Alibris: All It's Cracked Up to Be!
Written: Feb 25 '02 (Updated Mar 14 '02)
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I first came across Alibris through Mypoints.com. I had been looking for some old, out-of-print books for my master's dissertation, and I just wasn't finding them on line. A friend had mentioned Alibris, and then I saw it at MyPoints, so I decided to check it out.
Navigating the site was a breeze. Within 5 minutes, I had found not one copy of the book I needed, but 11 copies. Copies of my book were at different bookstores. Copies ranged in price depending on the quality of the book. One book listed some dog-earred pages. Another a bent spine. For my purposes, this wasn't important. I needed a book in readable condition. I chose a book that included a "bent spine and some hilighting." I saved $4 by choosing that one.There is honestly no way to compare this book service to others. These aren't new books. These are used books. The prices vary according to condition. Overall, however, for the couple of books I've found both here and at Amazon's ZBook service - Alibris had cheaper copies available.
The one drawback at Alibris is that books are sent by different bookstores, so each book has a shipping charge involved. Even at that, however, I was able to find what I needed. My average shipping charge has been under $3.00 a book. When you consider these are books I have not been able to locate anywhere else, that's not too bad.
The first shopping trip with Alibris has lead to my using them repeatedly. I have never had any problems. I have never failed to find exactly what I wanted no matter how obscure the title. (My dissertation is in Applied Linguistics with a special emphasis in Gender Specific Language Usages and their Perceptions. I can come up with some pretty obscure titles.) All books have always been in exactly the condition advertised. Everything has been shipped properly within 3 days of my order. I have recommended Alibris to friends. One teacher with whom I work was looking for a copy of a book of poetry by an English writer from his hometown. The book had belonged to his grandfather but had been destroyed in a fire. Not only did he find the title, he was even able to match the edition his grandfather had owned. This seems to be typical. None of my friends or colleagues has ever come up short at this sight. Everyone's experience has mimicked my own.
A couple of weeks following each order, Alibris has contacted me to make sure that all their merchants delivered everything promised. I've not had problems in that regard, but it's reassuring to know that this clearing house seems to back up its service.
I am an incredibly satisfied customer. When it's an old title I need now, this is the first place I look. So far, it's the only place I have to look.
If you're interested in book buying and you found this helpful, you might also want to check out these reviews:
Varsity Books Online Store
http://www.epinions.com/content_57159683716
Allbooks4less.com
http://www.epinions.com/content_57158766212
Halpern's Books
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-1F75-19FFB2D9-3A1BB7DE-prod2
There is also a review of the Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader if you'd like to learn more about downloading and reading books:
http://www.epinions.com/content_57155751556
Recommended:
Yes
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