Have you been shopping recently for books and noticed your favorite online book seller is now offering used copies for sale? Amazon, for one, has been selling used books for a few years now and in today's economy those start to look very compelling. What some people don't realize at first glance is that those books aren't really from Amazon, they are from third party sellers who place those books on the marketplace much like you would try to sell a used camera on eBay. Some of those third parties are bigger than others - ranging from inventories of millions of books to some hobby sellers with only a few hundred in their garage. And Amazon isn't the only big marketplace out there. Almost all the major book sellers now offer some platform for selling used books, with some that offer nothing but used books. But one thing that all the major marketplaces have in common is that they are not the actual vendor, they are simply the marketplace. The actual used books come from somewhere else.
So how do you make sense of it all, make sure you get the best deal, and don't feel nervous about buying a used book on the internet for the first time? Below are six tips that will help you wade your way through the ins-and-outs of online used book buying:
1 - Choose A Seller With A Good Reputation.
The first thing you need to realize is that none of the used books on any of the big marketplaces are actually sold by the companies themselves. But in every case, the name of the seller should be easy to determine. And each site has a way of ranking sellers against each other. Either as a percent or a star rating. Do not buy a used book from a brand new seller that has not yet established a track record. If they have not yet been ranked, then choose a seller that has. You can tell a lot by looking at the ranking and the quantity of books sold. Read some of the feedback and see if other buyers have had a good experience or not.
2 - Check For A Better Price.
Once you have found a seller who looks good it may be worth a few moments to try an internet search on that seller's name to see if they have their own website. You may be able to get a better deal buying the book directly from the seller rather than through a larger marketplace. There is safety in size, however. A large well-known site provides a layer of security and protection. If the seller decides not to ship you the book or refuses to refund money if you run into trouble then any of the large used book marketplaces will step in and advocate in your behalf and even refund you the money themselves if the seller will not. If you are worried about a seller but really want a book they are offering, then pay the extra premium and buy it via one of the big websites. But if you have found a seller that is reliable and want to save even more then explore the option of buying from them directly. The big marketplaces usually make it difficult for sellers to do much marketing directly to their customers so it may not be obvious at first, but a simple search engine query using the seller's name can usually tell you if they have a website or not.
3 - Prices part deux. What's a good price?
OK, so you've found a seller who has their own website, and they seem reliable, how do you know if you are getting a good price or not? The key to this is looking at the entire cost of the book including shipping and handling. I'm sure you've already noticed that on Amazon there is a $3.99 S/H charge for each used book you buy. Most sellers with their own websites have a similar S/H arrangement but some have decided to raise the cost of the book and lower shipping fees. A reputable seller will always post their shipping and handling fees in an easy-to-find link usually at the bottom of every page that says "Shipping Costs". Only after you know the total cost can you really start comparing costs. Some sellers offer their books as cheap as a penny with shipping in the $3 - $4 range. Other sellers offer "free shipping" but the cheapest they sell a book is in the $3 - $4 range. Either way you're probably going to pay a little under $4 for the cheapest used books. Also keep in mind that some sellers offer a discounted shipping price on each book after the first. If you are buying multiple used books then this could be a way to save even more money.
4 - Beware of Drop Shippers.
Some websites are really nothing more than resellers. They offer for sale the used books of another seller and then when they get an order they route the order to the seller. They make their money by collecting a commission, affiliate fee, or marking up the price a little. Besides often paying a little more than if you bought directly, there is sometimes an additional time-lag while you wait for your order to pass from one system to another. Wherever possible buy directly from the seller who possesses the used book you are trying to buy. An easy way to tell if the website you are looking at is actually in possession of the book you want is to look at the Company Info link. All reputable websites have them: the little link that says "About Us". If you can't easily see proof that the company in question actually has its own distribution centers then you may be dealing with a drop-shipper who is marking up your order. Try to find a seller that actually carries their own inventory. The shipping times will be faster and there are fewer layers of customer service if you should need to ever address a problem.
5 - Beware Charity Look-a-Likes
For some reason, the book business has many companies that position themselves to look like charities. Most are for-profit companies that donate some undisclosed portion of their earnings to a charity. Some donate very little or none at all and yet use their charitable actions as marketing propaganda in order to solicit donations in either campus book drives or parking lot collection bins. In many cases the language on the bins or the book drives is misleading and can look like the entire donation is going to charity when in reality very little is. There are several socially conscious companies out there that are for-profit that actually donate quite a bit to charity and fully disclose how much. If you are looking at buying from a seller that is promoting some sort of charity, look closer and see if you can find out how much is donated to charity and how much they keep as profit. A little bit of digging into a seller's website can quickly reveal the legitimate from the shady. And while buying from a shady book seller may give you a great deal it is bad for society and the used book industry in general and should be avoided.
6 - Who You Gonna Call?
Before you buy a book from anyone, look first at their customer service policies. If you have a problem with an order, is the website clear about how to resolve it? Many discount sellers do not offer a phone number to call for support in an effort to keep prices as low as possible. This is OK as long as they have a clear way to contact them via either email or a webpage if there is a problem. Also see if they clearly post their Customer Service policies and return policies. Do they offer a guarantee of any kind? A legitimate website will have any guarantees easy to locate right on their front page. And a link to "Help" should be prominently displayed on every page. If it looks hard to figure out who you would contact if you had a problem it probably would be. On the other hand, a website that makes it easy to ask for help is a sure sign that they are in it for the customer.
Hopefully, armed with these tips and advice you can safely wade through the market of used books and used book sellers to find the best and most reliable sources of cheap used books on the internet.
Keep watching for my next article on used books that will be all about the best times of year to shop for used books and how to find a specific book in the vast sea of options.
The author of this article, Michael Ward, is a used book expert and is currently the C.I.O. at http://www.thriftbooks.com, an online used book seller.
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