I'm another one who never purchased hardcovers. However, I didn't really do too much second-hand purchasing. My cheap purchases were occasional bargain bin offerings at the bookstore, but most of my purchases were full price paperbacks (at Australian prices
).
I didn't necessarily dislike hardcovers for the price though. I disliked them (rather intensely) because I found them a pain in the rear end to read. Also I didn't like the whole dust jacket idea. If I left it on it would be very easily damaged and if I took it off I lost my nice cover image to look at. I guess I just didn't understand hardcovers that much.
Regards
Caleb