Alibris

I REALLY love Alibris, but I recently ordered two different books, but was sent the wrong book. Alibris arrived on different dates, and I assumed - because there wasn't a packing slip, or any other identifiers that would correspond to the item/order number - I asked for a refund... for the wrong book! You graciously had me keep the book, but I really should have been refunded for the other one. It's quite possible that the mistake was mine, and the identifying information was available on my account/order page.

Ordered a book.

Alibris sent me someone elses book.

I sent them three photos of all receipts and identifying information.

Their Tech support is in india obviously. Cant speak english. Keep asking for order number even though my book wasnt in the packet, therefore the order information isnt in it.

Just incredibly stupid tech support.

Cant look up a name, an email address or an address, and this is a shipping company.

11 emails back and forth and still not sorted.

What a waste of my time.

*******@gmail.com

The only improvement I would make would be to have error messages be more clearly visible. I had a small issue - typed in the full state name rather than the 2 character state name, but I had a hard time seeing the error message as it was listed. Other than that, things were great.
Also, when selecting an item to purchase it would be great if the shipping charge was listed along with the item price. It would make choosing the ‘right'item to order much easier.

I gave five stars because I support your mission with all my heart. But in fact I had lots of difficulties. For example, on one screen, my phone number was added at the end of my shipping or billing address--I forgot to look at which. There was no edit button, so I went forward to paying and on that screen it was gone. On another screen, the state was an issue; the page wanted TX and not Texas as auto-fill used. Also, I don't like it that you saved my credit card information and gave me no option to opt out. So many sites get hacked, I'd rather not let my info get saved (and you're a prime target for such hacks, given your mission).

This critique is no reflection on Alibris Books.
I was pretty disappointed in the product I received. It was a paperback songbook. The seller's ad for the book claimed the songbook was in Good condition, but the cover looked like it had been rumpled and crumpled--very old and tattered. I will say the ad said that all pages were in tact and that was true. But with shipping and tax I ended up paying $15.00 for a book that I would have rated "Acceptable" and not "Good." At least I did get the item I wanted. One takes a chance when ordering an item by mail, sight unseen..

I tried yesterday to make this book order, and Alibris did not accept my password which was correct as far as I could tell. But I went ahead and requested the code to change my password. I got it, put in the new password and the button wouldn't work. After a break, I came back and tried it again, it worked, and when I went to purchase the books I had set aside, my cart was empty. Luckily, there were still copies of everything I had wanted --- the kicker is nearly all the books in this second order now cost $1 or more than the price I had originally seen when I made up the order the first time. I like to shop Alibris because I like what seems to be an independent book broker, and I don't care to support Amazon. But this has happened to me before, and with the shipping costs, I could just as well pay for Amazon prime and not have to pay shipping. I will give you another chance, but really, it feels like a bait and switch to discover what I want and then raise the price. Really... Thank you for listening.

I received my book in a flimsy plastic bag and opened it to find a large dent/tear in the hardcover. But to return a damaged item, for which the seller is at fault, the customer is responsible for return shipping. Most companies will give a free return for returns due to damage, and only charge return shipping if you've just changed your mind. When I contacted customer service about this, Alibris said they'd give me a $3 coupon after I return to "offset" the shipping costs, which is a pathetic consolation, especially considering this experience has convinced me not to use this company again.

Alibris has titles that range far and wide. If the y don't have it, Alibris offer to find it if that's possible and then let you know if they do. They also have a no nonsense. After the order is placed, system thru email, to keep you abreast of what's happening w/your order, where it is along the way to you, and are as good as anyone on their estimation of arrival time. The best part is, I can buy what I want to read, in a used form, at a used price, which saves big against the "New Price." I just want the information I'm seeking, the substance, knowledge or entertainment within the book, not take it to dinner. It sets just as nicely on my shelf when I'm finished, for reference as a new edition would and if I choose to pass it along, it's not that expensive of a gift, so it's easier to let it go. I buy from alibris because they almost always have what I'm looking for, cheaper, and they are all about service.

I wanted to make a purchase on my phone. I received no prompt about adding an ap so since I'd already learned from my phone that there's an ebook version, I resent the fact that you didn't make it available to purchase unless I booted my more energy draining computer during a national heat wave. I'm NOT the most tech savvy woman but, I saw you had it available, changed my password to log in, then you wouldn't let me find it offered. Just doesn't seem like you've constructed a win-win scenario.

Have had a great experience with all my orders so far, the Only exception as far as shipping was concerned was for Two books ordered together from Alibris itself in Reno, NV... Alibris were Never shipped, although a label was created. It has made me skittish about ordering anymore books through that location... but, am going to give them one more try with an order of the same two books, that are still showing on their site from when I first ordered them over a month ago. They DID issue me a full refund of those two books a couple of weeks ago, with no hassle and for which I'm very grateful, so am trying again.

Back in the 1980s I used to buy books by snail mail from the publisher before Amazon and such. My dissertation sponsor put me on to used book dealers a couple years ago. Belerium Books (SF Calif) wrapped a small pamphley like from the master museum art packer I once knew ("That's what you get when Trotskyites do the job"). I once wrote (1979) to Pantheon and Alibris gave me the names of the people they pay royalties to for Hermann Broch (who cares about him, right?), and I became a friend of his son. [Transformative] Books are sacred in a post-Enlightenmant secular world. You are good folks.

It's nearly impossible to backtrack from check-out to continue shopping in your website's current configuration. I spent a GREAT deal of time trying to return to shopping screen.

Tried to purchase movie - "Persuasion" w/Sally Hawkins & Rupert Penry-Jones from HBP/vendor (from Texas), today. However, they're shipping charge for this additional purchase was $6.00+ for a second item ($3.99 for first HBP item purchase was not cancelled out and cut-rate shipping deal didn't come thru!). I was so angry, purchasing "Persuasion" was deleted from this order. HBP & you lost this sale unless you can personally correct shipping charge error! Please also alert your webmaster, or responsible party to sort out this error!

I attempted to order this book yesterday, after entering my CC number & code, I lost the screen - the order disappeared, and i had no way of determining if the order had been received by Alibris or had been hijacked. PLUS there was no was to ask for information save writing a USPS letter.

I subsequently re-entered the website and was able to complete the order. I am watching my CC info to be certain my info was not seized by malware.
The book was received. Packaging was EXCELLENT. Arrival quick and painless.

NO WAY TO DIRECTLY CONTACT ALIBRIS.
My actions are described above.

As I am zip code exempt brackets on either end of zip code indicates that. Also, because of laws, statutes, etc. regarding this issue the state in my address is NOT a two letter abbreviation. I do not live in "Hi". At first, when I entered information and it was apparently accepted, I was elated! Then let down. Can you add these choices to your website? The U.S. Postal service won't mind-I am a retired employee of U.S. P.S...
Other than that great doing business with you.

The prices for the items ordered are good, however shipping charges leave a lot to be desired. Almost every online business I use has better shipping rates or at least have a combined shipping breaks for multiple item purchases. Coupons seem worthless when the shipping is more than the items ordered. If you are charging shipping for every item you might as well be up front about it and avoid Shipping Shock Tell me what an item will cost me, don't show me $1.65 and then add on $3.99 at checkout. Just say it cost $5.64 including shipping.

I would like to see Alibris add the option to pay with at least two forms of payment. For example: My son received a VISA gift card for Christmas from a relative and his VISA gift card has $14.00 remaining on it and he wanted to use it first toward the payment and then I was going to use my VISA debit card to pay the remaining amount of the purchase. Alibris does not offer that option because when we typed in the VISA gift card numbers, exp date, and 3 digit code and clicked on the pay now area an error message showed up. Please consider adding an option to pay with more than one credit/debit card at a time. Thank you!

It's been a long tine since I ordered I book and still haven't received it. There is no tracking and I have no idea where it is and when it may arrive. Ask customer service, and Alibris just (I guess) copy/paste pre-written answer without answering my question. I ordered one used, difficult to find a book, paid quite a lot for it. I didn't care much about high book price and that I paid for premium shipping, I care to get the book. Now. I doubt I will ever get it. Well, I know better now. Lesson learned.

I love your selection of used quality books and have been very satisfied with my previous orders. Shipping was easy to track and my books were in great condition. My only complaint is the cost of shipping. I cringe because the price of shipping is approximately three times more than the books that I bought. I realize that you do provide free shipping on certain books, but unfortunately I have not found any of the marked books to interest me at this time. If your shipping price were more affordable, I would definitely give you all five stars.

For some reason, this morning a few older Christian songs and artists came to mind. I then went to my usual SmileAmazon (Check out "Smile" Amazon because a lot of sellers will give a portion of your purchases to a charity of YOUR choice at no extra cost) and found The Winans "Return" and Russ Taft "The Way Home" - the Russ Taft CD was 45.00! Way out of my budget so I found THIS SITE and saved huge! I was able to find both CD's here and the total was less than 28.00, including shipping and tax. I never knew about this site until a few minutes ago and THIS will now be my "go to" source for music. I'm very happy!

Very frustrating shipping policies! You're charged per item even if it's from the same seller. I ordered a thin children's paperback and thought I'd get 2 but Alibris charged an additional 4.95 for each book ordered. I wanted to buy from someone other than Amazon but I'm not sure I'll go through this site again due to the very high shipping costs. It's also frustrating that you have to go so far in the ordering process before you can check shipping costs especially when it seems you charge about $5 per book to ship.

I've been an Alibris customer for over 10 years. Overall, I have had a good experience, but there are a few things that keep me from giving 5 stars.

Some sellers don't do a good job of protecting the books before Alibris are placed in the shipping envelope/box, and this causes them to arrive banged up and dented. This is especially infuriating when it's a new book. I think Alibris should insist to its sellers that they do better or they cannot sell on here.

On my last order, books that I purchased straight from Alibris, not from a third seller, arrived several days after the USPS tracking said they had been delivered. It was probably not Alibris' fault, but it's happened twice now. If this continues to happen, I will take my business elsewhere.

Please fix!

This is my first time shopping here. I got the name of your business through a friend who was recommending this book to me and she also told me where she got it from. I usually order from amazon, but I know some folks want to avoid them, so I thought I'd try you. Once I registered, I thought that would allow me to see shipping charges along with the other info. About each book. It wasn't there. I would make that suggestion, if you can do it. It's very helpful in choosing the most economical book. Thank you! Terry

I made an order on friday. Right after I pushed submit I realized I put the wrong address. I emailed them right away and tried to call. Alibris said they don't have anyone staffed to take the phone call and they would respond to my email within 48 hours. It's now Monday night, they have not responded to any of my emails and shipped my entire order to the wrong address. I am terribly frustrated and helpless. There is no one to call and I'm watching my entire order being shipped to the wrong house.

Your website is not easy to follow or navigate. There are several suggestions I could make if time permitted. It is not easy to go back and add to your order once you hit the check-out icon. After hitting it, is when you reveal that the $5.00 savings is for orders $50 or more. Then, it is difficult to continue shopping. The fact that shipping costs is not revealed until after you place the order is disturbing. There are other issues with your site as well.

I got a call to pray for my granddaughter and her 4 year old little boy who was at the dentist, crying and crying and not let the dentist do anything. I grabbed this OLD book of my office the shelf and started reading and asking God to step into this situation, I ordered this copy of the book from you. As soon as I hit the Send button, I got this text: "ALL DONE" The dentist let Easton drill on a fake thing and Easton thought it was the best thing ever." Praise the Lord

One star, because:

I saw the words "THANKS FOR SUBSCRIBING" in my email. This is very infuriating and scary. I only want to buy ONE book, make ONE purchase and pay ONCE for ONE book that I purchased ONCE. I DON'T want to see my credit card debited over and over again each month because I have been tricked into "subscribing" into something.

Please email me back at *******@protonmail.com and reassure me that I have NOT subscribed to any paying services and that my credit card will NOT be debitted over and over again.

I just wanted to buy one book. I don't want to subscribe to anything that will cost me money on a recurring manner. I am poor, I bake pies for a living, my boss is the devil in person and I earn minimum wage. I cannot afford any recurring fees.

If you want FIVE STARS, don't subscribe me to anything. Just process my order, ship my book and I will study happily ever after and grant you a well deserved 5 stars.

Until then, Because you have scared the living hell out of me with the word "Subscribe", I give you one star. DON'T scare away your customers like that.

Doesn't give me information on the book. How many pages? What's it about? I need to always research the book on a different site then come back to Alibris. Too much time. Even on cheap books, shipping is expensive. Bought book for $1.45 but paid way more in shipping. If I by four books at 1.45 each which totals under six dollars. I'm paying twenty dollar in shipping and then tax. The price of the books on the site look good but the total price is not worth it at all.

Prices and selection are great. Shipping costs are not great but I noticed today the super shipper thing, that could be a very significant boon if enough books are eligible. The only other gripe I have is the availability of books not being totally accurate (2 books on my last order were actually no longer available but alibris hadn't updated yet) but one seller said they're working on a way to keep alibris updated better. Maybe it's a problem on the seller's end, but in any case, fixing that issue would improve the buyer experience. I'm guessing that last one is a complicated issue with many sellers doing in-person sales of the same items that Alibris list on alibris and no easy way to keep their inventory in sync.

1) Shipping by UPS Mail Innovations to is too slow and unreliable. You should just use USPS Media Mail that is fast and very reliable. Using UPS Mail Innovations led to this being delivered to the wrong post office last time and then arriving DAMAGED, so I had to place a new order.

2) You need a system to replace damaged items so that Alibris don't have to be reordered. (You probably lose customers this way because all who get refunds for damage items may not then re-order.)

I thought if I ordered all books from Alibris. Itself it would lower the postage for each book. Would be lower since your paying more for each book. Wasn't worth it. Must be a way to lower shipping cost even though books are all over the country. The thing I hate the most is every book. Order or package, should have a tracking number. The post office gives tracking numbers we can track online. It's important to know at least what day something coming So we can watch out for the item.