Is Amazon the best place to get cheap used books? I just ordered two books from there. One was $2 the other $3 and the shipping was $1 to $3 on each one. That's cheaper than the used bookstores I go to. And my used bookstore didn't have any books by the two authors I was looking for. That's when I turned to Amazon, and Amazon seems to have everything. This is the first time I have bought books from Amazon. Wow, they make it easy. Where do you guys shop for used books?
A couple of years ago, my list of wanted books that were no longer in print grew enough that I started perusing used book sites. The one I went with was Thriftbooks, mostly because of the incredible selection. Your average book is only $3-4, and shipping in the States should be free if your order reaches a certain dollar amount. The problem for me was that I am in Canada, so the shipping fees were substantial. I just made the most of it by making a large order - 10 books. with the cross-border shipping, the prices inflated to $7.75 per book. A bit much for used, but I was very glad to finally acquire these out of print books.
Try Biblio (not to be confused with Bibliofind, which is now a part of Amazon) https://www.biblio.com/?msclkid=0e29d790aec914feb85bb4240b1c3ef4
I go to abebooks when I want anything signed. They often have them. They've got the cheaper titles too.
Aren’t they owned by Amazon? I assumed their catalogs overlapped but if they don’t (or not entirely) that’s good to know.
Not sure if Amazon owns them . . . they might. The selections are different though. Abebooks has lots of collectibles, first prints and such.
And I forgot to mention Powell's Books in Portland. They have an on-line service but if you have a chance to see their brick-and-mortar store there, do go. (It's a whole city block.)
I always got used books from Amazon. Almost my whole collection growing up was used. At that time, i could buy them for a penny. Libraries also sell books, believe it or not. If the books havent circulated in a while, they are removed to make space for new books. My library sells hardcovers for $1 and paperbacks for .25. the money goes back into us buying new books and materials. Check your local library to see if they do book sales
Same for the US (although we usually call them "thrift stores"). The trouble is that most of the books are unsorted, particularly the ones that are not actually run by charities. There are a few that at least sort them into fiction and non-fiction, which isn't much of a help.
Our library runs still-great book sales that are only a shadow of their former illustrious selves due to the demise of The Patron Saint of Friends of the Library who treated her volunteer position like a fulltime paid job. (Pause a moment to reflect on the glory that was Bettie.) The Friends now sell early bird tickets for twenty bucks which is a great extra fund raiser for the library but maybe kinda hard on low income people who are stuck with the leftovers after three days of early birds. I've tried to avoid the sales in recent years since a fair number of books therein are ones I donated in an effort to cut down on my collection. Sigh. Books just keep following me home.
The Sacramento Friends of the Library has a nice used-book store called the Book Den, open to all but giving the members of the FOTL a discount. And six times a year, they have a sale of all the books in their large warehouse. Members get "early bird" status the first day of the three-day sale, but since that's when the book agents cruise in with their carts and smart phones, scanning every title and ISBN to cull out the stuff worth re-selling, it leaves slimmer pickings for the people who show up later. The books are all sorted by topic and author, and they have a number of CDs and DVDs as well. There has been more than one book I've bought, only to realize that I'd donated that same book years ago.
Shipping in Canada is insane. It's about 15.00 minimum per item regardless of the price of a book. And sometimes it's cheaper to ship something from England than from Buffalo which is minutes away. 2 years ago I purchased like 5 books on line (abe.com) and it cost me over a $100 dollars. The year before I bought some kindle books - 5 and it cost me like $20. I'm not crazy about Kindle and I much more prefer a physical book but it's hard to say no to such a difference in price. Mostly I just shop at used clothing stores and a couple of used book stores. My favorites however got crushed by Covid lockdowns.
I don't know if it is still true, but book agent predations were severely curtailed locally after too many agents simply plopped their butts down in front of shelves holding their prey and blocked the way of other patrons until they were done scanning and stacking. The general feeling was the sale was a community event and not meant to be a business grab.
I didn't see that at our sales, although some agents seemed to be taking more time than necessary. I chalked it up to thoroughness, although there might have been a competitive element to it. But since we already have well over a thousand books in the house on subjects that interest us, I no longer feel the compulsion to attend the sales where the book agents are. In the Society for Creative Anachronism, there's a saying: "If you're mildly interested in a craft or art, you probably own more books on the subject than your local library. If you're really interested, you probably own more books on the subject than your state library. If you're a Laurel, you probably own more books on the subject than your college or university library." (A "Laurel," or to be more precise, a Companion of the Order of the Laurel, is an honor/task conferred by the SCA to those who excel in a particular aspect of practice or study of Medieval culture. The Order of the Laurel is one of the Great Orders of Merit, equivalent to a knighthood.)
Yeah, those library sales are awesome. I think ours liquidates donations too. So there are many books there that were given to the library to sell for themselves. They're not library marked. I guess they weren't shelve worthy. That's where I got my two signed Harlan Ellisons. I sure wish I would have checked the books beside those in the stacks because there were probably other signed ones, but I didn't notice it until weeks later. My very depressing deduction is that someone's grandfather died and the kids gave his books to the library as a donation not realizing there were signed copies mixed in. Anyway, grandpa can RIP knowing that those two copies are safe on my signed shelf. When I go I imagine the same thing will happen. Lesson is, always check those used books for signatures.
A dear friend won her Laurel a few years before she died of a rare form of cancer. She was the most brilliant person I've ever known, and it has been my privilege to know some folks with amazing brains and abilities. She was certainly the most modest brilliant person I've ever met.
I think I've said it before, but Oxfam used bookshop on Old London Road in Kingston, London. Well-stocked with wide range of classics at 2 quid a pop, managed by guy who knows and loves his books. I had a couple of hours completely lost in there about 18 months ago. I buy all my books in charity shops, bit like a lucky dip, though stock doesn't change often enough. Strangely, it's hard to find older books. I've not picked up any signed by the author but have come across some interesting messages from book giver to book receiver. On that point, as mentioned on what are you reading thread, about 30 years ago I read LOTR, an omnibus edition with all 6 books that I took from my brother's shelf. It had an inscription from another brother who gifted it to him. After a convoluted episode where new tenants moved into my bedsit before I'd moved out, I left the book with the new tenant because he looked like he really wanted to finish it. That was in Dublin. About 15 years later, yet another brother was browsing books in a charity shop in Galway, picks up an omnibus of LOTR and, sure enough, there's the inscription written by our brother. He's held onto it more successfully than me.
I like Thriftbooks, specifically because they offer free-shipping over $25 (I think it's $25) and they throw in a free book under $7 after you've spent a certain amount. I've bought 29 books from them in the past six months or so (it's a coping mechanism), and most titles were around $4-5. I've used Abebooks: also pretty good. Books are more frequently in the $3 range and it seems like they have a larger selection than Thriftbooks, but you'll usually pay for shipping, so on the whole I think it's a bit pricier. I have a friend who uses Betterworld books but I haven't.
I have been looking for a copy of Ma‘ase Rokem: Dress and Jewelry in the Tradition of the Jews of Yemen, edited by Dr. Carmella Abdar, printed in Hebrew about 2008. If anyone comes across a copy for sale and will be so kind as to let me know where to find it, I would be grateful.
Local used bookstores, often have trade in programs. My grandmother made huge use of this fact. She used to pick up books, by the grocery bag, each trip to the book store.
