Buying Books Online
ISBN.nu is my favourite tool for finding books online.
I think it’s kinda funny that shipping constitutes most of the cost of a book when buying second hand. Most of the books I have bough recently, have been in the range of $1-3 USD, however the shipping comes out to $7.5 USD. Is this a problem ?
Not really .. I want the book, and $10 USD inclusive is not a bad price to pay. Your comparing commodities, so the only deciding factors are the price and quality.
Interestingly, who you choose to buy from is more decided upon their shipping costs than the books’ costs. If a book cost varies between $1-3 dollars, but shipping varies from $7.50 to $15.00 .. it’s easy to see which constitutes the larger cost.
Searching by ISBN is also good because you are comparing the same thing. Factors such as Hardcover, paperback and different editions will be a different ISBN, which makes it easy to compare prices.
I used to think that Amazon had good prices. However, Bookpool are great for technical books, usually better than Amazon, with RRP discounts around 30-40% off, even for new books. Amazon is good for finding books, their ISBN, reviews and related items. Most times however, to get a book second hand online gives much better savings. Amazon marketplace is not bad for second hand books mind you. They have provided an environment for selling second hand books through and established brand.
Anyway .. I don’t need many excuses to buy books. ISBN.nu make it easy to find the book you want at a good price.