For the last several weeks I have been making decisions about what curriculum we will use for our next school year. This year I will have 3 in "school" and one in "preschool." Cost is definitely a factor in our house, so I look for several ways to save money. I am willing to buy used books to save money so I have been searching ebay (anything you want you can find it on ebay.) To my surprise, I have not found very much I am interested in buying. Why? The used curriculum on ebay is selling for more than I can buy it brand new. That is great news if you are selling, but not so good if you are buying. I believe there are two main reasons for this. The biggest one is people are not doing research do not know your prices. If you don't know how much something costs new, how will you know if it is a good deal? The second reason is the determination to win. People get caught up in not getting outbid and don't pay attention to what they are actually paying for the product.
There are still some good deals on ebay. Here are my suggestions for finding them.
1. Know how much the item costs brand new. The Rainbow Resource Catalog is a good place to look up Homeschool Curriculum.
2.Know as much information about the item (condition, writing in the book, torn pages, etc..) as possible. If the listing is not specific ask the seller for more details.
3. Decide what you think a fair price would be and do not increase your bid if someone outbids you. Stick to your original decision.
4. Buy from sellers with positive feedback.
5.Buy from sellers that will combine shipping if you are purchasing more than one item.
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