I've not had the bad experiences of the previous reviewers. That said, choose your sellers carefully. Just as on ebay, etc., check the reviews of the seller. One of the sellers I use often on Abe is Hippo Books. They sent me an email recently that the book I ordered from them was not the advertised quality and that their packers caught the mistake. The book was not salvagable and was regrettably destroyed. They checked their stock and did not have another copy at all. They promptly refunded my money without me having to ask. They were apologetic and I have since then purchased other books from them with dependable and accurate results. Another seller I use is Owls Books. They refunded my money after one email to them when I complained that the condition of the book I received did not match the advertisement. Again, absolutely no hassle and good results since then. I like to use sellers in close proximity to my residence or at least in the same state. Your experience will, as always, will depend on your due diligence as a buyer.

Exactly - ABEBooks is just a 'book ebay' so-to-speak and my two experiences were NOT good because the sellers were actually 3rd party resellers! ABE DID make good on my (minor) costs but it took several calls and a lot of yelling!

You are spot on, the sellers aren't very honest, and I now doubt some are actually "Booksellers!" I'll stay away from here in the future, not worth the hassle for the dollar or two I may save - I say may because I still haven't received the book I ordered! And, when there is a problem, Abe's tells you to deal directly with the bookseller!

That's not the only problem, look what they did to my account for no reason!

I personally think they assign a monetary value to the customer and treat them depending on what they spend. I have ordered regularly from sellers on abe over the last few years. I've rarely had an issue and only once had a serious one where the seller had blatantly misrepresented the condition of the books I'd bought. Whenever I've complained I've always gotten a fair response/result. However, I buy antique (1500-1700) big ticket items. It seems anyone buying lower end second hand books gets different treatment.

James, I have had a very good experience with Abe books. I had a few minor problems, (didn't get my book) and when I contacted the bookseller, he was very apologetic, said the order somehow was mistakenly put on hold, it was sent immediately, from England, and I received it in a short amount of time. I'm wondering if the people who had a bad experience might have gotten better results if they did less yelling (see earlier remarks made by others) I was charged a higher price than what I was buying the book for on another occasion, and when emailed Abe books, they handled it for me and refunded my money. Like I said I have had a very good experience with Abe books, hope this helps.

In my experience, I did not get the book I ordered. I contacted ABEbooks several times and was told that the book was lost in shipping and would be resent. Over a month later the book never arrived so I told them I wanted a refund. I was assured several times that my refund had been granted only to find out I got no money back. It took several more weeks, many e-mails, and some threats before I finally did get a refund. I will not EVER use ABEbooks again!

If you can get the book elsewhere - do. If something goes wrong Abe do not make the seller accountable and as per Dan's response it takes A LOT of effort on the purchaser's behalf for resolution. I would say I send at least 15 emails and got handballed between Abe and the seller about who was going to resolve the mess. Purchase stress free from a reputable seller. Try booko.com to compare prices.