AbeBooks Reviews

Name: AbeBooks
Rating: 2.07

2.1 Rating 160 Reviews

26 %

of reviewers recommend AbeBooks

Company Reviews

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Metrics

2.1

Based on 160 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
Average Delivery Time	Over 7 Days
On-time Delivery	Greater than 30%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 53%
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

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“I received a book form Abe books described as very good. I was awful, brown pages, pages turned over and cover torn. Admittedly it was an old book, 1987, but I have books in my bookcases older and are still presentable. I could not read such a horrible book. When I complained, I had no response so sent email again, to be asked why I was sending photos again? The company maintained it was as stated, should have been ‘poor’ in my opinion.”

Helpful Report

Posted 23 hours ago

“Do not buy from WORLD of BOOKS on Abe Books in Illinois! I canceled an order within 24 hours because I mistakenly purchased books that I already own. The seller claimed that the books had already shipped, which I know they hadn’t, To return the shipment, I would pay more in shipping charges from California than the book cost. There was no point in seller being this non consumer oriented and rude !!! Am done with the seller and most likely with ABE books in general!!!! I will donate the books!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 week ago

“I ordered from AbeBooks for several years with great success. I placed an order for several books, & AbeBooks reversed the charges, putting "Amazon" on the caption on my bank account. No explanation. I stopped using AbeBooks at that time.”

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Posted 2 weeks ago

“book never showed up and they want me to do the work of trying to get a refund from a different bookseller or tdelivery company, poor communication”

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Posted 1 month ago

“Shipping takes way too long. I know we live in the time of Amazon and Walmart and we're used to getting orders in a few days but this company takes weeks. I just see no reason why with our technology and infrastructure it would take 2 weeks to send a book a few states away?”

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Posted 2 months ago

“Fraudulent and misleading”

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Posted 2 months ago

“They have some good sellers and quite a few bad ones. AbeBooks doesn't allow reviews so there's no way to determine whether the seller is good or bad. Bad sellers make you return the book at your expense - definitely there are scammers like ThriftBooks-Dallas.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

“Would give 0 stars. Twice Abebooks has returned my books to seller with the excuse of “incomplete address” every single time I checked tracking and viewed my confirmation in my address on their documents were complete. It’s a total rip off. I will never buy from Abe books again!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 months ago

“I ordered a book over a month ago and never received it and have not received a response from Abebooks about the book or a refund. I am totally discussed by this company and will NEVER order there again”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 months ago

“Garbage company. 3 days after I placed my order they canceled one of the books as "no longer available" from the seller. They shouldn't allow sellers who can't keep track of their inventory to regularly cancel. I emailed to inquire and received no response from abebooks. I'll stick with better world and thriftbooks!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 months ago

“The book supplied was not as described, and had a few pages missing. Four pages were copies. The pages were clearly scanned with words curling around the edge. AbeBooks UK reached out to the seller, who did not respond, AbeBooks said they could do no more especially as I paid with Pay Pal. The seller didn't reply to Pay Pal either. This is sales by deception with no recourse. Even though AbeBooks is just a platform for sellers, as first point of contact, they should back up the buyer in these situations and get rid of the shonky sellers. Here's the funny bit, AbeBooks gave me a coupon to use, which I thought was good, but the coupon can't be used unless you use your own money and then get a refund. WTF!!!!!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 months ago

“I ordered a hardback copy of a book that I saw on the website of Abebooks, it stated the book was in good condition and the publisher was Penguin. What I recieved was the same title however it was a paperback with no similarity of the image that was on the website and published by a different publishing house. The condition of the text is the worse I have ever seen it was so bad that on some pages the text could not be read. I raised this as a complaint on the Abebooks forum on the website. I was given clear instructions to return the text to the original seller and a guarantee that the cost of the postage would be returned (£17). This all happened at the start of January 2025. Abebooks are now not responding to my emails and neither is the seller. So I now have no book and have paid for postage. Do not buy from this site.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 months ago

“I've been able to find 40+ year old books from my youth here many times. But most recently i found a more recent book in like new Icondition for $5- i splurged for expidited shipping and it was still cheaper than the new version. If you love the feel of a real book in your hand the the smell of old backs start your search here.”

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Posted 4 months ago

“Never received my book. Never received a follow-up email. Website is ridiculous to just get to customer support. Stay away!”

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Posted 5 months ago

“Have bought successfully from these people in the past. Placed an order in October (approximately $75). Projected delivery date was December 12. When I still did not have the items on December 28, I emailed them. Never received the courtesy of a reply. No customer service telephone number, only a maze of a website to try to navigate. After four email and still no reply, I got my credit card company to reverse the charges. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU ATTEMPT TO DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE. NEVER AGAIN FOR ME!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 months ago

“I tried to purchase a book from Abebooks. I paid in 12/7/24 and it is now 1/13/25 - still no book, still not at the USPS. They sell third party books, so I found out AFTER I paid my book was supposedly coming from India. I've left countless email messsges to both AbeBooks and the seller, True World of Books. AbeBooks only bounces you to the seller. AbeBooks does not have live chst, virtual assistant or a working CS phone number. No CS whatsoever. Ttue World has been giving me the runaround for 5 weeks. I asked for a refund 2X and was ignored. AbeBooks claims their sellers have 2 days to respond but they don't and obviously nothing is done about it. I'm going to get a refund through PayPal and will NEVER BUY FROM THEM AGAIN and I would suggest everyone else do the same. Horrible, unprofessional, crooked vendors.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 months ago

“I purchased a copy of a book through AbeBooks from Toscana Books in Austin TX for $58. The book was listed several days later on AbeBooks by the same seller for $400. I was intentionally shipped a bogus book and told by the actual book seller that they would investigate and ship the book I purchased. When I contacted AbeBooks they responded by issuing a refund. Avoid this seller and avoid AbeBooks.”

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Posted 6 months ago

“I bought a book from one of AbeBooks' sellers and then a companion book from another of their sellers, paying double the market price of the book by the time shipping was included. I got a message the next day that the out of print book wasn't actually available. AbeBooks customer service has been atrocious with them making no substantive effort to fix their problem. The last round of emails from their CSRs are openly taunting. Now I don't have the book I wanted, paid double the market rate for a companion book and have wasted a week of my life trying to get this company to meet their obligation. Awful, just awful.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 months ago

“an expected delivery date CUst;OMer' SERVIC'e +1 ( 8O5) 41O 56OOPHON'E NUMB'ERof 12/6/24. USPS shows it arriving in my state and yet no delivery. I reached out via email and got canned messages back. I’m filing a Better Business complaint. Horrible customer service.”

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Posted 7 months ago

“Book didn’t ship, despite repeated promises from SN Books who are somehow affiliated with AbeBooks who claims affiliation with Amazon. Amazon rep believes this is a scam and is entering a fraud ticket today. I did get a refund from my bank card, but was really hoping to get the book (“Thrift with a Needle” from 1954). Source is India which is likely the root problem.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 months ago

AbeBooks is rated 2.1 based on 160 reviews