AbeBooks Reviews

Name: AbeBooks
Rating: 2.09

2.1 Rating 157 Reviews

27 %

of reviewers recommend AbeBooks

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

2.1

Based on 157 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
Average Delivery Time	Over 7 Days
On-time Delivery	Greater than 32%
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

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

“I ordered expensive (almost $200) Breviary from Abebooks, it came to me with a different shape and size than the seller’s picture. I returned it, the German seller wrote to me that the Custom office hold my book and he has no car to pick it up and returned my book to me again!!! He keeps my money!!! And Abebooks customer service bounce my inquire. I feel the hole company is a shame. BE AWARE!!! If you there looking for old book, you could fall for this trap!!! I may hold a legal inquire for this nonsense!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Placed an order via AbeBooks on 19/4/24 for a hard to find textbook. I received a shipping notification on 25/4 which gave me a tracking number and identified the carrier as Royal Mail. Incidentally, my credit card payment was taken on 19/4, the same day as my order. Upon attempting to track my delivery I found that the Royal Mail tracking app wouldn't accept the number provided, so I decided to leave it a few days and check again later, just in case there was a delay in Royal Mail entering it into their system. I tried again after the weekend, only to get the same result, so I queried this with GreatBooksUK and got the oft quoted 'bot' response which didn't address my query, but did state that they usually shipped with either Yodel or Whistl so I tried the shipping number provided with both of these companies, only to get 'unrecognised shipping no.' responses to both! It was only at this point that I started to have doubts about the wisdom of my purchase (not cheap at £46.65) and started reading reviews of the company, including those on this site. This really got me worried so prepared myself for the worst, and ensured I had copies of all correspondence etc. safely stored in case of what looked to be the inevitable problematic outcome. Today (30/04) Yodel delivered my package. The book was new (as quoted on the order), still wrapped in the publishers shrink wrap, and in perfect condition. I am very happy with it! Basically, my complaint with the company is the dire state of it's communication and documentation, which I found problematic, and I know from other comments on this site that I'm not alone. With regards to the product, I cannot fault them in any way. I have marked them down to 4 '*s' for the reasons already stated. I thought they deserved at least one positive review. Whether they can improve certain aspects of their business administration so that they can collect more positive reviews remains to be seen. I hope so!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

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

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Posted 1 year 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.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year 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.”

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Posted 1 year 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.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year 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.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

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Posted 1 year 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”

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.”

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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

“He hecho 3 compras a ellos y todas han sido satisfactorias. Las entregas han sido antes de lo esperado y el precio me ha parecido razonable. Seguro seguiré comprandole a ellos!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I was happy with my orders from two of the three book companies from which I ordered. They were stated new and appeared so. These two companies are "GF BOOKS, INC. & "BOOK SHOP 4 U" I would give them 5 stars. However, the third book from "BOOK OUTLET" in Canada, left a lot to be desired. There was a small marking on the inside page, and then there was blank paper scraps taped to the front and back covers which is impossible to remove without damage. Very disappointed. I will not be ordering from this company again. While it was stated the book was "new," it obviously is not. So, if you're looking for a new book from this company look out! If I had wanted a "used" book I could have ordered elsewhere for less.”

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 2 years 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”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Books just as described, super fast shipping so arrive quickly. Saved $$ on college books over a decade ago. I still order from them books for leisure.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

AbeBooks is rated 2.1 based on 157 reviews