger rooms and sit closer to Central Grounds; New Dorms are newer with air conditioning throughout. Practically, that means what you need to buy depends on where you land — and you don't find out until assignments go out. Worth watching the feed once you know.

Meeting up on Grounds

Handoffs happen at landmarks everybody already knows. Newcomb Hall, the Aquatic and Fitness Center, the Slaughter Recreation Center, and Observatory Hill Dining Hall are all easy meeting points between classes, and O-Hill and the AFC sit right by the Alderman Road area. No shipping labels, no delivery fees, no driving across Charlottesville to meet someone off Craigslist.

Textbooks without the bookstore markup

Course materials for the sciences, engineering, commerce, and pre-med tracks run into the hundreds of dollars a semester, and the same editions circulate through Grounds year after year. Buying from the student who took the class last term beats the bookstore buyback spread on both ends — the seller gets more than the buyback price, and the buyer pays less than retail.

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