Hi All,
I just went through my signed book collection and pruned out some of the books that I no longer wanted. I sold them on my business website as well as to ebay.com and a used bookstore.
It got me thinking: Where do people buy their books?
I frequent new and used bookstores, both independent and chain. I guess I am an equal opportunist buyer. I buy new books when I can at new bookstores, but when I am looking for an older edition or something rare, I visit the used.
How do you shop? Are you an Amazon person? B&N? Do you have to walk into a bookstore to buy a book? Or are you comfy with online buying? I have a hard time buying online because most of the time the books arrive damaged in some manner.
Shawn
Well over here in South Africa new books tend to be considerably expensive. Most of the new books I've purchased was done online and luckily I haven't had any arrive damaged.
On the rare occasion I actually get to a physical bookshop I tend to browse and buy from their sale sections. Some very nice bargains can be had.
I've also recently discovered the joys of buying secondhand books online through a local site similar to eBay. Extremely nice bargains can be had that way.
In Finland, it's the same as it is in South Africa: new books are expensive. I live in the capital (Helsinki), so there are good bookshops as well as numerous used bookshops which stock also English books, but I prefer buying online. The price for new books bought online is usually about half of the price in the bookshops.
The past year I've really discovered amazon's used booksellers as well as the British sites www.bookdepository.co.uk and play.com. The latter also has its PlayTrade which sells used books. When I'm looking for books, I check all the sites, amazon's US, UK and German sites as well as the Book Depository and Play. Amazons may sometimes surprise me with their low prices, but mostly I've been buying from the BD which sends its books singly in jiffybags so they arrive asap and does not charge any postage. A definite plus for a buyer from outside UK. I've had only a few bad experiences with substandard book condition with used books bought from amazon, so I trust the website to monitor their sellers. The new books have always been in excellent condition, no damages during transit.
I've used B&N on occasion (especially when I had the Member card for a 10% rebate, bought when visiting the States) as well as the British WH Smith, the Swedish adlibris.com and the Finnish www.bookplus.fi. Unfortunately, the latter two are more expensive compared to the British, US and German sites.
I love browsing actual bookshops and used bookshops, but it takes time and you can never be certain of finding what you are looking for. They are great for spending time with books, but usually I just note down the books that have been published recently and go home to buy them online.
I work for a bookstore. I am the Bargain book & Sci Fi Buyer. I get gallies and free samples, but I still buy a lot of books in our store, and then hit at least 3 different used bookstores on a regular basis. My 'to read' shelf is looking a little out of hand, but I don't want to miss anything as books sometimes only last a few years anymore. I try to read the new stuff to help get the word out, but get sucked into the past alot with my used book finds.