As a buyer and seller of used books on eBay and Half.com myself, I'm surprised at how many times my family and I received books that did not match the sellers' descriptions.  This is why I decided to write this guide to share my experience and help buyers find a more credible seller.

Check the seller's ratings & feedback

Many sellers use stock photos to sell their books, especially on Half.com.  So there's really no way for you to tell the conditions of the book from the photo.  Many buyers, including me, will search for a listing that is low in price.  The next thing will be to look for the seller's ratings and feedback to determine if the seller is trustworthy or not.  Not all the feedback may be true, plus eBay sellers are human beings too, and it's okay to make a couple of mistakes here and there.  However, the feedback for the last six months will give you an idea of the pattern of the seller's practice.  You will find that some sellers can have as many as 50 negative feedback in the last six months, and that will probably give you some truth about the seller.  However, the ratings and feedback of a seller doesn't give you a full picture.  I have been in the customer service industry for years, and I know that not every unhappy customer will make a complaint or leave a negative feedback.  My family is one of them.  When they received a book that was only in "average" or "good" condition when they actually paid for a book of "like new" or "new" condition, all they said was "it's okay, I don't mind about the highlighting and writing.  I can still read it."

Read the listing's description carefully

So what should we do besides reading the ratings and feedback of a seller?  Definitely there is more to it, especially when there are new eBay sellers who only have a few ratings or feedback, so it's hard to assign a credibility rating to them.  What I usually do next is to read the listing's description carefully.  You'll realize that some sellers will only put standardized information on every of their listings, such as "quick shipping" or "we have over xxx titles in stock".  These descriptions don't tell you the conditions of the book they are selling.  Before you purchase or bid on an item, it's best that you ask the seller a question or any concerns you might have about the book.  I always ask if there are markings or highlighting in the book because that really bothers me and gives me a false impression that those highlighted sentences are important.  Those may be important to the previous buyer, but not to me.  I developed this habit of asking a question because I have encountered many sellers who listed their books as "like new", but in fact it's only "good" condition at best with all the details that they failed to write in the description.  Sometimes I really wonder if they don't understand how to rate the conditions of a book according to the policies on eBay or Half.com or they simply do not have the ethics that are expected of an eBay seller.  By asking a question, you can also tell how speedy and friendly the seller's response is, and that will also help you add or minus a point from the seller.

Monitor your purchase

After the research and interaction with the seller, you can then decide on who to buy the book from.  Your journey to purchasing a used book is not finished yet.  It's sad to know that some eBay sellers don't remember your order or ship your book on time.  eBay or Half.com usually states a range of dates to let you know when the book should arrive.  If it doesn't arrive after that date, you should inform the seller promptly to report your problem.  You should contact the seller via the eBay or Half.com message so everything is in the record.  It will come in handy if you need to make a claim, which I will talk about later.

Don't be afraid to make a claim

If your book never arrives or it arrives in a completely different conditions than was on the listing, what do you do?  I have encountered this problem before, and the first step I recommend is to contact the seller first.  As I said eBay sellers are human beings too, and they may have shipped the wrong item.  Give them the benefit of doubt.  The sellers will usually have two responses, as far as I have seen.

First, they will admit the mistake and offer a remedy.  Sometimes, they may offer to ship a different copy if they have another one.  If they don't, they may offer a refund or credit.  As a buyer, you have to note that sometimes you have to pay for the shipping yourself if you want an exchange.  I understand this is not the best solution because you may think that it's not your mistake, yet you have to pay for the shipping to help correct the problem?!  Yes, that's what I experienced in the next response, and I have to admit that I don't like it but I need a sense of justice at that time!

Secondly, a seller will deny what they did.  It's extremely frustrating when that happens.  Sometimes it's not a matter of a $30 book, but it's a matter of principle and  you need to get that straight.   If that's how you feel, the next step will be to make a claim against the seller.  It happened to me once.  The book that I bought on eBay was marked as "very good" condition, but when it came, it had burnt mark, candle wax, dirt, creases on the book.  Everything that could go wrong with a book happened to me!  All these were not on the description, so I was furious! I paid with PayPal, and the claim went through it.  PayPal acts as an intermediary to help ensure that both the buyer and seller have taken the required steps to handle a dispute and also facilitates communication between them.  At first, the seller was only willing to pay half the price of the book that I paid.  I rejected, and finally I was able to claim the whole amount that I paid.  The catch is that you'll have to mail the book to PayPal to have it verified.  So you do lose on shipping when you send it in to PayPal.  You can read the details of my story in another guide that I wrote, "protect yourself from seller's scams!".

 

Leave a feedback to help yourself & other eBay buyers

Once you have got the book (or when you didn't get the book), you should leave a feedback to help protect and remind yourself that this is a good seller that I can patronize again or this is an unreliable seller that I have to stay away from.  Most importantly, you alert other eBay buyers online on the seller's practice and help prevent other people from getting a bad experience on buying online.  I think most people agree that books, especially textbooks, are extremely expensive in the U.S., and many of us, including me, have no choice but to buy used copies.  However, with your contribution of telling others your buying experience, you will help make the eBay community a safer and more enjoyable one.

To summarize...

1. Check the seller's ratings and feedback, at least for the last 6 months.
2. Read the listing's description carefully
3. Monitor your purchase
4. Make a claim if necessary
5. Leave a feedback to help yourself & other eBay buyers

I hope the above tips and my experience will help anyone who needs to buy used books online.  Stay alert and make your money worth it!

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