AbeBooks Reviews

Name: AbeBooks
Rating: 2.11

2.1 Rating 153 Reviews

27 %

of reviewers recommend AbeBooks

Company Reviews

Questions

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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Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“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

“After going through numerous complaints about the sellers on Abebooks, i have suggested to them so many times to leave the seller ratings to the customers like their parent company, Amazon does, as against such ratings are given by Abebooks. Their ratings are based on sellers’ fulfilment. Each book that is sold, Abebooks get about 18% of the total sale in addition to they charge a listing fee monthly to sellers based on the number of books they have listed. If a seller fulfill all orders, he/she gets 5 star rating, and if one order is not processed by the seller for whatever reason, the rating drops to 4 stars. Again these ratings are done unprofessionally. For no fault of the seller, some clerks in abebooks often go and snip the ratings. The customer has no clue about the seller. Does he describe the book honestly. Does he mail a battered softcover book when you asked for a hardcover book in good condition with a dust jacket, or the seller got your money and never sent out the book? If the customer has a voice to rate these sellers, others would take a note of it and would refrain from ordering from dishonest sellers - Believe me, there are a few doing well on Abebooks.com. My point is, let the customer rate their sellers, not the Abebooks who can spend that time to look after the customers. What do you think? Tell them!”

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

“I’ve been buying from AbeBooks for about five years. In addition to buying for myself, I purchase books for the grandkids. The youngest is an avid reader and just discovered the Story Treehouse series. The books arrived earlier than scheduled and are in good condition. The price was very reasonable and I have an incredibly happy 8 year old!”

AbeBooks 5 star review on 16th September 2022

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“An excellent online bookstore, with a huge selection of books, often at excellent prices and an exceptional customer service to go with it.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I recently bought a long-wanted book online from the Bedlam Book Cafe in Worcester in the US. In less than a fortnight it arrived here at our home in Gloucester in the UK when the 'postie' put it during his normal morning visit through our letterbox. An absolutely perfect transaction. I can thoroughly recommend this company.”

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

“I accidently put down the incorrect address, it didn't come up in their system so they called me and fixed the problem. I've also always gotten my packages on time.”

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

“Purchased a children's book for my grandaughters school library as a donation. The book arrived falling apart separated from the spine completely in several large clumps and shreds. The pages were falling out and it basically just completely fell a part in my hands as I tried to open it. I must say I was more than a little disappointed. But lesson learned. I will no longer be buying anything from AbeBooks!”

AbeBooks 1 star review on 12th April 2022

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“A company that doesn't value their customer at all!!! They only buy book from another bookstore and sell it again to customers. They are not direct book company so shipping will take FOREVER!!. DO NOT BUY FROM ABEBOOKS.COM specifically GF Books, Inc (Lakewood, NJ)”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Very bad service! I ordered 14 volumes of an architeture magazine, the seller send me 11 volumes of another magazine. I spend a lot of money to make a devolution when there was not my fault. I will never buy again from Abebooks. I'm big consumer of books but with Abebooks It was definitively the last time.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Horrible platform. Most of their books sellers don't clean up their listings so after you spent hours looking for that one special book and you think you found it - guess what? you get an email a couple days later stating that the order has been cancelled because keeping track of their inventory is too hard :(”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Tell me why I ordered a book from this site to intentionally not buy from Amazon and it arrived in an Amazon package, fulfilled by Amazon. I paid $15 and change and the slip is for $9 and change. If I wanted to buy it from Amazon, I would have bought it directly for myself.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I gave this business a 2/5 because I spent a total of around $1,000 for books for Christmas and most of the orders went without a hitch. I had a problem with 2 sellers who sent me used books instead of new books. The books that I ordered were pretty expensive for paperback books because of limited printing ($67.00 and $48.00) which I was willing to pay as a Christmas gift. The nightmare began when both sellers kept telling me that a new copy was coming into their warehouses (yes, they were two different sellers in two different states but their emails could have been interchanged.) I tried to work with them each for about a month. I finally gave them a date that I needed a trackable number by and, when I didn't get it, I applied for a return/refund. That's when the real nightmare began. I finally got return labels from both and returned the books, expecting to see my refund as soon as they were delivered. It really isn't acceptable that I was the only one with anything at risk. They now had my money and I had no book. Then, it turns out that one of the sellers put the wrong address on the return label. How is that even possible? This book was then returned to me. I opened a dispute with American Express. While they were in the process of investigating it, I received the returned book back. I researched the address and discovered that the seller had neglected to put an apartment number on it. For 2 weeks, I asked for a return label with the apartment number because I wanted my money and didn't want the book. On December 4 (the original order was placed October 17, 2021), I finally got my money back from that one ($67 + shipping). I also just received the corrected return label from the first seller this morning (December 6). The seller of the second book received his book back November 27. On Friday, December 3, I wrote to Abe Books customer support asking where my refund was. I received an email this morning (December 6) asking me for the tracking number so that they could verify that the book was returned. Are you kidding me? This information was all in the information that I had to fill out for the return/refund, They were too lazy or stupid to even look at the information they required from me. I have told them that they have until Wednesday, December 8, 2021 to credit my American Express account or I will be opening a dispute with AmEx. Quite simply, dealing with this company is not worth it. I thought since they were now owned by Amazon, the customer service would be comparable. IT IS NOT! Alibris is another good source for books and I have never had a problem with them. I am an avid reader and still like the feel of turning the pages, so a good bookseller is important to me. I will avoid Abe Books religiously, however, because the problems are simply not worth it.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I waited for the book for more than two months, it still hasn't arrived and when I asked for a refound, they replied, that there is nothing they can do about it.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

AbeBooks is rated 2.1 based on 153 reviews