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AbeBooks Reviews

2.4 Rating 115 Reviews

33 %

of reviewers recommend AbeBooks

Company Reviews

2.4

Based on 115 reviews


Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
Average Delivery Time	Over 7 Days
On-time Delivery	Greater than 25%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 73%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	6 - 12 Hours
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

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AbeBooks 1 star review on 6th March 2024

Jeffrey Gaudette

AbeBooks 1 star review on 6th March 2024

Jeffrey Gaudette

AbeBooks 1 star review on 20th October 2023

AbeBooks 5 star review on 16th September 2022

AbeBooks 1 star review on 12th April 2022

Stephanie Morales

AbeBooks 1 star review on 12th April 2022

Stephanie Morales

AbeBooks 1 star review on 25th August 2020

1

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“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!”

Posted 1 year 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.”

Posted 2 years ago

“I ordered a book as a gift to friend. On checkout, I entered the friend's as the shipping address, and mine as the billing address. On my order confirmation email I received my friend's name/address was listed, but not mine. I am now on my 4th email to Customer Service to make sure I get billed for the book, and not my friend. All AbeBooks replies have either been form letters about procedures, not addressing my issue or else stupid claims that the individual bookseller is the one responsible for placing the mailing address on the bill, not AbeBooks whose name is the one on the letterhead of the bill they emailed me. I feel frustrated, but realize the bigger headache it would be to cancel the order. I am a collector of books and have purchased from AbeBooks and other booksellers frequently over the past 12 years. In my opinion, all online booksellers have been going downhill steadily in their customer service for at least the last 4 years. It is sad & disappointing.”

Posted 4 years ago

“The same problem - not providing any tracking numbers!”

Posted 6 years ago

“Terrible company to deal with. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't waste your time with this shower.”

Posted 2 days ago

“When there is a problem with the book, Abebooks does not care about a long term customer. They only care about the seller. Because the books come exclusively by mail, we can't inspect them first. Don't expect to be able to return a book with a problem.”

Posted 2 days ago

“The wrong edition of Lapham's Quarterly was sent. When I contacted them I was told to mail it back. Then, rather than sending the right book and refunding the shipping cost of the return, they gave a refund only for the one I'd ordered. They ignored my emails protesting this. I ended up spending $4.65 for their uncorrected mistake.”

Posted 3 days ago

“Do not buy from them as there is a very high chance you will not receive your books and for sure you will not receive a refund.”

Posted 2 weeks ago

“AbeBooks is an amateur website with no oversight and incompetent staff. I was shipped a $200 book via the cheapest possible method, resulting in the book being thrown on the ground in front of my house and lost/stolen. AbeBooks made no effort to use signature-on-delivery. When I contacted them, the representative was indignant and uncooperative.”

Posted 3 weeks ago

“AbeBooks is an amateur website with no oversight and incompetent staff. I was shipped a $200 book via the cheapest possible method, resulting in the book being thrown on the ground in front of my house and lost/stolen. AbeBooks made no effort to use signature-on-delivery. When I contacted them, the representative was indignant and uncooperative.”

Posted 3 weeks ago

“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”

Posted 1 month 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

AbeBooks 1 star review on 6th March 2024

Posted 1 month 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.”

Posted 2 months ago

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

Posted 2 months 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

Posted 6 months 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.”

Posted 7 months 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.”

Posted 7 months 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.”

Posted 10 months 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”

Posted 11 months 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.”

Posted 11 months ago

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AbeBooks is rated 2.4 based on 115 reviews