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Hi Catharine and welcome to MobileRead. There is no 2nd hand market in ebooks, because they are a digital product. So books are bought "new" each time. You will also find that the major publishers (not sure where you are in the world - publishers vary) have set pricing, so the stores really have no option to discount. Depending on where you are, you may run into the problem of geographic restrictions, where books are not e-published in your region so you can't buy them, even if they are published elsewhere.
The Singapore Library is exactly that - a library. As with paper books, ebooks are borrowed and must be returned. If you were able to keep them permanently then they would essentially be giving the books away for free! Not a viable business option.
I'm also an avid reader and I'm happy to borrow books from the library - both paper and digital. I'm also happy to return library books once I've read them. If it's a good enough book that I want my own copy then I will buy it. I also read a lot of free books by independent authors - they can be hit or miss, but occasionally there's a good one. If you watch and wait, there are often sales and coupons for books. Kobo has regular discounts, although be aware that the coupons cannot be used for books for which the publisher has set a fixed price.
Only you can decide whether you've wasted your money. I know I certainly haven't.
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