AbeBooks
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you want cheap used or hard-to-find books and will vet individual sellers first.
New check
Comparison
AbeBooks vs Ebay
AbeBooks and Ebay both land on Depends.
Ebay
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it as an individual selling used, rare, or collectible goods . reach is unmatched and startup cost is zero.
| Compare | AbeBooks | Ebay |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Bargain used-book hunters | Casual sellers of used goods |
| Who it's not for | Collectors needing guaranteed condition or easy refunds | Low-margin, high-volume new-goods sellers |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.⁹ | Mature platform with real breach history: 145M users notified in 2014; recent CVEs mostly hit third-party integrations. |
| Support quality | Complaint threads call support unhelpful | Users hunt for real human support |
| Public sentiment | Selection and prices win praise, while a vocal minority reports seller problems and weak support.¹ | Sellers complain about stacking fees and buyer-favoring disputes, while buyers praise reach and bargains but find support hard to reach.12 |
| Biggest gotcha | Dispute threads describe slow, unhelpful resolution when orders arrive wrong.⁴ | Per-sale final value fees stack; cheap items can lose margin after fees and shipping |
Pick AbeBooks when
- Bargain used-book hunters
- Textbook buyers
- Out-of-print book searches
When AbeBooks is not a fit
- Collectors needing guaranteed condition or easy refunds
- Anyone unwilling to vet individual sellers first
- Sellers wanting responsive platform support
Pick Ebay when
- Casual sellers of used goods
- Collectors hunting rare items
- Hobby resellers and flippers
- Buyers wanting auction deals
When Ebay is not a fit
- Low-margin, high-volume new-goods sellers
- Brands wanting direct customer relationships
- Anyone needing guaranteed human support
- Privacy-sensitive users wary of breach history
Sources
- Read Customer Service Reviews of www.abebooks.comtrustpilot.comreview
- Is AbeBooks Legit? : r/booksreddit.comreview
- Do NOT use AbeBooks : r/BookCollectingreddit.comreview
review
- AbeBooks Fee Scheduleabebooks.comofficial
- AbeBooks Reviews, Address, Shipping & Payment Methodsbookscouter.comreview
- AbeBooks Review: Low Prices On Used Textbooksthecollegeinvestor.comreview
- Product security pageabebooks.comsecurity
- Report a security issueabebooks.comsecurity
- AbeBooks - Etail Integration Platformetailsolutions.comnews
- Trustpilot reviews of ebay.comtrustpilot.comreview
- eBay on G2g2.comreview
- eBay Reviews & Complaints . ConsumerAffairsconsumeraffairs.comreview