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ThriftBooks

2.0

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ThriftBooks Reviews Summary

The company has garnered mixed feedback, with some customers expressing satisfaction with the variety and pricing of books. However, a significant number of reviews highlight serious concerns regarding order fulfillment, such as receiving incorrect items, damaged books, and poor customer service responses. Customers frequently report difficulties in obtaining refunds or exchanges, indicating a lack of adequate support and communication. The overall sentiment leans towards dissatisfaction, with many stating they would not recommend the company due to these recurring issues, suggesting a need for improvements in customer service and order accuracy.

This summary is generated by AI, based on text from customer reviews

service
156
value
156
shipping
159
returns
92
quality
155

We monitor reviews for authenticity

New York
1 review
2 helpful votes
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The stold my money
February 8, 2024

I ordered a 2003 edition of "Introduction to Complex Analysis" by Mark Ablowitz, paid over $100 and two-days shipping service. I received a $5 worth of an obsolete 1948 edition of the book "Complex Variables" by Ruel Churchill wich is actually marked down for $5. Customer support seems to he unexciting, I wrote a complaint and a review in their page, and I haven't got a response from them. Do not recomend, high possibilities of getting scammed, take your money somewhere else. I included fotos of my order and what they sent me in this review. They don't even provide this option in their website, so they obviously want to limit the customer's ability to file a complaint.

Date of experience: February 8, 2024
Iowa
1 review
2 helpful votes
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I have ordered many books from ThriftBooks and have been very happy. I just received three books. A book called There's a pest in my garden, was rated as good. There was water damage to the first two pages and food crusted to the page. I was very disappointed with my order. This should've been rated poorly and I never would've bought it. Pat.

Date of experience: February 2, 2024
Colorado
1 review
0 helpful votes
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I've ordered from thriftbooks a few times, each time making sure to select ones that are in "very good" or " like new" condition, and each time without fail, they have pages upon pages written in, or worse... Unfortunately I will not be ordering again from them any time soon.

Date of experience: January 27, 2024
Illinois
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Can I give a zero rating
January 25, 2024

I ordered a new book called the Atlas of Car Design. It's a big coffee table book that cost over $100.00. It came severely damaged. The spine was broken and pages bent. I think most of the damage was due to terrible packing. It took me 2 phone calls and four emails to finally get a return label. They received the return 2 weeks ago and still have not refunded my money. So now it's time to contact the credit card company. I will never purchase from them again.

Date of experience: January 25, 2024
Ohio
1 review
2 helpful votes
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Not enough info given
January 21, 2024

I received a book without a jacket cover and would never have ordered it that way. One of the others was library binding. I wouldn't have ordered it either. I know this info was not in the descriptions. Was do disappointed.

Date of experience: January 21, 2024
Georgia
3 reviews
0 helpful votes
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YES, CAVEAT EMPTOR!
January 21, 2024

Like reviewer Sage L., I suggest only buying books from Thriftbooks that are marked as very good or new. I also have bought some "good" condition books I would throw in the trash or donate. Shipping seems slow, as well. I also find their Customer Service difficult to reach. I'd rather buy more costly books from Amazon or try Better World Books.

Date of experience: January 20, 2024
Indiana
3 reviews
2 helpful votes
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DO NOT LISTEN TO THE PAID POSITIVE REVIEWS!

I ordered 50 books in Like New and Very Good condition. I received an array of Poor-to-Good condition books, half of which weren't the ISBN I ordered. These "Like New" books had torn covers and pages, writing in pen through the entire books, and a handful even had liquid damage and were stained.

The overwhelming number of positive reviews is absolutely a paid attempt to keep people shopping on their site. PLEASE don't fall victim like I have, and please shop locally or find a reliable site that actually offers quality and ships you what you purchase.

Date of experience: January 16, 2024
Illinois
1 review
3 helpful votes
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Can't get it right!
January 15, 2024

After being sent the wrong book I was had to spend time returning it and I had wait 9 days for a replacement which still was not the correct book!

Date of experience: January 15, 2024
Washington
1 review
3 helpful votes
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Never Received Book
January 12, 2024

I ordered a book on 12/13/2023 for Christmas. It is now 1/12/2024 and no book and no update from seller, just a bunch of spam adverts from them. I will not be using them ever again.

Date of experience: January 12, 2024
Massachusetts
1 review
2 helpful votes
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Never again
January 10, 2024

I'll never order from them again. The books don't arrive as advertised. They show one edition of a book, you order it, it's a different edition. Happened one too many times. Never again

Date of experience: January 10, 2024
Tennessee
1 review
3 helpful votes
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Not as expected
January 8, 2024

I received the book on time, but when I opened the package the cover of the book was all bent. This book was very used. Whoever sold it left the good will sale sticker on the book. This will be my first and last time using this organization.

Date of experience: January 8, 2024
Pennsylvania
1 review
3 helpful votes
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Terrible in every aspect
December 22, 2023

I purchased what was supposed to be a signed edition with boxed cover in good condition. What I received was an unsigned, broken spine, bent pages, bent cover and the book looked as if heavier books had been piled on top of it for a long while as the book didn't lay correctly. Fortunately, I got my money back. When I received the book, it was shipped in a plastic shipping bag which, I'm sure was the cause of some of the damage. When they emailed me the label to return the book, I was instructed to BOX it! Let's just say that I took more care in shipping that book back to them than they did sending a $177.00 book to ME! Terrible service but Justin was helpful in getting my refund.

Date of experience: December 22, 2023
Maine
3 reviews
15 helpful votes
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They suck
December 21, 2023

Wouldn't recommend. Wish I could vote no stars. They don't let you leave reviews unless you buy the book which is stupid. What that means is if you have already read a book, and know everything about it...you can't leave a review unless you buy it. Dumb.

Date of experience: December 21, 2023
Missouri
2 reviews
6 helpful votes
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I ordered two new books on November 30th. Everything seemed fine until I noticed the tracking information indicated a shipping partner. I've never seen this on domestic shipments before.
One item is stuck in Illinois with no update, and the other item hasn't even shipped yet. The shipping partner is a company called One Stop Mail (OSM), a media mail/4th class mail service.
4th class mail is reserved for stuff like magazines and other media. While it's perfectly acceptable to mail books this way, 4th class mail is in no hurry to get delivered. Thriftbooks shows "standard shipping" on their website, which reasonably assumes first class mail, not 4th class media mail.
Thriftbooks is deceiving people about their shipping methods. They simply say, "5-12" business days to cover themselves. If you're ok to wait two or more weeks for a book that might not even be delivered, then no worries! But if you're looking for timely shipment and delivery of Christmas gifts, shop elsewhere.

Date of experience: December 6, 2023
Washington
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Love Thriftbooks
November 26, 2023

I like Thriftbooks the order is always correct and delivered in a decent amount of time! One order was incorrect and they fixed the problem

Date of experience: November 26, 2023
Washington
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Lies
November 25, 2023

I ordered books from the website and received emails stating my books would arrived the next day bulls**t still waiting I should have bought them from another location what a waste of time

Date of experience: November 25, 2023
Minnesota
1 review
0 helpful votes
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I have purchased separately two old cookbooks I was missing that I used to love. Both times the books were in great condition, arrived incredibly fast - mere days - and the cost of both the items and the shipping were very low!

Date of experience: November 25, 2023
Washington
1 review
2 helpful votes
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False Rating/Description
November 22, 2023

"Very good"= Ok for yourself, but if you plan on giving as a gift, you are better off buying New! IMO.

Date of experience: November 22, 2023
Arizona
1 review
4 helpful votes
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Caveat emptor
November 17, 2023

I've recently purchased books with their earned book reward so they were $7 or less.
All sold in good condition. THEY'RE NOT. They are water stained. Torn pages. Badly marked up. These should have been in the trash. Buy only books that are New or Very Good or Like new or ex library.
They will NOT replace the books for men or refund my shipping costs. Caveat emptor

Date of experience: November 17, 2023
Missouri
1 review
1 helpful vote
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I've always had a pretty good experience ordering books from ThriftBooks. You get what they advertise with respect to quality. They are also pretty fast in filling orders and getting the book to you. However, be careful of how you order, because they don't always let you make returns. Their policy is not clear about what they won't accept back--their site says something vague about "qualified returns" (obviously covering their backside). I got stuck with over $50 in books that I didn't want. So to summarize: buying books from them is good, but their after-sale customer service policies are not in your favor.

Date of experience: November 17, 2023