"Great experience overall! I found every book I wanted at a great price and they were delivered right on time. Would be happy to order again, especially with the coupons!"
"I've always have good experiences with Alibris, been shopping with them for years now. Normally I order books and they show up in a couple weeks (I'm cheap so I always choose the slow snailmail shipping) but they've always been in perfect condition. There was only ever one time I got something that was damaged, and when I asked Alibris what I should do next, they gave me a full refund, no questions asked. I didn't even have to return the book or talk to the seller or send them pictures or anything! Recently decided I'd try replenishing my music library and order a couple CDs. As I expected, everything is still going great!"
"I had a great experience shopping at Alibris. I ordered a couple of hard to find used books and movies. To my pleasant surprise, everything arrived quickly (1-3 days) and was as described or better condition."
"Terrible experience with Alibris. They messed up my order completely.When I tried to E-mail them, they keep responding with E-mails that have nothing to do with my problem .They have the worst custome service of any Internet company I have ever dealt with."
"I ordered a book for my daughter in medical school. Never received the book or a tracking number from the seller. Now the seller is unavailable and still haven't heard from them or Alibris. NO protection for the buyer. I wish I had read these reviews before ordering and wasting my money. DO NOT USE!!! BUYER BEWARE!!! "
"Do not buy from Alibris. They scam you. Independent sellers send you wrong books/incomplete fake copies of books. buyer have to pay for return shipping. And if buyer do not have tracking on the package, you are screwed. They will not refund you a penny. Alibris ignores emails. Seller status on the website is "this seller is unavailable" a week after I made my purchase. IT IS A MESS. Goto Amazon, they are the best."
"I would never use Alibris again. Their website is really user-unfriendly. I finally succeeded in placing an order and received an order confirmatio. a few hours later my order was cancelled because they didn't have the item in stock. I would have thought that in this day and age their system should be able to provide stock information before placing an order. Really disappointed!"
"Be warned, Alibris sellers who ship you the wrong or damaged or mislabeled item will not refund you the cost it takes to ship back to them. Alibris will offer you a 3 dollar coupon for your next purchase to be used within a month. They suggest you use delivery confirmation on orders over 100$, but you otherwise rely on the honesty of the seller, who has already misrepresented things. 3$ coupon to spend more on 5$+ return (with delivery confirmation), when you don't want to purchase a different item and just want to break even on their error."
"I would not shop here again. I purchased book 3 weeks before class and received confirmation email. When I returned from vacation expecting my book, it was not here and after waiting for a reply, the night before class started I found out it was "canceled". No reason one, just an "error". No email stating this, nothing. No offer to resolve either, I was just told to reorder. Oh, but I was given a refund. Gee, thanks."
"Another unhappy customer. Alibis failed to deliver my order on their committed date. Now 5 days past due, and their response is (and I paraphrase) "if you don't have it in 30 days send us a note." No sense of customer service.
**Update 12-30-13: Finally got a reply from the merchant. Despite their written confirmation of the order, charge to my CC and shipping acknowledgement, THEY NOW CLAIM THEY NEVER SENT THE PRODUCT! Isn't that illegal?"
"After my previous misadventure with Alibris more than 4 years ago, I thought I would try them again based on a strong recommendation by toptenreviews.com. However I ran into the same problems I had before. Two days after ordering a book, I received and email that the seller did not have stock for the book that I ordered. I returned to Alibris, checked the for the same book and found it for sale by the same seller. What? I sent an email to the seller and Alibris about the problem. When I did not hear from them, I ordered the book through Amazon. A few days later, I received a email from Alibris that the book which the seller could not supply had been shipped. What? Again, I contacted the seller and Alibris. This time I received a reply. To their credit, Alibris followed up with an apology and offered a 20% discount on a future purchase. While this is more than they offered when they messed up my order 4 years ago (which was nothing - did not even reply to my email), they must know that it is most unlikely that I will take them up on the order. I direct this to the sellers that are dealing with Alibris - I will not deal with Alibris nor any vendor that partners with Alibris. I will actively discourage anyone from using Alibris and their partners until such time as Alibris starts demonstrating that they are improving their service. Until then, expect the level of service that they have demonstrated over the last several years."
"I purchased from one of their sellers, JME Books. Not only did I never receive my order, but this completely ruined my Christmas gift to my husband. With no response from the seller or the website for three weeks, they finally got back to me when I threatened fraud. Now they are refunding me my money, but the seller still has a great rating on the website, even though out of the 19 reviews, 1 is neutral and the other 18 are negative. I've written Alibris about taking the seller off of their website, but I have not gotten a response from them regarding this. When trying to call them to resolve this matter via telephone, you get recorded messages referring you back to the website and emailing the company, which is worthless as you cannot get a response from anyone.
Even though the prices are advertised as cheaper than the competition, I would NEVER reccommend this website to anyone, and I will be caught dead before I do business with them again."
"It would be hard to find worse service. After no response in 24 hours I wrote back. They wrote back that there trying to keep there prices down. Low prices but didn't get my books."
"I have attempted to order the same book three times through Alibris.
Attempt 1: Rec'd reply that book no longer available, acc't credited.
Attempt 2: Book never rec'd. Acc't credited
Attempt 3: Wrong book rec'd. Expecting acc't to be credited.
Frankly, they still show a copy of the book for sale but I"m reluctant to pay $25 when previous copies were being sold for $5 and $16 and the most Alibris is offering to help w/increased cost is $1 or $2 coupon.
I know that Alibris is just the middle man for a bunch of booksellers but at some point they need to accept accountability for a negative shopping experience and help compensate for a miserable experience but their reply is "Too bad, try again." I wonder if they aren't actually based out of another country like India."
"Terrible! My book supposedly shipped on Aug 31st. Today is Sept 26th, and I have not received the book! I contacted Alibris, they refunded my shipping charges, and then they told me to contact them again if the book does not arrive 30 days after the ship date. 30 days for shipping!! This is absurd!
Also, beware of their return policy. They have a separate page for libraries (where you can actually return the book) and one for us poor saps. When looking to return my book (from a separate order- this book actually came, but not in any sort of timely fashion) I clicked on the Return Policy link located at the bottom of their home page- and unknown to me, it took me to the library return page. I diligently followed the instructions, and sent back my book. Well, as it turns out, they do not accept returns (except if it was their error) and because my book did not include the required return slip (as stated on the regular return page, not the library return page) my book was discarded and no refund issued!!!! WHAT!
Please DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS SITE! With is kind of service, THEY WILL BE OUT OF BUSINESS in no time! I've lost one book to the EVIL RETURN POLICY and may never even receive my other book!
AWFUL
AWFUL
AWFUL
AWFUL"