"They ship books in a thin plastic sleeve with no protection even though they charge $10 for shipping. Your book will come damaged particularly if you order a hardcover book. I had one arrived severely damaged and complained and they did ship me a replacement but I requested that they actually ship it in protective packaging and they did not so it also arrived damaged. Thanks Thriftbooks for destroying 2 out of print books! They also sold me an" excellent condition" book that was separated from the binding. Will never order from them again."
"I placed an order for over $1200USD in books for my business, a learning center.
Thriftbooks cancelled my order without any communication, and started refunding my order in $10 - $20 increments. Initially I thought, "darn, they must have run out of stock for that book", but after ~10 refunds I thought to email them for a status update. Their response was "Whoops, we thought this order was a scam so we cancelled it". Without reaching out in any way to confirm my order, they just straight up cancelled it. They confirmed my order would be refunded.
I waited a month for the rest of my money to be returned, I had only received ~$200USD back for my "refund". Then I reached out again, got in touch with a manager, who told me that "Oops, it looks like your refund was declined. Let me look into it and see what happened." It has been over a week of radio silence, I'll be issuing a charge-back and never using them again. What a joke of a company."
"The book I received was dented and it was packed loosely in a fold up cardboard package with no protection. I tried getting help first with the online chat which went nowhere then went to online returns and that went nowhere either. Thriftbooks want me to jump all their hoops to get the book returned to them which means I have to get inconvenienced for sending me a dented book and getting it replaced. Buy your books somewhere else. When something goes wrong with your order, you are on your own to get their issues corrected."
"Two paperbacks were crammed into a shipping bag designed for 1 book. The result is 2 books that are seriously bent, folded and crobated. 2 other books were shipped OK, BUT were NOT from the publisher shown on the web site. GO ELSEWHERE to get your books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"buy like new, arrived totally damaged"
"Had no issue with my book purchase - enjoyed the free shipping. Thanks for a smooth transaction!"
"I ordered 2 books. I wanted a specific cover art and I wanted soft cover, not hard. I was sent the wrong books! I was told after the fact that they were stock photos. Why even put a photo if it isn't accurate?? They will not let me return the books. No effort at all to fix this. Terrible company. "
"Every time I purchase an item through this company they can’t locate my item! But they have more on site at a much higher price! This will be the last time I gave them a few chances but I’m fine!"
"I was sent a badly marked up and battered copy which had been described as in "good" condition. I wrote to complain and they replied that "good" meant the book could be marked up. They also suggested that if I'm not satisfiued I could donate the book to charity...?!
In more than four decades of buying 100s of second hand books this is the first copy I have had to complain about. What a LOUSY "
"After years of purchasing with moderate satisfaction my last shipment was never received and the company has zero resolution solutions for me through their corporate blanket response system. I won’t shop here again. "
"Thrift books will often show a particular cover of a book, but the edition that arrives when you order it can vary widely. They ship based entirely on ISBN and not on the actual edition, and they use stock images for the website, so you never really know what you're going to get. Very frustrating for collectors. I think the only reason people use them is that they don't like Amazon. "
"I pre-ordered Alex Berenson's "Pandemia". At the time, Thrift Books was pricing it lower than Amazon, which was refreshing. I noticed that the book was released and people were discussing it for at least a week before I got my copy. There's no way for me to know if it's Thrift Books dragging their feet, or their supplier."
"Thriftbooks does not pay any attention to the format, condition, or editions when mailing out books. They grab the most easily and readily accessible title from their warehouse.
Some of the nicest looking books I got were considered "Acceptable" and I had a "Like New" book with half the cover missing!
Worse part is, they want the consumer to pay to ship them back with tracking. Then THEY will determine if they are in an acceptable condition. If they determine they are- you are charged a $2.00 restocking fee and you get no reimbursement for shipping!
Customer service the three times I've contacted them has been bad- nonexistent. They mostly copy & paste generic messages and close your ticket. --Even if it has nothing to do with your question!
I would use extreme caution when ordering from this business!"
"Consistently not in the condition described. “Like new” will get you a book with writing on all the pages that are also dog eared and cover that’s dirty or creased. Shipping times are 2 weeks generally and to get faster shipping the price is nuts you might as well buy new elsewhere. Oh and if you preorder a new long anticipated book and it tells you “will arrive within 1-2 days from release date” they’ll mail it mail innovations aka 2 weeks shipping and tell you if you want to return it you have to pay to ship it back to them and offer no apology for not carrying out the promise given at purchase. It’s a capitalist ploy to get more orders and not follow through. Find another used book store and save yourself the frustration. "
"I noticed nothing but One Star ratings for ThriftBooks.com. I have been using this site for almost 5 years now and never had an issue. Shipping is free on orders over $10. This is not Amazon so it may take a week or two for your used books to arrive. That's another thing most reviewers must be missing; these are used books, properly rated and described before you purchase. If you purchase enough books from them you can pick any book for free under $10. "