Ghostwriting No. 6: Placing Internet Orders

It's a fiendishly busy time of year for us, so this week I've only got a short one for you. Short, but useful.

When you are ordering books on the internet, there are three VERY important things to remember:

1. Fine means like new. Near fine means slightly used. Very good means used. Good means kinda shabby. Acceptable or Fair mean crummy. Poor means don't order this unless you are a book repair expert.

2. More important than how many stars in the seller's rating, more important than which charity they are (supposedly) supporting, more important than the promise of prompt shipment or service, is this: Does it look like a person sat down and described the book? Never, ever order anything described as "Used - Standard" unless you don't care what condition it's in, and ditto "Our FIVE-STAR RATING says it all! Prompt service! We ship daily! Condition: Fine. Ex library." There is no such thing as a Fine ex-library book. Also be aware that a lot of the sellers who have books for five cents got them for one cent or less - and that means dumpster dives, library sale rejects, and discard shelf freebies. Not all of them, maybe. But most. And one more thing: Print on Demand is a total racket. The books are printed a lazy week after your order at best, on cheap paper with bad glue and ugly covers. If you only need it for research, that's fine, but seriously, the prices on these things are unreal too - $44.95 for a book they'll spend $6 flinging in a manila envelope for you. Seriously, interlibrary loan is better than that.

3. There's one site everybody knows. That site is also legendary for sloppy service, wimpy packaging, and shipping delays - and that's from the 'professional' headquarters, not even including the price hounds who sell through them. Ever see a paperback listed there for $215.97? I bet you $195.97 that the exact same book is for sale at a professional bookselling website for $5 plus shipping.

Where should you check to find out? There are two websites that do a good job of "meta-searching" the bookselling services on the internet. www.addall.com has a somewhat clunky format, but it has a lot of information, and you can sort your book findings in a number of ways. www.bookfinder.com is a little easier on the eyes and - this is why we really like it - the site adds in the shipping cost so you can see the actual price on offer. Some places price the book at $1 and charge $5 shipping, and it's cheaper to order from a place that prices the book at $2.50 and charges $3.00 shipping. www.bookfinder.com shows you where.

What AddAll and Bookfinder don't tell you is how reliable the sites are, or the sellers on those sites. Here's a quick guide to where we like to buy:

www.worldbookmarket.com is, of course, our favorite. We can vouch personally for the sellers on the site, because they're our friends around the world, people with nice books and strong ethics. On the off chance that something actually goes wrong with your order, World Book Market sellers will follow up with you professionally. But odds are against this, because we're all very carefully professional to begin with.

www.biblio.com has a huge selection, a strong advanced search page, and a conscience. They put the individual sellers' phone numbers right there in front of you if the seller provided it, so you can call and check that the book is in stock and as described; odds are it is, because Biblio checks out its sellers and bases its fee structure for sellers on fulfillment rates. They also don't overcharge the sellers, and they let us set our own postage rates, so we often offer our books for less there, or cut the shipping cost below the "standard" $3.99. Not only that, but Biblio donates a portion of its proceeds to literacy projects, like building libraries in third-world countries, and buys a carbon offset for every shipment.

www.alibris.com has an even bigger selection, a slightly less confusing payment system, and (sometimes) discount rates on international shipping. Problems: requesting a refund is tricky, and there are a lot of pseudo-professionals selling on the site.

www.abebooks.com has a big selection, an excellent advanced search page, the very useful Book Sleuth message boards, and a not too tricky checkout system. Problems: pseudo-professionals abound, and prepare to get a 'foreign transaction' fee on your credit card regardless of where you're ordering. This site is also kind of notorious among sellers for being unreceptive to our suggestions and increasingly expensive and less user-friendly. We don't buy here anymore unless we have to, but we'd sure rather buy here than at that other website, the one everybody knows about. Which unfortunately bought Abebooks, so expect this site to go downhill even faster. Alas. It used to be the bastion of excellence.

If you have questions about the terms used by booksellers, about particular sites, or about particular sellers on those sites, feel free to ask us. We're happy to explain. We don't want you to get stuck with a crummy deal. Also we'd like a chance to tell you we have the book in stock, in very good condition, for $5 with no shipping cost. Cheers ;)