"This merchant is straight up a scam. They don't even hide it. They will take your money. Including money paid for expedited shipping. They will hand over the order to some vendor and they will simply blame the vendor for everything. I thought I would give them a chance (instead of buying from Amazon all the time). Now I know why Amazon is the best - at least they deliver. Abebooks should call themselves I-scam-you.com"
"Seller sends you a damaged book or wrong item? Oh, well. Except some insincere boilerplate response and wave goodbye to your money. They will stonewall and rationalize every attempt to make them honor their return policy. They are a scam."
"I bought a $150.00 book.
They sent me a $17.00 with a similar Title.
I paid for shipping to received the book. I had to pay for shipping again to send back the book due to their mistake.
I initiated a refund few day ago.
I still haven't received my money back on my credit card after few days.
I will probably have to open a dispute with my credit card company to fight for the amount of money spent on the book.
Moreover, the customer service doesn't exist.
They do not have a phone number where to call.
They only have an email address where you can write and they usually answer after 1 or 2 days. However, their answer are always the same. Big lies.
So, please do not run in my same mistake.
Do not buy from them!!!!!!
Do not buy from them!!!!!!
Poor/unexisting costumer service!!!"
"This is a review for Irish Booksellers (Maine) who sell through Abebooks, not Abebooks itself (which is generally excellent). Beware! Do not buy from these crooks! Fraudulently sell old books as new - among many scams. Purchased book through Abebooks sold as 'new'. but received filthy battered copy. Seller kept promising partial refund that never materialised - as a way to spin-out process until Abe closes case. Clear from multiple online reviews this is a standard practise from merchant (in addition to even worse tricks). If you have already bought before reading this, persist in reporting to Abe & keep demanding refund, don't accept brush-off...hopefully Abebooks will eventually take decisive action & close down these thieving con-merchants. "
"I'm giving AbeBooks a one star because they are difficult to reach if you have a problem. I placed an order, chose expedited shipping, and it took the seller 4 days to actually ship the item. They created a label on day one, it was day 4 before they actually moved the package to USPS. I contacted the seller and Abe Books service asking for a refund on day 3, of which i was denied. I saw another reviewer on here blasting other reviewers for giving AbeBooks a bad review when sellers are the problem, but AbeBooks is the front company for all the sellers. It's like saying the boss is not responsible for those under their leadership. AbeBooks is responsible for their sellers and if they set stronger requirements , their sellers would hold to higher standards and they'd have better reviews. I buy a LOT of books and won't purchasing through Abe again."
"Charges $75 shipping for two cheap books from CA to Canada, estimated time 30-51 days lmaoooo "
"I saw the name Linsdey with GlassFrogBooks several times throughout, must just sit there and email the same form letter all day long...
I placed an order for a single paperback research book and received a 60 pound box with a 22 volumn encyclopedia set inside. As the thread details herein, it was all my fault and that I could return shipment at my own expense... uh-huh
Someone else's brand new encyclopedia set made for a great kindling in my fireplace"
"This review is not for Abe Books, but for Irish Booksellers, a bookshop in Portland, ME that sells through their site. I really wish I had googled them first. I was scammed just like everyone else. I was charged $102 for postage for a typically sized paperback being sold at a reasonable price. I questioned whether or not that postage was correct and cancelled my order. I should have stopped there. I tried ordering it again and the postage re-calculated to something reasonable. I re-ordered it. Then I received a request to raise the shipping costs again. I agreed this time, assuming that they were legitimate. It is way past the date I should have received it, and no book was sent. In addition, I emailed them and received an email from Sarah. I asked her for a tracking number, explaining that the book had never arrived. She said to please give it a few more days. I said that's fine, but I need the tracking number. She said she would "reach out to the shipper" to get a tracking number. I had trouble believing there was a shipper given that the bookstore is supposed a small bookstore owned by two people, but gave her the benefit of the doubt. I never heard back from her. I emailed her again, still no word and no book as of this date. I had a feeling I'd been scammed so I googled them, and now I see that a number of people have had this same problem. The lesson - google before you buy! "
"Ordered a book a few days a go for a very reasonable price from IrishBookSellers. Normally this a book (a manga actually) goes for $100+ (I have no idea why) but they had a used copy in acceptable condition for $18. Total was about $24 with shipping, said it would take 5-13 days to ship. 5 days later (today) I get an email saying they want additional charges of $65 due to the weight of the book. It's one manga volume! It doesn't even weigh a pound. I reject the offer for extra charges; which does not cancel the order and less than an hour later IBS canceled the order claiming someone else just brought it. Mind you I already paid for it. AbeBooks is good about refunding money (had to cancel a previous order with them and the money back in 2 days) so I will get the money back. But isn't it funny how suddenly IBS was sold out of that book when I rejected the extra charges. They probably saw how much others were selling it for and thought the best thing to do would be to back buyers into a corner. SCAMMERS!!!! I have no idea how they have a 5 star rating on the site."
"I purchased a book for my daughters college class through Abe books - Irish booksellers - My payment for the book was immediately taken from my account 8/28. The product was supposed to arrive by 9/14 but never came. On 9/18 I contacted them and they stated it shipped but never provided tracking information - merely stated "I'm really sorry that the book has not arrived yet. It has been shipped immediately and I'm sure it's still in transit. Can we give it some more time?" I asked what date it shipped and tracking number to which they replied "I will reach out to the shipper for tracking information." This was 9/18 - still no answer from the bookstore. I cancelled order for the book supposedly "already in transit" As of today - 9/24 still no book and no refund. So incredibly unsatisfied with this experience. I ended up ordering the book at amazon and received within 2 days. Will never order from Abe books/Irish booksellers again..."
"Purchased an overpriced book on Abebooks through their vendor Lost Books in Austin Texas and almost 3 weeks after shipping confirmation the book still had not arrived. I contacted seller and they claimed they could not find the book and offered to either keep my money and put me on a list if the should by chance come across the book or refund the purchase. After some digging I found this seller was trying to resell the book I purchased (the new listing has the EXACT SAME inventory number as my order) for 5x the price I originally paid for it. I contacted Abebooks to dispute this fraud by their seller only to get a generic email saying to contact seller. HUH?? I did some deep searching online for customer support phone number as they do not publicize it on their website to get a recording to call back during business hours, I called well with in their business hours. Unfortunately I still needed the book so I found another seller selling a new copy of the book for double what I paid for the used book and purchased from ABC Books in Missouri. Four days later this seller sends me an email asking for $30 extra for heavy book shipping, mind you the book only weighs 8oz. Reluctantly I paid the extra processing only to have Abebooks double charge my credit card, cost of the book again plus the $30. The charge was declined and they canceled my order without being able to contact them on their error. I immediately contacted the seller to let them know of the error on Abe’s part and a week later I still have no response from seller or Abebooks. Do not waste your time or money on Abebooks, Lost Books or ABC Books. "
"I bought a book I was looking for, it arrived in a timely fashion and was exactly as described. I'm satisfied!"
"I bought a bunch of law school textbooks from ABE but will stop using them after my recent experience. I accidentally ordered a duplicate of a Remedies textbook for a course I ended up dropping, and received it yesterday. I contacted them immediately and explained both my mistake and that I dropped the course, but abe referred me to Glassfrog who wrote:
At this time we do not accept returns due to buyers remorse. This falls under Abebooks return policy as stated at the link below: "The bookseller is not required to accept a return and may choose to cancel your return request if it’s against their store policy."
Cool. I will not place another order with them and will make sure my incoming classes are aware that this occurred and this is how they handled the request. It's bad customer service. Then they tell me I can try to resell it to them, (scam) and when I tried it says they aren't accepting this book.
"
"I bought 7 books through Abe Books to GlassFrogBooks. This book seller informes one tracking number but sent everything with 4 different tracking numbers. They dont put the real tracking so one can not ask a refund from abebooks. I am still missing 3 books and nobody responds. Horrible Customer service. I wont buy again here."
"No customer service whatsoever from abebooks - no support for customers. IRISH BOOKSELLERS rip off. I specifically emailed confirming a book order to which they replied yes- only then to send out the complete wrong book that was worth nothing next to what I actually purchased. They stopped returning my emails and then ABEBOOKS WOULD NOT SETTLE THE DISPUTE even after I spent more money to return the incorrect book. Booksellers lied about receiving the return and abebooks refused to refund my money. LIARS AND THIEVES. "