Buying Books Online

LFC5Times

What sites do people tend to buy their books online from?

I just use Play.com (free delivery) or Amazon, if either site have the book I am after in very good second hand condition - I will buy it second hand.

Just seeing is there other sites people would recommend?

Thanks:)

killbillvol2

Book Depository is always my first port of call and Amazon is now a good option since free delivery for orders over £25 came in.

Eliot Rosewater

Book Depository all the way. It's just so cheap. For example this book, under €5 there, is €10.99 in Easons. Free Delivery bags it.

Books are priced in pounds (though you can purchase in euros) so they've suffered with the recent strengthening of the pound.

The customer service is apparently awful. My girlfriend bought books for me off of there, and one of them came with a crease on the cover. The reply to the email she sent them was as much to say "deal with it, now bugger it". With such cheap prices though, I can tolerate it.


(For those interested, their cheap prices are the result of innovative supply-chain strategies that they're formulating and implementing with some PhD students, from the University of Plymouth asfaik.)

padraig_f

Book Depository for me too. Great selection and prices & love the free delivery.

I used to buy from Amazon.co.uk, but to avail of free-delivery you have to spend a certain amount. Usually meant I ended up getting more stuff than I really needed.

blue_steel

And again Book Depository Usually scout books out on Amazon and Goodreads and then buy on BD. Might sound like sacrilege but I prefer on-line book shopping now to actual bookshops. Always seems to be so little choice in the high street when you get used to the enormity of whats on offer online.

Eliot Rosewater

I don't know, I personally like handling the book and caressing the pages before deciding to purchase it.

Despite my visits to bookshops I rarely buy. I'm all for supporting local businesses (and I do shop in independent bookstores before, say, Waterstones) but if it's going to be twice the price of Book Depository it's simple not worth it.

Amazon.co.uk is far better for scouting out books, for reviews etc, but the final "Add To Cart" is always on Book Depo. :pac:

LFC5Times

Never heard of Book Depository before, must check it out in future when looking to buy books, thanks.

blue_steel

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I don't know, I personally like handling the book and caressing the pages before deciding to purchase it.

Despite my visits to bookshops I rarely buy. I'm all for supporting local businesses (and I do shop in independent bookstores before, say, Waterstones) but if it's going to be twice the price of Book Depository it's simple not worth it.

Amazon.co.uk is far better for scouting out books, for reviews etc, but the final "Add To Cart" is always on Book Depo. :pac:

I hear ya with the whole handling a book thing. I do love that
I just find the stuff I'm reading these days is hardly ever in stock on the highstreet. If it's not a bestseller or chick lit a lot of bookshops won't have it. Even with the best writers their depth of stock isn't great. Eg they'll have 1984 but not Down and Out in Paris & London.
I love finding new authors online that I never would have discovered in the pre-internet days. Goodreads.com is great for reviews too.

Eliot Rosewater

Yeah, that's a good point. For example, book shops rarely have a William Golding book other than Lord of the Flies, or an Anthony Burgess book other than A Clockwork Orange. Rather interestingly though, Waterstones in Cork usually have a good stock of Orwell, sometimes his full catalogue. He is the most popular "classic" author, I think.

Kinski

Alibris.co.uk is a useful one.

blue_steel wrote: »

Goodreads.com is great for reviews too.

The reviews on there should come with a health warning; since they're just written by random users they often have unflagged spoilers, and plenty of them are nonsense. It's still a good site, though.

ixoy

I'm using amazon.co.uk lately because of the free shipping but I'd also recommend bookdepository.

nompere

I’ve never used the Book Depository before, so I had a look at it this morning.

I generally buy from Amazon once a month, in the last week of each month. That saves me from impulse buys and means when I finally press “place your order” I’m buying what I want. Right now there are four books in my basket (and I’m not telling what they are!!) and if I was to order them in Euro they would cost €30.77. I’ve never found Amazon’s exchange rate competitive so I order in sterling. When I check my VISA statement I’m always ahead of Amazon.

I’ve just gone through Book Depository and priced the same four books. The cost, in euro, would be €35.49. That’s about 15% more.

My probable next order will include some about to be published books. All are available for pre-order on both sites. Again, to spare my own embarrassment, I’m not going to list them, but the Amazon cost is £41.17, so probably no more than €52, while the BD cost is €69.05. I’m not going to start shouting rip-off, and I shall probably continue to monitor Amazon costs against Book Depository costs, but for now my choice is simple.

I read a lot, so I’m genuinely interested in discovering the areas where Book Depository has an advantage over Amazon. The eight books referred to include some “popular” fiction, “literary” fiction and modern history. So they are probably a fairly representative collection

sxt

I depends greatly on your order, the next time you want to buy a particular set of books you may find that bookdepository are alot cheaper , also bear in mind that Amazon charge vat at an increased rate which is added at your checkout.

blue_steel

nompere wrote: »

I’ve never used the Book Depository before, so I had a look at it this morning.

I generally buy from Amazon once a month, in the last week of each month. That saves me from impulse buys and means when I finally press “place your order” I’m buying what I want. Right now there are four books in my basket (and I’m not telling what they are!!) and if I was to order them in Euro they would cost €30.77. I’ve never found Amazon’s exchange rate competitive so I order in sterling. When I check my VISA statement I’m always ahead of Amazon.

I’ve just gone through Book Depository and priced the same four books. The cost, in euro, would be €35.49. That’s about 15% more.

My probable next order will include some about to be published books. All are available for pre-order on both sites. Again, to spare my own embarrassment, I’m not going to list them, but the Amazon cost is £41.17, so probably no more than €52, while the BD cost is €69.05. I’m not going to start shouting rip-off, and I shall probably continue to monitor Amazon costs against Book Depository costs, but for now my choice is simple.

I read a lot, so I’m genuinely interested in discovering the areas where Book Depository has an advantage over Amazon. The eight books referred to include some “popular” fiction, “literary” fiction and modern history. So they are probably a fairly representative collection

Obviously it's worth checking BD and Amazon to see which is cheaper for any individual book. Not sure what you are buying but in the last six months Ive bought about 20 books online and in only one case was it cheaper on Amazon (and that was second hand).
As an example last night I bought The end of faith by Sam Harris and Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (total price on BD €10) (identical editions equivilent price on Amazon €20.05) No brainer.
Edit: I think if you order above a certain amount you get free p&p on Amazon which of course cancels out the BD saving. This is probably whats happening in your case. I personally wouldn't order 4 or 5 books at a time.

nompere

sxt wrote: »

I depends greatly on your order, the next time you want to buy a particular set of books you may find that bookdepository are alot cheaper , also bear in mind that Amazon charge vat at an increased rate which is added at your checkout.

Not on books they don't. There is no VAT on books.

Manach

In order, Book Depository , play and amazon.co.uk. Book Depository has a very fast delievery time whilst amazon are a tad slower but have a larger title range.

filmfan

I buy from Play because I love the free delivery but they can be a bit slow sometimes and customer care is non-existent

ReacherCreature

Couldn't reccommend www.awesomebooks.co.uk more. They're a great site. Primairily deal with second-hand books and nearly all of them can be £1.99. The range isn't huge and the search isn't top quality. However the quality of delivery, the cheap books and excellent customer service help a lot. Shipping is free if you buy two or more books I think. I've bought the best part of 30 books from them with just two hiccups - they sent out the wrong books but a quick email and I sorted it. They sent my original books back and I was allowed to keep the falsely sent ones. Coincidentally the site was reccommended by a boardsie!

mcgovern

I used to use bookdepository almost solely, but they aren't as competitive as they used to be, and with Amazon's free shipping I'm back to using them mainly now.

Sconsey

Awesomebooks.co.uk is always my first port of call, why pay a tenner for one book when there is a good chance you will get it for £1.99, with free shipping if you buy two or more books.

They are second hand so occasionally they will not be in great condition, I'd say I've got about 2 books out of about 25 or 30 that have been in a poor condition but generally they are perfect, in fact a few times they've sent hardback versions.

Delivery usually takes about four or five days.

If they dont have what I'm looking for I'd usually go for bookdepository.

Alice Milligan

You do need to shop around to get the best deal. Like many other people I have used Play, Book Depository and Amazon but was surprised nobody mentioned Kennys.ie. Sometimes it's nice to support an Irish business if you don't have a local independent bookshop nearby and they offer free delivery.

Censorsh!t

For now I use cdwow.ie as they accept laser. Sometimes not the fasted to deliver, but never had any problems so far.

The Mad Hatter

Apple's iBookstore has access to the Project Gutenberg library, which means hundreds of free public domain books. Reading on an iPhone isn't the best experience in the world, but on an iPad is pretty good. Though I still prefer paper, you can't really argue with the price, or the selection.

Paddy Samurai

Used to buy 90%+ of my books on play,now i buy mostly on bookdepository.Its usually a lot cheaper,and post is free(ie,incorporated in the price).
"Hard to get books" i still buy on ABE books.

Chip Whitley

Hi all, can someone recommend any online sites that would deliver a book by the weekend if I ordered it today? I usually use The Book Centre in Waterford to order in for me and it takes nearly 2 weeks. That's usually fine, but this book is a present for someone and their birthday is this Sunday!

The book I'm looking for is the Sons of Anarchy book by Tara Bennett if that helps!

Missyelliot2

Alice Milligan wrote: »

You do need to shop around to get the best deal. Like many other people I have used Play, Book Depository and Amazon but was surprised nobody mentioned Kennys.ie. Sometimes it's nice to support an Irish business if you don't have a local independent bookshop nearby and they offer free delivery.

I've just ordered some books on kennys.ie - actually, the books were cheaper/the same price as some of the companies mentioned here - free delivery too.

Also....it's irish!