half.com

[teacups]

I buy a lot of new and used books... and wanted to share my experience with half.com incase anyone else is thinking about trying them.
I bought 8 books, all different sellers (it still worked out less expensive than ebay, which is why I went this route). Out of those 8 transactions, three went off without a glitch. 3 sellers never replied, never answered and I assume they dont sell any longer and just failed to delete thier active acounts. One replied and offered me a totally different book becaue that one had already been sold two weeks ago, and one I still have to wait two more days before I can report it as not received... even though its been about 3 weeks since I ordered it. SO now I am stuck with all these half completed transactions... and I needed those books. So, I went to ebay and re-purchased from different sellers.. and all have arrived. Now, why the difference between two online sellers owned by the same company?

Ebay sellers normally reply to emails, send the item within a reasonable amount of time and care about thier feedback. I do not see those things with half.com. Three sellers were fine, but the bad apples ruined my opnion.

I personally will never use half dot com again.

 

[redsunfish]

Hi teacups,

I have bought and sold books on half.com (more sold than bought) and I haven't had any trouble (knock on wood) but I'm not entirely surprised.

My guess for why you had better luck with ebay is that listings on ebay cost money just to list the item for sale and only last a certain amount of time where as listing on half.com is free until the book is sold and is listed indefinitely until you remove it. Once sold half then takes a % of the profit so you're not losing any $$$ if you don't follow thru on half.com just your rating score and possibly getting kicked off.

Personally as a seller I love half because I never really deal with the buyer directly unless there is a problem. Half tells me I made a sale, collects the money, turns the address for shipping over to me, and then all i do is ship the book and once a month they deposit all my earnings that month into my bank account. By the time I ship I know they have already collected the cash.

 

[C.Ann]

I've been using them for several months now - poor mailman has had to deliver up to 20 books on ONE day - LOL.. When they come in at a slower pace, he's usually putting 3 to 4 in my mail box per day..

I have had no problems whatsoever.. I love half.com - it's so much cheaper than Amazon or eBay - especially if you try to use the same seller for 2 or 3 books.. I now have several sellers that I use on a regular basis - because their service is so outstanding - and only order from a "single" seller if there's no other alternative..

I'm really surprised that you have had issues.. I won't buy from anyone else now..

 

[teacups]

Well... just my luck LOL!
I dont know why this happened, but, boy it left a horrible taste in my book buying pocketbook.

 

[bballmom56]

I have used half.com quite a bit for buying and selling of my kids' textbooks. I really like it. I only had one glitch with a seller, but it eventually got worked out. They are the first one I check out for prices.

 

[C.Ann]

Well... just my luck LOL!
I dont know why this happened, but, boy it left a horrible taste in my book buying pocketbook.

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Without half.com, I NEVER could have afforded all of the books I have purchased in the past several months..

Have you tried staying with the "larger" sellers? Where it states the location the books ship from it will normally read "ML" - meaning they are shipping from multiple locations - according to which site has the book in stock.. If you want to PM me, I can give you the names of a few that I have had great success with.. I hate to see anyone not be able to have the books they want.. BIG book lover here!!

 

[cteddiesgirl]

I've had just as much trouble with ebay sellers as I have half.com sellers. I have used both for quite a few years as both a buyer and a seller.

Just like with anything. Sometimes there are a few bad apples no matter where you go.