Where to Buy Used Books:

Is it bad mannered of me to admit that I love buying books at used book prices? I'm thinking it might be, but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. I love buying books at used book prices. I love keeping books after I read them. I'm one of those fanatics who will check books out at the library in order to cut back on the amount I spend at the bookstores, and then have to go out and purchase the books after I've read them if I REALLY liked them. Is this strange? I've never actually questioned it before, but I'm afraid that's because I already know the answer.



I like to have a small library of my own so I can remind myself of all the good stories and characters I've read in the past, recommend books to friends and family, and suggest appropriate (and GOOD) books to my kids. They're getting old enough now that they are interested in some of the same books as their mom!



So what with all the book purchasing...I need to keep the costs down somehow so I like to get books used. I figure I'm going to use them anyway so what's the difference? Here are a couple of my favorite online destinations for used books:



1. abebooks.com: At abebooks.com I try to watch out for the shipping costs. The price of the books is often ridiculously low, but they do have typical $2-4 shipping costs depending upon the seller. And since it's a directory of sellers you will accrue more than one shipping fee if you don't pay attention to which books you're ordering from which bookseller.



2. betterworldbooks.com: This is a site I ran across fairly recently. It offers books at good used book prices and doesn't charge shipping within the US. And worldwide shipping is only $3.97. This particular bookseller seems to be dedicated to making the world a better place and offers a running tally of books they've saved from landfills (29,861,420) and funds raised for global literacy ($7,280,541.87)...at least those were the numbers last time I looked. You'll have to check out current stats for yourself. They're right at the top of the home page so you can't miss it.



So there you have it; two of my favorite spots for purchasing books online. You should check them out!