Three great online bookshops

When I heard the news last year that many Borders bookshops were closing, I was not surprised. I have been buying books from overseas for several years for the simple reason that the books are much cheaper and the range is much wider.

I love reading and have a lot of books in my collection. I have owned a Kindle for about a year and I enjoy the convenience of reading on this portable device. Although I like reading fiction on the Kindle, I prefer a real books for non-fiction especially books with photos or diagrams.

In this article I wanted to tell you about my three favourite online bookshops.

Abe Books – Second hand (but usually in very good condition) as well as brand new books. I am very pleased with the service and subscribe to their email list as well as liking the Facebook page. They often send out discount coupons and today I got a 10% off coupon just for liking them on Facebook.
Amazon – Reasonable pricing but now I mainly use Amazon for ebook purchases for the Kindle. I have bought many books from Amazon over the last ten years and like their service.
Book Depository – Brand new books at low prices. I check this site after I have checked Abebooks and Amazon.

I occasionaly purchase books locally, usually when I attend book launches organised by Stanton Library and Constant Reader bookshop in Crows Nest. Local books are usually not available from overseas, such as Graham Bond’s autobiography or Kylie Kwong’s cook books.

I would like to recommend Basement Books in Sydney (near Central station). They have many books at bargain prices and cheaper than buying from overseas. And you can browse the books before deciding to buy.

Why are books in Australia so expensive?

I chose a selection of articles that discuss this issue.

5 responses to “Three great online bookshops”

stuartcooper

May 30, 2012 at 2:18 am

Not allowing parallel imports of books is a scandal. John Howard’s government allowed parallel imports of music CDs and you can now get (legal) pop music CDs in Target, KMart and other stores that are much cheaper as a result. Some protectionist arguments from vested interests stopped the Rudd Government from allowing parallel imports of Books, and things in Australia are as bad as they ever were.

Australian authors were arguing the industry would die if parallel imports of books were allowed. The same way we all saw the Australian Music industry die after parallel CDs were allowed.

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Marty

May 30, 2012 at 6:31 am

I know why computer books are so expensive (I talked to the manger at Bookware in North Sydney): ONE DISTRIBUTOR for ALL of AUSTRALIA! Fundamentals of competition anyone??!?!? http://www.bookware.com.au/

The price differentials are pathetic: I can order a book from Amazon, pay the shipping here, and it’s STILL cheaper (even when the $AU was near $1.10).

I don’t mind making up the difference for the usual $AU disparity (e.g. when it was $US.70 etc.) plus 10% mark-up or so, but for example, when an O’Reilly computer book shows $US35 on the back and Borders at Macquarie would list it at $AU90, that’s pure unadulterated GREED (Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy, oy, oy anyone???)!

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charuzu

May 30, 2012 at 6:36 am

The arrival of Amazon and other online book shops was the best thing that ever happened for my book buying habit. I did buy O’Reilly books many years ago, but the thought of paying $80 – $100 for a book that will be out of date in a year or two is ridiculous. Buying from overseas makes sense.

I occasionaly browse in Bookware but if I saw anything I wanted I would make note of the title and order from overseas.

If you think computer books are expensive, look at the price of law books!

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Teija Oksanen

June 11, 2012 at 10:10 am

I am glad that there is a lot of people who really like to buy book through online or in any other book shop now a days there is some people who don’t like books anymore which is really not good for me this is really good one thanks for sharing it to us.

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August 21, 2016 at 12:06 pm

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