Ebay

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>People say to buy books online. Prices on specific book sites are great. I mean 40 bucks for this physics book I paid 120 for!</p>

<p>But then I went to ebay. And found the same exact book. For. 5 dollar. No bids. </p>

<p>Oh my goodness! Imagine the amount of money I could save!</p>

<p>I'm just scared of scams and such. Has there been anyone who has had good or bad experience buying from Ebay for college essentials? Are there sites that can be as cheap as Ebay but with more security? And any tips on how to protect your money on Ebay?</p>

<p>I also plan on selling things on Ebay. If you have tips for that, go ahead!</p>

2

<p>And look at the laptops - there are a lot of laptops that start at $0.01. </p>

<p>I'd like a very weak laptop for taking notes (there is no way I'm risking my main laptop on that)</p>

3

<p>Ebay is the most secure bidding site. For maximum security, always use PayPal for your purchases so the system can track down the payment process (don't ever use personal checks, money orders, etc.). Also, PayPal has insurance up to $200 (I think) on most purchases and sometimes up to $2000. If you are looking for a more secure online merchant then check out amazon.com's market place. It is similar to Ebay where you can buy used and new items from other people, but Amazon acts as a third party regulator. </p>

<p>As for that book, it may be 5 dollars, but the seller can cancel the transcation if he or she feels the selling price is too low. Also, that is just the starting bid. If many people see that the book is a good deal, the bid would go up a lot.</p>

4

<p>Why is amazon.com so secure? I bought from used booksellers - like 10-15 items from them - and the items always arrive as stated, even when they come from a newbie seller</p>

5

<p>abebooks.com is also pretty good</p>

6

<p>Ebay is good for most stuff, but when buying expensive electronics such as laptops, make sure that you also get the warranty.</p>

7

<p>Are the auctions you were looking at "Buy It Now"? If not, then you're going to have to jump in the bidding fray, and, especially for popular items like laptops, people tend to have programs ("snipers") that bid at the last second for them so they always win.</p>

8

<p>you can get a laptop for $300+ these days just look in the newspaper for store ads just because auction starts off at a .01 doesnt mean it will end that way.</p>

9

<p>Still, be careful when buying from amazon and ebay. Make sure you'll get the book on time and even with enough time to return it if you have to. I ordered and they sent me the wrong version of the book that didn't bring the sudent manual (although I ordered the right one online) and I didn't have time to return it. It isn't that big of a deal, but if it had been an even bigger mistake, or a completely different book, you want to have time enough to exchange it.</p>

10

<p>I find that amazon has more books to choose from.</p>