Booksamillion.com - Easy Christmas Shopping With Just A Few Clicks
by mrs-j - Written: Dec 07 '04
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I have two gorgeous little twin neices. For the past two years at Christmas I've bought them toys and LeapFrog games and of course the requisite savings bonds, because everybody should have some crazy aunt who always bought them savings bonds that they can later use to cash out and buy something totally frivolous.
This year while I was home for Christmas I asked my dad what to get for the girls, and he said that they had just about every video and electronic toy under the sun. They're the first little girls in our family, so they get completely showered with gifts.
"Do they like Dr. Seuss?" I asked. My dad got a puzzled look on his face and said, "You know, I don't know if they even have a Seuss book." My mother confirmed that they had "maybe one, I think"...
Totally aghast at the concept of a childhood devoid of Seussisms, I decided to buy my beautiful neices all the great Dr. Seuss books of my childhood. So I went to Booksamillion.com.
About Books-A-Million
This is a brick and mortar store that began in 1917 in Alabama as a small street stand. They've expanded their presence to 18 states and the District of Columbia. In 1998 they added an online presence. In fact, I first heard of B-a-M by stumbling upon their website a few years ago.
About the Website
Book websites all seem to look the same to me. Booksamillion.com looks like Borders Books which vaguely resembles Amazon.com. I could go on. It's a very simple layout with a "spotlight" front page section and their departments across the top.
The website is simple to navigate and as a plus, Books-A-Million lists their 1-800 number at the very top of the page on the banner, so it's always handy if you need to call. Given that stores like Amazon.com seem to do everything possible to keep pesky customers from annoying their very busy employees, this is very refreshing. It adds to my trust in the company.
Pricing and Selection
I have found the pricing at Books-A-Million to be fiercely competitive with other online book outlets. In fact, I pulled up Amazon.com and Booksamillion.com and compared all the prices. Booksamillion.com's prices were slightly better, and their selection was just as good. In fact, I found all of the Seuss books I was looking for at Booksamillion.com and I even found a few other books to purchase for other relatives.
Purchasing Off Booksamillion.com
I found the Dr. Seuss books I was looking for in just a few minutes by doing a keyword search for "Seuss". I added eleven Seuss books. I ended up with an order for thirteen books.
Clicking on the add to cart option adds the books to your cart. In order to get back on the page where you were, you need to use the browser's back button, Books-A-Million sends you back to their main page when you click on "Continue Shopping", rather than the page you were last on.
Books can also be purchased using the "Fast Track" button which saves you time by using your default account information.
Millionaire's Club
One thing that Books-A-Million offers both online and in their retail stores, is membership in the Books-A-Million Millionaire's Club. Millionaire's Club members get an extra ten percent off their book purchase price, and the cost for an annual membership is $10/year. I am not usually inclined to pay money for a discount membership because usually it doesn't make any financial sense. I buy most of my books off Half.com and rarely buy them new.
However, while checking out, I saw that ten percent of my order would add to more than $10, so I purchased a Millionaire's Club membership for the year. With the membership I ended up saving $15 on my $150 order.
Checking Out
Checking out at Booksamillion.com is easy and quick. If you haven't created account you will be prompted to do so and from there it's a matter of picking the address, shipping options, gift options and providing your credit card on their secure server.
Order and Shipping Confirmation
Within ten minutes I received an e-mail confirmation of my order, along with an estimate that the orders would be shipped in 3-5 days. Two days later I received an e-mail notice that my order had shipped via UPS in two boxes. The confirmation e-mail included a direct link to track each package with UPS.
My Millionaire's Club card arrived separately a day later via regular USPS mail.
Delivery
My order was delivered on time, one week after I placed it at the website. Books-A-Million's packing slip is taped to the outside of the box and given the volume of books that I ordered I made sure to check the contents of each box against the packing slip label. Everything arrived in great condition, ready for wrapping!
Summary
My purchasing experience with Booksamilion.com was easy and went off without a hitch. This time of year I frequent a wide variety of online stores and my purchase with Booksamillion.com was one of the easiest this season.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? 16 Books
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