Abe Books Online Bookstore Review

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Abe Books Review

by expertsandy who has written 84 reviews and is trusted by 1 members

Abe Books is for the passionate people as they say. I found it true so. The store provides for 110 million books from 13.500 booksellers. There books available for all the subjects or categories that include but not restrict Fiction, History, Antiques, Religion, Art, Cooking, Crafts & Hobbies, Science, Music and so on. The website has got a very strong and dynamic search feature. Search provides for searching the books by author, title, ISBN, Publisher, any other keyword. One can try out the combination of them as well...

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Cheapest Books Around

by the_wanlorn who has written 13 reviews and is trusted by 0 members

I don’t know what I would do without Abe Books. The site itself is very basic, some might even say dull. And this is true. The books, however…

Abe Books is where I do all my shopping for college. They have, by far, the best prices on used textbooks from anywhere I’ve found. And believe me, with the price of textbooks these days, I’ve searched long and hard to find the best deals.

Unlike other online bookstores, I have yet to buy from Abe Books and have the seller not ship me my book. The sellers on this site are some of the most trustworthy on the whole internet.

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, and you would do well to take this idiom into account went deciding on an online book store to use. Abe Books might not look like much on the outside, but all the important parts – especially the price – are absolutely amazing.

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Great site, prices are a higher then other sites!!!

by all_incorp who has written 43 reviews and is trusted by 0 members

Even though I had not purchase anything off this site as of yet, I had visited this site at various times, and noticed that there are a large selection of books available as well as great site navigation. The reason why I did not purchase any books at the time since the prices where a little higher then the other companies. However, in the future I will consider purchasing through them if the prices are lower then the competitors.

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Abe Books Star Rating

Shopping in online bookstores has always been about two things: convenience and selection. Users seek out the best online bookstores in order to find books that simply aren’t available in their local shops. With more than 100,000 books published every year, stocking all of them on the shelves is nearly impossible.

Star Reviews decided to conduct several online bookstore reviews to determine which of these sites provided the biggest selection, most convenience, and best service. One of our reviews focused on Abe Books which takes a unique approach to meeting the needs of its customers. The results of how Abe Books stacks up in our efforts to compare online bookstores are below.

What’s New?

Three newsletters you can subscribe to – one for collectors, readers, and book club members
Giftsleuth – a forum where users ask one another for gift suggestions

Star Reviews Favorite Feature

Abe Books’ selection of books is by far its most impressive feature. Because Abe Books is a network of more than 13,000 independent booksellers from around the world, they have more than 100 million books available to purchase. Many of these books are nearly impossible to find in traditional bookstores or even at other online bookstores. The site even sells used copies of college textbooks at a fraction of the cost students would pay at their school’s bookstores.

Abe Books Features

Abe Books offers a number of features that should appeal to customers, including

Free shipping on many items without a minimum purchase requirement
Easy interface for book searches
Used books and textbooks available for sale

Web Site Interface

Abe Books’ search interface is straightforward and makes narrowing down your results very easy. On the main page, you can search by typing in an author, title, keyword, or ISBN. Generally, if you search by author or keyword, you’ll end up with a relatively large list of results. For example, a search for “Martin Amis” turned up 6,459 possibilities. At the top of the results list, you can narrow those results to a more manageable number by selecting specific book features – free shipping, signed copy, new copy, hardcover, etc., by choosing only one location for booksellers, or by doing a separate search within the original results.

When you find a possibility, you’ll be able to learn more about the book and its condition, plus the details about the bookseller and their terms. Because the bookseller’s set their own terms, you need to review all of the information carefully before placing an order. If you find a book you like, you simply click on “Add to Cart” to save it for purchase. Even though your purchases will be made through separate booksellers, all of your items will be combined in a single order for your convenience.

Although Abe Books is easiest to use if you’re looking for something specific, you can browse the selection by categories using the “Browse all Subjects” link on the left side of the main page.

Selection

As mentioned previously, Abe Books has an impressive selection of books. While casual readers may prefer the convenience of other online books, such as Barnes & Noble or Borders, serious literature enthusiasts will particularly love the idea of browsing for foreign copies of their favorite books, ordering signed copies of novels by the authors they admire, and more. Readers looking to save money on books can find used versions of thousands of titles for a lot less than they’d pay for new copies.

Completing Your Order

To complete your order, you’ll need to select the destination for the orders and click on “Proceed to Checkout.” From there, you’ll need to sign into or create a new account before going forward. Once you’ve created an account, you’ll need to select shipping options for your books. The options vary from bookseller to bookseller. Next, you’ll have to select payment methods for your books. All of the vendors accept Mastercard and Visa, but some booksellers also accept cash, PayPal, and other payment options. You can choose a different payment choice for each book if you want. When you’ve finished, you can select “Place Order Now.” You’ll receive an email confirmation and can track your order through the web site.

Pricing:

Abe Books prices vary greatly depending on what you’re looking for. Generally, the prices are comparable to those at other online bookstores. Price comparisons for the paperback version of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code:

Abe Books: starting at $3.60
Books a Million: $7.99
Barnes & Noble: $7.99
Borders online: $7.99
Powell's Books: $9.95
Zooba: $ 9.95

Customer Support:

Abe Books does provide an expansive customer support section on their web site. However, navigating that portion of the site can be a bit confusing and finding the answer you want can be challenging. No telephone support is listed for book buyers, although a toll-free number is supposed to be available for booksellers. That number was not clearly available on the web site. However, Abe Books does have email support. When we emailed them our question, they responded within 24 hours and provided a detailed, accurate response.

Upside:

Wonderful selection of books, particularly special items. Easy to use search engine. Good customer service by email. Reasonable prices.

Downside:

No phone support for book buyers. Difficult to navigate the “Help” part of the site.

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