More than just books ~ Barnes & Noble~
by shoplmart - Written: Feb 07 '04 (Updated Feb 10 '06)
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| Full Review |
When I decided to go back to school this spring the last thing I was expecting was the price of books to be a huge financial issue. I had been warned that the price of text books had skyrocketed over the past few years, however I figured that since my classes were all basic classes I wouldn't have to worry about having to pay for expensive books; I was wrong. When I visited my campus bookstore I was surprised (an understatement) that my psychology book would be almost $110.00 before tax. I figured I could find a better deal online which was only partly true when I first began searching for prices online, most online stores offered my psychology book for only about 2 or 3 dollars cheaper than my campus bookstore. Enter Barnes & Noble.com Online Store, an online store with some excellent prices on text books.
About this store:
Barnes & Noble.com Online Store (bn.com) is a store that specializes in selling all types of new and used books, from text books all the way to self help books. In addition to books, Barnes & Noble Online Store also features nearly 10,000 movie and music titles, video games, and much more. To purchase a product from bn.com you must first become a member (requires you to fill out a short personal info form and acquire a password) and then you can simply use your gift certificate or enter your credit card information at checkout. Bn.com claims that if you are not happy with any of their products you can return them within 30 days for a full refund (minus shipping) or you can return your merchandise at your local Barnes & Noble retail store.
Navigating around this store couldn't be easier. Bn.com offers 14 main categories on their home page to pick from and a book browser for quick searches. Another positive attribute of bn.com is that it does not hassle you with pop-up ads or glitzy advertisements, this means that downloads from page to page are both quick and reliable. Barnes & Noble Online Store also offers detailed product descriptions on almost every product which help aid in making intelligent buying decisions. There is also a huge amount of personal reviews by customers on most books in stock.
My Experience:
Since 2003 I have purchased 2 text books from this store; the Human Adjustment Guide and my CIS 1 book. A slight problem with bn.com is that like most online book stores many of the books that are featured at this site are out of stock. On the plus side, if a book is out of stock bn.com posts that it's out of stock before you attempt to purchase it. I have tried to buy books from eCampus where they only mentioned that the book was out of stock after I attempted to order it.
Shipping charges at this site usually never get outrageous, in fact most of the time shipping is free! This was a huge reason why I chose bn.com over other online book stores. Even though some of the other online stores had better initial prices i.e. eCampus, when it came to shipping charges that good deal turned out to be a total rip off. Although many items feature free shipping, shipping charges at this site are usually very reasonable. Bn.com offers standard delivery (shipped within 4-9 days), UPS Select (3-6 days), 2nd day air (3-4 days) and next day air (2-3 days). My advice is that if you have a few extra days to spare just go with the standard shipping and save yourself some money.
It usually has taken Barns & Noble Online Store about 7 business days to deliver my text books using their standard free shipping; customer service claims this shipping method should take 5-9 business days. I also should comment that when my Human Adjustment Guide arrived in the mail it came in perfect condition.
I purchased my Human Adjustment Guide from bn.com for 49.95, this is almost $10 cheaper than what I would have had to pay at my local book store/campus bookstore and about $5 cheaper than many competing online stores (after shipping). With a total of 2 orders I paid approximately $150 (no shipping charges) for my 2 text books from Barnes & Noble Online Store. This came to a total savings of $25 over the price I would have paid had I purchased these books from my campus bookstore.
If I have any major gripes about bn.com they would have to do with the poor customer service department. Though not the worst customer service by any means, the bn.com representatives seem to be a bit clueless when it comes to online orders. To explain, when I asked customer care if their online store carried the actual Human Adjustment book with the guide they simply gave me an "I don't know" answer.
Final Verdict:
Although I am a bit disappointed with the customer service department and that a few of the books that I wanted to buy were out of stock, Barnes & Noble Online Store has been a decent place to purchase my text books. In conclusion, I recommend this store to anyone who is looking to save a few bucks on books and especially to those who are looking for new or used text books. I will definitely consider Barnes & Noble Online Store the next time I need to buy text books.
-Thanks for reading!
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Text Books, Gwen Stefani
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