Welcome back! Thank you for the online tips. I just purchased a book from Amazon the other week where they spent me a different cover and printing of the book. It was very frustrating.
I really missed seeing you. Man, did I learn to read the fine print in those descriptions! One time I accidentally ordered a "rare" miniature book. Lesson learned.
Happy to see you back again with some very helpful and useful advice. That's funny about the postal carrier knowing your name. I used to buy most of my books from Indigo and got them delivered to my home and I experienced the same thing as you. I got to be on a first name basis with the postie!😄 Now, I generally ship to the store and pick them up. I get out of the house and I don't have to hang around waiting for the mail on the estimated arrival date which can sometimes be at the whim of Canada Post!
@binglamb2176 Back in 2020, not long after I moved in, my Canada Post guy requested a parcel locker for my apartment building because, as he told me "this building gets a lot more packages than it used to" 😆 Before the postal locker, he used to knock on my door. Now he leaves them in the locker for me!
Thank you for the video! I'm more of the average reader, where "acceptable" is usually good enough, but this is very useful as I become interested in collecting certain books.
I got my first bookshop job in 1998. It was an antiquarian bookshop, and they began teaching me how to describe books properly right away. The first thing I was told was, "Good means bad." Similarly, "acceptable" means "unacceptable"--or at least, that's what it's supposed to mean in bookseller terminology. So many people selling books online absolutely refuse to use the terminology properly--even after I direct them to glossaries of bookseller jargon. This jargon isn't that peculiar to bookselling, however. Lots of collectible items have their own set of terminology, and they're usually not that far removed from bookseller terminology.
For the exact reason you mentioned is why I no longer buy from Thriftbooks. And I wasn't even trying to buy collectible books, I just wanted a specific edition and they sent me an edition I absolutely would not have bought. As well as the fact their books often go missing in shipment. It's so beyond frustrating. If we were collecting books it wouldn't be from such companies as that. LOL I love knowing the mail carriers, the UPS driver, etc. =) Where we live though we wave to strangers driving down the road and talk to strangers in the grocery stores, etc. Yay for being back on booktube~!~ You were missed.
With Thriftbooks, I have found they either show up within 3 or 4 days or they spend months lost in the mail and may or may not ever arrive. I avoid them if I can! It is nice to know that I was missed! 😊
@@Amysdustybookshelf Better World Books was the first warehouse seller, to the best of my knowledge. (Actually, they began in an airplane hangar in Indiana. Now they have multiple sites across the country.) The profits from their business are supposed to help charity somehow. It didn't take too many years for their descriptions to become rather slipshod. One thing that truly annoys me is that they frequently fail to note when a book is ex-library. I've told them many a time that the fact that they're supposed to be a charity does not excuse them from describing the books properly. They ignore me, of course.
Thanks for all these gems, Amy. I have only just discovered you, and subscribed, of course. I have bought many second-hand books via ABE and learnt a few lessons that may help readers. On ABE it is easy to recognise a true bookseller, because they usually use all the descriptive jargon of the antiquarian book trade, often referring very precisely to certain parts of a book. In such cases you know you are dealing with a proper bookseller, usually selling a single copy of a particular title. When it comes to ordering 'print on demand titles' in the UK, you will often see under 'number available', numbers as high as 20 or 30 or in some cases even 50. In other words they are ordering batches of the titles in question and there will be no extra waiting time and when the book arrives it is really 'as new'. Typically the book will have been printed in the UK. I definitely avoid those leather-bound Indian titles, have not even bought a single one. Re damaged titles in poor condition, I once in a fit of insanity searched for a rare title published in France 1750. I wanted a copy of this book as part of my research in the history of science. To my utter amazement the search threw up a handful of hits. I could not believe my eyes, carefully read all the descriptions and ordered the one that seemed to be in the best condition. I was so pleased to be able to get a copy that almost any readable condition would have been OK, even though the price was in what I call the 'antiquarian zone, well into hundreds of pounds. When the book arrived there was some decay from age, particularly to the spine and I eventually have had it restored by a great local bookbinder. It's now good for another hundred years, I hope. I wish there was a give-away trick for recognising sellers who despatch heavy hardbacks in plastic bags, but I haven't found one yet, unless it's an act of parliament! I like your channel's name. My shelves are decidedly dusty and I think there's nothing so exciting as a shelfful of books with faded dusty covers in a bookshop and you know it's worth examining every single one, 'just in case'.
There are at least a dozen sellers on ABE who will list any book, regardless if they have a copy to sell you. It's a shame that ABE does not remove these dubious dealers. Be wary of "stock" images and generic descriptions of the book's condition.
ABE has become very frustrating in the last few years. They've basically gotten rid of most of their human employees and let everything be run by computer now. If you have a problem, you can contact the seller--and hope that they respond to you. If not, you're outta luck because ABE will not help you with a problem merchant.
I've only had good experiences with Abebooks but I do avoid stock photos and any book that is not listed as fine or in very good condition. I also tend to search for specific editions and I do find the search function is pretty good at finding those.
Thanks for the great information. You really do a nice job of being clear and articulate and pleasant to listen to. I've learned some of these lessons on my own but appreciate the additional knowledge.
I'm Canadian and live in a border city, literally a mile from the border. It is frustrating to me that I have to spend an exorbitant price for shipping from the next state when shipping from another province in Canada is much, much farther in actual distance. I wish Canada and the US would work on some sort of agreement that would make business flow more smoothly and economically in this way. I have found that some countries do seem to have low shipping costs in general. Ordering books from Ireland seems to be very inexpensive for shipping, as well as a lot of countries in Eastern Europe.
@hellopaule It is a strange puzzle that shipping costs from Europe are often less than those from US sellers. Often, I'll choose a UK, or Irish bookseller over a US one because somehow it's more cost effective!
The very first book I ever bought online was through a very small book chain here in the states, known as Powell's Books. All of its locations are centralized in one state in the pacific northwest - Oregon. The book I ordered was a gift for someone. This was about twelve years ago. It is strange to consider how used to you and I both are to finding older books online are that advice is warranted; at the same time it sounds obvious: be careful; be exponentially more careful with regards to how more careful one is. I not only have any tips of my own to add, but would in fact gladly sight your video here as the best introductory video of advice, especially for aspiring antiquarians. You, by the way, have very much been missed. :)
I can remember when Powell's was considered a large bookseller--at least for a seller of used books. (They obviously were nowhere near the size of chains that sold new books, such as Barnes & Noble.) I used to buy lots of books from them, but they seem to have really declined from what they once were--or at any rate, their online presence is nothing like it used to be. There is another online bookseller called Powell's Chicago which I like much better. They're a different business from the Powell's in Oregon--but the one in Oregon was started by the son of the guy who started the one in Chicago. The one in Chicago deals mainly in academic books, however.
I have heard about Powells. The only chain we have left here in Canada is Indigo and their book selection has shrunk so much in the past years. It often costs less to find a book in person (no shipping fees!) but the convenience and access to books I might otherwise wait a lifetime for and never see is worth the risk. Thanks for the comment and for stopping by!
The print on demand books I have received generally have good covers. The trouble comes when reading them. Often nobody has proofread the text in the original source file. My copy of _Zorro - The Curse of Capistrano_ has some places where the paragraphs are repeated for two pages, and where the text switches to italics for a couple pages. And of course, misspellings galore.
I don't know if it is available in Canada, but I love Pango books! It is informal booksellers, selling to each other at very cheap prices. I have found many, many first edition, first prints on the site! First edition, First Print Philip Pullman: $4 First Edition, First Print Priority of the Orange Tree: $17 First Edition, First Print Manhattan Transfer $5. First Edition First Print On Beauty by Zadie Smith: $4
Wow! I have not heard of them. A quick google search shows me a reddit thread with Canadians lamenting they don't sell in Canada. Those prices sound great!
Thank you for this content. I completely agree with your assessment of Thrift Books. I've had better success with Abe Books, eBay and thrift stores. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the best places to purchase out-of-print books. Thank you!
@@Amysdustybookshelf Well, in the old days, before the internet if I wanted to locate one I'd go to a book seller who had a way of placing an ad in a specific magazine/newsletter for the book I was looking for. I guess nowadays I just need to search for it myself via Abe, used book stores and/or eBay. Thanks for writing back.
Print on demand books can also have very tiny print (to avoid higher shipping charges, they print it with as few pages as possible). Some of them are nearly unreadable.
In the last few years, I've ordered supposedly new books from both Amazon and other sellers, but when I receive them, there's a note on the verso of the final page stating when and where the book was printed--and the date always tells me it was printed on demand for me. Since these appear to be printed by the original publisher and not by some company specializing in public domain titles, does this fail to be considered print on demand? However so, I don't like this trend.
I've read in reviews of print-on-demand books, that sometimes the margins are set so small that some of the text of the book is bound into the spine and it is unreadable unless you crack it. Those are definitely not books that I am going to purchase.
Greetings from Texas, Amy. Sound advice. Been through everything you discussed. Last week, for example, got an "acceptable" copy of The Virgin Suicides in the mail. I knew the picture wasn't the book, but it was described as "acceptable" so my expectations were low. It was a beat up copy. It was $4 dollars. Changed your mind yet about The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby? :)
@@Amysdustybookshelf I remember teasing you about disliking those books under "gore vidal" my comic book channel. If you changed your mind about either book (which I like very much) I would be pleasantly surprised. :)
Gore Vidal! Now I know who you are! I was like, wait, who is this channel and why does he remember that I dislike those books haha. Great to see you here under a new name 😊
@@Amysdustybookshelf I began a book channel earlier this year. Decided to enter the turbulent (not!)booktube waters and make a few videos. You realize you may be considered an "OG" by some new booktubers because you've been doing this for a long time. I still remember your Louis L' Amour videos. Good to see you.
Abebooks & Thriftbooks is great. Do find the edition and/or condition can vary from what you thought you ordered - main part that bugs me is when they have unexpected highlighting
I worked in several different antiquarian bookshops for years. One thing I learned is that "all flaws must be noted"--especially for anything graded Very Good or better. Online sellers these days refuse to be bound by the traditional rules of bookselling--very frustrating!
I don't like the "warehouse sellers," such as Better World Books, Half Price Books, or Thrift Books. I think those are the big three, but there are others such as Second Sale (which also goes under the name "Glen the Bookseller). The warehouse sellers depend on a large volume of sales and quick turnaround, so their book descriptions are generally abysmal. I'm especially wary of booksellers in Texas and Louisiana. These warehouse sellers have lots of smaller copycats in those states. I feel sorry for the reputable booksellers there because they get tarred with the same brush as these less reputable ones.
@aLadNamedNathan sometimes it can be hard to spot a warehouse seller immediately, if they're not one of the big names. I wish there was a platform that excluded them!
Thriftbooks sellers are notorious for claiming book club editions are first printings, and "forgetting" to mention that a book is ex-library and plastered with library stamps and library card pockets.
@@Amysdustybookshelf For BookFinder it’s as easy as typing in author and title and getting 2 lists -new and used- showing, in order of increasing price, all the websites where the book is available. Problem with that example is it only includes big international sites, local ones go under its radar.
@@Amysdustybookshelf Bookfinder has been around for years and years! It searches the big five used bookselling sites--namely Amazon, ABE, Alibris, Biblio, and eBay--along with a lot of smaller ones.
My experience of the last time -- and I mean that, literally -- I ordered a book from a vendor I have used myriad times in the past: I ordered a comic novel by PG Wodehouse. I waited about 3-4 weeks for it, after which time I received a self-help book on how to teach teenagers about sex. It didn't come in a timely manner AND it was the wrong damned book. The vendor's service had deteriorated for some time, IMO, so that was a deal breaker. Found another vendor. In other words, caveat emptor. Ordering anything online, especially second-hand or used items, has an element of risk. Poor quality items, wrong items, long delivery times -- all may be a symptom of how that particular vendor does business, and you'll have to decide whether to continue to buy from them. It may be that paying more for quality and timely service, and a lessening of frustration, is the route to take.
Completely agree. Nowdays I will pay a little more to buy from a seller I know and trust. There is nothing more frustrating than getting the wrong book and having to fight customer service of a warehouse-style seller!
@@captainnolan5062 I ordered them off amazon - they were cheap and affordable, but very solid shelves that look nicer than many of the cheap alternatives. They were about $150 CAD each when I purchased them between 2020 and 2023.
@@Amysdustybookshelf Did you use to have a different channel? I've just discovered you, and you've only got three recent videos here--no old videos whatsoever.
Books of Aldiss ,They put a wonderful looking book Picture and a cheap price for the book. When you get the bug it’s not the same. It’s a yard sale Quarter. Book. Just send it back you have to pay the postage what a rip off
Welcome back! Thank you for the online tips. I just purchased a book from Amazon the other week where they spent me a different cover and printing of the book. It was very frustrating.
Thanks! That's one of the most annoying things that can happen when buying a used book on amazon. Super frustrating!
I really missed seeing you. Man, did I learn to read the fine print in those descriptions! One time I accidentally ordered a "rare" miniature book. Lesson learned.
Oh my 😆!! There are people who purposely collect minature books, but for the average reader they won't do!
Happy to see you back again with some very helpful and useful advice. That's funny about the postal carrier knowing your name. I used to buy most of my books from Indigo and got them delivered to my home and I experienced the same thing as you. I got to be on a first name basis with the postie!😄 Now, I generally ship to the store and pick them up. I get out of the house and I don't have to hang around waiting for the mail on the estimated arrival date which can sometimes be at the whim of Canada Post!
@binglamb2176 Back in 2020, not long after I moved in, my Canada Post guy requested a parcel locker for my apartment building because, as he told me "this building gets a lot more packages than it used to" 😆 Before the postal locker, he used to knock on my door. Now he leaves them in the locker for me!
Thank you for this, Amy, and welcome back! Would you ever consider giving us a tour of your collection?
That is a great idea - I may do that in the future!
Thank you for the video! I'm more of the average reader, where "acceptable" is usually good enough, but this is very useful as I become interested in collecting certain books.
Glad you enjoyed the video! Maybe the knowledge will come in handy someday, should you find yourself looking for something beyond a reading copy.
I got my first bookshop job in 1998. It was an antiquarian bookshop, and they began teaching me how to describe books properly right away. The first thing I was told was, "Good means bad." Similarly, "acceptable" means "unacceptable"--or at least, that's what it's supposed to mean in bookseller terminology. So many people selling books online absolutely refuse to use the terminology properly--even after I direct them to glossaries of bookseller jargon. This jargon isn't that peculiar to bookselling, however. Lots of collectible items have their own set of terminology, and they're usually not that far removed from bookseller terminology.
For the exact reason you mentioned is why I no longer buy from Thriftbooks. And I wasn't even trying to buy collectible books, I just wanted a specific edition and they sent me an edition I absolutely would not have bought. As well as the fact their books often go missing in shipment. It's so beyond frustrating. If we were collecting books it wouldn't be from such companies as that. LOL I love knowing the mail carriers, the UPS driver, etc. =) Where we live though we wave to strangers driving down the road and talk to strangers in the grocery stores, etc.
Yay for being back on booktube~!~ You were missed.
With Thriftbooks, I have found they either show up within 3 or 4 days or they spend months lost in the mail and may or may not ever arrive. I avoid them if I can! It is nice to know that I was missed! 😊
@@Amysdustybookshelf Better World Books was the first warehouse seller, to the best of my knowledge. (Actually, they began in an airplane hangar in Indiana. Now they have multiple sites across the country.) The profits from their business are supposed to help charity somehow. It didn't take too many years for their descriptions to become rather slipshod. One thing that truly annoys me is that they frequently fail to note when a book is ex-library. I've told them many a time that the fact that they're supposed to be a charity does not excuse them from describing the books properly. They ignore me, of course.
Thanks for all these gems, Amy. I have only just discovered you, and subscribed, of course. I have bought many second-hand books via ABE and learnt a few lessons that may help readers. On ABE it is easy to recognise a true bookseller, because they usually use all the descriptive jargon of the antiquarian book trade, often referring very precisely to certain parts of a book. In such cases you know you are dealing with a proper bookseller, usually selling a single copy of a particular title. When it comes to ordering 'print on demand titles' in the UK, you will often see under 'number available', numbers as high as 20 or 30 or in some cases even 50. In other words they are ordering batches of the titles in question and there will be no extra waiting time and when the book arrives it is really 'as new'. Typically the book will have been printed in the UK. I definitely avoid those leather-bound Indian titles, have not even bought a single one. Re damaged titles in poor condition, I once in a fit of insanity searched for a rare title published in France 1750. I wanted a copy of this book as part of my research in the history of science. To my utter amazement the search threw up a handful of hits. I could not believe my eyes, carefully read all the descriptions and ordered the one that seemed to be in the best condition. I was so pleased to be able to get a copy that almost any readable condition would have been OK, even though the price was in what I call the 'antiquarian zone, well into hundreds of pounds. When the book arrived there was some decay from age, particularly to the spine and I eventually have had it restored by a great local bookbinder. It's now good for another hundred years, I hope. I wish there was a give-away trick for recognising sellers who despatch heavy hardbacks in plastic bags, but I haven't found one yet, unless it's an act of parliament! I like your channel's name. My shelves are decidedly dusty and I think there's nothing so exciting as a shelfful of books with faded dusty covers in a bookshop and you know it's worth examining every single one, 'just in case'.
@@orglancs faded dusty covers are truly the best. Thanks for the delightful comment!
Thanks📚
Thank you 😊
There are at least a dozen sellers on ABE who will list any book, regardless if they have a copy to sell you. It's a shame that ABE does not remove these dubious dealers. Be wary of "stock" images and generic descriptions of the book's condition.
Stock images are a huge frustration when looking at postings. Sometimes it's not apparent right away that that's what it is!
ABE has become very frustrating in the last few years. They've basically gotten rid of most of their human employees and let everything be run by computer now. If you have a problem, you can contact the seller--and hope that they respond to you. If not, you're outta luck because ABE will not help you with a problem merchant.
As for businesses that are strictly drop shippers, watch out for Books Unplugged and even more so for Anybook!
I've only had good experiences with Abebooks but I do avoid stock photos and any book that is not listed as fine or in very good condition. I also tend to search for specific editions and I do find the search function is pretty good at finding those.
Thanks for the great information. You really do a nice job of being clear and articulate and pleasant to listen to. I've learned some of these lessons on my own but appreciate the additional knowledge.
I'm Canadian and live in a border city, literally a mile from the border. It is frustrating to me that I have to spend an exorbitant price for shipping from the next state when shipping from another province in Canada is much, much farther in actual distance.
I wish Canada and the US would work on some sort of agreement that would make business flow more smoothly and economically in this way.
I have found that some countries do seem to have low shipping costs in general. Ordering books from Ireland seems to be very inexpensive for shipping, as well as a lot of countries in Eastern Europe.
@hellopaule It is a strange puzzle that shipping costs from Europe are often less than those from US sellers. Often, I'll choose a UK, or Irish bookseller over a US one because somehow it's more cost effective!
The very first book I ever bought online was through a very small book chain here in the states, known as Powell's Books. All of its locations are centralized in one state in the pacific northwest - Oregon. The book I ordered was a gift for someone. This was about twelve years ago.
It is strange to consider how used to you and I both are to finding older books online are that advice is warranted; at the same time it sounds obvious: be careful; be exponentially more careful with regards to how more careful one is.
I not only have any tips of my own to add, but would in fact gladly sight your video here as the best introductory video of advice, especially for aspiring antiquarians.
You, by the way, have very much been missed. :)
I can remember when Powell's was considered a large bookseller--at least for a seller of used books. (They obviously were nowhere near the size of chains that sold new books, such as Barnes & Noble.) I used to buy lots of books from them, but they seem to have really declined from what they once were--or at any rate, their online presence is nothing like it used to be. There is another online bookseller called Powell's Chicago which I like much better. They're a different business from the Powell's in Oregon--but the one in Oregon was started by the son of the guy who started the one in Chicago. The one in Chicago deals mainly in academic books, however.
I have heard about Powells. The only chain we have left here in Canada is Indigo and their book selection has shrunk so much in the past years.
It often costs less to find a book in person (no shipping fees!) but the convenience and access to books I might otherwise wait a lifetime for and never see is worth the risk.
Thanks for the comment and for stopping by!
The print on demand books I have received generally have good covers. The trouble comes when reading them. Often nobody has proofread the text in the original source file. My copy of _Zorro - The Curse of Capistrano_ has some places where the paragraphs are repeated for two pages, and where the text switches to italics for a couple pages. And of course, misspellings galore.
@@mediumjohnsilver I have found that the text is not always straight on the page. Italics is a new concern!
By the way, I love your hair. Beautiful
Thank you, it was looking great this day!
I don't know if it is available in Canada, but I love Pango books! It is informal booksellers, selling to each other at very cheap prices. I have found many, many first edition, first prints on the site! First edition, First Print Philip Pullman: $4 First Edition, First Print Priority of the Orange Tree: $17 First Edition, First Print Manhattan Transfer $5. First Edition First Print On Beauty by Zadie Smith: $4
Wow! I have not heard of them. A quick google search shows me a reddit thread with Canadians lamenting they don't sell in Canada. Those prices sound great!
Thank you for this content. I completely agree with your assessment of Thrift Books. I've had better success with Abe Books, eBay and thrift stores. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the best places to purchase out-of-print books. Thank you!
How do you define an out of print book? Almost everything I purchase was last published decades ago or more.
@@Amysdustybookshelf Well, in the old days, before the internet if I wanted to locate one I'd go to a book seller who had a way of placing an ad in a specific magazine/newsletter for the book I was looking for. I guess nowadays I just need to search for it myself via Abe, used book stores and/or eBay. Thanks for writing back.
Ebay if they don't have pics of the cover, back, & spine i don't even consider
That's a wise approach to buying from ebay
Print on demand books can also have very tiny print (to avoid higher shipping charges, they print it with as few pages as possible). Some of them are nearly unreadable.
In the last few years, I've ordered supposedly new books from both Amazon and other sellers, but when I receive them, there's a note on the verso of the final page stating when and where the book was printed--and the date always tells me it was printed on demand for me. Since these appear to be printed by the original publisher and not by some company specializing in public domain titles, does this fail to be considered print on demand? However so, I don't like this trend.
@captainnolan5062 yes, that's a problem with them as well. One of the many reasons to avoid print on demand!
I've read in reviews of print-on-demand books, that sometimes the margins are set so small that some of the text of the book is bound into the spine and it is unreadable unless you crack it. Those are definitely not books that I am going to purchase.
Greetings from Texas, Amy. Sound advice. Been through everything you discussed. Last week, for example, got an "acceptable" copy of The Virgin Suicides in the mail. I knew the picture wasn't the book, but it was described as "acceptable" so my expectations were low. It was a beat up copy. It was $4 dollars. Changed your mind yet about The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby? :)
@@LibroParadiso-ep4zt It's possible my judgment and tastes have changed - should I give The Great Gatsby a third try? 🤔
@@Amysdustybookshelf I remember teasing you about disliking those books under "gore vidal" my comic book channel. If you changed your mind about either book (which I like very much) I would be pleasantly surprised. :)
Gore Vidal! Now I know who you are! I was like, wait, who is this channel and why does he remember that I dislike those books haha. Great to see you here under a new name 😊
@@Amysdustybookshelf I began a book channel earlier this year. Decided to enter the turbulent (not!)booktube waters and make a few videos. You realize you may be considered an "OG" by some new booktubers because you've been doing this for a long time. I still remember your Louis L' Amour videos. Good to see you.
@@LibroParadiso-ep4zt I second everything he just said! Facts!
Abebooks & Thriftbooks is great. Do find the edition and/or condition can vary from what you thought you ordered - main part that bugs me is when they have unexpected highlighting
Unexpected highlighting is an awful thing to find in a book 😕
I worked in several different antiquarian bookshops for years. One thing I learned is that "all flaws must be noted"--especially for anything graded Very Good or better. Online sellers these days refuse to be bound by the traditional rules of bookselling--very frustrating!
I don't like the "warehouse sellers," such as Better World Books, Half Price Books, or Thrift Books. I think those are the big three, but there are others such as Second Sale (which also goes under the name "Glen the Bookseller). The warehouse sellers depend on a large volume of sales and quick turnaround, so their book descriptions are generally abysmal.
I'm especially wary of booksellers in Texas and Louisiana. These warehouse sellers have lots of smaller copycats in those states. I feel sorry for the reputable booksellers there because they get tarred with the same brush as these less reputable ones.
@aLadNamedNathan sometimes it can be hard to spot a warehouse seller immediately, if they're not one of the big names. I wish there was a platform that excluded them!
Thriftbooks sellers are notorious for claiming book club editions are first printings, and "forgetting" to mention that a book is ex-library and plastered with library stamps and library card pockets.
That is a problem with Thriftbooks!
Can you recommend any metacrawlers (such as Bookfinder)?
I'm not that technologically advanced in my searches. Are people using them now to find book listings?
@@Amysdustybookshelf For BookFinder it’s as easy as typing in author and title and getting 2 lists -new and used- showing, in order of increasing price, all the websites where the book is available. Problem with that example is it only includes big international sites, local ones go under its radar.
@@felixarquer7732 interesting! I'll have to explore that
@@Amysdustybookshelf Bookfinder has been around for years and years! It searches the big five used bookselling sites--namely Amazon, ABE, Alibris, Biblio, and eBay--along with a lot of smaller ones.
I've actually received Canadian money inside of a used book before.
@@noeditbookreviews that must have been a nice surprise!
My experience of the last time -- and I mean that, literally -- I ordered a book from a vendor I have used myriad times in the past: I ordered a comic novel by PG Wodehouse. I waited about 3-4 weeks for it, after which time I received a self-help book on how to teach teenagers about sex. It didn't come in a timely manner AND it was the wrong damned book. The vendor's service had deteriorated for some time, IMO, so that was a deal breaker. Found another vendor. In other words, caveat emptor. Ordering anything online, especially second-hand or used items, has an element of risk. Poor quality items, wrong items, long delivery times -- all may be a symptom of how that particular vendor does business, and you'll have to decide whether to continue to buy from them. It may be that paying more for quality and timely service, and a lessening of frustration, is the route to take.
Completely agree. Nowdays I will pay a little more to buy from a seller I know and trust. There is nothing more frustrating than getting the wrong book and having to fight customer service of a warehouse-style seller!
Where did you get your bookshelves?
@@captainnolan5062 I ordered them off amazon - they were cheap and affordable, but very solid shelves that look nicer than many of the cheap alternatives. They were about $150 CAD each when I purchased them between 2020 and 2023.
Glad you are back
It is nice to know that my presence was missed ❤
@@Amysdustybookshelf Did you use to have a different channel? I've just discovered you, and you've only got three recent videos here--no old videos whatsoever.
Abe books !!!
Books of Aldiss ,They put a wonderful looking book Picture and a cheap price for the book. When you get the bug it’s not the same. It’s a yard sale Quarter. Book. Just send it back you have to pay the postage what a rip off
Missed ya