How to Buy Used Books Online - A decade of advice

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  • Опубліковано 22 лис 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 77

  • @lindseyreads5450
    @lindseyreads5450 3 місяці тому +7

    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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +2

      Thanks! That's one of the most annoying things that can happen when buying a used book on amazon. Super frustrating!

  • @ArthurHudson-r7b
    @ArthurHudson-r7b 3 місяці тому +4

    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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      Glad you enjoyed the video! Maybe the knowledge will come in handy someday, should you find yourself looking for something beyond a reading copy.

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому

      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.

  • @BookZealots
    @BookZealots 3 місяці тому +5

    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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      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! 😊

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому

      @@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.

  • @InfiniteText
    @InfiniteText 3 місяці тому +6

    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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      Oh my 😆!! There are people who purposely collect minature books, but for the average reader they won't do!

  • @hanffd
    @hanffd 3 місяці тому +1

    Thank you for this, Amy, and welcome back! Would you ever consider giving us a tour of your collection?

  • @binglamb2176
    @binglamb2176 3 місяці тому +3

    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!

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      @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!

  • @hellopaulie
    @hellopaulie 2 місяці тому +1

    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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  2 місяці тому +1

      @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!

  • @hillsofwi
    @hillsofwi 2 місяці тому

    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.

  • @codex3048
    @codex3048 3 місяці тому +9

    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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +2

      Stock images are a huge frustration when looking at postings. Sometimes it's not apparent right away that that's what it is!

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому +2

      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.

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому

      As for businesses that are strictly drop shippers, watch out for Books Unplugged and even more so for Anybook!

    • @hellopaulie
      @hellopaulie 2 місяці тому

      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.

  • @jameshaley6193
    @jameshaley6193 3 місяці тому +2

    By the way, I love your hair. Beautiful

  • @deerhaven3350
    @deerhaven3350 3 місяці тому

    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
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      How do you define an out of print book? Almost everything I purchase was last published decades ago or more.

    • @deerhaven3350
      @deerhaven3350 3 місяці тому

      @@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.

  • @LisaOfTroy
    @LisaOfTroy 3 місяці тому

    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

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      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!

  • @B.LEE.DbrianleedurfeeREVIEWS
    @B.LEE.DbrianleedurfeeREVIEWS 3 місяці тому +1

    Ebay if they don't have pics of the cover, back, & spine i don't even consider

  • @TheBookedEscapePlan
    @TheBookedEscapePlan 3 місяці тому

    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. :)

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому

      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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      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!

  • @cristianm7097
    @cristianm7097 3 місяці тому +3

    Thanks📚

  • @mediumjohnsilver
    @mediumjohnsilver 3 місяці тому +1

    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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +1

      @@mediumjohnsilver I have found that the text is not always straight on the page. Italics is a new concern!

  • @goodmorningsteve
    @goodmorningsteve 3 місяці тому

    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

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +1

      Unexpected highlighting is an awful thing to find in a book 😕

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому +3

      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!

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому +2

      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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +2

      @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!

  • @captainnolan5062
    @captainnolan5062 3 місяці тому

    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.

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому

      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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +1

      @captainnolan5062 yes, that's a problem with them as well. One of the many reasons to avoid print on demand!

    • @hellopaulie
      @hellopaulie 2 місяці тому

      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.

  • @LibroParadiso-ep4zt
    @LibroParadiso-ep4zt 3 місяці тому +1

    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
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +1

      @@LibroParadiso-ep4zt It's possible my judgment and tastes have changed - should I give The Great Gatsby a third try? 🤔

    • @LibroParadiso-ep4zt
      @LibroParadiso-ep4zt 3 місяці тому

      @@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. :)

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +1

      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 😊

    • @LibroParadiso-ep4zt
      @LibroParadiso-ep4zt 3 місяці тому

      @@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.

    • @GoreVidalComicbooks
      @GoreVidalComicbooks 3 місяці тому

      @@LibroParadiso-ep4zt I second everything he just said! Facts!

  • @noeditbookreviews
    @noeditbookreviews 3 місяці тому +1

    I've actually received Canadian money inside of a used book before.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +1

      @@noeditbookreviews that must have been a nice surprise!

  • @Beery1962
    @Beery1962 2 місяці тому

    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.

  • @felixarquer7732
    @felixarquer7732 3 місяці тому +2

    Can you recommend any metacrawlers (such as Bookfinder)?

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      I'm not that technologically advanced in my searches. Are people using them now to find book listings?

    • @felixarquer7732
      @felixarquer7732 3 місяці тому

      @@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
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      @@felixarquer7732 interesting! I'll have to explore that

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому

      @@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.

  • @inamorata966
    @inamorata966 3 місяці тому +1

    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.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      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
    @captainnolan5062 3 місяці тому

    Where did you get your bookshelves?

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      @@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.

  • @sallynoble4663
    @sallynoble4663 3 місяці тому +3

    Glad you are back

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому

      It is nice to know that my presence was missed ❤

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому

      @@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.

  • @greeneyedmimibostian3013
    @greeneyedmimibostian3013 2 місяці тому +1

    Abe books !!!

  • @poolestephen1
    @poolestephen1 3 місяці тому +4

    Except when they're a gift for someone, the books I order online are used paperbacks that serve as a reading copy only. My pet peeve is cracked spines. The condition of the spine is not always mentioned in the book description. I wish there were a box I could check that says "Cancel order if the spine is cracked". P.S. I'm so glad you're back. You and your videos were definitely missed.

    • @Amysdustybookshelf
      @Amysdustybookshelf  3 місяці тому +1

      Yes, the cracked spines! Some sellers will only post one picture of the book and won't show you the spine, and you may have no idea until the book arrives.

    • @aLadNamedNathan
      @aLadNamedNathan 3 місяці тому

      @@Amysdustybookshelf I love all the book descriptions which read, "The spine remains undamaged." I assume the spine is undamaged unless the bookseller tells me otherwise! But you can see the exact same description not only on all of that bookseller's books--I see it on quite a few different booksellers' listings. The laziness is contagious!

  • @jameshaley6193
    @jameshaley6193 2 місяці тому

    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

  • @jameshaley6193
    @jameshaley6193 3 місяці тому

    Missed ya