AbeBooks

I was amazed, their shipping was estimated to be a month. It was a difficult book to find though and it was a new book. But but in fact it was not new - it was inscribed on the front cover as a gift. I paid for new and did not get it. Will not buy from them again.

Purchased book marked as New - it was actually used and had an inscription from the previous owners in the front cover. Apparently, seller had 'sent me the wrong one' and now did not have a new one to send me.

I ordered 2 used books and they are in better condition than the actual description of them. I must admit, it took a little longer to get them than I expected but they actually did come before the projected date. While waiting for them I read the reviews and feared I wouldn't get the books, but I did. I would not hesitate to order from them again.

Never received an expensive book ordered through Abebooks, waited for months due to customs clearance not included in estimated delivery date and the covid situation, seller did not reply to my several enquiries and now the refund deadline is expired, no refund available! Absolutely rubbish customer experience, and looking at the numerous similar reviews they don't seem to care a tiny bit about it! [Update: I made a complaint to AbeBooks & through the BetterBusinessBureau of Vancouver, and Abebooks tried contacting the seller, with no reply again for 48 hours, and then refunded me in full. I suggested they follow up better their sellers and proactively setup automated alerts for clients when the refund deadline approaches to make sure the delivery has arrived. Good response in the end but a very bad process, such a shame! I did reorder the same book ohn Abebooks from another seller after chceking that they were responding, and it did arrive normally]

Books advertised as hardcovers turn out to be paperbacks 15-20 percent of the time. Address labels are routinely bungled, resulting in packages being mis-delivered or returned to sender. Wrong editions or sometimes even the wrong books altogether are often sent. And, as a final nail in the coffin, the carrier used is the utterly wretched USPS, which creates a second set of problems with regard to handling, timely delivery, etc. One gets the impression, overall, that Abe Books and its various sellers view books as nothing more than widgets, just another product, and that no one involved knows or cares much about books. To channel an old anti-drug PSA: Abe Books. I stopped. You shouldn't start.

Chasing a rare book? If you can't find it on Amazon or at one of the major booksellers then your best hope is Abe Books (www.abebooks.com). This is a great book collector's site that taps into the hundreds of specialist booksellers around the world. If more than one seller has the title you are looking for you will be able to compare prices and shipping terms. They have European sites as well – www.abebook.co.uk (UK), www.abebooks.de (Germany), www.abebooks.fr (France) and http://www.iberlibro.com/ (Spain). Doesn't have the smell and feel of a good antiquarian bookshop but it saves on a lot of shoe leather!

I paid for a basketball covered NIV bible for my husbands birthday from "Irish Bookseller". I was sent some random camo bible, then I saw the book I paid for up for sale again for $200. The seller would not respond to me until I reported them and now I have to pay to send the book back and go through all this hassle. Instead of sending the book I paid for they want to refund me which I mean. That's not the point. I want the present for my husband. After this is over I am terminating my account which I only made to order this book. An extremely pissed off unsatisfied customer.

I'm a deeply involved private genealogist here in the USA. I used Abebooks to locate a difficult to find book called The Web of Fortune. It was found, the price was reasonable, I bought it, it was delivered from England to the US in a timely manner. Arrived in the condition described. I had no problems and will use Abe's again.
Charles Cresswell

Abe Books seemed very efficient and pleasant to deal with - I wanted a copy of one of the books by Icelandic photographer Ragnar Axellson, and they had several in stock apparently (some at very high prices). I ordered the book in February and was told it would be delivered in late April - I waited. I was told another bookseller, Murray Media, was actually supplying the book. To cut it short, I could not track the delivery. They claimed it had been "lost in transit". Abe Books refunded my payment. When I questioned what had happened, the e-mails became curt and less well written! I won't be dealing with either company again. (PS Our local bookshop thinks they have found a copy, and at a lower price too.)

I placed an order on 5th October and made a mistake in the delivery address (Greece instead of USA). As soon as the order confirmation came through (within 1 minute) I saw the mistake and immediately notified Abe books. I was told I had to contact the shipper which I did, within 5 minutes. I received no response. Today (7th October) I was notified that the order had been shipped - to the wrong address. I contacted Abe books and was told it was too late. This is completely unacceptable, and close to fraud.