OK, where does everybody buy books online. After a disaster of a time with B&N, I went to Amazon, who took over 60 days (and counting), for an order that was to take 1-2 business days. I won't vent with the details, only aska simple question. Where do you buy books online? Any suggestions? This is for research type books, but general ones too!
I've purchased lots of books from Amazon, UK, and have found them incredibly good to deal with. My last purchase - CATCH ME IF YOU CAN - was ordered in NZ on a Monday morning and it arrived in my local NZ post box six days later. Dr Anatidae
The easiest method I have come up with is to go straight to the publisher. Most text book publishers have web sites where they sell the books direct. The prices are usually equivalent to the low range online stores for new books. I started doing this last spring when a book I needed was on back order almost every where, including the Colorado State book store. I looked up the publisher (Oxford press), ordered online and had the book 5 days later. About trwo weeks later a 1-2 day order that was placed a week before this book was ordered showed up. Since then I have going directly to the publisher when ever I can, I don't get a break on shipping, but I do get the book on time, and the most current edition. One caveat, make sure you have the right ISBN especialy if it is a bundled package with notes or software. This is often different from the bare book ISBN.
I've recently started ordering my textbooks through Amazon.co.uk. They're usually much less than U.S. Amazon, even with shipping to the U.S. The last time I saved $50 on one book. Tom Nixon
For the best price I definitely use FetchBook.Info http://www.fetchbook.info/ I also like http://amazon.com and http://buy.com Buy.com has many books cheaper that Amazon.com
Another good site to do comparatrive shopping at is: Best Web Buys - books. For a particular book I am currently using got htis results: Bookstore Store Rating Availability Item Price Sales Tax Shipping Carrier (Days) Approx.Cost Total Cost BUY A1Books (2.7) [15 comments] Usually ships in 5 days $76.23 NJ USPS (4-10) $ 2.99 $79.22 BUY half.com (3.7) [69 comments] In stock, ships in 1-3 days $78.00 (Used) - N/A - USPS (4-12) $ 3.25 $81.25 (Used) BUY BookPool (4.8) [46 comments] Out of stock $86.95 MA USPS (5-15) Free! $86.95 BUY Amazon (3.6) [76 comments] Ships within 2 days $86.69 (Used, Marketplace) ND, WA USPS (4-14) $ 3.49 $90.18 (Used, Marketplace) BUY TextbookX.com (2.8) [39 comments] Usually ships in 4-7 days $92.35 CT USPS (4-14) Free! (Reduced faster shipping on orders over $150) $92.35 BUY Amazon (3.6) [76 comments] Usually ships within 24 hours $89.95 ND, WA UPS (3-7) $ 3.99 (Free shipping on most orders over $25) $93.94 BUY ecampus.com (3.0) [87 comments] Usually Ships in 3-5 Business Days $94.95 KY USPS (3-8) Free! $94.95 BUY BooksAMillion (3.6) [56 comments] Ships within 2-3 days. $99.00 (Club Price) AL UPS (3-7) Free! (Must enter FREESHIP25 during checkout) $99.00 (Club Price) BUY Powell's (3.6) [28 comments] In stock, ships in 1-3 days $105.00 - N/A - USPS (10-15) Free! (Free North American shipping on qualified orders of $50 or more) $105.00 BUY Barnes & Noble.com (2.8) [71 comments] Usually ships within 24 hours $110.00 Canada, KY, NJ, NV, NY, PA, TN, VA USPS (3-8) Free! (Free shipping available on orders of $25 or more) $110.00 BUY BooksAMillion (3.6) [56 comments] Ships within 2-3 days. $110.00 AL UPS (3-7) Free! (Must enter FREESHIP25 during checkout) $110.00 BUY buy.com (3.6) [67 comments] In Stock $110.00 CA, IN, MA Budget (5-15) $ 2.40 (Free Budget shipping on many "In Stock" items) $112.40 As a quick comparison I went to the Wiley web site and got this: Statistical Methods for Reliability Data William Q. Meeker, Luis A. Escobar ISBN: 0-471-14328-6 Hardcover 712 pages July 1998 US $110.00 Price from Wiley direct was comparable to others.
Where to buy books Gee, I'm sorry to hear that you had problems with both Amazon and B&N -- I love them both! Never had one itsy bitsy teeny tiny little inkling of a problem with either. So why not try them again? When you order from amazon, try to use the degreeinfo link so they earn a little commission. We are eating up bandwidth here. That said, I love B&N now -- I live outside a major city, and if I order an in stock item by 11 AM, it will arrive the next business day. Free shipping, to boot! But I gotta pay tax. - Vie, who misses the days of overinflated dot com stocks and the mugs amazon used to send out to its customers with all the extra dough it made (sigh!)
Just a thought: did you order used books? These are shipped by individuals who may be less than prompt in shipping orders.
No they were new. One of the sites above gives a comparison of all of the diffrent sites, which was very useful. I want to buy several books, so though half.com had a better price, it had several shipping costs, rather than one that might be more expensive, but only one bulk shipping cost.
