With college costs on the rise, many students at Fresno City College are living on a shoestring budget and are looking to save money whenever possible. Craigslist, the online classifieds website, has become a popular place for students to buy and sell textbooks at deeply discounted prices.

The deal is simple: the seller posts an advertisement on the site giving the information about the product and a way for interested buyers to contact them. Prices of the books are set by the private-party seller and are most often a deep discount from the original price.

Take for instance, an FCC Economy 1A book. The price for this used book listed in the FCC bookstore is $146. That same book is listed for $100 on Craigslist, that is a discount of more than 30 percent.

However, recent incidents such as a man in Portland, Ore., being robbed at gunpoint after trying to sell an iPhone on Craigslist has made some FCC students question the safety of using the site.

“I thought about it before but what stopped me was not knowing the person and that they can’t send it to you, you have to pick it up in person,” said Courtney Drudge, an agriculture business major.

Craigslist is well aware of these incidents but maintains that the incidence of crime is extremely low.

Nevertheless, their website provides some safety tips to remember when dealing on the site. These tips include meeting in a public place, letting family and friends know where you are going and taking a cell phone with you just in case. You can review the full list of safety tips on their website at www.craigslist.org/about/safety.

Students may also want to be wary of scams on Craigslist. According to the Craigslist website, buyers should only deal locally with people they can meet in person, as this will help them avoid 99% of scam attempts.

Further, buyers should never wire funds, give out personal information or pay with a money order, and should avoid any deals involving shipping the item or mailing funds. Lastly, look out for the word “guarantee” in the ads posted, for this is a common word used by scammers.

For a full list of tips to thwart scammers you can visit: www.craigslist.org/about/scams.

Drudge, however, finds other websites to use that do not require dealing with private-parties or in-person encounters.

“I normally would sell [textbooks] on either Amazon or Chegg,” said Drudge.

Both Amazon and Chegg are great alternatives for buying or selling textbooks. They are easy to use and do not involve any in-person transactions. Further, both sites will offer fair prices for buying and selling used textbooks. Plus they will often replace any book that is received damaged or incomplete.

One downside is the shipping costs and time students have to wait for their books to arrive.

No matter how students choose to buy  books, it is important to use common sense to avoid scams and most importantly caution whenever dealing with in-person transactions.