Buying books online?

[gasmansteve]

Hi all
I was thinking of ordering a book on segmented turning online and while browsing Amazon came across the one I was interested in advertised by some company for £5.96 + £2 p+p. Fine I thought and wondered what the maximum price a company would charge for it and as I plodded through the increasing available prices from various firms (I`m not sure how this works with Amazon? I assume a firm advertises a book through them and they take a cut?) and got to an incredible £104.99 for the book which normally retails for £16.95 ???.Who the hell would pay that for a woodturning book, not quite sure whats happening there? is this normal for online books? never bought from Amazon before.
Cheers
Steve

 

[OLD]

Have a look at bookdepository.co.uk they can be less expensive if you have the details to find the book in there big list.

 

[wizer]

Depends on the book. If it is out of print then it can reach very high prices. John Brown's Chair making book for instance.

You're right about Amazon taking a cut, it's a bit like eBay with fixed prices.

 

[gasmansteve]

Hi Old
Yes my point being how can a firm charge that for a book retailing at £16.95 still in print and readily available?.
I can`t quite follow the logic of that one or maybe there are more gullible people out there than I thought :? .
Cheers
Steve

 

[wizer]

maybe there are more gullible people out there than I thought :? .

:idea:

 

[CWatters]

I usually check www.bookfinder.com or ebay for second hand copies of books. Modern books are usually a bargin second hand. Even some 100 year old books are remarkably cheap for their age.

 

[RogerS]

If I understand you correctly, it's not Amazon who are marking things up to such levels but the suppliers who use Amazon as a shop window. Having said that I agree with you and others that there are many gullible people out there.

Not exclusive to books either. We've had posts relating to woodworking items fetching silly prices on eBay before now!

There's a CD I'm after but the silly price is £50!!

 

[CWatters]

I recall a news item about ebay where the reporter demonstrated how it was possible to get "money for old rope" literaly. The old rope sold for not much less than the cost of new rope.

 

[Anonymous]

I recall a news item about ebay where the reporter demonstrated how it was possible to get "money for old rope" literaly. The old rope sold for not much less than the cost of new rope.

When I sold my Tormek I was gobsmacked when it went for more than the cost of a new one. :?: :?: :?:

 

[davegw]

I have never bought a book for myself from amazon, or any "new" item from e-bay because I can guarentee that it will cost more!

One of the worst things I think about the internet shopping revolution is that nobody seems to shop around!

IMHO of course

 

[Raggy]

One of the worst things I think about the internet shopping revolution is that nobody seems to shop around!

Its easier to shop around when buying online. For example we recently bought a new LCD TV, went and looked in various large electrical stores until we found a model we liked, took note of the price then came home. After about 20 mins of searching we saved ourselves several hundred quid just by 'shopping around'.

No matter what you buy it doesn't take much just to go to kelkoo or one of the other comparison sites and find the cheapest place to purchase from.

 

[StevieB]

let www.froogle.co.uk be your friend! I use this, then search ebay (watch for shipping charges) and use that as a starting point for shopping around. Even comet et al are cheaper from online than in store - sometimes considerably so!

Steve.