AbeBooks Reviews

2.4 Rating 112 Reviews
34 %
of reviewers recommend AbeBooks
2.4
Based on 112 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

Write Your review

Tell us how AbeBooks made you happy
Help future customers by talking about customer service, price, delivery, returns & refunds.
Minimum 10 characters
Would you like to add a photos or videos?
Strengthen your review by uploading photos & videos.
Drag files here or browse
(Supported files: jpg, png, mpeg, ogg, mp4 & webm)
What's your name?
Leave this blank if you'd like to publish your review anonymously.
(Optional)
What's your email?
We need your email address to verify that your review is genuine
Please note that we may share your email with the company to verify your order.
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
Anonymous
AbeBooks 5 star review on 16th September 2022
Grandma Sue
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
Anonymous
1
Anonymous
Anonymous  // 01/01/2019
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 week 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 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.
Helpful Report
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
Helpful Report
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
Helpful Report
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.
Helpful Report
Posted 2 months ago
SELLERS CAN'T UPLOAD IMAGES NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO. ABE BOOKS IS DYSFUNCTIONAL GARBAGE.
Helpful Report
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
Helpful Report
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.
Helpful Report
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.
Helpful Report
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.
Helpful Report
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
Helpful Report
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.
Helpful Report
Posted 11 months 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year ago
AbeBooks is rated 2.4 based on 112 reviews