Don’t give your real, work, e mail address. You get spam once you order. Amazon was kind enough to remove me from their spam list.
I thought I was the only person who can’t stand her facile prose - good to know I’m not alone!
One underpublished aspect is Amazon is their British sister company www.amazon.co.uk . I once tried to order some British titles from Amazon and was told they were unavailable. I later noticed a small reference to the Amazon UK site and went there. I was amazed to find the books I was looking for and several other titles that were unavailable in the US as well. They sell and ship to the US with no problems either. There’s also a German site but mein Deutsche ich kaput.
I’ve ordered a few books from Amazon and have never had any problem with them.
To me if I cannot wander the book store aisles and touch and feel the book and see if I like it’s layout and design ( it’s alot like chosing a husband, I’ll tell you) then I write down all the info, check prices on a variety of internet places and if 1) It’s cheaper 2) I still really really really want it, I buy it. This way it curbs my crack like addiction to books gotta have it nature.
Thanks for the link to the Amazon UK sight. when I go on my trip to England alot of my vacation money will go towards books, but what I really hate is hauling them home. I may have internet access while over there and if I can order it on line after seeing it in a store, and (bonus) get it cheaper, sending it home will save me from schlepping it about.
Do you have the link for the German Amazon…(heh, is there any other kind?)
There is a 20# technical dictionary that hubby wanted awhile back that was only $150 USD (such a deal) and it would have taken up critical space in our stuff coming home, so it was poooh poohed.
Melin, I’m in awe of your credit. At 27, I’ve just FINALLY gotten a credit card in my name, with a whopping $200 limit (and they probably were biting their nails giving me that)…
sigh
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O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com
I’ve done the eBay thing (buying and selling), Amazon, CDNow, Reel, and Barnes & Noble. For most books, I’d rather just buy it in the store and take it home and read it instead of paying 10% less on the web, then just paying most of that 10% back in shipping and having to wait 4-7 days for my book. But for harder to find books, I’ll use the net. I think my CDNow purchase was a gift for someone out of state, which explains that one, my Reel purchases were all foreign films, and I’ve bought videos through the PBS site.
One other excellent site is http://www.bibliofind.com which is a wonderful source for out of print or otherwise used books. I’ve bought most of my signed first edition works from this site which Amazon and B&N couldn’t find for me in a million years.
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Mike:
You could also try one of my favourite sites, http://www.alphabetstreet.com , to order books online.
It’s actually part of www.infront.co.uk but you still have to use the link above to access it. Another neat feature is that the site also contains “musicstreet” and “gamestreet” for those who are interested in such.
TIP: If you see “https:” instead of the regular “http:” in the URL, you are on a secure server.