Amazon Marketplace

Full review
Erasmus once said, “When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.” I think this is my favorite quote about books, because it sums up my life in one concise sentence. Now that I’ve discovered the beauty of Amazon Marketplace’s used and new items, I no longer have to make a choice between books and life essentials! I can have both with the extremely inexpensive and dependable options offered by Marketplace.

Navigation
Amazon makes the process quite simple really. You go to the regular www.amazon.com website and search for your desired product as normal, and once you click on the name, the product listing will come up. Underneath Amazon’s prices and shipping info, you’ll see a link that says 㦜 (or however many copies are listed) used and new available from $1.38 (or whatever the lowest price is). For books and the ilk, other editions (hardback, mass market paperback, school/library binding, etc.) are listed right below with links to used and new copies.

Once you click one of these links, NOW you’re into the Marketplace section of Amazon! The listing divides the copies into new, used, and collectible, with copies in each section listed in ascending price. The difference between “used” and “collectible” is negligible in my opinion, as both can list copies from Like New to Acceptable (or worse). It’s a simple, clear layout, noting the condition of each copy in one column, and seller info in the other. I like the fact that the various sellers are rated (just like ebay, where you can see comments left) and shipping procedure is explained; however, the product descriptions sometimes can leave a bit to be desired. They range from “—” (yeah, real helpful) to very descriptive and detailed about any flaw and feature the book has. Generally emailing the seller for more details is fruitless, since they tend to be huge dealers with little time for running around checking books. Sometimes I get frustrated because I like to buy hardbacks with library bindings (mylar plastic around the covers) and often there’s no indication of this.

Selection
Just about anything you can buy on Amazon new, there’s at least one used listing for it, and usually many more (anywhere from 5 to 100 different copies!). As the March 06 edition of Consumer Report’s “Selling It” points out, this means that yes, Amazon’s product page for Trojan condoms theoretically has “new and used from $--”… However, I’m a bit more, ah, traditional, so I’ve only bought books, CDs, and DVDs from Amazon Marketplace.

Most of these products that I’ve looked at have many copies available to choose from. It’s like a huge used bookstore warehouse. You just weed through the descriptions and find a copy that’s in the condition you want and sold by someone with good ratings. Amazingly, there are often new copies that sell for very cheap, sometimes with “remainder marks” or “slight shelf wear” but otherwise perfect. This is also a fantastic source for rare or out of print books without the jacked-up prices you’ll find at other websites.

Prices
It’s amazing how many books are available from $0.01 and up! Yep, one cent! Hardbacks are often incredibly cheap as well. If you love hardbacks but rarely invest in them because of the price, this will be your Mecca, as they often go for $2 or even less. If you do price comparisons online, usually you’ll find Marketplace is the cheapest option. Not always, but quite often.

Shipping
This is the major drawback of using Amazon Marketplace, and even at that it’s not a huge deal. There’s a flat S&H fee that’s applied to every product (it’s $3.49 for books and $2.49 for CDs/DVDs, standard shipping). Regardless of whether you’re ordering multiple items from the same seller or not, you still have to pay shipping for each individual item. This is a bummer for those who are used to Amazon’s great combined shipping deal on orders over $25. It also means you have to compare totals carefully – if you have free shipping on a new $5.99 paperback, then maybe the $2 used copy isn’t really worth it. However, even with this policy you can still save a TON, especially on out of print books.

I haven’t had a single problem yet with untrustworthy sellers. The only annoyance has been two different sellers whom I ordered DVDs from, only to receive notices that the product was found badly damaged on the shelves. But the charge (including shipping) was completely refunded to my credit card, and it really was nice of them not to ship me a defective product. Otherwise, I’ve been completely satisfied with my numerous Marketplace purchases. The item usually ships the next day after placing the order, and most products arrive within the week. Not bad for 4-14 day standard shipping!

Ordering
The actual purchase is a snap with Marketplace. Just add the copy you want to your shopping cart (assuming you’re signed in to the site) and, once your shopping is complete, click “proceed to checkout.” You’ll be taken to an order summary page, which will list each item as a separate order (remember that darn shipping deal?). If everything looks good, just click “place your order” and that’s it! Unfortunately you can’t always track your purchases like you can with abebooks and other used booksellers, but Amazon does keep a record of your order history and details so that you can see what you’ve bought. Amazon also sends you an order confirmation email.


Bottom line
What a life-saver! Even though I love wandering the shelves of retail bookstores like Barnes and Noble, I cringe whenever I checkout and find I’ve paid HOW MUCH for so few books?!? Well, problem solved! I’ll never buy another new book again without checking Marketplace first to see if I can buy it for much, much less.


P.S. This is my first review of an online store, so I'd love to know what you thought of it and if there's anything missing.