A Consumer's How To #43: Buying & Selling Online

1. I checked out ebay, half.com, Craigslist and Amazon. I did not go to etsy because I am not into crafting. I have used ebay before. I find it very easy to use. I have only purchased things through ebay. I have not sold anything through them. The phrase caveat emptor is appropriate when using ebay. The Antiquities section has a lot of dubious items for sale. I have bought several items thinking they were old and they are not. I have bought vintage items: I bought my daughter a Chatty Baby doll that is authentic. I have bought watches that are good quality. I have bought jewelry. Through Amazon I have bought used books. On ebay each seller creates their own displays. Some have great displays with good pictures. Others do not. I went on Craigslist and found some listing with good pictures and some without any pictures. And it is a good idea not to give personal information. Also you must be careful before you put in a bid that the preferred method of payment jives with the way you are willing to pay. I have run into problems with that.
2. PayPal is very safe and convenient. My husband has a PayPal account but I do not. I think one is enough. PayPal is very useful on ebay. Most of the sellers on ebay prefer this method of payment. I went to the Armani web site, the Coach web site and the Wal-mart web site. These sites do not take PayPal. I am not sure how useful PayPal would be for me. My husband and I have a second checking account that we use for online purchases. We transfer money into this account when we want to purchase on line. That way we don't give out our main checking account information.