In the past, I have been a happy customer of Amazon USA for technical books, and more recently, even for fiction. Australian bookshops seem to have very limited and expensive stock, so buying online is an attractive option.
Recently some of my colleagues recommended two other options:
- Book Depository UK: good prices, free international shipping, fast delivery, but at first glance less books than Amazon
- Booko book price comparison: compares multiple sites including Amazon and BookDepository. Presumably make money using affiliate links from search.
I’ll be giving these a go and posting on the experience in future.
David Bolton
I’ve used and love them both. Book Depository now has a US arm too, that is sometimes cheaper than the UK — and even better your UK login works on the US site too. Anyway, I usually start with Booko.com.au, but it usually points to one of the two Book Depository sites.
Nathan
I’ve ordered two books in separate orders from Book Depository UK. At current exchange rate from AUD to GBP it’s really hard to beat from US sites. I used to use amazon UK, but when buying a single book Book Depository works out cheaper.
When I received second book, pages were falling out due to faulty glue (or possible heat exposure). Was a bit fretful, but emailed them to see what could be done. At first they offered me a partial discount, but I replied saying I’d prefer a replacement. No complaints from them, they agreed, sent me a replacement, and didn’t require me to send original back, so relatively stress free experience over what I was expecting.
I’ve had to return stuff to amazon before, so while their process was less official (no auto forms to fill out), achieved same result and in less time, so I’d be happy to order from them again.
Matias
As an alternative to Booko, you can take a look at Piranhas: http://piranhas.co
It lets you compare book prices between various Amazon stores and the two Book Depository sites (bookdepository.com and bookdepository.co.uk). Shipping costs and currency conversions are automatically included.