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I simply don't buy new from Amazon anymore. Second hand books is all I buy from there; everything else I ever buy online I need to be able to rely on, and I ju

I simply don't buy new from Amazon anymore. Second hand books is all I buy from there; everything else I ever buy online I need to be able to rely on, and I just can't rely on Amazon anymore. I can return it? I don't want to return it, I don't want to be the unpaid police of the Amazon clusterfuck, I want to receive what I ordered. I remember the last two things I bought from there, which were even marked as being sold by the actual manufacturer, came in boxes with spelling errors on. Must be that commingled inventory they maintain. Fine. Nothing new from Amazon for me anymore. Just second hand books. Their new books are occasionally counterfeit, and often not actually cheaper than a more reliable supplier.

sitkack 7y ago
For second hand books you should be using thrift and abe. Better selection and better prices. For music use discogs.
- brudgers 7y ago
  AbeBooks has been a subsidiary of Amazon since 2008.
  - sitkack 7y ago
    Wait so they own Goodreads and AbeBooks, that is not right.
- EliRivers 7y ago
  Sometimes true. Sometimes not. When I decide to buy a book, I check prices on: Amazon (UK,US and sometimes others too) Thriftbooks Abebooks Alibris Wordery Ebay BookDepository BooksPlease At various times, each of these has proven to be carrying the cheapest available copy (including the ones that don't even sell second hand). There have been times when ignoring amazon would have cost me money. Let's check the current prices I am offered this very second on the very last book I bought second hand, "Game Engine Gems II": Amazon UK - GBP 23.97 Amazon US - USD 36.93 Thriftbooks - Out of stock Abebooks UK - 23.98 Abebooks US - USD 56.43 Alibris UK - 37.65 Wordery - 63.99 (new) Ebay UK - 26.67 BookDepository - 42.70 (new) BooksPlease - 58.12 (new) Amazon UK is the cheapest I see (by a penny!), and all those prices are higher than what I paid for it on Amazon UK in the past few weeks. To stick with just Thrift and Abe is to cost oneself money. I do tend to identify, though, the cheapest ever second hand price on Amazon through one of the services that watch for such things, and set an alert when it drifts that low again. With a hundred or so such watches currently active, a couple of times a month I am alerted to a ridiculously low-ball offer on Amazon's second-hand market.

sitkack 7y ago

For second hand books you should be using thrift and abe. Better selection and better prices. For music use discogs.

brudgers 7y ago
AbeBooks has been a subsidiary of Amazon since 2008.
- sitkack 7y ago
  Wait so they own Goodreads and AbeBooks, that is not right.
EliRivers 7y ago
Sometimes true. Sometimes not. When I decide to buy a book, I check prices on: Amazon (UK,US and sometimes others too) Thriftbooks Abebooks Alibris Wordery Ebay BookDepository BooksPlease At various times, each of these has proven to be carrying the cheapest available copy (including the ones that don't even sell second hand). There have been times when ignoring amazon would have cost me money. Let's check the current prices I am offered this very second on the very last book I bought second hand, "Game Engine Gems II": Amazon UK - GBP 23.97 Amazon US - USD 36.93 Thriftbooks - Out of stock Abebooks UK - 23.98 Abebooks US - USD 56.43 Alibris UK - 37.65 Wordery - 63.99 (new) Ebay UK - 26.67 BookDepository - 42.70 (new) BooksPlease - 58.12 (new) Amazon UK is the cheapest I see (by a penny!), and all those prices are higher than what I paid for it on Amazon UK in the past few weeks. To stick with just Thrift and Abe is to cost oneself money. I do tend to identify, though, the cheapest ever second hand price on Amazon through one of the services that watch for such things, and set an alert when it drifts that low again. With a hundred or so such watches currently active, a couple of times a month I am alerted to a ridiculously low-ball offer on Amazon's second-hand market.