"After placing multiple orders with Abebooks.com, I won't be placing any more. I have had absolutely no success with their system, in that every book I have ordered (which are textbooks I need promptly for college courses) has only provided me with a waste of time. My orders were placed successfully, but later on I would hear that in fact the item was not available so the order had to be canceled. I understand that their system is not perfect, but I don't think it's worth wasting my time on a system that doesn't work when I could just pay a little more and know that I will get the book I want. If they were to blame the booksellers and say that said merchants have not provided timely updates on stock, then why not implement strict policies for booksellers to keep inventory current or risk suspension/bans from selling via this website. Anyways, I'll take my money somewhere that will produce the books I need."

"I ordered my first book ever from Abebooks from one of the store sellers, Sunmark Store in CA. The books was supposed to be delivered within 3-4 business day. The arrival date as March 5th. I called customer support of Abe Books and they said that their seller has shipped the book already. That was not true, because when I asked for DHL tracking number, it showed the book as being shipped on March 5th, right after I called them. Aside from that, the book seller did not tell where the books is coming from, saying that the book ordered was coming from Tawain and that gave me a lot of burden because I had to be at home during my working hours for a signature. In other words the book arrived on March 8th, and I needed that book for March 5th. Never ever will I buy from them again."

"I have placed two orders through abebooks.com.
The first one was in June 06 and the second one in December 06. The first order was from a bookseller named The Book Women, in Sumas WA. This order went smooth enough and delivery time was shorter than expected. Happiness.
Then this December I placed an order through abebooks again. The seller this time was Wonder Book, Frederick MD and the books never showed up. A month later when estimated delivery time was two week overdue I emailed the seller and they answered and told me to be patient for a few more days, and then contact them again. This I did and since then I have not recieved any more emails from them. Abebooks has automated resonse mail but nothing happens. I have sent several emails to both the seller and abebooks, but nothing happens.

It seems to me that abebooks has no order service whatsoever. If the seller does a good job, all is fine. If the seller does not send books, the customer is screwed and everyone else is happy.

As I browse about searching for used books stores online and buyer reviews of these same stores it seems to be the same story with all the large operators with several book sellers on one site.
Alibris, Abebooks and to some degree Amazon used books.

For me, living in Sweden and having a desire for books in english, both fiction and reference, the prices for used books through these online sellers are too low to stay away from even considering shipping costs.
I will have to find one steady supplier, for the frustration of not getting what is paid for is too much.

fill in May 1 2007:

Right after posting the above review for abebooks here I got my money back for the parcel that never got to me. No explanation or emails, just my money back. Well better than robbing, but far from service.
However I had not learned my lesson and oredered again. This time through abebooks from Seashellbooks.com. This went smooth. Since then i have also ordered through abebooks from Books from India or Oscar Publications Delhi, also went smooth and from thriftbooks.com Auburn, WA U.S.A. Should have been here April 29 but probably on its way.
Overall I am getting more positive, but obviously, if one bookseller screws up you are on your own and cannot expect abebooks to support you in any way concerning customer service."

"I placed an order on Jan 30, 2007 and paid extra for 3-6 business day shipping. Well it's now Feb 15th with no book, no response to 3 e-mails, and no answer to two phone calls placed to Ohara's Books out of NJ to get a status on my order. The status has been "shipped" since 2/2, which means that they took 4 days to process the order and now 13 (and counting) more days to do the 3-6 day shipping.

They will never see my business again!"

"The pricing is good and they seem to carry a wider selection of rarer books (cheaper international versions).

However order processing and shipping is horribly slow and customer service is unreachable. My order experience was very frustrating to say the least.

I placed my order on Jan 11th and the shipping was stated to take only 4-8 business days. I didn't recieve my book until the 30th. I needed the book for school, and being so much delayed, it caused me alot of grief.

No order shipped email was sent, and no tracking information was given. I wanted to call customer service, but there's no phone number listed anywhere on their website. Endless emails go unanswered. Its as if they don't want you to reach them.

Thanks to the reviewer below, I found the customer service number and called them. They BSed me and told me everything I wanted to hear. I eventually contacted the sub bookseller directly, singhbooks, and they send me a tracking number for USPS. I had to wait another week when the book finally arrived.

Will not order from them again."

"This has been the worst experience with any bookseller that I've ever had. In fact, one of the worst online experiences ever and I buy a lot of things online.

I ordered a widely available textbook from Abebooks on December 20, 2006. My credit card was charged promptly and the order status changed from processing to shipped in a few days. However, after a couple of weeks went by and no book, I contacted the seller (Jabo Books via Abebooks) and received a 1 sentence response, "Your book is on the way." Another 2 weeks go by and still NO BOOK. When I e-mail them again, someone writes back and says that the person is at a funeral and would answer all e-mails in a few days. Over 1 1/2 weeks later and still no response.

I found their phone number (removed) but no one ever picks up the phone and all voicemails go unanswered. So here we have a situation where a bookseller charges immediately, then refuses to deliver a book. Then they stop communicating altogether.

Ironically, during this whole ordeal, I receive a customer satisfaction survey from Abebooks asking how my experience was. I gave them a piece of my mind and whaddya know? No response from them either.

I implore all potential customers to stay away from these clowns. You'll waste so much time trying to track down your book that never shipped and the people who took your money, that you're better off paying a few extra bucks at Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. If you're foolish enough to still go ahead and order, what happens is your own fault.

I'm in the process of trying to get my money back, but we'll see if that ever happens. Caveat emptor!

EDIT: Review was edited to remove the phone number. It appears Jabo Books changed their phone number which isn't surprising given their poor service. I still maintain that ordering any book from them would be a waste of your time."

"I've ordered about 20+ books from abebooks, standart shipping to Moscow, Russia. So what I can say so far...four books from US didn't arrive 30 (thirty) days after estimated delivery time. Was it caused by unhonesty of seller, or our postal service, I don't know. Most of all I like deliveries from UK - they came very fast, in about two or three weeks, every book I have ordered from UK sellers, have arrived. I have initiated three returns for US sellers (ordered in the beginning of October, no sign of books till end of December), got automated confirmations from abebooks and no word from sellers. Positive results are larger in percentage than negative, but it's the only choice for buying some rare books. It's, on common words, very alike eBay."

"Purchased a book off Abebooks with expedited shipping, waited over 2 weeks (was promised express 4-day UPS in description) then emailed Abebooks. They informed me that the book wasn't in stock and had not shipped (even though the purchase's status was "SHIPPED")...yet they had not contacted me for 2 weeks.

HORRIBLE customer service."

"They charged my card, but did not send my text book.I lost my money. I will never buy again and suggest anyone that actually expects to recieve their books NOT TO BUY from Abebooks!"

"I ordered a PDF solution manual titled Instructor's Solutions for: Multivariable Calculus from the bookseller Economical Books. Within three hours of the purchase, I was emailed a link to a location where I could download my purchase; the site was fast and I was able to complete the approximately 660 page download in about 10 minutes. Overall, I am very satisfied with my purchase."

"Never received item. Must wait 15 days after expected delivery date to request refund. I did this. Abebooks then let me know that they will "inform the seller of my request".
"Inform the seller"? What good does that do? I no longer have a need for the book. Abebooks should immediately refund my money and then they can deal with the fraudulent seller. Why would they put honest, paying customers in the middle of their poor service and policies?"

"Very bad customer relationship. They pretend that I pay shipping costs twice becuase they could not deliver at first try (which is not entirely true!). I agreed to pay the shipping cost, but they did not deliver anyway, despite several reminders.
Avoid this shop!"

"Hopefully I've caught you in time. I recently ordered something for my father's birthday (which is 7/22). I placed the order through Abebooks.com on 7/16, which told me my estimated delivery time was 2-6 days. If I got the item in 6 days, that would be just enough time for Dad's b-day. I paid EXTRA for the faster shipping. Abebooks.com connected me to Caiman.com, their supplier for this item. It said the item was located in Florida, and since I'm in Massachusetts, the package shouldn't take that long to arrive. Since I'm pretty impatient, I logged into Caiman's website to make sure my package had been shipped. For three days it said "processing." We all know that "processing" does not mean "shipped," so I tried to contact Caiman. There is NO PHONE NUMBER AT ALL! I wrote them a few e-mails which I was supposed to have answered in 24 hours, but that never happened. I previously asked them a question about the color of he item I ordered and they never got back to me on that, either. Anyway, I figured I'd contact Abebooks.com (another one with no phone number ... I had to call the media department) since they already debited my MC for the money for the item. They told me that if it goes past 48 hours, they themselves can send a message to the supplier asking them to get back to me ASAP. I finally start getting answers from Caiman. The first e-mail I received was something like, "Your order is still processing." It was one of those generic message. WTF, right? Then I got a message regarding my question about the color of my item. It said, "Please read your item description for further details." Whatever. I later checked the Caiman.com site and it said that my item was "in transit" and that the ETA for delivery was 7/24. I NEED THIS BY 7/22!!! I went to Abebooks.com and checked to see what ETA they had and they had a delivery date of 7/25. UNACCEPTABLE! Why did I pay for shipping in 2-6 days if they weren't going to send it? I start freaking. There had to be a phone number for Caiman.com. THANKS TO THIS SITE, I found a contact number. I called them and I finally got a rep. She looked up my item and I asked her why I would receive it on 7/24 and not 7/22 like I expected. She said, "Uh ... your item hasn't even been shipped." I told her what Caiman.com had posted on their site under "track your order" but she told me that they were wrong. I said, "Well, what should I do?" She said it could take anywhere from 2 days to a MONTH to get my order. I asked her to look up a possible tracking number since Abebooks.com also said that my item was shipped (I figured she just didn't know what she was talking about) but then she shocked me. She said, "Do you want to cancel the order?" I said no, but she insisted and said, "Maybe you should just cancel. I would." HELLO? Don't they want business? The Caiman.com rep just told me to cancel. I said, "GLADLY!" She told me that I would be sent a confirmation e-mail and that my refund of over $100 should be processed in 24-72 hours. THAT IS NOT THE WORST PART! I asked for a supervisor and she said that she didn't have one. I asked her if she was the boss of the whole company (not having a boss and all) but she said no. I asked to speak to someone else but she said that there was no one there. She said she was in a room alone and that she was the first one to arrive for work that day. WTF???? I hang up with her and call Abebooks.com. They told me that the supplier (Caiman) has to cancel the order. The best part was when the Abebooks.com rep took my call and looked up my item number, she reads, "You ordered 'The Rise and Fall of the British Empire,' right?" Um ... no. Anyway, she told me that I should wait to hear from Caiman despite the fact that Abebooks.com is the one who debited my MC. Nonetheless, I get an e-mail from Caiman that read "a request for a refund will be processed in 24-72 hours." Oh well, I guess my Dad isn't getting a b-day gift for 24-72 hours. HERE IT IS ... THE BEST PART. My bank called me. Suspicious charges from Amazon.com have shown up on my debit card. The first one was for $1.00 something and the next one was for $143.00. The bank held the charges because they looked suspicious and so they were calling me to find out if I had made those purchases. I told her the only charge I authorized for my debit card was the $100+ order to Abebooks.com. She said that was approved, but she would have to cancel my card because apparently someone had taken the number and was using it to buy stuff on Amazon.com. I NEVER had this problem before ordering from Abebooks/Caiman.com. Seriously, never go through either of them. I'm almost positive that I'm going to have to chase these sons-of-b*tches down for my damn refund. I'm so annoyed. DON'T USE THEM! Use Barnes and Noble, eBay, Amazon ... one of the well-known organizations. Caiman sucks, and if Abebooks.com uses them, Abebooks sucks, too.

Abebooks: ***-***-****
Caiman: ***-***-****"

"I ordered 2 books through Abe Books from 2 different booksellers. One book I received without a problem; the other book was never received, although the bookseller indicated I should have received it 2 weeks ago. My credit card was charged, I have sent numerous emails to both Abebooks and the bookseller. I received automated responses from Abe and no response from the bookseller. I wanted the book - not a refund; although it appears that's my only option. No one is interested in trying to track my book and the bookseller won't even respond to my inquiries. I'll never use Abebooks again - I'll stick with Amazon - have never had a problem with them."

"This company is unhonest. Charged $9.50 for the "so-called" express 3-6 day shipment. What I've seen on the postage mark is the cost of $4.50 USPS priority mail without a tracking number. If you dont want to pay more, they will probably hold up the order for a week before shippin it out. However, what I got from the book is poorly printed and low quality paper imported from China. As a matter of fact, those books are not allowed for sale here. Anyway, I decided to return the book because it is not a full version of the US version, some contents are omitted. I shipped the book back and got an confirmation from the seller. After 16 days, I didnt get any refund and no response from the seller. I sent email again and no response. I will wait for 5 more business days before filing a dispute to the credit card company.

This company is a mess. I dont know who is in charge for the refund procedure. If you're looking for some low cost junk book from China, usually the price of the book is half from that of MSRP, and paying high price to them, Abebooks sure is a good choice for you."