Book Depository

[Bhavana]

So, what is the deal? There's a .com and a UK site. Free shipping internationally. But I don't hear about people buying from there....any warnings? Is it too good to be true? They seem to have a decent selection, fast shipping, really good prices.

 

[Elendil]

I use the Book Depository quite often. I am in the UK. They offer free shipping and often have good deals. Orders take about three days to be processed and dispatched (not counting weekends) and the goods normally arrive 2-3 days after that. I have never had to wait longer than a week for something that I ordered.(Don't know about the time it takes for international shipping) More often than not things are cheaper there than on Amazon - but Amazon DO deliver more quickly. You need to read the product descriptions carefully though. I bought an item that had an ENglish title and a photo of the english version of the product but it turned out to be in German. They offer refunds BUT if you want a refund you send the package back at your own cost. (On that particular item I ended up out of pocket by £5).

ETA: I caught a rumour on here a day or so ago that The Book Depository has now been bought out by Amazon.

 

[Tarot Fairy]

I loveeeeeeee the Book Depository!!

 

[Priestess]

The book depository is good, I've used them for a few years now and never had any trouble with them at all. They were bought over by Amazon just recently.

 

[gregory]

It's always been excellent - except in some cases on pre-orders - but I am concerned now it has been bought up... I suspect Amazon did it to cut out competition... I HOPE the free international shipping holds up.

 

[Oddity]

I've used it and I like it a lot. Delivery time to Sweden has been about a week, sometimes a little more, sometimes less, and the prices are often very good.

 

[Bhavana]

Great! Thanks for all the responses. I have a shopping cart full over there, now I feel relatively safe ordering. Hope that Amazon won't change things too much...

 

[Le Fanu]

So, what is the deal? There's a .com and a UK site. Free shipping internationally. But I don't hear about people buying from there....

Where have you been? Everyone buys from the BD!

The only warning sign I can think of is that they're a victim of their own popularity and my packages now take forever to reach me. They used to take a few days. Now I'm lucky if I get stuff within two weeks. Now they take forever.

 

[nisaba]

Where have you been? Everyone buys from the BD!

<cackle>

The only warning sign I can think of is that they're a victim of their own popularity and my packages now take forever to reach me. They used to take a few days. Now I'm lucky if I get stuff within two weeks. Now they take forever.

There's another warning, too.

Several months ago, I ordered something from them. For some insane reason, I gave them my other postal address, the one I *never* give out on the internet and rarely in any other area of my life - where my house actually stands. The deck arrived intact.

You know those email scams? "My name is so-and-so, I'm a solicitor in [distant country], and one of my clients died with $20,000,000 and no relatives. I'm asking for your help, if you provide me with your banking details, I'll transfer half the money to you and keep half as my fees" type scam? We've all received emails like that, and if we have any brains we delete them and do not let them empty our accounts.

I GOT ONE OF THOSE ON PAPER!

At the address that I had only given to Book Depository, to no one else at all except blood-relatives.

The stamps on the envelope were from Greece, but the letter claimed to be from Spain (or maybe it was the other way around, I'm not 100% sure). The "lawyer's" name was Russian or at least eastern-European. It was a verbatim copy of any number of email scams we've all seen, with no variations.

I was signifi-bloody-cantly unimpressed that Book Depository had passed my address on to internet-criminals.

I'm never buying from them again.

 

[gregory]

Oh nisaba - I am sorry - BUT - it was all over the press and there is a thread here. Some US firm that manages addresses for BD and also play.com, Sony and others - was infiltrated. I got a warning from BD and from play.com (I didn't believe they were for real for a while and emailed both !) and it was all over the papers too. The ONLY thing they got was physical addresses.

It wasn't BD's fault.