As a booklover, I buy most of my books from:
- chain bookstores like Popular, MPH or Borders – I just love browsing through the shelves, looking through the discount bins and finding some really great reads
- thrift bookstores like The Big Bookshop and Pay Less Books;
- secondhand bookstores at Bazaar Chowrasta in Penang (I’ve yet to visit the secondhand bookstore haven I hear about at Amcorp Mall…) or
- hanging on to books I’ve rented in the past from Novel Hut or Novel City!
I’m not much of an online book shopper (except for cases when I’ve bought books for friends or friends’ children as gifts). Why?
Well…online bookstores come with shipping charges, which I’m really, really reluctant to pay. As it is, a novel in Malaysia already costs RM30+.
Imagine how hard it is to pay an additional RM10+ for shipping especially if the shipping charges go by weight. Books are heavy, you know!
Also, most online bookstores sell new books but the physical bookstore tend to have bargain bins.
What’s more, I prefer the experience of flipping through the pages or digging through the discount piles much more than clicking through pages and pages of book covers…it’s really not the same!
Most of the time, I come home really *happy* with an armload of books (both fiction and non-fiction, for myself or for my son), barely crossing a grand total of RM150
Even if some online bookstores offer FREE shipping, this is offered for purchases above RM150 or RM200. To reach that amount, I find myself pressured to find books that I want either by using the ‘Search’ feature or by browsing through the categories, if I have the patience…which I don’t.
Now…AbeBooks is slightly different.
At the AbeBooks – Best Buys section, you’ll get “brand new copies of the hottest titles at huge discounts“.
For example:
- Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls, retailing at US$25.00 is selling at US$9.71 and
- Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, retailing at US$24.95 is only US$6.15
What’s more AbeBooks – Free Shipping option rounds up booksellers who provides FREE Domestic Shipping on selected new, used, out of print books with NO minimum purchase! Now, that’s my kind of bookstore
I’ve bought several used specialty books (on early childhood education, copywriting, running a home business etc) on AbeBooks. Using the ‘Advanced Search’ function,
- I look for the book by author, title, keyword or ISBN number and
- I then narrow down search to booksellers in Malaysia, Singapore or nearby countries.
Feels like I’m searching through a university library database, with the option of buying the books. This far, I’m happy with the condition of the books when they arrive!
Mothers and fathers may want to check out the Children’s Fiction section. Not only can you find MILLIONS of new and used children’s books, you can also return your purchase within 30 days if the books are not as described on the website.
College students may be interested to Save up to 90% on New and Used Textbooks. Since most college textbooks are used for only one semester, why waste money buying a NEW copy when a used copy is just as good? You can also sell your used textbooks there…
I’m really interested in the ‘buyback books’ section but currently, AbeBooks only offers this option in Australia, Canada and the UK. Hope they’ll broaden their regional coverage soon…
I can become a professional bookseller too but the monthly fee of US$24 deters me – would I be able to sell that many books to cover this fixed cost???
Lastly, I wish that AbeBooks would accept Paypal across all its sites – that way, I can buy more books LOL! For now, I need to find individual booksellers who offer that…
So, anyone out there who regularly buys or sells on Abebooks? Love to hear from you!
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
You could also try Better World Books – used copies books start from $3.98 and the international shipping is at a flat rate of $3.97. (Yes, I mean in USD)
I’ve bought books from Abebooks also, but at Better World it’s for a good cause. I should try narrowing down sellers to Malaysia or Singapore (never thought about it) the next time I’m on Abebooks.
Oh, and BookXcess in Amcorp doesn’t sell second hand books; they sell remaindered brand new copies of books. I’ve not bought anything from the major chain bookstores for ages cos I know I can get them cheaper months down the road.
The best buy often found online. Online stores often cut because of lower overheads. Related items are another feature you might discover in most online sites that let you buy or browse available books online. It can lessen your time when looking for books of the same topic.
A major advantage to the customer is the range of books you can browse at an online bookshop. In a conventional bookshop you may have immediate access to a few thousand titles, however some online stores have a database of over one million titles and although its true that these books are also available at conventional stores, they simply don’t have the space to display them like an online store does.
Synical – Thanks for telling me about what’s at Amcorp Mall. I know about BookXcess but I’d read somewhere that it’s secondhand heaven over there (including books, toys etc). Sigh…dunno when I’ll get a chance to visit. You guys in KL are sooooo lucky
Australian Online Bookshop – You’ve got a point there about online bookstores’ wider range of inventory. I spend so much time online I guess I just savour flipping through real books in a bookstore