After paying an outrageous price for some btc, and falling into the hands of some scammers.
I finally came across localbitcoins and so far everything has worked out perfectly for me on there.
I've only done online transactions this far but, plan on meeting with a guy in my area I found there to cut down on other fees.

I bought my first btc well .5 btc on ebay at a crazy upcharge. then got ripped off second time. however i've been getting a little smarter and hope to learn much more from the forums

I too am new to the forum, and bitcoin for that matter(and already been ripped of once). I just wanted to say hi. I look forward to reading and learning from you guys. and if possible giving my input if i can be helpful anywhere.