Discount websites drive a hard bargain

the college crowd due to the everrising cost of textbooks. The site allows users to choose from used or new and compares the best prices. Half.com also allows students to sell back their pesky pile of unwanted textbooks at the end of the semester.

Senior liberal arts major Jackie McDaniels said that she relies on Half.com for all her textbook needs. “For the amount that you use some textbooks in some classes, paying bookstore prices is ridiculous. Half.com lets me search for the best price and then sell them back when I’m done,” McDaniels said.

Bargain websites give consumers the ability to purchase anything from brand name clothing to automobiles with one click.

AMANDA FINNEGAN EDITOR IN CHEIF

AJF724@CABRINI EDU

College students are finding a way to buy and save on their favorite high priced items through the latest trend in bargain shopping. The trend is bargain websites and students are eating up their prices. Similar to the oldfashioned thrift shops, these sites allow users to not only buy sometimes second-hand goods but also sell items for cold, hard cash.

One of the more famous bargain websites is eBay.com and its now sister website Half.com, which is strictly devoted to buying and selling items like books, movies and music. Half.com has become extremely popular with

McDaniels also said that she also has used eBay.com to sell a few items. “I had this saxophone and flute from elementary school that I decided to put on eBay. I got $270 for the sax and $200 for the flute. I’ve probably made close to $600 total by selling stuff on eBay and Half.com,” McDaniels said.

Both eBay and Half.com use a service called PayPal to ensure a secure way to pay. PayPal is a service users sign up with separately and give credit card information once. Then every time after users buy an item, money gets taken from a checking account through PayPal. The service handles all the transactions so faulty sellers cannot get a hold of the buyers account information.

Websites like Overstock.com and Bluefly.com are committed to giving their users designer goods for less. Sites like these pride themselves on delivering current, in-season merchandise at up to 40 percent off. Freshman Kristen Carthas, an elementary education major, said that she uses Bluefly.com for some of her shopping. “I’ve found things Nordstrom that Bluefly.com has in stock for cheaper,” Carthas said.

Both McDaniels and Carthas agree that bargain websites are the way to go. “Why pay more for something when you do have to?” Carthas said “Plus, you never have to leave the comfort of your own home.”