I rate Alibris dead last among online book marketplaces. This outfit is very quick to take your money: Your credit card is automatically charged at the moment of purchase. The order confirmation and shipping details, are not automatic; it took multiple requests to get a person to respond with this information. Furthermore, the customer must pay shipping to return a book, even if it's a case of seller error. In our case, Booklab sent an inferior edition of a book we ordered. The price Alibris/Booklab charged, reasonable for the edition Booklab advertised, was TRIPLE the price of the edition the seller sent us. Booklab will take it back, but the transaction is through Alibris, and Alibris doesn't provide a postage-paid return label. Instead it offers a $3 coupon off one's next purchase. Not only is this a fraction of what we'll have to pay to return this 4-lb book to Booklab in VA. It is also presumptuous in expecting us to do business with Alibris again. Moreover, Alibris notes it takes 2 - 3 weeks for us to see the refund after the item is returned. So: Very quick to take your money, not so quick to issue a refund. And the return shipping is on us. That's just bad customer relations. Alibris was once a good outfit to do business with. But it's been sold and resold a few times since I last used it. I wish I'd checked the latest seller ratings on this outfit before using it again. They're abysmal - and now I know why. Stay away.

LeslieL18

Salem, MA

I ordered 2 Haruki Murakami first editions from Alibris. Both books came within 10 days, were in the condition noted, and were well packaged. Great experience and deal having used coupon codes as well.

bookmad

Berkeley, CA

I ordered 6 different books and all of them shipped out within 2 days, all as advertised and as expected.

doubtsevenhere

Santa Barbara, Ca.

I was looking for some last minute Christmas presents for the book collector in my family, and voila!, Alibris had them. Author-signed first editions for pretty good prices... and even better, the seller was close to me so I just might get them in time. Not only did I get them in time for the holiday, I got them way earlier than the predicted delivery date, and the seller clearly took a lot of care in packaging them. Lots of padding, securely taped box, individual bubble-wrapping for each book. Can't say enough good things about this company, or my recent purchase - well done!

imsomony

USA

I purchased 3 books and a blu-ray as Christmas presents and they all came in plenty of time. They were all priced lower than retail and I paid less than I would've on Amazon or eBay. Two of the books only cost 99 cents plus shipping each. Overall quite satisfied with the experience.

510sk8

USA

This was the first time ever using Alibris to purchase used text books and I must say that my experience was amazing. I received the book earlier than expected, which is always a plus. The book was advertised as very good condition. There was even a description of what the discrepancy was. In my case, there was minor wear and tear. Like many, I like to shop around for the best prices. Alibris, had the best price for the book I needed, period. Lastly, the initial sign up process was pretty quick. I will definitely be using Alibris for my future book purchases.

JNev

USA

My August 21st textbook order from Alibris for over $200 was promised to ship within 1-2 days. It took them almost two weeks to determine they had lied about having the book, cancelling my order on September 3, 2014. This is a disaster for a student! They then offered me opportunity to buy it again, for more money, even before refunding me. By end of business on September 4th I still have no refund, and no capacity to replace the book. I received an email confirming my order on Aug 21, a subsequent "your order has shipped" email estimating delivery after Aug 26, and the Sept 3 cancellation email indicating they never had the book and were issuing a refund. I also have the August 21 charge to my account. They clearly misinformed me in their first two emails, and haven't managed to issue my refund yet, although they managed to charge me almost instantaneously. I have had no response from Alibris' customer service. All the other books I ordered that night from a variety of other sellers arrived by Labor Day. This company is either terribly incompetent or engaging in systemic fraud. I am writing this to warn students about their practices.

AlsoVictimized

USA

I was recently looking for a copy of "The Wooden Horse," a book about a World War II escape from a prison camp. Alibris.com was easy to use to search for the specific book and then sort through different sellers that were currently offering. The website made the price and condition of the book very clear under each seller, making it easy to look for good quality at a good price. I was able to find a used copy in good condition for just over $2. The shipping was $3.99, so the total cost of buying it on alibris.com was a little over $6, whereas the cheapest I found for a hard copy anywhere else was over $20. The shipping was pretty fast (shipped soon after order, but ground transportation took a few days). The "good" description was very fitting, so I would commend the website for ensuring that sellers provided accurate details. Overall, I will continue to use alibris.com to look for quality used books at a low price after having this good experience.

utlegospam

USA

Every time I've ordered from Albris they cancel because sellers are offering their items on multiple sites and don't take them down. What's worse is they don't allow for negative feedback on these sellers. Every year for the last decade I've ordered and had items cancelled. I do a lot of online shopping, and you'd think I'd have learned my lesson. Hopefully, you'll be smarter.

Contempt

USA

So far so good purchasing used books from Alibris.com, I have only ordered a handful of times and every book I have bought has been exactly as described. On one occasion the books I ordered were not delivered on time, they actually came a week after the date promised but I didn't call to complain because I was in no rush for the books. Now I could see where it could be a problem if I were ordering books for school and needed them by a certain day. After my first order I was emailed a coupon code for $5 off my next purchase, which I quickly took advantage of. I tried to leave seller feedback when Alibris emailed for my feedback. When I went through each screen it would not lead me to where I needed to go. I found the website hard to navigate, even though I was signed up with the company. Each order I have placed, has eventually got to me by mail, even though it was a slow and never on time.

AprilTolley

USA