BetterWorldBooks

Ordered a book - as it indicated it was LARGE print. I received a regular print. BetterWorldBooks responded quickly and here is their reply: "I am sorry that the item did not arrive in the format that you were expecting. Unfortunately, it was not listed accurately. We realize that this was not your mistake, however, I am afraid we cannot exchange it. I have gone ahead and issued you a full refund for this item. Your account should be credited within the next few business days. There is no need to return it to us. You may enjoy it yourself, or you may wish to donate it to a local organization in need. We hope you can recycle it otherwise. Again I'm very sorry about this error. Please be sure to let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns."
When I called customer service - they indicated same and that they did not have a Large Print that I could order. I will give them another try. Everyone deserves a second chance. But they NEED to list their offerings accurately.

I looked around all over for a website that sold used books for a reasonable price, and landed on BetterWorldBooks. I liked the prices, BetterWorldBooks were without a doubt cheaper than any other website. The shipping was free, which was great too considering that multiple books are pretty heavy.
I only have great things to say about this company. I love that they help different programs, and it makes me feel good to order through them. I received my books very soon after I placed my order. The books aren't in perfect shape, but that is too be expected when you buy them used. I told my husband, I will never order books from anywhere else!

For 20 years, I have relied on Amazon and eBay for price and ABE and Alibris for very good to fine used books, mostly out-of-print. As a collector, hard cover books and edition are important. For books that I don't intend to keep after reading (primarily fiction), BWB is perfect because I can purchase hard cover books, usually ex-library but without an over abundance of stickers and stamps in very good condition for $4.98. At this price, I have been able to read fiction authors who write numerous books with the same protagonist and in order that BetterWorldBooks were written (see below pic). BWB's service is excellent as I receive the books quickly, not quite as fast as Amazon Prime but not many days thereafter and also free shipping. Very pleased to have recently discovered this site and highly recommend BWB to all book lovers.

I was a frequent buyer from betterworldbooks for years.
At one point their value, customer service & standard of books was great but in time, i was sent more often than not books nowhere near the condition BetterWorldBooks were listed as - add to this deliveries that ALWAYS arrived later than the estimated period & experiences with one staff member in particular who attempted to shift the blame to me (& dodge responsibility) despite my providing photographic evidence of poor condition of what was received.
Clearly, customers are NOT valued - only your MONEY is.
On my final purchase for example, the inside covers (front & back) were stained dark yellow as if it had been pissed on! Yet the book was listed as 'used-good'. Disgusting...
Suffice to say, standards got horrible & i will not be returning as a customer.
To sum up, many other online used book sellers do it better & the standard of the books is also much better.
If you ARE a current buyer/customer, i urge you to check the the condition of the books you receive against their book condition standards - it's clear that they do not expect you to do this based on my experiences calling them out!
Avoid 'betterworldbooks'...

I recently ordered some books thru Barnes and Noble that were used from marketplace sellers> I paid the extr to get these books faster and the price for the quicker shipping was a farce! It has been almost 1 week still no book when Barnes and Noble website showed it to be 2-3 days it now is stated from the seller and them (B & N) that is could actually be up to 6 days! Well that was the amount if I didnt do quick shipping so not only did I pay too much for shipping but still do not have the books when I actually need them for an event! I am a teacher and buy several books for my students for different things we learn about! Wow I really don't think I will be doing business with BetterWorld Books again! With poor shipping. If the prices are good but BetterWorldBooks don't ship it out for awhile wow that defeats the deal! And wow paying for quick shipping to not get it any quicker than regular!

I've ordered many books from Better World Books and most of the time everything is ok. However, twice I've received a book that it was listed as "very good" that turned out to be in very bad shape -- pages missing, highlighted text, etc. Also, twice I've received a book that had a strange odor. One smelled intensely of perfume, but was ok after it aired out for a few days, but the other book reeked of cigar smoke and was so disgusting that I threw it out. Also, it's very hard to tell when your books will arrive before you place your order. I thought that I had paid extra to have my last order expedited, only to find out that I had actually only paid for ONE book to be expedited, which wasn't at all clear. Another time my order took months.

Book was spotless; this was my first time ordering on BWB from another seller. I was a little nervous because it took a few weeks to arrive (no tracking as is typical with BWB ordered books), and I had paid more than I had in the past on BWB ($45). I really don't mind the typical wait for BWB orders, especially since the whole point to me is that you're helping by buying used books and what's the point of undoing that with 1 day shipping.
I will probably be more wary of ordering from independent sellers in the future unless I'm getting something cheaper that I wouldn't be as concerned about getting lost. But it turned out fine and I'm very happy with my book! Also another positive is because it's an independent seller, there was no BWB stock sticker on it (I can never get those off cleanly).

I paid for my book and shipping, tracking says it was delivered but I honestly dont have it in my mail box, ask the post office there is no reponse, it could be possible that the mailman put my mail in someone elses mailbox, and someone took it. This company have no sense of responsibility. It is their responsibility to make sure the product was delivered, instead asking the customer have to look for it. I m not the one ship the item, i paid for both products and shipping, and yet when the product was lost in the shipping process i m the one have to go through everything. BetterWorldBooks refuse to give refund, they cant ship another book. I will never use this website again.

The books I ordered did not arrive. The company did not have a tracking number, because it was international, so there was no way to trace my shipment.
I contacted them when my books did not arrive, and BetterWorldBooks told me to "wait."
I contacted them again to ask for a refund after I waited for them to arrive, and they told me they would not refund me any money because it was past 60 days. However, I had contacted them within the 60 days to tell them my shipment hadn't arrived (when they told me to "wait".) How convenient that they didn't mention their 60 day policy at that point. It's a total scam. I wonder if they even shipped my books in the first place. I will not use their service again, and I will tell me friends not to use it either.

I ordered two books shipped from them, hoping to use a promo discount. We I finally received my order only one book was delivered. I assumed that the books were shipped separately as that has been the case before in my dealings with this company. But as days passed with no delivery I checked my order status again and it now showed one of my books as canceled ever though I did not cancel it and had to then request a refund as it was not automatically given even though the book was canceled as I was later told by them due to the book being in poor condition, even though i have received books in pretty rough shape before( ex library books) This is not the first time in the past few months that better world books has gotten my orders screwed up. I will not purchase anything from them until BetterWorldBooks get things in order. I can not recommend them at this time.

I have ordered over 35 books through BWB. I'm aware of the way their shipping was handled, so I never expected my book to be delivered within one week. The longest wait I've had for my order was three weeks (usually my books were delivered within 2 weeks). However, considering their unbeatable prices and me not in any rush to get the books, I am still perfectly happy with their service. Also, their books' quality often appear better than described. One time I got a not-so-good book, I emailed them and within 24 hours received my full refund with the option to keep that book as well.

P/S - Props to the writing team for creating such a fun message when the order is shipped. I always enjoyed reading those :))

I like to buy used books and wanted to support a company that's more ethical than Amazon. I have ordered multiple times--the only time I had an issue is when a book had supposedly shipped from one of their new book distributors and the shipping tracking never updated from the initial entering. The person I'd emailed with was a bit annoying, as far as saying I had to wait for "14 days from when it should have arrived" and I said if that's in like two days it's clearly not arriving if it shows no evidence of having being transported anywhere. BetterWorldBooks eventually refunded my money for that book. I was turned off from them for a while but ordered five books recently (for $29, free shipping, including one book sent from the UK) and haven't had any other negative experiences since.

I have purchased dozens and dozens of books from this site, both for personal use and as gifts. Their stated mission is admirable.

It is no arduous chore for any merchant to accurately describe their wares and ship them securely & promptly. Where is the excellence in that? That's just the sine qua non. Hardly the grounds for rave reviews

What sets any business apart is how BetterWorldBooks manage to treat customers as valued patrons, and not simply some purchase order a with means to pay.

This is where I have found, lamentably, that this 'Better World' starts to crumble. Present them with a concern that challenges their routine and, like Rand's Atlas, they shrug it off.

Quite coincidentally, I think I've discovered their strategy for inflating their customer service satisfaction ratings. At the completion of every purchase (I have placed 4 orders so far this week alone totalling more than 20 books), a pop-up survey appears soliciting your kind words. Given my unsatisfactory experience, I registered a couple of critical reviews. And now the pop-up queries have stopped appearing!

Honest criticism helps us avoid a precipitous slide towards mediocrity... and worse. But in this 'Brave New...', excuse me, 'Better World' that's not the business model.

Publishing and censorship are traditionally foes. In this 'Better World', however, if you can't say flattering things, you are deprived of a voice. Sounds a mite dystopic, don't you think? Or am I just being criminally critical?

I'm usually only ordering one book at a time, so my normal experience with this company is very good. That's why they're ranked three stars instead of one Stars right now. However, this time I was trying to order an entire series of books and we had an issue. The first volume of the series I received was an entirely different book; and when I contacted them to correct this issue, I was told that there was nothing that BetterWorldBooks could do to help me. Their system was showing that they did not have any more of that book in stock, but they never sent me that book in the first place so it should have still been there. I ended up having to order the book that I needed from an entirely different source. Better world books did at least refund my money for the book that was sent wrong, but I would have preferred to just do business with one company instead of having to source it to two.

This is a solid read about the Revolutionary Period and the incipient struggles of the Federal Branches of the US Government. While I enjoyed the book immensely, as I do most books concerning the Revolutionary and Founding periods, it was less a biography about John Marshall & more of an overview of the important events he was witness and a part of & the decisions he made as Supreme Court Justice. That information was edifying and worth it.

Price = Great, Condition = Great & service = Great. I immediately signed up for an account to betterworldbooks after receiving my copy and will check with them before purchasing, always.

Found an out-of-print HB astronomy book I loved in 5th grade (I'm 71)! Author (James L. Pickering) wasn't even on Wikipedia, but there's a Pickering who was an astrophysicist--I'm guessing a son. Plus I love the idea of recycling books to school systems/libraries in need.
I just found out (via investigative report in "The Nation" that Bill Gates, whom I thought was such a good guy, is trying to destroy public education--this is right out of the Trump/Mercer/Koch Bros playbook. "Let private charities support the schools"; & "I don't want MY taxes educating other peoples' kids (i. E. exposing them to dangerous ideas like evolution & critical thinking)".
Plus, let's give poor kids IPads in kindergarten--"You need them to keep up w/ the rich kids on the other side of town." Did you know that NONE of the SiVa billionaires lets their kids have screens until they're like 10? BetterWorldBooks know the brain/emotional damage 7 hours a day watching a screen can do to growing minds.
So keep those books out of the landfills, and FIVE CHEERS FOR BWB!

I bought two books on Syntax and Semantics from BWB (oder #14791866). I waited for several months for them to get here, but BetterWorldBooks never did.

When I contacted them to say my items seemed to have gotten lost in the mail, they said there was nothing they could do, because over 60 business days had passed - which is an unreasonable excuse, because it is NORMAL for items to take to longer than two months to arrive at international destinations. I explained this to them, and here's the response I got:

"Many thanks for your feedback. We are always trying to improve our business and will certainly look into implementing new practices in order to do so. Our apologies however we stand by our policy."

In other words, they are fully aware that a paying customer has not received his items and have no problem doing nothing about it.

Think long and hard before doing business with this company.

UPDATE: 13th Jan '21
Got today the US order, it just was late due to Christmas and of course COVID.
Book was in excellent condition and even had a plastic cover on the cover being a library book. Package was vacuum packed so all borders arrived in mint conditions. Will definitely buy again.____

Ordered two books, one from the UK and one from thew US, the UK one arrived after a week (I'm based in Italy) so that was amazing shipping timings, the US one still nothing. It's been more or less a month, so it's still into the dates given by the website... We will see how that goes, but so far the conditions of the first book received were almost perfect.

There will be no Fahrenheit 451 in a world with BetterWorldBooks. The books are very cheap, and for every book I buy, BetterWorldBooks donates a book to someone in need to help literacy around the world. Also, the carbon-balanced shipping is awesome! Hats off to this company - this is SO much better than supporting Amazon. I will continue to use BetterWorldBooks for all my book needs.:)
There's just one thing I can think of that can improve - the books always come in the mail with a BWB sticker on the spine that is difficult to peel off without leaving sticker residue. I would like to see BWB use stickers that are more easily removed in the future.

I have ordered products from here a few times now. Always gotten the products and they've been in the condition described on the websites. This time round was a little delayed (prob my due to covid), but the website warned of that so it was expected.

The books dont always arrive together in the same pack if ordering multiple, as BetterWorldBooks may be in different places, but this time they did. And the first time I ordered I received a note from the previous owner of the book which was really nice.

I recomend this site to my family and always check it first if Im looking for a book. Love the concept of it. Also like the reasonable prices.

Also Im an overseas purchaser if that helps.
Read on friends!

I have placed many orders with BetterWorldBooks.com and plan to continue to purchase from them. Most of my purchases are used books, though I do buy a new book now and then. I have found the descriptions to be fair and honest, and BetterWorldBooks process the order quickly. A word about shipping - media mail can be very slow; that's why it's less expensive than first-class or express mail. That is on the post office, not the bookstore. The few times that I have had an issue with an order, BetterWorldBooks has responded quickly and courteously. Their support staff is wonderful, and they seem to value my business. This impresses me, since most of my orders are well under $10. I consider BWB to be one of my preferred vendors for buying used books.

No argument with the books I bought - BetterWorldBooks were great, just as described. However, the packaging used to ship the books demonstrated that once the sale is done the commitment to quality service is done too. Shipped three different sized books in what amounts to cling-wrap-like plastic allowing the packaging to be torn during shipping. The book corners (these were in used-very good condition) were bent in transit and had to be re-wrapped in heavy duty plastic by Canada Post for the remainder of the journey to me. Good quality books at mostly reasonable prices but without a sense of customer service beyond taking your money and casually fulfilling their obligation to ship your order. I am disappointed.

I was quite reluctant to purchase a book after reading so many negative reviews, but since my book was only 3 pounds, I thought its worth a try.
I was a bit nervous while waiting for their email saying my book is dispatched, as many people complained about receiving it a month after their purchase (especially since I live in Denmark, and the book would come from the States), but sure enough... 3 days after I ordered the book, the email came. And then came another telling me more about my book and its history, which was quite sweet.
The book just arrived - 10 days after I purchased it and it is in excellent condition. I am surprised a library book is so well-preserved! Yes, one of the corners is a bit folded at the very end, and there is a small library sticker on the side, but other than that it looks brand new!
If you are hesitant to try, maybe purchase a cheaper book like me to see how it all goes.

I wanted to complete my collection of a series, but I discovered that the entire series was out of print! I was super happy to discover that I could still buy the books, and from a business that supports literacy charities no less! I do wish that the quality of the books was a bit more clear on the website. Two of the books I received (which said only "Used - Good") were former library books, complete with all the stickers and plastic coverings that you'd expect from a library. It's not the end of the world by any means and the pages are in fact in good condition, but the stickers really stand out on my shelf and I wish I'd been able to search through the listings and see if any of them were not former library books. But in the end I'm still really satisfied with BWB and the fact that I can find out-of-print books!
Shipping time was plenty quick, especially for during a pandemic.

Second time ordering a few books. First time both came from the same place so I received them at the same time in a short time. This time both were shipped at the end of July, received one after 2 weeks but the other one after one month, I initially thought that it got lost somewhere but I'm happy I did eventually receive it. I know it's not the fault of BWB but whatever shipment company got hold of the order. Also one of the books was rated as "Very Good" but I think an old book printed in 1985 shouldn't get the status of very good quality because it truly isn't. I like old books but it wasn't stated that it would be such an old one.

The prices were amazing, as were the choice of titles. I found some children books that delight my grandson and my husband is happy with his selections. The books arrived in a decent amount of time, but I was very disappointed that all the Audio books titles I chose (and paid for!) were sent in print. One third of my order was for Audio books on CDs because some vision issues preclude me from reading print. When ordering, I made sure to use the Audio version of these book and verified that BetterWorldBooks were in my basket as such. I did not even receive ONE audio book! From other reviews, I noticed that I am not the only one complaining about this. I will not sure I will order Better World Books again. Too bad! There are other used books websites I can order from. I guess you get what you pay for...

Dear BetterWorldBooks,

Greetings!:)

Last month I bought my first book Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury from your libraries and it just arrived today. I was so excited to see that the book was in such good condition! I just love the yellow pages and the sacred scent of an old library book - BetterWorldBooks remind me of all the wonderful things in the world and I'd just feel like home. I really wouldn't mind if there were any notes written down on some of the pages. In fact, I think I'd love to see some notes on them. It'd make me feel connected with other book lovers who have pondered over and appreciated the words before me. Then reading would be even more joyful!

I LOVE how my book sent a greeting email to me right before it got sent off saying how thrilled it felt just to think that we would meet in less than a month. That was really lovely! I felt connected with my book even before I'd have it in my hands. So thank you BetterWorldBooks for being so nice to your customers and the books!

It's a really wonderful thing you're doing - donating one book to people who need it but somehow have no access to it every time a customer purchases a book from you. I feel that I've contributed something to the world now (however small share it was!). I'd definitely buy more books from your website in future!

Thanks again for being so wonderful to the world!:)

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,
A new customer called Rachel :)

Delivery dates given thru amazon didnt match what the 'seller' actually said would be the delivery date-the snippy woman I got emailed by said BetterWorldBooks deliver only on 'business days' when I asked how this works when sending books internationally-do they put the parcel down somewhere during weekends? She refused to elaborate, but what this equates to in actuality for me is she says 20 actual human days is '10 business days' according to her and the book then by that reckoning can take 42 days to get here-too long-returns are not feasible as she said 9even tho bought with free shipping) she would take shipping out of my refund and I would have to pay to send it back-absolutely an awful person to deal with, and I feel duped

Ordered two books on June 3rd and was emailed two days later that the order was shipped. BetterWorldBooks went from IN to OH to NC (where I am) within a few days. Tracking stated it had arrived at the shipping partner on June 8th (which is about 60 miles from where I live). After that, nothing! No movement (at least on the tracking) and the USPS tracking number appears to be bogus. USPS told me that they have not received the package yet. It has sat in that shipping facility for 13 days! I could have driven there to pick it up myself it I would have known. This is assuming it really is there and not lost, or worse yet, never really sent there at all. I do not understand why it has sat so close to its destination for that long. Their customer service keeps giving me the run-around and refuse to contact the crappy shipping company to see what the hold-up is. I ordered from them in the past and have always had a good experience. Something has happened with this company in the last couple of years. I don't expect them to stay in business much longer with this kind of practices. GOOD RIDDANCE!

If possible, I buy all my books from Better World Books, and I purchase a lot of books! You can't beat the price, both of books and shipping (free!), plus you are supporting literacy programs. If there are problems with shipping or the condition of a book that is received, I have always received prompt service. I have now donated over 250 books to literacy programs through my purchases! My passion is wildlife and natural history and thanks to BWB's great prices, I've created a wonderful personal reference library. Also, I live in Colorado, in an area with abundant wildlife, and am on a local committee that works to educate our community on its importance. We just purchased 100 books from BWB to made a small lending library for all ages on books that educate us on the wildlife!