ThriftBooks

I have been purchasing from Thrift Books for many years as a very satisfied customer. I purchased several books this year and noticed that the quality standards have changed. I never worried whether my book would be marred in any way; however, I do now. I used to receive almost pristine copies in the very good and good status. Currently, both statuses have declined. The last books purchased were for others, and the recipient(s) were not totally pleased. The very good copy had a tear in the jacket cover, the book was not protectively wrapped like it has been before. Moreover, when I attempted to contact Customer Service, I received adequate service, whereas before, it was outstanding. The representatives used to be very friendly, helpful, and go over and above to service me. Perhaps my standards are too high, but now, it is difficult to actually speak to a person, and the stated definition of the quality standards on the books did not match. When I mentioned it to the Customer Service Representative, the person was curt; basically telling me that Huge writing/inscriptions on the cover page is part of Very Good versus Good, as stated in the description.
Emailing Customer Support takes several days to receive a reply. Email is an automatic default.
I am sadly disappointed in the decline. I hope that it is temporary. I miss the high standards that Thrift Books used to have, and the quality of the customer service that ThriftBooks once valued.
Great prices in general. Some items seem pricier, which is fine if the quality was not an issue.

I recently gave a 2 Star Review because I never received a book I ordered, but instead after 3 weeks of waiting to receive the book, I got an entirely different book. Today in the mail (2 days after giving my 2 star review) I received the book I did order "The Secret Wisdom of the Earth". I'm assuming this was a "gift" because it doesn't look like I'm being charged. ThriftBooks had initially gave me a full refund for the wrong book, and the refund was quick. I'll update again if I see I'm being charged without my knowledge, but I don't think they'd do that. P.S. The book was in pretty nice shape; it was an old library book from Pima Arizona.)

Honestly I have nothing but good things to say about thriftbooks. ThriftBooks give you rewards that don't have any special conditions to redeem. They give you a huge selection of titles, both new and used, and let you select the condition you want. They give you the option of being notified in a variety of different frequencies for books that are out of stock. And when they make mistakes on the order? It's absolutely hassle free to get the issue fixed. I recently purchased a book that arrived that wasn't in the advertised condition and within 6 hours they contacted me back and refunded my money when they didn't have another copy in stock. It does take 4-5 business days to get the money back to you, but that has more to do with banks and the accounting side of the business, rather than the customer service/ quality side of things. I feel like that time delay would happen no matter where you shopped. All in all, amazing site of you love/need books as much as I do.

Whatever you do - avoid this place. You will have one problem after another with the books you order. ThriftBooks regularly bait and switch. You may order a collectable hardcover and receive a trade paperback. Seriously. This place should be named TrashBooks. I learned my lesson to never order any books from Thriftbooks ever again. On top of the bait and switch they attach their sticker to the bottom spine of every book. When you try and remove it the dust jacket or even the bare hardcover spine gets damaged most of the time. Thriftbooks is a joke. I made several orders all at once and learned the hard way as my orders started to arrive. Learn from my mistake - stay away from this used book seller. It doesn't get any worse than Thriftbooks...

While ThriftBooks may look great because of low prices, I can't recommend them for CDs/DVDs/Blurays. I have ordered a few times and nearly everything has come to me damaged, mainly due to poor packaging. Thrift doesn't use protective envelopes like Amazon so discs are always loose. Sometimes pack 7+ DVDs in single envelope. Also, I've had a few orders with missing discs entirely.

While ThriftBooks will refund you without having to return the damaged product, as stated on their website, they DO NOT refund your shipping costs which is not stated.

After multiple damaged orders with Thrift pocketing the shipping, I will not go back to them. Too unreliable with what you will receive due to poor packaging.

I was a regular customer, purchasing several books and DVDs each month. I was very happy with thriftbooks, rarely having problems, which were always promptly resolved. However, in February of 2021 our family noticed that thriftbooks was openly promoting authors based solely upon the color of thier skin. We were appalled at the open and unabashed bigotry. When I wrote to voice my concerns, I was brushed off. We canceled our account. We simply cannot allow such hatred and bigotry to exist in a civilized society. We now exclusively purchase our books from local small town independently owned bookstores. Goodbye thriftbooks.

So far so good. I've ordered over 25 books from thriftbooks.
Pros:
Customer service has been very good
Got some great deals on some great books
Overall happy with the condition ratings

Cons:
Pricing - some books are priced WAY above what ThriftBooks retail for or sell on Ebay, not sure who sets the pricing but some books really make you scratch your head
Shipping - Slowww shipping. If you're on the East Coast expect some slowww shipping, quickest I've received a book is a week, most are 2 weeks and some even longer - don't expect Amazon Prime delivery.

A lot of the bad reviews on here are obviously privileged morons - the company isn't GradeANewBooks.com, it's a thrift store company, my god. Disinfect your books and move on with your lives. Overall, in my opinion, you get what you paid for and then some in most cases. Have had a few duds and 2 wrong items but overall very happy and it upsets me that people bring down this THRIFT store company with overly dramatic bad reviews.

I had an item that was routinely needed on Sundays, I ordered it from thriftbooks. After it was two weeks late, I emailed support to find out why I didn't have my item.

Do to a stocking issue, ThriftBooks refunded me my payment weeks ago. They did not update my order on their page, they did not email me. I was waiting for something they had decided to never send.

Customer service ignored me when I asked if I could get the 2day shipping free to make up for it. Now I still don't have an item that I need again tonight.

They don't take care of their customers. Trusting them hurt my business, they are completely misleading.

They also spam your email inbox with offers. The unsubscribe button doesn't work.

I see a lot of people on here complaining about the condition of their books and while a few of them were valid (I saw a book with a band aid stuck on the cover, yikes!) a lot weren't. I think people are fundamentally missing the point of a USED BOOK site, some books are going to be pretty banged up. You have the option to pick how much you want to pay for the condition you want the book to be in. I saw someone complain their book arrived without a dust jacket and ThriftBooks weren't told that would happen. I found that hard to believe as there's an option to drop down and see warnings like "missing dust jacket" on the site. Mostly I think people just don't understand how the website works, I've ordered over 100 books and only received one book that was disappointingly damaged but which I could tell occurred during shipping. I'm sorry to the people that have had genuine issues though!

I was leery of this company after I read all the reviews on this site, but I decided to go ahead and buy three books anyway (as worst case scenario I'd lose $11.52). My experience goes to show that you can't always trust reviews. I placed my order on 9/30, and received my books on 10/5,10/6, and 10/9. All three books were in as-advertised condition (two "Very Good" and one "Like New"). Their books were sent USPS, which always leaves room for USPS mis-delivery, but tracking numbers were provided, so I could see where ThriftBooks were. All in all a perfect buying experience and I plan to shop again.

I ordered Melissa and Doug pop books for my toddler. I ordered good condition but at check out ThriftBooks recommended that I get acceptable to save. 40 and quicker shipping. So I changed the order. Out of the 4 pop books, 2 had some of the plastic pop pieces broken so when he tries to pop it there is only a broken plastic dot. We also ordered 3 train books. 1 was suppose to be in good condition but it came with the cover cut in 1/2 and a few of the pages missing. I contacted the company and they sent another 1 that arrived after my sons birthday and also had a black moldy substance on the pages. The other acceptable books were very worn with 1 book having a name written on the front in permanent marker. I realize that these are used books but I expected the same quality that I would find at used bookstores. I was very disappointed in the quality of their books.

I have placed several orders with this company and have always
Had the product sent to my current address which was set as
Default. My last order never came. When I checked on the status,
This company sent the order to my old address (an address that is
Over 2 years old). At the time of checkout review my address was
Set to my current address. When I contacted support and
Explained to them what happened and explained that in the
Review it read my current address but ThriftBooks sent it to my old one, I
Was pretty much told I was out of luck. They refused to either
Refund my money or resend the product to the correct address. I
Even checked with residents of old address but they never even
Received the product. So not only did this company send it to the
Wrong address in the first place but it was never delivered period.

I first saw about thriftbooks on a post on social media, as you could get books at a cheaper price. Several years later, I still use this site over big name websites. Sometimes I run into the issue that something I'm looking for isn't available, but that is to be expected at times. While it's not much cheaper, I like to stock up on new manga and multi-book series, so it's nice to be able to purchase multiple volumes in one go for a discount. They're really good at letting you know right away if a title is unavailable after you purchase it, which just happened to me. I purchase books that are anywhere from acceptable to new and have yet to experience any problems with anything I purchased.

It's hard for me to believe some of the bad reviews here. Some seem to have vendetta against them- maybe they're competitors. I discovered ThriftBooks this summer (2020) and have ordered over 30 books, most used. I have had no problems. Good hardbound books for $4 - $5 is a great value. All the books are rated on their website from acceptable to very good and are priced accordingly. I'm not sure how the company is set up, but books are shipped from all over the country. So, if you order four books, ThriftBooks might ship two together from the same location and the other two from different locations. I also ordered new books from ThriftBooks. I compared their new book prices against Amazon. Some were more expensive and some were less expensive. All I can say is they are very close and you can compare. None of the books I received were damaged in shipping. That's always a possibility for anything being shipped, but I had no problems with ThriftBooks. Try a used book ~ $5, plus tax, always shipped free! You also earn credits and get a free book (l've received 3 free books so far). I am not affiliated with ThriftBooks in any way. But after reading the reviews here I felt the need to comment. Try them and you will be hooked! The photo below shows some of the books with white label that I ordered from ThriftBooks.

I've ordered from thriftbooks a handful of times but have finally learned my lesson. ThriftBooks keep sending me the wrong books! Not once or twice buy multiple times. Twice it's been the completely wrong books... title, author wrong...(not to mention these wrong books were dirty gross! I'm talking pages stuck together with food, yucky stuff falling out from between the pages, & stiff liquid damaged pages!) Another time it was an order of 3 books & 2 of them were supposed to be hardcover but turned out to be arc paperbacks. They then tried to replace them with the correct copies but once again they sent arc paperbacks.
This company or their employees are completely incapable of posting the correct books & then mailing the correct books. They must waste a ton of money sending the wrong books & then having to send refund.
On top of this their shipping is soooo sloooow!
It's taken me a handful of tries but I've finally learned my lesson & will no longer shop thriftbooks or any other sellers accompanied with thriftbooks.

There have been a few hiccups in my history with ThriftBooks but ultimately ThriftBooks are one of the only used bookstores online that are worth anything.

Thrifting books can be a mixed bag. So, Thrift Books is no different. For the most part, their quality is good; great variety of books, good rewards system, timely shipping and fantastic customer service.

My only advice is that you take their listings with a grain of salt. Sometimes you'll get a book in better condition than it's listed, sometimes you'll get it in lesser condition and they don't always like to list if it is a former library book or not.

Beware of allergies, too, when purchasing. I have received smokey smelling books and occasionally ones with pet fur in it. Which is gross but also not altogether surprising because such is life.

But! Always keep that in mind.

I've always loved Thriftbooks until a few months ago. I think I'm done with them though because their shipping just gets worse and worse since ThriftBooks insist on using OSM Worldwide. I live in Georgia so more often than not, my books are shipped from Atlanta, from there they go to Glendale Heights, IL (even though I'm in Georgia) where they usually sit for 3 or 4 days, then they are sent back to Atlanta, then to me. I've had OSM Worlwide lie to me countless times and say they didn't have my package yet so I need to contact the sender. Then a few minutes later I get a tracking update saying my package has arrived at and departed from Glendale Heights. I've told Thriftbooks about this happening but they're not changing anything so I'm done ordering from them until they fix the problem.

I have only had two issues with TB one issue was a book I received but turned out to be written in too much, so I sent it back and was able to get the same book in better condition. The second issue I had was a book I purchased that was labeled incorrectly I contacted customer service and ThriftBooks responded right away I was issued a refund no problem. Even with these two hiccups I still have purchased my books through TB. I can easily track my orders and know that I can get a better deal here, I price compare on many sites and always return to TB. Majority of my collections come from here anyways. I am pleased with how customer service has taken care of my issues promptly and with no problem. I will always be a customer!

I bought 3 books in the beginning of june, and it seemed to be lost in transit, so i reached out to them asking if my order could be resent. I really wanted my books so a refund was not my first choice. ThriftBooks came back saying none of the books were in stock anymore and they said I would get a FULL refund. I had ordered 3 books, my total was $18.11. When I got the refund it said they only refunded me $10.15. Its just 8 dollars no biggie, but I wanted to know WHY at least. So I reached out again. They tell me they only refunded me for the item I didn't receive. Now I bought all the books as one order and received ONE tracking number. The package never reached me it was lost, so tell me why they think I received my other two books and i'm just missing one. So I reach out AGAIN, explaining their reasoning would make sense if i at least got the other 2 books but I didn't get any of my books. Then they said they would issue another refund for the rest of the items, but when the refund came in it was only 3.98 (the price of one of the books I was missing.) They said they would give me a full refund so i was expecting my full 18.11 back, so you can see im upset when i only got 14 bucks back total.

Horrible!
- prices fluctuate significantly (items i had in the cart got significantly more expensive when left there for a few hours).
- items not as described
- customer service poor - i was told to return a item for a 'full refund' (when not as described) even though i live overseas & the shipping cost makes it an impossibility. I'm appalled that any thinking person would even suggest it!
When offered a refund for a book that was not at all as described, i was offered 15%(?) - practically EVERY decent seller/site is fine to take full responsibility & compensate with a FULL refund without the joke of 'returning the item'
- items arrive late (so their delivery estimates even during the covid situation are STILL inaccurate/flawed, but as a CUSTOMER, you're expected to be understanding & supportive of THEM(?)
Not impressed at all & would NOT recommend to ANYONE.
Want a better option? Go with powells books - their customer service standards are MUCH better as are the conditions of their books (which are nearly always BETTER than what they're listed as).

Ordered a book that I was very excited about. Book did not arrive. After waiting several weeks and continually checking the tracking, I checked in with the post office, who informed me that the book had never been shipped. When I tried to contact Thriftbooks customer service to ask what was going on, ThriftBooks responded by refunding me and telling me there was nothing else they could do. They refused to help me try to find the item or even to confirm that they had actually sent it. When I sent them the USPS message stating that the package wasn't sent, they just stopped responding altogether. Poor customer service, dishonest business practices. Absolutely do not recommend.

John Dayter <*******@gmail.com>
9:59 AM (20 minutes ago)

To Sales
You can give me my money back.

Thats what you can do.

I could have read those books in the time it takes to have them shipped.

I can send a note from Texas to New York and it gets there in 4 days.

Nothing should take 3 $#*!ing weeks to be shipped in the US.

I could have probably walked to Georgia and back in that time.

I am NOT Satisfied... and I want my money back.

John

On Wed, Jul 22,2015 at 9:48 AM, Sales <*******@thriftbooks.com> wrote:
## Reply ABOVE THIS LINE to add a note to this request ##

Thriftbooks - Request Updated View complete request history

Hello John,
Thank you for your email. Your order shipped on 7/10/2015 to the address you provided at the time you placed your order. Your DHL Global Mail tracking information can be viewed here:

Atlanta shipment: http://webtrack.dhlglobalmail.com/?id=2720&trackingnumber=*******318526100

Portland shipment: http://webtrack.dhlglobalmail.com/?id=2720&trackingnumber=*******315025600

Please note that your order was shipped via DHL GlobalMail to be tendered to the USPS distribution hub nearest you for final delivery. Delivery time is 4 to 14 business days.

I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I may be of further assistance.

Regards,

Kevin

Thrift Books | Green Earth Books | Motor City Books | Atlanta Book Company | Blue Cloud Books | Yankee Clipper Books | Books Squared | Silver Arch Books | Free State Books | Sierra Nevada Books

John Dayter - *******@gmail.com - Tue, Jul 21,2015, 11:45 AM

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Dayter <*******@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jul 21,2015 at 1:42 PM
Subject: Fwd: Order #3150351
To: Sales <*******@thriftbooks.com>

I want my money back...

Order #3150351

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Dayter <*******@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jul 21,2015 at 8:07 AM
Subject: Order #3150351
To: Sales <*******@thriftbooks.com>

Yeah,

I want a refund for this order.

The order was made on 7/8.
It is now 7/21 and I have yet to receive it.
The tracking stops after the 15th.

I am not waiting any longer I want my money back.

John Dayter

While this site offers cheap books and free shipping, it seems their system for book rating isn't always true. The books aren't individually described and I believe that's why I had an issue with quality. Some books were very much worth the money: a cheap book that was essentially new. Unfortunately, I'd rather just spend a little more money on either the book itself or shipping to get what I know is a decent book versus a gamble. Attached is an image of my "Like New" book. While clearly used, it is not as their website states a "Like New" book should be: "An apparently unread copy in perfect condition. Dust cover is intact; pages are clean and are not marred by notes or folds of any kind." Clearly, this book has been marred and is far from "perfect condition." In fact, it's a library copy, too.

... you want to gamble whether you will get readable copies of books.

Worst experience ever! Bought two books, both with major problems.

Book 1 - I purchased the hardcover in what ThriftBooks described in "Good condition". Book was: 1) Missing dust cover 2) had a broken spine 3) had coffee stains everywhere and 4) had torn pages!

Book 2 (this one is unbelievable) - yet another monumental mishap on their part. I bought the "All The Right Stuff" book for my daughter, who is starting a new school in 2 weeks, and had to make annotations in the book, etc. Well, now she reached the end, after done countless annotations on the book (per requested by her prep school) and guess what? The book was missing the last several pages! It abruptly ends on page 182, the last words being "Some college guy had gotten his nose broken and two teeth out in the flight, and they..." and that is it!

Don't even bother calling their customer support. They were rude to me and said all they could do was find me a new book, but I had not time for that! So b/c my daughter was so tight with her deadline I had to order NEXT day from Amazon and pay $119 for Prime + full price on the paperback book, spending over $130.

What kind of service can these guys possibly be running? This is my second complaint within a month. And here I thought I had found a gem, a great place to buy used books.

Unbelievable!

And the worst customer service ever too!

I ordered a book. I never received any shipping tracking number. I got refund in my card after few days. I pinged them to see what's going on. ThriftBooks said they canceled my order because they thought it was suspected as fraud order. Then I checked the same book in their website and it showed out of stock. I think this book was never in stock. The fact that it showed out of stock right after they refunded means, either it was never in stock. This is so unprofessional. I hope this website is not a scam website just to steal our credit card information. Be careful guys. Even if this website is not a scam, then they are not professional. The show the books that are not in stock as available. So unprofessional and frustration.

I've been using ThriftBooks for years. I purchase from them maybe five times a year. There have been a couple times where the books were icky, but for the most part I've been satisfied with my purchases. Because of this, I recommended ThriftBooks to my mom. She was looking for one particular book from a collection she has that had somehow been lost over the years. I found it on ThriftBooks and after we reviewed the books condition, she asked me to buy it for her. I did. When it arrived she was disappointed. The book was kind of junky. It was an old library book and ThriftBooks had painted black and white numbers on the spine. When she put it in her library it looked really tacky and jumped out as not fitting in with the rest of the series of books. When I looked at the listing again, it was obvious the photo was not the same book that was sent. I contacted customer service who stated that they researched the order and found that it was the same book and that I could return it but would not be reimbursed for shipping costs. I sent them photos of the book that was offered and the book that was sent, told them it was false advertising and ethically wrong. They never replied back. For this I am giving them one star for poor ethics and customer relations.

The experience on Thrifbooks is mostly good. However, the reason I give it three stars is because prices will fluctuate wildly day to day on the same exact items, sometimes as much as $5-$6 on a certain item. (books are priced according to condition, I am speaking of books of the same condition). Prices over $10 do come with free shipping, but... I have seen items on Ebay, sold from Thriftbooks with free shipping under $10, so that is not fair to those who use Thrifbooks primarily to purchase used books, when ThriftBooks can buy the same book from the same vendor from Ebay and not pay the shipping. Also, You do get points from purchasing from the Website or App, they do add up and you can get a "Free Book". This is Very misleading, you don't get a free book, you get what is basically a $5 store credit, and when you do, expect anything you look up to magically be priced at $5.09 or above, when they were well below the $5 threshold the day before. The books that are under $5 are your usual yard sale fodder and you can probably get it from Ebay for $2-$3 or Salvation Army for even cheaper. Thriftbooks does not sell books cheaper that about $4, no matter what they are. The $5 store credits do not add up and are completely used up whether you use it on a $3.99 book or a $4.99 book, there is no remaining balance if it's under the $5. I would be much more useful if you could add up your $5 "free book" (store credit) to purchase books that are more money, for instance three $5 "free Book" (store credits) could be used to buy a $15 book, that is not available however to use in that way on Thriftbooks, the whole "Free Book" is misleading in this sense. Also, make sure you do your homework before purchasing a book You want. I am shocked to see books sometimes priced well over the price you pay on Amazon or from The publisher. I am speaking of currently available books that may be on Thriftbooks as used for over $20, and I check the publisher and they have it in stock new retail for $12 to $15. All this said, I do enjoy searching for books on Thriftbooks, I have gotten may good deals, but I also find myself on AbeBooks, Amazon, and Ebay just as much when searching for a particular item. The free shipping is nice and they may be sometimes a deal breaker when price comparing with other websites who may have the book for cheaper but you have to pay $5.99 for shipping. A bidding option would be a nice feature, but I realize it would probably not be feasible. The "Free Book" perk is not worth it by itself, there simply is no reason to want it for what you can use it for and I would possibly find it more useful if you could; 1. Carry a balance on your Free book rewards (not use it up all at once), 2. Add up your Free book rewards to purchase more expensive books. Prices are usually good, but can be deceptive because they fluctuate wildly for no determinable reason. Customer service has been pretty good; I have received books that have had water damage, ripped bindings, etc. and they have quickly resolved my issues with those orders.

Impressed is an understatement regarding ThriftBooks Chicago's customer service. So much so, that I am choosing to write my review before I have my product in hand (I will attach pictures & additional info when I do). I received a delivery notification 5 days before the expected delivery date. However, my package was no where to be seen (I haven't had any issues regarding missing packages since moving to this neighborhood). Frustrated, I contacted the seller on a Saturday evening explaining everything with a message to expect a response within 2 business days. Today, SUNDAY MORNING, I had an email from Heather in customer service apologizing for my not receiving the book I ordered and the tracking info for a replacement that ThriftBooks have already sent out. For the lack of a better term, I am blown away with the quality of customer service I have received.

This site used a picture of a book with a similar name and then sent the book ThriftBooks actually carried (title is similar but wrong cover and author). I searched by ISBN and it showed the correct book that was needed for my class. Once I got the book, it was a similar title with a totally different cover. I called to ask what happened because I had screenshots of the book I ordered as well as a copy of the ISBN. I was told that they didn't even carry the book I needed and that she was sorry. I was told that I had to pay for the return shipping and a restocking fee. After all was said and done, I lost almost $10 from my pocket because of the shipping and restocking fee. False advertisement and this customer was screwed. Never, ever order from this site! (First picture is what was sent, second is what I ordered. As you can see, they show the correct book, but sent the wrong one).

Love, love, love thirftbooks.com This site links a number of used bookstores and all their inventory. The listed prices_include shipping_ so you know exactly what you are paying with no nasty surprises at checkout. I am sick and tired of finding an older/used book and getting to the check out page to find the shipping costs are 3x the book cost!

You can navigate their menu tree by book genre or search by author or title. A search result shows you all the available copies of the book. From that search you can narrow down by hard/paperback, price, book condition. Excellent search capabilities.

Another nice surprise is if you order 2 books from the same location (listed in all search results) you get an additional $. 50 off per book. Nice.

I've purchased from here for years, from sites all over the country and have always been pleased that the items showed up on time (or earlier) and have been in the condition as described.

Highly recommended.