Barnes & Noble.com

Full review
I received a gift certificate for barnes&noble.com a while back from a friend probably to buy myself some reading material. What did I spend it on? Not me. My daughter had been checking out and loving the Magic Treehouse series of books from the library so I decided to use the gift certificate to buy her some for her home collection. I did have the option to use the gift certificate in the Barnes & Noble store or online. Since I was unable to go in and shop leisurely, I checked out the online site. I had never been to this site before this experience.

The first thing I noticed was the large pop up windows when my cursor landed on a certain topic or item. The scrolling books would stop and a price, author,and member price would pop up in a rather large window. This window would quickly go away once I moved my cursor over. I was disappointed right off by the free shipping offer as Magic Treehouse books did not qualify and I would have to spend at least $25 to get it. I was interested in their summer reading program where kids can earn a free book by reading eight books during the summer. I loved the children's bestseller list to see the most popular kids' books. I saw many ways to search from age groups of children to specific criteria such as new books on the market and summer reading books. The left hand side has a number of subjects, you can scroll through and click on the one that interests you. They also have a search engine and you can look under books, toys, videos, games and more. Bargain priced books are on sale here too. I was surprised at the variety of items for sale: picnic backpack that includes plates, large tote for the beach, art supply kits, puzzles,Lego products, chess, DVDs, books, magazines, textbooks, and music. Each section has a bestseller list so you can see what item is most popular to give you ideas for gifts or for your own family. Used books are sold on the site too and bulk orders are possible.

A wishlist is available for saving items for later and your cart holds all of your stuff until you get ready to checkout. You will notice items that you looked at on the site last time you visited in a box in the lower left hand corner so if you forgot the title, it is right there! A section of the site is devoted to book clubs so you can get in on the action and discussions. Reviews of some books are available on the site. One of the links leads to a page that tells all about in store happenings at the brick and mortar locations. Here you can also look up the address of your local Barnes & Noble store. You can register for membership on the site and pay less for all items available for sale.

I had no issues using my gift card on this website. It was easy and quick to find and order what I wanted. The pages loaded quickly but the large pop up boxes irritated me and got in my way when I did not care to see what was popped up. They will accept returns within 14 days if the item is in the same condition. Some items you will not be allowed to return like magazines. Shipping times do vary depending on what you order from the site, from one day to two weeks. My order was shipped out together in one day and arrived within days. The books were brand new and arrived in perfect condition. I have no problems ordering from the website again at any time. I was very happy to find what I wanted and be able to order with a gift card online quickly. If you do want to know where your order is, they have a link to check the status of your order. I did not like the two prices being shown on items...member price and regular price. It can get confusing as to which is which and thinking 'oh that is a good deal' when it is only for members. I ordered 15 Magic Treehouse books and was very happy with my order and the selection on the site.

What is so good about THIS website?

Efficient and fast ordering online, large selection, easy to navigate to find items, takes gift cards.

What is unique about this website ?

Barnes & Noble online.

Is it worth the price?

Yes. Would like to see more sales on popular items too.

There has to be some bad to this website, right?

Large pop up windows are bothersome, two prices on every item

Any warnings people should be aware of?

None

Final verdict:

I ordered 15 Magic Treehouse books and was very happy with my order and the selection on the site.

pablo the shopper
The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one. Erma Bombeck