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Book Outlet

3.3

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Book Outlet Reviews Summary

Book Outlet has a rating of 3.3 stars from 1,888 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. Reviewers satisfied with Book Outlet most frequently mention great prices, customer service and fast delivery. Book Outlet ranks 7th among Books sites.

service
375
value
1,799
shipping
1,799
returns
22
quality
1,834

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48,909 reviews

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Canada
2 reviews
8 helpful votes
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Updated this review
October 1, 2021

UPDATE: I called Book Outlet and the person I spoke to was far more communicative and helpful. They are working on replacement for the parcel that I didn't receive and also allowed me, given the circumstances, to send it to another address, which I'm hoping the courier service, Metroland, will be more thorough and careful with. I will update this to five stars if the parcel is actually sent with the new address details.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: I have no idea where my package actually got sent and instead of dealing with this issue themselves, I was told I have to waste more of my time contacting the courier service, Metroland, myself and ask them yet again (I already contacted them once) to actually respond to me. This whole situation is a mess and I have no intentions of dealing with Book Outlet or Metroland again after this. I had no idea this wasn't going to be sent by Canada Post when I placed the order and had to pay $5 for shipping yet you would think there would have have been insurance to cover the cost of the parcel in that payment. Both companies are just ignoring the situation. I strongly caution anyone to reconsider dealing with either company. You can't even tell by the Proof of Delivery image Metroland took which unit this in this building they left the parcel at and I paid $5 for shipping. If this was with Canada Post, I'd at least have a route to recover the cost and no one would be leaving my parcel all over the place without me knowing where. Canada Post also would have attempted inserting my parcel in my mail slot rather than just leave it out in a random hallway.

Date of experience: September 1, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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BookOutlet is a great website for buying books in Canada. The prices are surprisingly low, and the books are in amazing condition. My package was shipped from Toronto, ON, and only took a week to get to me in Alberta. Shipping is only $5, so even if you don't qualify for free shipping, it's still worth it. I bought four books with a grand total of $21 which was a steal. The experience was overall very satisfying!

Date of experience: August 31, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Affordable & Well Maintained
August 30, 2021

Reasonably priced and even bargain books seemed to be well maintained, did purchased more than 10 books so far. Great deals for great books so far.!

Date of experience: August 30, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Fantastic book site
August 30, 2021

I had to restrain myself while shopping on this site because the selection is so amazing

Date of experience: August 30, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Good
August 27, 2021

Cheaper then stores, faster then expected shipping.

Date of experience: August 27, 2021
Tennessee
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Will not be returning customer
September 26, 2021

Great pricing however I ordered a Bible and a devotional at the same time on the same invoice. I had it sent to a friend 6 states away. Friend did not receive e both. Sent an email inquiring about the Bible that did not get sent to my friend and got no response yet. I paid for a book that was received. Will not use the site again but thriftbooks is awesome

Date of experience: August 27, 2021
Jennifer B. — Book Outlet Rep
over a year old

As a seller of publisher overstock, our entire inventory is received at random and cycled through very rapidly - having said that - unfortunately, on a rare occasion there is an update delay for our inventory. While a book may have been available at the time your order was placed, it became unavailable while your order was being processed for shipping. Please be assured that you will not be charged for any short-shipped item(s). Your pre-authorized payment will be adjusted accordingly to reflect this change and you will only be charged for the items included in the order at the time of shipment: https://bookoutlet.ca/HelpCenter#placingAnOrder

Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Two out of the three books I ordered came in near-perfect condition. I have no complaints there and was quite satisfied with the selection and the price! One book came to me a bit scrappy-looking, mushed at the top and bottom of the spine with a crushed-in dust-jacket. Perfectly readable, but if I found it in the store looking this way, I wouldn't have purchased. I went to the help centre, as directed, to see what to do about damaged books and it read: "Should you receive a book that is damaged beyond repair or structurally compromised for any reason, resulting in the book being unreadable..." and it went on to give next steps.

I am a librarian and am quite fastidious when it comes to the quality of my books (inside and out!). If it's not in perfect shape when it arrives in the mail, I will usually swap it back at the book store where I bought it for a cleaner copy. I was a tad taken aback when it comes to what constitutes a damaged book from this particualr seller. Beyond repair? Structurally compromised?!? It makes it sound to be like banged-up books are fairly common and to be expected at these incredible prices, and I can understand that. And to reiterate, two of the three did come in near perfect shape and I am tremendously happy with them! They were very new books, at that, and including the one I got for free, they were less than half the cover price.

Date of experience: August 25, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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.
August 24, 2021

...

Date of experience: August 24, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Superb customer service!
August 23, 2021

Great price and superb Customer service! Books came in great conditions. I had a little problem with my order and it was solved with very little hassle and quickly.

Date of experience: August 23, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Five books from Book Outlet
August 23, 2021

I went onsite to order one book! Five books later, and therefore enough spent for free shipping, I completed the order. Very smooth, no problems whatsoever. The books arrived on time and in excellent condition.

Date of experience: August 23, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Glad I found the website
August 23, 2021

Found the book I was looking and the price was right. Received my book in a timely manner. Easy site navigation

Date of experience: August 23, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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No more Amazon
August 22, 2021

I wanted to buy books from Canada if possible and most importantly get away from depending on Amaz*n. I was pleased to find great books at a discount for myself and as gifts. They don't have every book but they have a great selection. Shipping is only $5 under $45 and free above that! Well worth it and cheaper than shipping from US.

Date of experience: August 22, 2021
Canada
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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Looking for a particular author
August 22, 2021

Google search for the author brought up Book Outlet.

Date of experience: August 21, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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A nice experience
August 20, 2021

Bookoutlet is an easy and gratifying experience. The site is well organized, there is lot of information about book stock, you can organize your wishlists in categories, make searches by author, topics, etc. and the process of shopping is clear an fast. Costumer service is helpful, polite and willing to help although I've always needed to e-mail them just once 8n many years and only for a minor issue.

Date of experience: August 20, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Bought the song of achilles book
August 20, 2021

Great website and great price, book was on sale :) however, not too big of a deal considering the price i paid, but there seems to be marks on the bottom of the book? Like a straight line using a black marker. Leaves small marks on some pages. Still good experience with the website though! It arrived pretty quick too and i loved that

Date of experience: August 19, 2021
Canada
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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Great deal
August 18, 2021

Prices are very good. Staff was helpful to answer questions and locate a book.

Date of experience: August 18, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Excellent
August 17, 2021

I am extremely happy with the service and overall experience. The book arrived in exactly the condition described (great condition) and was well-packaged. Also, because it was previously owned I got a great discount compared to what I would have paid new. Shipping was also very fast, especially considering these are COVID times.

Date of experience: August 17, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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The Book Outlet forced me to deal with my own delivery issues with Metroland Courier - the absolute worst courier that I have ever had experience with in my 30+ years working with couriers. Despite my repeated requests for Book Outlet Customer Support to get involved in trying to figure out where my package was, they completely ignored me for several days and only responded on the 5th day once the package had been delivered.
The tracking information on the courier website was not updated for days, and, when it was, it was updated only minutes before the courier was at the door - not allowing me the opportunity to ensure that someone was there to receive it. The courier cited the reason as being that it was too much of a challenge for them to deliver to a business address during business hours. Instead, they attempted delivery to a business at 6:30pm on the Friday of a long weekend having only updated their tracking system that the package was out for delivery 30 minutes before the courier arrived. How is that possible that a courier is unable to deliver to a business during business hours? What is the point of a tracking system if the information isn't updated in a timely manner? Plus, they lied and said the courier was never here and backpedaled when I provided a security photo of him at the door.
I have never in my life had a worst online shopping experience and I have made hundreds of purchases from all around the world. I never had any problems with previous purchases, because they used Canada Post. However, they do not say ANYWHERE on the website that a courier is being used, or which courier, and for obvious reasons.
It is NOT the responsibility of the purchaser to follow up with a vendor that the business has chosen to work with. That's why you have customer support staff. I'm not your employee and the onus should NEVER be put on your paying customers to deal with vendor service level agreements and issues surrounding them.

Date of experience: August 17, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Scammers with bad service
September 16, 2021

Book I ordered did not ship. Instead, they just shipped the clearance books I had chosen to make shipping worth it. Now I can't even return to hose because I have to pay return shipping. Should have just ordered with Amazon.

Date of experience: August 16, 2021
Jennifer B. — Book Outlet Rep
over a year old

Hi, Bijan thank you for your feedback! As noted on our website https://bookoutlet.ca/HelpCenter#placingAnOrder: As a seller of publisher overstock, our entire inventory is received at random and cycled through very rapidly - having said that - unfortunately, on a rare occasion there is an update delay for our inventory. While a book may have been available at the time your order was placed, it became unavailable while your order was being processed for shipping. Please be assured that you will not be charged for any short-shipped item(s). Your pre-authorized payment will be adjusted accordingly to reflect this change and you will only be charged for the items included in the order at the time of shipment.

Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Smooth
August 16, 2021

This is one package that I always feel excited opening. The box has their label on so you know just by looking at it from a far that your books have arrived. I always love ordering books from here, they arrive pretty quickly and the experience has always been very smooth.

Date of experience: August 16, 2021

From the business

The only thing better than a good book is a good book at half the price…or more. And that’s what we offer. All our books are brand new and discounted at least 50% off publishers’ list prices. Book Outlet is your haven, full of excess publishers’ inventory eagerly waiting to find their way into the hands of readers like you.

So go on, get lost in the pages of a great book and revel in the thrill of a good deal that awaits you every day.

WARNING: Bookworms have been known to lose track of time, neglect household chores, and cancel plans. Side effects may include an insatiable desire to read, an expanding TBR pile, and an occasional book hangover. Proceed with enthusiasm.


bookoutlet.ca
Thorold, Ontario, Canada