ThriftBooksReviews 376

I ordered a new book called the Atlas of Car Design. It's a big coffee table book that cost over $100.00. It came severely damaged. The spine was broken and pages bent. I think most of the damage was due to terrible packing. It took me 2 phone calls and four emails to finally get a return label. They received the return 2 weeks ago and still have not refunded my money. So now it's time to contact the credit card company. I will never purchase from them again.

I received a book without a jacket cover and would never have ordered it that way. One of the others was library binding. I wouldn't have ordered it either. I know this info was not in the descriptions. Was do disappointed.

Like reviewer Sage L., I suggest only buying books from Thriftbooks that are marked as very good or new. I also have bought some "good" condition books I would throw in the trash or donate. Shipping seems slow, as well. I also find their Customer Service difficult to reach. I'd rather buy more costly books from Amazon or try Better World Books.

DO NOT LISTEN TO THE PAID POSITIVE REVIEWS!

I ordered 50 books in Like New and Very Good condition. I received an array of Poor-to-Good condition books, half of which weren't the ISBN I ordered. These "Like New" books had torn covers and pages, writing in pen through the entire books, and a handful even had liquid damage and were stained.

The overwhelming number of positive reviews is absolutely a paid attempt to keep people shopping on their site. PLEASE don't fall victim like I have, and please shop locally or find a reliable site that actually offers quality and ships you what you purchase.

After being sent the wrong book I was had to spend time returning it and I had wait 9 days for a replacement which still was not the correct book!

I'll never order from them again. The books don't arrive as advertised. They show one edition of a book, you order it, it's a different edition. Happened one too many times. Never again

I received the book on time, but when I opened the package the cover of the book was all bent. This book was very used. Whoever sold it left the good will sale sticker on the book. This will be my first and last time using this organization.

I purchased what was supposed to be a signed edition with boxed cover in good condition. What I received was an unsigned, broken spine, bent pages, bent cover and the book looked as if heavier books had been piled on top of it for a long while as the book didn't lay correctly. Fortunately, I got my money back. When I received the book, it was shipped in a plastic shipping bag which, I'm sure was the cause of some of the damage. When they emailed me the label to return the book, I was instructed to BOX it! Let's just say that I took more care in shipping that book back to them than they did sending a $177.00 book to ME! Terrible service but Justin was helpful in getting my refund.

Wouldn't recommend. Wish I could vote no stars. They don't let you leave reviews unless you buy the book which is stupid. What that means is if you have already read a book, and know everything about it...you can't leave a review unless you buy it. Dumb.

I ordered two new books on November 30th. Everything seemed fine until I noticed the tracking information indicated a shipping partner. I've never seen this on domestic shipments before.
One item is stuck in Illinois with no update, and the other item hasn't even shipped yet. The shipping partner is a company called One Stop Mail (OSM), a media mail/4th class mail service.
4th class mail is reserved for stuff like magazines and other media. While it's perfectly acceptable to mail books this way, 4th class mail is in no hurry to get delivered. Thriftbooks shows "standard shipping" on their website, which reasonably assumes first class mail, not 4th class media mail.
Thriftbooks is deceiving people about their shipping methods. They simply say, "5-12" business days to cover themselves. If you're ok to wait two or more weeks for a book that might not even be delivered, then no worries! But if you're looking for timely shipment and delivery of Christmas gifts, shop elsewhere.

I like Thriftbooks the order is always correct and delivered in a decent amount of time! One order was incorrect and they fixed the problem

I ordered books from the website and received emails stating my books would arrived the next day bulls**t still waiting I should have bought them from another location what a waste of time

I have purchased separately two old cookbooks I was missing that I used to love. Both times the books were in great condition, arrived incredibly fast - mere days - and the cost of both the items and the shipping were very low!

"Very good"= Ok for yourself, but if you plan on giving as a gift, you are better off buying New! IMO.

I've recently purchased books with their earned book reward so they were $7 or less.
All sold in good condition. THEY'RE NOT. They are water stained. Torn pages. Badly marked up. These should have been in the trash. Buy only books that are New or Very Good or Like new or ex library.
They will NOT replace the books for men or refund my shipping costs. Caveat emptor

I've always had a pretty good experience ordering books from ThriftBooks. You get what they advertise with respect to quality. They are also pretty fast in filling orders and getting the book to you. However, be careful of how you order, because they don't always let you make returns. Their policy is not clear about what they won't accept back--their site says something vague about "qualified returns" (obviously covering their backside). I got stuck with over $50 in books that I didn't want. So to summarize: buying books from them is good, but their after-sale customer service policies are not in your favor.

I always assume that books will be more expensive and take longer to arrive than on Amazon, but Thriftbooks orders always arrive sooner than they say the will, within a few days, and have consistently low prices. Also, I've been able to get new book releases before they even come out on Amazon. I can also find older out of print books way more easily. It's awesome to have a more ethical shopping option that doesn't have any trade off for me.