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Buying books online

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Sallamandrina
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04 Feb 2010, 8:54 am

Can you recommend some good sites selling used (or cheap :) ) books in the UK or Europe? I've had some bad experiences lately with Amazon and would like to explore other options.


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zeichner
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04 Feb 2010, 4:43 pm

Better World Books - http://www.betterworldbooks.com - they ship worldwide for $3.97 (free in the US). For used books, they use the "marketplace" system, so sellers are all over the world. What attracts me to them, is that a portion of every purchase is donated to global literacy programs.

I've always received my books from them in a timely fashion - even when books aren't coming directly from their warehouse, but instead come from a marketplace retailer. With the first couple orders, they also included some free samples (one was from a chocolate producer in Central America & the other was from a free-trade tea company.)


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Sallamandrina
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04 Feb 2010, 5:38 pm

zeichner wrote:
Better World Books - http://www.betterworldbooks.com - they ship worldwide for $3.97 (free in the US). For used books, they use the "marketplace" system, so sellers are all over the world. What attracts me to them, is that a portion of every purchase is donated to global literacy programs.

I've always received my books from them in a timely fashion - even when books aren't coming directly from their warehouse, but instead come from a marketplace retailer. With the first couple orders, they also included some free samples (one was from a chocolate producer in Central America & the other was from a free-trade tea company.)


Thank you - I've just created an account and will place my first order tonight. The prices are very good and so are the shipping costs (Amazon charges me 2.75£ (4.39$) for domestic shipping). I order as many books as I can every month - it's my only indulgence - so I envision a long and happy relationship with them.


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Last edited by Sallamandrina on 08 Feb 2010, 4:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

makuranososhi
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04 Feb 2010, 6:41 pm

www.bookfinder.com

A good meta-resource for finding new, used, and out-of-print books. While it does use Amazon as one resource, it also includes many, many others that are unrelated with strong business histories (Alibris, Abe's, etc). I also sell some books (1820s-1940s, generally) so if there is something you're looking for in that arena, let me know.


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Sallamandrina
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04 Feb 2010, 8:19 pm

Another great link - I found some nice deals on Amazon Germany of all places - unfortunately the shipping costs are unreasonable. But Abe's is great, I used to buy from them and Alibris while living in Sweden...

I love old books and I have a few, but lately my funds are scarce and I just look for the cheapest option available :)

Are you an antique dealer makuranososhi? It's a special interest for me and one of the reasons I'm reluctant to leave Europe.


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Sallamandrina
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06 Feb 2010, 12:03 pm

Just found another one that offers free world shipping : book depository


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pakled
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07 Feb 2010, 2:21 am

American bookseller's Exchange (I think) ...specializes in finding hard-to-find used books.


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Sapphires
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07 Feb 2010, 8:42 am

Thanks so much for the links to The Book Depository and Better World Books! I've placed more than 10 items on order so far - they're all books that I've wanted to buy, but were too expensive on Amazon or even in my local bookstore.

Do you know of any other sites that have free shipping? Especially sites for CDs/accessories and the like.



Asterisp
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07 Feb 2010, 11:50 am

It depends on where you live.
Proxis is nice when you live in the Benelux:
http://www.proxis.be

It ships for free above 25 euros. In the rest of europe they charge costs.



Sallamandrina
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07 Feb 2010, 12:47 pm

Sapphires wrote:
Thanks so much for the links to The Book Depository and Better World Books! I've placed more than 10 items on order so far - they're all books that I've wanted to buy, but were too expensive on Amazon or even in my local bookstore.

Do you know of any other sites that have free shipping? Especially sites for CDs/accessories and the like.


Glad to know someone else benefits from this. Play.com offers free shipping for books, CDs and everything else.


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Asp-Z
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07 Feb 2010, 1:00 pm

Amazon.co.uk. I got a book from there, £7.99 in the shops, for just under £6, with free P&P.