Any reliable sites to buy used books?

[mum]

I have been very disappointed buying used books from Amazon recently. All of them have not been in the condition they were listed. I didn't used to have this trouble. Has anyone else found this? Are there any online used book sites that you have found reliable?

[gardenmom5]

my dd liked "fetchbook.com". it's an aggregator. 

[theelfqueen]

I comparison shop on addall.com but I mostly order from Amazon and am generally very happy. I'm sorry to hear you've had a bad experience!

 

[Lanny]

I wonder what type of Amazon Marketplace Sellers you bought those books from? Huge ones or tiny ones?  Usually, I buy from huge Sellers on Amazon, but occasionally, on Amazon and on eBay I've purchased from Individuals or small Sellers.  With all of the books (primarily textbooks) we have purchased during the past 4 years, 1 or 2 of them were a notch below what the Seller listed as the Condition. With Small/Individual Sellers, I usually send a Message on Amazon or eBay, primarily to confirm that someone is there ready to ship if I click to buy, but also to confirm ISBN number and condition of the book. I never buy books listed below "Good" condition and I try for books listed in "Very Good" condition. I have purchased more than one textbook for DD, for one cent. plus shipping, that was in "Very Good" condition.  One book, I think it was a Spanish language workbook, had 4 or 5 pages missing from it. DD found those pages on the  Internet or her Instructor sent those to her. I believe when the Seller's employee inspects a book, they only have 30 to 60 seconds to do that, so sometimes they do miss things like the  missing pages in the Spanish Workbook. Our family has saved A LOT OF MONEY, because I normally buy Used textbooks for DD.    GL in the future with your purchases!

[hellen]

I like Better World Books. I use them when they are running a sale which they do most holidays. The current sale is 50% off 5+ books in the bargain bin. It's one of their best sales.

[melbotoast]

I've been using Thriftbooks lately. I think they're owned by Amazon. All the books we've gotten have been in good condition/as described.

[Lanny]

I don't think Thrift Books is owned by Amazon, however that is possible.  My first experience with one of their companies was Sierra Nevada Books in Reno NV. A book listed as "Used - Very Good".  When it arrived and DD inspected it, she said "it smells like a new book". On the inside of the front cover, it had a stamp from a small school district in Northern California, but we do not believe it was ever issued to a student.  I ordered a Mass Market Hardback book from another Thrift Books Company (both transactions were on Amazon) I think in CT and the book wasn't in as good condition as listed, but it was extremely inexpensive and that's not important to me.  

 

Better World Books in Indiana uses a Shipping Company I'd never heard of, until my first order from them. It operates like DHL Global Mail and other services, where the Shipping Company hands it over to USPS for the final miles and delivery.  The books we have ordered from Better World Books all eventually were delivered to our Receiver/Forwarder in Miami FL.  

 

I have a special place for Better World Books, because one day I checked for a textbook DD would need (I think it is the 9th grade English textbook she's using now) and checked possibly 4 or 5 times that day, for some  strange reason. About 5 or 6 P.M. (E.S.T.) I noticed that Better World Books, who had not previously listed that book on Amazon, came in and listed it for One Cent plus $3.99 Shipping.  I asked my DD to keep her fingers crossed and pray that it wasn't an error, and that they would not cancel the order.  The book is as described, "Used - Very Good".

 

My belief is that most of the Huge/Large Sellers do an extremely cursory inspection of the books they list and that it is very possible for them to miss something that might be discovered, if they could inspect for 30 minutes, instead of only 30 seconds. 

 

One of my cousins and her DH write books.  She wrote me that she orders a huge number of books and is amazed at how many of them seem to be "Brand New", although listed as "Used" on Amazon. 

 

I always give the ISBN number to our Receiver/Forwarder and ask them to verify that the ISBN number is correct and that the condition of the book is what the Seller stated in their listing.  Once, someone called from Miami, because she was concerned about the book, and I asked her to describe it to DD, in Spanish, and DD told her to go ahead and ship the book to us.

 

I have purchased 2 Used textbooks from Private Individuals on eBay and been very happy with those transactions,   both of which saved a lot of $ over the same textbook in the same Condition on Amazon at the time. 

[mamiof5]

I've always had good luck with Amazon, when not the seller has refunded my money (one book I remember was in terrible shape). I also use half.com