Is it safe to shop at eBay?

Out of curiosity, since I have a bunch of money leftover from my Financial Aid (near 725 dollars, to be precise), and I do not feel like buying them from the College's bookstore. Why? They are overly costly..

So I'd rather buy them somewhere cheap, I tried Amazon, textbooks.com, etc. They're mostly expensive, though slightly cheaper than my campus' bookstore. So, has anyone shopped at eBay before? If so, what was your experience, and would you say that shopping at eBay is safe?

Just wondering, since I might start shopping at eBay, and since I do not have a PayPal account (not do I want one), I'll have to give away my Credit Card number to buy items at eBay.

Any tips or helpful insights?

Yeah shopping at ebay/half.com is good... OR you can try chegg.com (book rental site). I personally haven't done it b/c i didn't feel like waiting to get my books, but majority of my colleagues have & they recevied everything that they ordered in a timely manner with no misshaps.

Ebay is safe to some extent. I don't know how the policy of the "what if I got scammed works" though seeing that I never got jipped.

Anyway, when you're viewing the product, just make sure that you read everything in the description page such as the condition of the product, blah blah. Pictures are a plus. Also, the price comes into play. You'll have to see if it's a reasonable price even though it is set lower than the price you would pay in the store. (Example: a web cam going for a penny when it's really worth 100 bucks on Amazon. Of course something tells you not to bid on the penny web cam.)

Usually I buy items that have more descriptions/pictures than those that don't. And look at the seller's ratings too. It's like basil so it tells you some past remarks older customers have made based on the seller.

I think your question should more be "Do I need the textbooks" than it should be "where should I buy them". Me personally, after a year and a half of University, Ive gotten smarter with textbooks. There are books I simply do not buy anymore (Ex. Novels for literature classes) because I can find them elsewhere/online/reading summaries on sparknotes are just as good. Others I just check out from the library, return them, check them out again, etc. I mean, in all honesty, how many university students actually open up their textbooks any time other than before midterms and finals?

A friend of mine takes it a step further, he takes out the books at the library, then pays the overdue fees at the end of the semester. Apparently it's cheaper to do it that way than to actually buy the books, lol.

Personally after thinking about it and planning things out, I only spent 10 dollars on textbooks this semester xD I probably could've saved a good 200 dollars on textbooks last terms if I have the tricks I have now, lol.

[COLOR="Indigo"]In the event you would get "ripped off" by an ebay seller (this has happened to me :|), the best way to deal with it is to contact your credit card company and have them deal with it.

Whenever you shop online, regardless of what site it is, CHECK THE FEEDBACK for the user you may purchase from. If they have negative feedback, read the comments. If you find someone with purely positive feedback, but a slightly higher price as well as someone with some negative feedback and a lower price, take a look at the feedback. What were the issues customers had with that seller? Are these issues you're willing to deal with? Things like late shipping/poor communication may be worth the lower price. But if incorrect items are shipped, pieces are missing or the item(s) show up in a condition other than what they claim to be, is that worth the risk?

Jack makes a good point too. Do you need your own copy of the textbook? If you have it, will you use it? Is sharing a book with a classmate an option(offering money to borrow it is a nice incentive, hehe)?

What about older editions of the book? Are those acceptable for use? I've taken a few courses where I've used an older edition of the book, and I still did fine in the class. Older editions are far, far less expensive too.

~Lyssa[/COLOR]

For my classes, I had already spoken with my professors. I will be using them 'daily', yes, all 4 courses and all 4 books. x_X; So I'll be rather busy. I was hoping to not purchase a book this time around, but I don't have much of a choice. I bought a book for 15 dollars on ebay, even though at my campus' bookstore, price for it was around 60 or so.

I even bought another book at Amazon, for 60, when my campus' bookstore price was 104. I'll let you guys know how it goes as time goes on. :]

I mean, in all honesty, how many university students actually open up their textbooks any time other than before midterms and finals?

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 Spoiler

This^^^^ is "I-stab-you-with-a-knife-kun." Much like his name suggests, he will stab with you with a knife if your major is anything like Chemistry, Quantum Physics, Math, or Genetic Analysis.

-cough- Major = Computer Networking, will change into Computer Science after I transfer to a uni.

Yeah I knew. Penn State right?

[SIZE="7"]._____.[/SIZE]

 Spoiler

This^^^^ is "I-stab-you-with-a-knife-kun." Much like his name suggests, he will stab with you with a knife if your major is anything like Chemistry, Quantum Physics, Math, or Genetic Analysis.

You'll need a new stabbing target xD Im a UBC Music Major under the branch of General Studies Piano...afk, choral union classes, lol.

And trust me, Im not the only one who opens textbooks the day before midterms... I have many friends in many different faculties who do the same D;

I pretty much figured you would major in music because you assemble your own music pieces which is pretty incredible. Science isn't necessarily hard, but it is tedious. And even though there are some people who can sometimes study at the last minute for some of their classes and still get As, there are rarely any science majors who can study all subjects at the last minute for all their classes and still get As unless they're a genius. Or the science program is just watered down and spoon-fed via lecture notes directly placed on the test which is just absurd.

Yeah I knew. Penn State right?

Originally planned to transfer to Penn State Beaver (not main campus). I'm currently at a Community College, just because it is much more affordable.. Will be planning to transfer to Robert Morris University after this year. ^.^

From all of the purchases I've made on eBay, I can't complain about a single one. Just make sure that the auction lists an appropriate amount of information for what you're buying, as others have said. Also be sure to check what currency the auction lists; it's easy to mistake €10 for $10.

I think your question should more be "Do I need the textbooks" than it should be "where should I buy them". Me personally, after a year and a half of University, Ive gotten smarter with textbooks. There are books I simply do not buy anymore (Ex. Novels for literature classes) because I can find them elsewhere/online/reading summaries on sparknotes are just as good. Others I just check out from the library, return them, check them out again, etc. I mean, in all honesty, how many university students actually open up their textbooks any time other than before midterms and finals?

A friend of mine takes it a step further, he takes out the books at the library, then pays the overdue fees at the end of the semester. Apparently it's cheaper to do it that way than to actually buy the books, lol.

Personally after thinking about it and planning things out, I only spent 10 dollars on textbooks this semester xD I probably could've saved a good 200 dollars on textbooks last terms if I have the tricks I have now, lol.

Though I'm majoring in Chemical Engineering, I have had some good experiences with textbooks. It is often much better to look for your upper-years and see if they can borrow/sell/lent their books. I've found myself not buying or even having the textbooks those last terms because I'm a mad copier (classes given on chalk board) and I have a great attention span and memory for anything I'm interested in, which is almost everything that I learn at the university.

Just in case anyone wants to know, here is my current state (don't mind the lolportuguese it's basically the normal chemical engineering classes, i'm now on my 3rd year):



The percentage on the bottom is how much of the credits I've already completed. You get a free lolpicture.

A friend of mine takes it a step further, he takes out the books at the library, then pays the overdue fees at the end of the semester. Apparently it's cheaper to do it that way than to actually buy the books, lol.

I wouldn't do that with the actual university library. I once accidentally forgot about five college books and did not return them for maybe 3 months. They sent me a $520 bill, (they thought I lost the books,) which they graciously reduced to $92 in fines when I brought them back. That's 5 books. X_x If you take all your books out like that... well, it might be more.

On Ebay I got scammed once. I bought a pet Tiger code, the guy sent me a used code. I chargebacked and got my money back. HOWEVER I got lucky; had he replied to the chargeback properly, I would have had to pay him, because I couldn't prove that the pet code was used when I got it. However, I have been using Ebay since 1999, so 1 scam is not that bad, to be honest. Just make sure the person's feedback is like 99.8% positive or better. A 90% positive feedback on Ebay is VERY bad in my opinion.

It should be safe, just make sure you research (as others said) and make sure the seller has great feedback.

Also, regarding scams...for your enjoyment: http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/