Do any of you guys buy your books online? I assume evryone does, I do, but I only know amazon. I never order direct from Amazon distribution though, but they have an excellent used book line-up.

I'm just mentioning because I got this book out of the library for my research and liked it so much I wanted to get it. well, I didn't think it was something purchasable, but I checked the copyright and it was only 2000. So I held my breathe and went on...and a used lisiting under amazon had it for 55 cents. hahaha. That's my kind of purchase. Anyways, they actually had 4 entries, and one of them was 2 bucks but was listed as "like new" so i went with that one. the store had a good user rating too.

Online book buyers anyone?

I used barnes and Noble and Amazon to buy used textbooks,a nd mazon to buy used books, sometimes I will buy a book new (like the new Art Speigelman book) but mostly I do jsut like you dolce and look for used versions.

Barnes and Noble also had a decent rare books network, so I have been able to order some rare and out of print books for good prices without having to track them down.

When I was in college, I used half.com to get used textbooks and other bargain sites (don't remember which now) to get the new ones.

One tip for textbooks: if you have to get it new, get it from overseas (amazon.co.uk, for instance). The prices in those stores could be much lower, because of the different pricing strategies.

I buy al my new books from overseas, it saves so much money, even with shipping.

I have a few questions about this topic:

1. Is it safe? Security, etc.?

2. How does all this purchasing business work?

3. Do you actually end up getting what you were promised? What if the quality is bad, etc.?

Pretty damn secure, at this point. Only Amazon I can vouch for, but I've never had a problem. Its pretty easy, you go to the site, run a search on the book you want, and it pops up. There are New options priced, and then there are used options.

About getting what you promised...I've never had a problem, but each site has its own methods. In amazon, the used book stores (which is where I go) are evalutated by people that have purchased from there. So If it has a 4 or 4.5 star rating, than what they're saying is what you're going to get. But look closely to see how many evaluations. I've ordered from one that had just started and only had 14, and that was the only purchase I've ever had with complications. Usually I look for ones that have over 1000, some have upwards of 5000, and those are very trustworthy. Look closely at their comments, because used books can be evaluated as "like new," "excellent" "very good" "good" "fair" etc. And then there are some comments about if their are markings in the book or whatever. They're pretty dead on if, like I said, the sotre has been evaluated often and has a good rating. They tend to come in the mail pretty quickly too, but I've never ordered over seas like Ripper and Krem have, so they woul dhave to tell you about that.

Thanks for the info dolce. I've been thinking of odering some that might be obscure. I'm ok with buying them at the bookstores, since they're in college and therefore have some pretty broad selections, but you never know.

Using your credit card online is about as dangerous as using it in the store, if you go to a store with a good reputation then they guarantee certian protections (as does your credit card).

That said, after you buy something online immediately close all your browser windows, and restart your browser before you do any other surfing. I also suggest not having stores save your credit card info in their database.

I use my mommies credit card to buy lots of books I love Amazon. I haven't worked up theconfidence for ebay or used Amazon stuff... not yet....