AbeBooks Reviews

Name: AbeBooks
Rating: 2.11

2.1 Rating 153 Reviews

27 %

of reviewers recommend AbeBooks

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Metrics

2.1

Based on 153 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
Average Delivery Time	Over 7 Days
On-time Delivery	Greater than 31%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 55%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Live Chat, Telephone
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

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AbeBooks 1 star review on 5th March 2025

Anonymous

AbeBooks 1 star review on 8th November 2024

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Purchased two Hard Cover books that were mailed as paperback. Such a hassle that I just donated the books to a street reading library. Out the cash but learned a lesson”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I ordered a book from Owls Books via abebooks.com January 20. The book didn't come. Filed a return/refund request February 8. No response. Couldn't pull up a tracking# in my past purchases page. Sent in a second return/refund request 10-14 days later. No response. Sent in a THIRD return/refund request. No response. Asked to cancel my abebooks account and support contacted me. Been going round and round. They finally authorized a refund, then retracted/cancelled the refund the next day. Stay away from abebooks. See attached email correspondence.”

AbeBooks 1 star review on 6th March 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Paid for book. No delivery of same. No direct contact available so unable to resolve issue. Same applies to the actual seller, GreatBookPricesUK, who is using the Abe Bokks platform. So I am £12.68 and Abe/GreatBookPricesUK are in profit by £12.68. Now that I understand that Abe Books is owned by Amazon, I can understand why it is impossible to contact anybody. Be warned by my loss. DO NOT BUY FOM THIS COMPANY.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“SELLERS CAN'T UPLOAD IMAGES NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO. ABE BOOKS IS DYSFUNCTIONAL GARBAGE.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Ordered a book with specific cover art that I wanted, but received some mass reprint instead. In order to return it I'd have to spend 55% of the overall cost to ship it back. Feels like I'm dealing with those websites from China. Last time I ever buy from AbeBooks.”

AbeBooks 1 star review on 20th October 2023

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“their www. Is obstructive & unhelpful as are their superfluous unwarranted www.forms. A simple eMail, should have sufficed. I should not have had to enter county for address line 2. N/A, for city as where, my sister resides, where co-incidentally, my banks debit card is registered lives remotely. Hence I have to enter 'just off, the trunk road, Number.'. Hence facilitating delivery. Not compound problems as do their supercillious, unwarranted, www.forms. Nor should they like others make it so difficult to contact them, to rectify the problem, they created & compounded. Please eMail, vivisection.is.criminal@gMail.com, where upon receipt of proof of purchase, I should return as such asap.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“June 12 I ordered a children's book, Archer: Journey to Stonehenge. I was immediately billed on my bank account, but the book has never arrived (to UK address, not US). When I tried to email for help, I get nothing. I now see there are myriad complaints about AbeBooks and I will next go to Amazon, Abe's owner because this damages their and every other online services' reputation. It is Deceit of Consumers.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Ordered a book 2 May, given an 'estimated delivery date or or before 22 May'. Money taken out of my account promptly on 3 May. No delays there. 22 May came and went - no book. Tried everything I could see available eg 'customer support email but all that generated was some generic message which was of no help whatsoever. I tried replying to these messages asking for assistance but the cycle just went round and round with no progress made regarding what has happened to my book or if I will still receive and when. When I received an email on 26 May asking me to email them copies of ALL THE CORRESPONDENCE for the last few days since 22 May I had had enough of dealing with AbeBooks.co.uk. I will accept that I have lost the money but I could not continue dealing with this chaotic, unprofessional, unresponsive or perhaps even non existent 'customer support' in this one way communication indefinitely. No, I would most definitely, categorically NOT recommend buying from this company unless you are happy to accept that you may or may not receive your book and/or may or may not be able to communicate with them in case of a problem. Incidentally, this was only my second purchase from this company! Not a positive experience. The rating below for 'customer service experience' does not show 'non existent', unfortunately.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“my book was delivered late and technically is still not here and all they said was even though i paid for fast shipping that its up to the seller to refund me the shipping this company is a joke i wouldnt buy any books unless you do basic mail time its un reliable”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Bait and switch scam. I ordered an out of print book in new condition from a specific seller. Received a very good condition book from another seller. Original seller will only refund 50% of the difference.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Im still waiting on a Order I placed at the beginning of January with the expected date being the 10th February. No word or tracking number has been sent. It would seem i haven’t learnt as I placed another book order and it said due in 3-10 days. Waiting waiting. Very disappointing”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I was mislead by a seller "MonsterBooks" into buying a book that i didn't want. When i contacted the seller they were not responsive. Abebooks support was also of no use, so i got cheated into buying something that i didn't want. Stay away from abebooks if you don't want to get cheated.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I ordered a chalice hymnal. 1 book was $89.00 when I received it, it had coffee stains on it and a torn front page. I contacted the company that sent it and mailed it back to them. I sent them the tracking number 2 times, the post Ofc said it was delivered but not picked up and if they did t pick it up within 5days it would be sent back to me. They must have picked it up because it was never returned. So now they have my money and the book. They don’t respond to my inquiries. NOT reliable.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I had ordered a book from Abebooks, they stated that it would arrive on December 21, or before (2022). It is now December 30 (2022) and I still have not received my book. I have sent two emails to the company and they have not responded.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I was needing to purchase several books now & a lot more in the future but there is no way to contact them in person! Very unprofessional!! For a very one who may read this review, I highly recommend purchasing your books through Better World Books. I will be plastering Abe Books as a complete failure on every social media platform & highly recommending Better World Books for any & all book purchases. You've completely missed the mark Abe Books!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I ordered 4 of the same books and requested that I get a discount on shipping or ship them in separate packages as I would be paying for shipping 4 times which was over $10, I received 1 book and the other 3 were in the same package and it shows it was delivered, hmmmmm I never got them..... ridiculous. What a scam. I contacted the company by email numerous times and each one of their responses states "Thank you for reaching out to us about this issue, great customer service is our top priority. We were very concerned that you did not receive your order, and when we check the delivery confirmation number via INSERT CARRIER NAME, your order does show that it was delivered." A GREAT copy paste verbiage, this shows you DON'T care about your customers!!!! Because I paid you more than the average person the smart thing would be to have someone sign for it. Oh but wait that didn't happen!!!! And now I'm out over $35, It would be nice to get the books I paid for.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Just awful. Every bit as painful and untrustworthy as Amazon and not worth bothering with. Books are badly described, often deliberately misdescribed, photos are terrible (or non-existent) and prices seem to just be pulled out of the air - they definitely don't reflect current market values. Anyone buying through Abebooks is getting ripped off and there's no customer protection or customer service at all.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I ordered 3 books that showed as available. They where ordered as a set. Abe canceled one of the book orders, failed to notify me until after the other 2 shipped. I should have been notified BEFORE the others where shipped so I could cancel. Waiting to see what they are going to do. I don't want the other 2 books. WILL NEVER PURCHASE FROM ABES AGAIN”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Said they were a publisher on the website and it turned out they weren't..........😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I ordered a University textbook for my son (to be shipped form the UK to South Africa) , because I could not find it locally anywhere. Less than an hour after ordering though - on a SUNDAY - my son found a second hand version via a friend. I immediately tried to cancel my order, via 3 different channels (email, web form and , return function). On Monday mid morning I was finally responded to and told my order could not be cancelled as it had already been picked - not SENT mind you, just selected form a shelf. So I should wait for it to arrive and then I could send it back... again it was getting sent half way around the world to South Africa, that makes no sense. It was still right there!! Now over 2 months later it has not arrived, and their only comment is, 'oh well let us know if you want to order another one, it must be lost in the mail...'. No tracking number, no details, no interest, no nothing. Wow fabulous customer service all around. NOT. Thanks for literally nothing Abe books, except costing me money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

AbeBooks is rated 2.1 based on 153 reviews