Buying Books Online: Finding Bargains and Saving Money with Booksense Stores, Amazon Marketplace, and Other Online Sites (Paperback)

by Stephen Windwalker (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
There may not be a more practical addition to the library of any book lover, parent, or college student this year than Stephen Windwalker's Buying Books Online: Finding Bargains and Saving Money with Booksense Stores, Amazon Marketplace, and Other Online Sites.

Windwalker is the longtime bookseller who wrote the book on Amazon Marketplace and online bookselling with his recent bestselling entrepreneurship title Selling Used Books Online: The Complete Guide to Bookselling at Amazon's Marketplace and Other Online Sites, one of the top 20 small business titles of 2002 at Amazon. In his new book Windwalker demonstrates the same capacity for providing the inside scoop as he shows book buyers how they can safely navigate the global internet book marketplace to find the new, used, or rare books they want and need, in great condition, at huge savings.

For starters, Windwalker's book helps buyers to understand the basic terminology of bookselling so that they will be able to distinguish between different copies of a title with respect to condition, edition, binding, size, and age. They will learn how to evaluate the apparent professionalism of a seller based on customer feedback, book descriptions, customer service policies, and other available information, and are provided with a helpful listing of the best places to buy books on the Internet. Beyond these basics, the book buyers will pick up some useful "tricks of the trade:"

· How to use "pre-orders" and "wants lists" to get the more scarce books you seek, at the best possible prices;

· When and how to use email to communicate with a seller to pin down important information;

· How to build a special relationship with a seller by establishing yourself as a responsive, repeat buyer;

· How to request and get special assistance in building a collection, acquiring a set of an author’s first editions, or buying the books on your college course syllabi;

· How to read, use, and leave customer feedback to help yourself and other potential buyers;

· How to make the best use of available payment methods to protect yourself against fraud and to get your orders shipped as quickly as possible;

· When to consider re-selling or donating one or more of the books that you have purchased, and how to make the most of that experience;

· How to use a title-searching site such as Bookfinder.com to help you identify the "best buy available" for any book you are seeking;

· How to develop a quick reference checklist to evaluate a seller before clicking through to submit a purchase; and much, much more.

From the Publisher
Whether you are a serious book collector, a college or graduate student, or a young family looking to meet your children's reading needs, you can save hundreds of dollars, plenty of time, and significant disappointment by applying the knowledge found in Stephen Windwalker's latest book on buying books online.

Be a Savvy Customer at the Internet’s Global Bookstore:

· HOW TO SAVE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON COLLEGE BOOKS
· HOW TO SAVE ON BOOKS FOR YOUR YOUNG FAMILY
· HOW TO BUILD A COLLECTION
· EVALUATING ONLINE BOOKSELLERS AND AVOIDING FRAUD
· EVALUATING BOOK RATINGS & DESCRIPTIONS
· HOW TO SELL OR DONATE BOOKS YOU NO LONGER WANT
· HOW YOU CAN HELP SAVE THE INDEPENDENT NEIGHBORHOOD BOOKSTORE WHILE BUYING BOOKS ONLINE
· HOW TO ENSURE SAFE INTERNET TRANSACTIONS BUYING BOOKS ON AMAZON MARKETPLACE, HALF.com & EBAY
· HOW TO SEARCH WITH BOOKFINDER.com AND GOOGLE

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Perspective Pr (December 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971577846
• ISBN-13: 978-0971577848
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #987,446 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful and fun to read, February 12, 2003

By A Customer

This book is going to save me a lot of money on books for myself and for my son, his cousins, now and probably when it is time to start buying college books too. It's a very thorough manual with helpful glossaries, abbreviatin guides, and some very good advice for finding the online booksellers most likely to provide good customer service. It's also enjoyable to read and it is obvious that the author has a great sense of humor, loves books, and understands what drives people to buy them.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why do you need this book?, February 12, 2003

By	Genevieve Kazdin "dunes_studio" (Pocasset, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As e-commerce is more and more integrated into our lives, many more people are using the internet to find and purchase books they need for many different reasons. How is a buyer to make decisions? To know how to choose which seller to use? The price of this book will be saved again and again as any buyer becomes more aware and more knowledgeable about buying books online. Whether you hope to provide books for your children, for a college class, or to find the best deals on the latest best sellers, you will become a more savvy buyer after reading this book. And remember, the more knowledgeable a buyer is, the more we sellers need to be knowledgeable. Knowledge benefits all of us.

4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How To Buy Books Online, May 25, 2005

By	G. Reid (Roseland, NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Buying books is much more enjoyable and much more affordable now than it was in years past for many reasons. The prices of new books online are lower than in traditional bookstores. There is less overhead in an online bookstore. Also, in additon to new books, many online bookstores sell used books which can be priced much lower than a new book. Also, many books are OOP and the used book is the only way to find a copy. The internet has truly opened up a world of books to any interested buyer.