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Amazon, Abe books or book depository

For discussion about particular book sellers (brick-and-mortar bookstores, online book sellers, auction sites, swap sites, etc.)
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Diiarts
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Location: I'm based in Hampshire (UK) but we also have a partner based in Kentucky, USA
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Post by Diiarts » Sun September 26th, 2010, 7:38 pm

A small publisher's take on this one... we always encourage people to buy through Book Depository rather than Amazon. Book Dep is very much easier for us and our wholesaler to deal with; pays us a fair price for the books (unlike Amazon, whose discount levels mean that we often lose money on sales we make through them); and still manages to offer good customer service and free worldwide delivery - important to us as we have both authors and readers around the world.

Amazon operates like the large chain supermarkets - their supply chain and financial models are geared to the very largest suppliers, and their reputation for customer convenience, whilst well deserved, is at the expense of the small and medium supplier.

This isn't meant to read like a case of sour grapes; Amazon has done a truly remarkable job of creating a global marketplace for books - but we're very glad there are other online retailers besides them!
www.diiarts.com - books for people who love books

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Kveto from Prague
Compulsive Reader
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Joined: September 2008
Location: Prague, Bohemia

Post by Kveto from Prague » Mon September 27th, 2010, 9:42 pm

thats good to know. lets hope these other carries can keep amazon from turning into Walmart.

Ive kinda settled into a pattern. I tend to use book depository for new books (which i buy rarely, but it was good for reissues) the higher prices are still lower than amazon books with shipping for my part of the world. Abe books is best for used books. of course the shipping is usually 4 times the price of the book. but if the book im buying is a pound or two, its fine. I use amazon only for english lang dvds (like peppa pig in english for my daughters)

this seems to work for me.

gyrehead
Reader
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Joined: December 2008

Post by gyrehead » Tue September 28th, 2010, 9:24 pm

I've noticed that many of the "notify me" statuses have gone with either no discount or to a 24% none "buttoned' discount. Though, from my wishlist, some of the British editions have simply gone away (from the US BD site).

Right now looking at costs and I can get, even with shipping, almost every book that is a UK edition cheaper now through Amazon or a US vendor. So it looks heading toward 2011 that BD is going to lose my business pretty much. I'll admit that I'm sad to lose the big discount which made free shipping very alluring. But I'm also a bit glad if they persist since I've had too much of their shady practices that seemed overly disingenuous if not outright bait and switch to feel entirely comfortable with their business model. I still have a dozen books that say out of stock on my old wishlist there that I can find for sale from BD through Amazon or ABE books. Seems a shame they have to engage in such methods and can't be up front about it.

Sadly my addiction likely will win out over my ethics should the 51 % discount return. Pride goes before the lack of reading material.

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Amanda
Compulsive Reader
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Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by Amanda » Tue September 28th, 2010, 9:58 pm

[quote=""gyrehead""]

Sadly my addiction likely will win out over my ethics should the 51 % discount return. Pride goes before the lack of reading material.[/quote]

I've also been wondering what happened. Not sure how long I can hold out not buying books just waiting for the cheap deals to come through. THe Aussie dollar is doing so well at the moment it is the time to buy!

But on the other hand.....I have enough books stockpiled to keep me busy for a very long time.

rebecca191
Reader
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Joined: January 2009

Post by rebecca191 » Wed September 29th, 2010, 8:28 am

Yeah several books I hoped to preorder on TBD now have no discount (I'll have to do the math on whether it's still cheaper because of the free shipping, since these are books that won't be sold in the US at all), now I wish I had ordered them at 25% and hoped for the order to go through. Sigh. I will be SO angry if they don't ship the preorders I already placed.

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Misfit
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Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Wed September 29th, 2010, 11:52 am

[quote=""Diiarts""]A small publisher's take on this one... we always encourage people to buy through Book Depository rather than Amazon. Book Dep is very much easier for us and our wholesaler to deal with; pays us a fair price for the books (unlike Amazon, whose discount levels mean that we often lose money on sales we make through them); and still manages to offer good customer service and free worldwide delivery - important to us as we have both authors and readers around the world.

Amazon operates like the large chain supermarkets - their supply chain and financial models are geared to the very largest suppliers, and their reputation for customer convenience, whilst well deserved, is at the expense of the small and medium supplier.

This isn't meant to read like a case of sour grapes; Amazon has done a truly remarkable job of creating a global marketplace for books - but we're very glad there are other online retailers besides them![/quote]

Thanks, that is interesting to get a publisher's POV. I've yet to order a book from TBD, and rarely Amazon UK these days. I will patiently wait for the US version and the library to buy it, they rarely disappoint.

I can't recall if Thriftbooks has been mentioned on this thread. When and if I do buy used because I can't find a copy at Paperbackswap or Bookmooch I usually pick them first. Only once got the wrong book and they fixed it immediately. Their prices have shipping built into them now.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Margaret
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Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
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Post by Margaret » Fri October 22nd, 2010, 6:29 pm

My local library in Portland, Oregon, has the Canadian edition of The Golden Mean with the beautiful cover. Checked it out, read it, loved it, reviewed it: http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Golden-Mean.html.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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Ariadne
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Location: At the foothills of Mt. Level

Post by Ariadne » Fri October 22nd, 2010, 6:39 pm

The Portland library has good taste in covers! I enjoyed your review, Margaret, and am looking forward to the book. My copy hasn't arrived from Amazon Canada yet because I wanted to save postage by ordering a few at the same time, and two are still forthcoming.

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Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Post by Margaret » Fri October 22nd, 2010, 9:00 pm

Yes, I was a bit surprised they had the Canadian edition, which probably cost more than waiting for the U.S. edition to come out. They must have had a good bit of reader demand. They have 5 copies.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

annis
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Post by annis » Sat October 23rd, 2010, 12:04 am

The Golden Mean sound very interesting, Margaret- i enjoyed your review. I'm still chugging through A Bloodline of Kings by Thomas Sundell, a novel about the rise of Philip II of Macedon. It's quite fascinating, but very information-dense, so not a book to be skimmed lightly.

For me it's always going o be BD as first choice because the free postage means it will usually cost me two-thirds to half of the cost it would be to buy off the shelves of bookstores here in NZ (where postage and mark-up have been added). I've learned to pre-order or buy as soon as a book comes onto the market to take advantage of BD discounts. Once titles have been out for a while the price goes up. Fingers crossed, but I've never had any problems with BD to date.
Last edited by annis on Sat October 23rd, 2010, 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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