Gregory C.
Not Perfect - but just the BEST there is
Hours of my 80 years in life have been spent in brick and mortar book stores trying to find titles, and/or reasonable prices. They offered the ability to skim a book on random pages to see if I really wanted to purchase that book. I started hunting through used brick and mortar used book stores in 1970. Again skimming the contents at random and checking a book's condition before purchase. Along came Amazon with prices that put brick and mortar new book stores out of business. But used book stores flourished, some to the size of supermarkets. I could handle books to browse and buy at reasonable prices. Abe books amalgamated book stores to get prices down - if you don't add shipping and tax. No browsing and seemingly offering slightly discounted retail new book prices. I discovered Thrift Books six months ago. Prices amazed me, and they offered a choice of grades for book condition. For contents browsing I found generally reasonable descriptions of contents - not quite the sam as browsing with the book in hand - mostly accurate for plot and size.. I had not worked on my collection of Graphic Novels in some years. No super-heroes or pop comic books are collected or wanted. I look for serious material in certain styles of art aimed at mature and literate readers. OK, time to try Thrift Books, their prices seemed affordable. Thrift Books catalogue is immense. It took me several hours a day to go through all the Graphic Novel to find mature themes listings. These are unhappily not separated from pop comics listings. The lists do include out of stock titles of desirable books that enabled me to get on a waiting list for when they did come in. That feature works! I put many items in my first cart -- generally choosing Good condition or better. When I actually ordered them I found that some were billed as free. Those were based on the number of books I ordered. My first order arrived with every title I could afford from the Comics and Graphic Novels listings. There were three different shipments, no charge for shipping. Checking the order I found that good and better conditions were a right choice. The acceptable condition I ordered is just that. These are obviously well read several times, still soundly bound, but with notes, possible stains, scraped covers and corner crimped pages. Some had library markings showing their discard date. That first order also contained what I considered a mistake. I only ordered graphics from the proper sections of their catalog. One title was a written non-illustrated paperback supermarket edition. When I called and explained the situation, the service person said they would call me back. To my delight, they did to let me know that it would be expensive to shipping it back so I should just keep it. (I later gave it to a friend who prefers words only.) I was credited for the price. My next order was fine, and two orders since that with only good or better condition purchases (maybe $.50 per book difference) all have been better than most brick and mortar used book store offerings at higher prices. I do miss being able to flip through random pages while browsing. I have only been disappointed when I order based only on a title and description of contents. Then, when the art is not what I would keep in my collection I can blame no one except myself. Since it is what I did order "blind" I have no gripe. Orders arrive from wherever they ship in about 5 work days (at latest) from the on-line confirmation that the order is filled. That e-mail confirmation usually comes the day after my order is placed. By using Thrift BooksI have saved hundreds of $$. I have satisfactorily increased my graphic novels collection with titles I could not find elsewhere. Looking at other lists, I now have acquired some titles of non-fiction and novels I thought I could not afford at even brick and mortar used book stores prices. Since I am 80-years old and have collected, bought, sold and read a lot of books, I have found few things to criticize about Thrift Books, and an awful lot to keep me as a regular customer. Now if anyone can figure an on-line way to browse random pages .... I'm pretty sure Thrift Books will be among the first to adopt it.