1/5

posted Jan-10-2013

"Where do I begin with Half.com?

First, I bought a book from one of their sellers for several of my college courses. I usually purchase my books from campus, Amazon, or Alibris, but I thought I’d give them a shot, specifically because they were listed as an option on my colleges bookstore for used books, and also because I read their buyer protection plan. The plan supposedly guarantees that your order will be in as described condition or Half.com will refund your money. The policy also does not explicitly state that they require the book to be returned. I will never buy from them again, and here is why.

All of my books came in good condition except for one: my Developmental Psychology book. It was described as in very good condition with some highlights and no markings. I paid approximately $80 for the book, and boy was I surprised when it showed up.

Not only was the cover in bad shape (it has dents all over the cover as though someone used it for a writing desk), but the binding is torn. In addition, the book has excessive pink highlights to the tune of 60 plus pages. That is far from “some highlights”. The book also has markings inside, but worst of all, the book smells like someone smoked weed around it for years. God awful smell. Smells so bad it could get even get an Arkansas law enforcement agent who burns marijuana fields high. Therefore, I contacted the seller, but the seller was uncooperative about giving me a substantial discount or issuing me a full refund. Therefore, I filed a claim with Half.com.
Half.com sent me a message that they would contact me within 72 hours to resolve the problem— but almost 10 days later, I still had not heard from them. So I searched on their website in order to find a customer service number, a physical address, or even an e-mail so I could find out the status of my claim. No such luck. Despite my searching, over an hour of searching to be exact, I could not find a number, an address, or an e-mail for Half.com. So I began to search online, and I finally found a physical address for Half.com listed with the California Secretary of State. To date, I have not found a phone number that links you to a live person, and I only found a service e-mail address that bounced originally, stating it does not accept e-mails from customers.

More than two weeks later, I finally received a reply from Half.com. Apparently they did receive my e-mail sent from the service e-mail address, despite the message to the contrary that this e-mail does not take replies, etc. They are failing to honor their buyer protection plan as advertised on their site, and they are demanding that I send the book back in order to receive a refund, since they cannot determine the condition the book is in, which seems to defeat the wording in their buyer protection policy. Half.com clearly has communication issues. In addition, they seem to not hire people who know how to clearly read e-mails and respond to customers, since they keep referring me to their “refund policy” and not their “buyer protection policy”. As much as I ‘d love to send this piece of trash back, my classes start in about a week, and I do not have time to send the book back, to wait for a full refund (which with some merchants takes 30 days or more), and then to order a book that is in very good condition or better. To do this would put me behind on my reading material, and getting behind at the beginning of the semester is simply not an option if I want to keep my GPA over 3.5. I would even be happy with a partial credit, since the book is worth maybe $40 on a good day after it is aired out. So as of now, I have filed a complaint with the BBB’s office of Silicon Valley, the Attorney General’s office of California, and the FTC. Maybe this will get someones’ attention that is literate with Half.com, and then I will be happy to send pictures to the organizations mentioned."

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1/5

posted Jul-13-2012

"Half.com is incredibly hostile to sellers. Not only do they not offer a seller protection program parallel to the buyer protection contract, but they also do not automatically provide a tracking order automatically. "

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5/5

posted May-11-2012

"I have had an account with Half.com for years and have never had a bad experience. Recently, I just ordered textbooks and they came instantly (a lot sooner than I expected). Yay for that! Also, I'm impressed with their textbook rental service, where shipping is free and you can highlight/underline in the books if you'd like."

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1/5

posted Mar-14-2012

ResellerRatings.com TOP REVIEWER!

"There's your warning. 'an eBay company'

The other negative reviews for half.com seem to be from buyers. As a seller, it seems that buyers have the better deal, but I wouldn't trust them either way. I used to sell higher-priced, out-of-print CDs through them. With one particular transaction, the buyer claimed he never received the CD, so I sent another. Then he filed a claim through Half.com saying he never received the second one. I sent customer service the receipts for mailing the packages, but USPS only prints the zip code on the receipt and that's not good enough for half.com (as if it's really plausible that I'd be sending another CD-weight package to someone else in the same zip code a day after the customer placed the order). Half.com didn't just refund the customer after he lied, they also REMOVED MONEY FROM MY DEPOSIT ACCOUNT without my permission. I've never bought or sold an item with them since. I wouldn't trust them again with any account information after their underhanded tactics."

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1/5

posted Sep-09-2011

"Please don't buy from half.com because their customer service is horrible. I bought a brand new text book through half.com and they were telling that there is buyer protection sadly that is not the case. They would stand with cheating/lies of the seller. 95% of the book was highlighted and pages were missing. I told this issue to half.com and even send photo of the same for evidence. Sadly they were sitting on my case as if they did not care. Then I had to call Ebay and they told that half.com issues they have limited control. They will not issue a recall tag YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY IT FROM YOUR POCKET. It cost me 6usd to ship the same back to seller and they would pay on 3.99usd as return shipping charge. They were offering as if we buyers are nothing value. If you buy pay only with paypal. I have filed case with BBB. "

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4/5

posted May-05-2011

"Great service for selling old textbooks and video games. Commission fee is sort of high, but is comparable to that of Amazon's marketplace."

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1/5

posted Sep-15-2010

"I bought this book thinking it was the right one. Unfortunately, I have made a mistake and purchased a soft cover instead of the hard cover copy. I contact the actual seller NJBUYTHEBOOK and have agreed to return the item for refund through Half.com. This was a huge mistake. After I returned the item I have lost my credit card and had to close it. Half is reporting the item refunded but no money came back into my account. I have contacted Half.com September 10 about this and had not heard any responses. Customer service is horrible. No phone number to call to talk to a person. Emails never get answered. I am highly doubting my money will ever be returned. DO NOT PURCHASE THROUGH HALF.COM. If you have a problem with your order forget about getting your money back!!!"

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