Books-A-Million Online Bookstore Review

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Shopping at online bookstores gives customers the luxury of finding the books they need online at a more affordable price than at their local bookstores. Of course, not all such bookstores are created equal and that’s why we decided to determine which sites were the best online bookstores.

Star Reviews wanted to include some of the largest and most well-known sites, so we included Books-A-Million in our reviews. Like all of our online bookstore reviews, our analysis of Books-A-Million looks at their selection, their usability, and their service. The results of our efforts to compare online bookstores are below.

What’s New?

Books-A-Million now has a bargain books section for finding good deals
Millionaire’s Club Discount Card which saves users an extra 10% off purchases for a year – joining the club costs $15 annually

Star Reviews Favorite Feature:

Books-A-Million’s Personal Shopper Service is one of its best features. With this free service, you can receive gift recommendations for anyone by simply sending in an email with a few details about the person and your price range for the gift. You get an email back including several gift ideas.

Books-A-Million Features:

Books-A-Million offers a number of features that should appeal to customers, including

Free shipping available on orders of more than $25
Hard-to-Find book locator through a team of independent booksellers in North America
Books-A-Million Book Club provides recommendations on what to read for adults, teens, and others

Web Site Interface:

The Books-A-Million web site is fairly easy to navigate if you’re trying to search for a certain book. You can use the prominent search box at the top of the main page to enter a term or number, then you can select to search by title, author, subject, ISBN, or keyword or in bargain books, religious books, or another specific category.

When your results appear, the most recent release matching your search criteria is highlighted at the top of the page. The rest of the results can be organized by publication date, alphabetical listing, bestselling items, and price to help you narrow down your options. After you click on the book, you’ll see some basic information, including the number of pages, the release date, customers’ ratings, as well as the price for users and the reduced price for Millionaire Book Club members. To add the book to your shopping cart, just click on “Add to Cart.”

Selection:

Of the big three online bookstores, Books-A-Million has the smallest selection. For one, they focus only on books, audio books, and magazine subscriptions. You won’t find CD’s or DVD’s available through their site. Even within books, however, the selection is a little limited. For example, both Borders and Barnes & Noble carried Koji Suzuki’s The Ring and could ship it within 24 hours. Books-A-Million did have the book, but had to special order it which would delay shipment for up to 5 weeks.

Completing Your Order:

To complete your order, go to your shopping cart and select “Proceed to Checkout.” You’ll need to create an account, which includes choosing a password and entering your personal information. Next, you’ll make your shipping choices. Four options are available: free (if you’ve spent over $25), standard, 2nd day air, and next day air. Then you’ll be asked to enter your payment information, review your order, and click “Submit Order” to make it official. You’ll receive an email confirmation after your order has been submitted, and you’ll be able to check the status of your order through the web site.

Pricing:

Books-A-Million’s prices are competitive when compared to the other large online bookstores. In fact, if you opt to join their savings club you’ll end up paying less than you would at most of the competitors’ sites. 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 ($7.19 if you’re a Millionaire Book Club member)
Barnes & Noble: $7.99
Borders online: $7.99
Powell's Books: $9.95
Zooba: $9.95

Customer Support:

Books-A-Million does provide a sizable list of common customer service questions and answers in the “Help” section of their web site. Some of these responses are very detailed and helpful. Customer service is also available by email and toll-free number. Our emailed question received a response in 24 hours. The answer was easy to understand and thoroughly explained, and the message seemed personal, not just a form letter. Unfortunately, customer service by phone was a little disappointing. Reaching a representative was confusing because they provided only a limited number of menu options. The representative was friendly, but her response to the question was unclear. In fact, what we were told by email and what we were told over the phone contradicted each other.

Upside:

Low prices, especially for members of their savings club. Easy to use web interface.

Downside:

Customer service could use some work, particularly by phone. Selection is not as large as competitors’. No CD’s or DVD’s are available here.

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Books-A-Million

by Aimee30 who has written 4 reviews and is trusted by 0 members

Thanks to this site, I was able to find a reasonably priced full copy of of an Interlinear Hebrew/English Old Testament.
Other sites wanted to charge near a $100.00 for one, but I got mine for about $60.00 there.
I am glad that this service exists. The book they sent me was in excellent shape and a joy to use!

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by unogallian who has written 27 reviews and is trusted by 1 members

Books-A-Million is another online interesting option for the users to browse through a eriety of options available for books of different categories. Religious books, novals of all kinds, history books, stories and books for children are all available to buy on hte website.

Besides that the website also offers to its users a great collection of music, and movies to be bought. The prices seems a bit high as that might be a good reason for the website not getting as popular as some of the other ones are.

A huge collection of daily and exciting magzines is also available and poeple also place their materialon the website to sell it after bidding. Its a great option for book lovers and also businesses to get their material advertised and sold on this website.

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by expertsandy who has written 159 reviews and is trusted by 1 members

Books-A-Million offers for good online shopping as alternative for their store. The website has Great selection and free shipping on minimal orders which has made this website a better place to visit. The stores sometimes don't have enough staff and are not always the best in service, but they are knowledgeable and give much more personal service than Barnes and Noble. Their Joe Muggs cafes serve great coffee products and food items, which are less pricey than the competition. Online savings can't be beat by anyone and the shipping is very quick, usually within a few days. Having their discount card really pays off and is very reasonable for the year. Usually save the cost of the card at the time of the first purchase. Great for gift purchases as well with gift cards available.

Store is clean with good selections for bargain. But with the lower staff availability, I am compelled to offer it 4 star ratings.

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