Super Bargain Book & Magazine Values All in One Place!
Written: Nov 17 '02 (Updated Nov 18 '02)
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Get the best prices on magazines and now books both in the same place by visiting www.magazinevalues.com. Sometimes you can get a one year subscription to a magazine for the price of one issue. Hundreds of subscriptions cost under $10. I discovered the site through its link right here on the Epinions.com site. Magazine Values seems to always have the lowest prices available for many popular magazine subscriptions and book titles. The site is even more valuable now that books have been added. I have found some real bargains here.
In January I decided to try out Magazine Values by ordering my first magazine subscription for Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine @ $3.25 for 6 issues/one year. The cheapest price elsewhere was $11.97. I immediately received a Confirmation Email informing me that my order was being processed. It included an order number, contact information and expected delivery time. The bi-monthly magazine starting arriving within the estimated 8 – 12 weeks and I have been very pleased with the subscription. The book section was not available in January 20002 when I ordered my first magazine subscription.
Just recently I ordered a subscription to Disney magazine for 6 issues @ $2.99. It lists for $9.98 elsewhere. I saved $6.99. I currently have 7 subscriptions through Magazine Values and have not experienced any problems with ordering, payment or delivery. The prices are terrific.
The Website - Magazine Subscriptions
Visit www.magazinevalues.com and check out the vast listing of magazine subscriptions. The Website is easy to navigate, attractive, informative and loads quickly. The main page lists the current special magazine deal. Until Nov 19th, the bargain deal is called Holiday Sale Magazine Subscriptions - Only $2.99/year. A total of 53 titles are available at this incredible price. Beneath the special sale is a listing of New Additions with recent cover illustrations and titles. Some Popular Values in subscriptions are also listed with cover illustrations and List Prices/Member’s Price. There’s also information about the new Magazine of the Month category.
Visitors can quickly search the database of magazines by entering a title in the Quick Search box. Or, search listings alphabetically. In addition, the site also groups magazines conveniently by discount price. Price categories start at $4.97. For now, the current low prices for some start at only $2.99. Another search method is through categories. The site has almost 30 categories ranging from Animals and Arts & Antiques to Travel and Women’s General. Members will find almost every popular magazine - but certainly not all - in one of these categories. There is also a Canadian List (267 titles) or International List (262 titles) of magazines that will ship outside the US.
One new interesting category is Magazine of the Month. If you have a special area of interest, you can sign up to receive a different magazine in that category each month. The categories are Cooking, Crafts, Fishing, Gardening, General Interest, Health & Fitness, Home Decoration, Hunting & Men’s magazines. It’s an interesting concept and I am considering the Cooking Category. Subscriptions start at $22.90. For more information visit the Website.
The Great Discounts – Sponsor Contribution - Promotional Emails
The Website offers such low price because advertisers/marketing partners and sister divisions have paid part of the subscription price along with advertising revenue generated by the advertising on the Website. The amount of the Sponsor’s Contribution is determined by a statistical analysis of the demographics of each magazine. The member's payment plus the Sponsor's Contribution pays the total price of the subscription. For example, my subscription to Thomas & Friends magazine costs $9.97; the magazine’s Cover Price is $23.94; List Price is $16.95; and the Sponsor's Contribution is $6.98. I saved 58% - not a bad deal.
In return for low prices, members must agree to accept occasional Promotional Emails from Magazinevalues.com or its sponsors – not to exceed one a week. I receive emails less frequently than that even though I now have 7 current subscriptions. They do not inundate you Inbox with email as some other sites do. I think an occasional email is a small price to pay for such great bargains. Rest assured that the site does not sell members’ names, addresses, email addresses, or personal information to any unrelated third party without permission. If, however you decide to cancel the emails, your subscriptions will be stopped and your refund will be prorated. You don’t have to read them, you just have to receive them.
Joining – Ordering
You do not have to become a member to surf the Website. There is no fee to join. You must, however, join to place an order.
Click on the recent cover illustration of the magazine you are interested in and get a brief content summary and List Price/Member’s Price. The site also brings up an illustrated listing of similar interest magazines for consideration. For example, a check on Worth Magazine also suggests Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Red Herring, Inc and Consumer Reports among others – all at discount prices.
To place an order, you must first register and choose a User Name and Password. The Terms of Service (Promotional Emails) appear for you to read and accept. Choose the magazine you wish to subscribe and denote whether each is a gift, a new subscription or renewal. Decide the length of service – one year or two. A form then appears with full information on your order. Then either Continue Shopping or proceed directly to Checkout.
Payment - Delivery - Customer Service
Use PayPal, Master Card/Visa or print out form and mail payment. The charge will show up on statements as Smartek Holdings, Inc. The Website is secured by SSL. All sensitive information is encrypted and transmitted in a secure way (note closed locked icon.) Smartek Holdings, Inc meets all BBBOnLine Reliability participation and Better Business Bureau membership standards and is authorized to display the BBBOnLine Reliability seal. Magazine Values is also associated with Bizrate.
Expect Delivery to take anywhere from 30 days up to 120 days depending on how often the magazine publishes and when the next issue is scheduled for distribution. After you order, you will be told when your first issue should arrive. It may, however arrive earlier or latter than stated. All my subscriptions arrived within the time frame. The site processes your subscription request as soon as you place your order. Weekly subscriptions generally take 6 to 10 weeks; monthly subscriptions take 8 to 12 weeks; bi-monthly or quarterly subscriptions take 10-14 weeks to start. These are standard industry lead times. When your magazine is up for renewal, the site will e-mail you.
Website for Books – Reading Values
Recently the site added books to the database through an affiliation with ReadingValues.com. Now members of Magazine Values automatically become members of Reading Values (Book Section.) There are over 20,000 book titles. More than 9,000 books cost less than $5. Expect many book discounts of 50-90% off retail prices. The list constantly changes, so if you see a book you want, order quickly. I wanted to order a Thomas the Tank Engine book for my grandson. By the time I reached his parents to be sure he didn’t already own it, the title was removed. Although these are all new books, they are in limited quantity. The book section works similar to the magazine section.
Book Search – S&H Charges - Payment
You can do a Quick Search of a book right from the Magazine Values homepage by Title, Author, ISBN or Publisher. Or, click on the Book tab and perform these searches from the Reading Values page. You can also search books on either page by category or price. There are over 35 Book Categories. The categories start with Animals and Audio Books and end with True Crimes & Western. Books range in price from .00 - .99 to over $20. Although you can also search titles alphabetically this is a cumbersome process since there are so many titles listed. The site doesn’t highlight the page number you are on or have visited and it is easy to forget which ones you have already viewed. I’d also like to see a large Next Page feature added since the page numbers listed are in small letters. Or, do Advance Search by tying in Title, Author or Category and your Minimum and Maximum Price.
The largest category is Children with 4,699 titles followed by General Fiction containing 2,089 titles and Religion & Spirituality with 1,458 titles. Each category has links to books, content summaries, and Special Book Offers. Each Book in the database contains Cover Photo, Content Summary, List Price, Member Price, Your Savings, Format (Softcover or Hardcover,) ISBN, Publisher, Date of Publication & Category. The Website also recommends other similar books you might enjoy.
The Website ships books anywhere in the US and Canada using Standard Shipping (Postal Book Rate.) This is the most popular and least expensive method. In most of the US, books are sent by "Media Mail" and take 1 to 3 weeks. Shipments to Alaska and the Northwest Territories take longer. The Standard Shipping rate is $3.50 for the first book and $0.99 for each additional book shipped to the same address.
Priority Shipping (Priority Mail, Global Priority Parcel Mail) is for people who wish a shorter shipping time. Priority Shipping takes 3 to 7 business days in North America after the order has been shipped. Books are sent "Priority Post" or "Global Priority” at $5.50 for the first book and $2.99 for each additional book shipped to the same address. Most orders are confirmed and shipped within 2-3 days. Shipping and Handling charges can be viewed before checkout. Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Checks by Mail are accepted for book payments.
Some Negatives
Since the prices are often rock bottom do not expect any other perk such as an enclosed gift card announcing your gift or the ability to purchase individual back issues of magazines. Also the site doesn’t automatically renew your subscription past the length of service you requested as do other magazine Websites. Remember that your magazine when it comes up for renewal may no longer be listed on the site or may not have as great a discount. Remember you must continue to accept the promotional emails in order to continue your subscriptions.
The site doesn’t save your pending order so if you log out, turn off the computer or even switch to the other section of the Website, the Shopping Cart will revert to empty. Sometime popup ads appear after you place an order with special deals on other products. I find these irritating but others may welcome the deals. The site now only offers subscription for magazines published in the US. The site will ship to Canada and internationally, though, at naturally higher price. See the Canada & International Lists for exact prices and available magazines.
I also am not too happy with the refund policy. Once you receive your subscription or book, you cannot receive a refund if you don’t like the magazine or book. If, however, there is a problem with your order, for example, you haven’t received it or the magazine folds, you will receive refund or credit. Contact the Customer Service department for any questions about your order.
Delivery time seems to be the biggest complaint about the site – especially in the past. Magazine subscriptions seem to take a long time but start times are actually no longer than elsewhere. Books can be shipped at low rates but they may take a long time to arrive depending on where you live. Order early for holiday purchases.
My main complaint is the constant turnover of book titles so you have to order quickly and check back often. Special magazine subscription deals are limited to a short period of time. But, the great prices make up for this. Another complaint is that, of course, not all magazines or books are available. Some categories of books have few choice (Easter – 4, Plays - 0.) Perhaps as the site grows with more members, there will be more variety in these categories. The magazine section is a great inexpensive way to try out a magazine. Once you know you like the magazine lock in a two-year rate if the price is right. Some of the book and magazine discounts are not as good as others; a few have little or no Sponsor Contribution.
My Recommendation
This site has some of the best book rates around for new Paperbacks or Hardcover books. Many of the magazine rates - especially the Special Sales - cannot be found lower elsewhere. There aren’t any S&H charges for magazine subscriptions even though many publishers are starting to charge them on new subscriptions. S&H charges for books are very reasonable. Check out this site if you are in the market for a magazine subscription or book. If you don’t find what you are looking for, check back again. Offers frequently change. With the holidays coming soon, consider placing a gift order now. You’ll be surprised to find out how low prices can be here. Remember though that not all magazines or books are listed. Also, remember to be patient - deliveries take time especially subscriptions. Happy reading!
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Location: Cocoa Beach, FL
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