How To Bring Barnes&Noble To Your Home
by navinthebean - Written: Oct 27 '01
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The Bottom Line
Almost as good as the real store!
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| Full Review |
I must admit that, up until yesterday, I had never shopped anywhere online except for Amazon. Yesterday, too, I had happily set out with a $10 gift certificate in my hand (mouse?) to the great Amazon.com itself. Not until the last minute did I change my mind and make the bulk of the order from Barnes & Noble Online instead. Why did I do this? Well, for one, free shipping on two or more items was a definite turn-on!
I can often be found on the couch of my local Barnes & Noble store, reading, reading to my heart's content. Perhaps it is because of this that I had never made a purchase through its online store before... Whenever I needed something, I would just run down to the store myself. But anyway, I went on an online shopping spree one morning, because I had found this great book that I just had to have at once (for the curious, it was A Blake's Dictionary --- I'm the poetry type). It cost quite a lot --- $30 at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble --- but then again it's the epitome of fat books.
So while my eyes were riveted to that tome, I picked up some more books, which were relatively cheap --- all four came up to $18.84. If you haven't already done the math, the grand total was $48.84, and the free shipping left me with only one extra to pay: sales tax --- $4.02.
WHAT B&N OFFERS:
Books, Magazines, Textbooks, eBooks, Music items, DVD's & Videos, PC and video games .... quite a lot of things, actually.
FINDING MY BOOKS:
This was the worst part of my overall good experience with B&N Online. Unless I had known that the books I wanted actually existed, I would never have found them. For example, when I did a search on William Blake, the book "A Blake's Dictionary", which I later purchased, didn't show up among the results. I only found out about this book through an Amazon link.
The website was not all that slow, but a little slower than other online merchants, and since I was in a hurry (Well, that I always am), it became somewhat of an irritant.
MAKING MY ORDER:
In contrast, I was able to check out fairly easily. B&N Online asked me to make an account for myself (it was my first purchase) and it didn't take very long. Once I was through with that, I was taken to a shipping page to enter my address and my preferred shipping method. Then I entered my credit card details on a secure server and, after confirming, it placed my order and gave me my receipt. This part was fast and hassle-free.
For payment, B&N accepts all major credit cards --- American Express, MasterCard, Discover, Visa, Diners Club, JCB --- gift certificates and MBNA Reward Certificates. If you are hesitant of giving out your credit card number, you can pay by phone or fax: after receiving your confirmation email, call the designated number. If your call isn't received within 3 days, your order will be canceled.
SALES TAX AND SHIPPING:
Sales tax is only applicable to states where BarnesAndNoble.com has operations - KY, NY, NJ, VA, TN, NV. Since there are Barnes&Noble stores in other states as well --- Illinois, for instance --- I'm assuming they're only talking about places where the dotcom has offices. Sales tax is not tacked on to purchases of gift certificates.
As I said earlier, for a limited time there's a promotion of free shipping to orders that contain two or more items, and are to be shipped to US addresses. You can only get free shipping if you are ready to go for Standard Ground Shipping, which takes 3-6 business days.
Since this promotion is going to end sooner or later, let me just tell you how much shipping would cost normally: Standard Ground Shipping costs $2.49 per order + $0.99 per item (I usually go for this because I'm bang in the middle of Manhattan where B&N has a same day delivery service, otherwise it takes 3-6 days); 2nd Day Air takes 2-3 business days and costs $6.99 per order + $1.99 per item; and Next Day Air which takes 1-2 business days costs $10.99 per order + $2.99 per item.
For 2nd Day and Next Day Air, DVD and Music items in an order of combination of products (e.g. books as well as DVD's) take $0.99 each for shipping. If your order consists of only DVD's and music stuff, it's even cheaper.
To be eligible for same day delivery in Manhattan, you have to have placed your order Monday through Friday by 11AM Eastern. It'll come by 7PM and you have to be home to receive it!
For a complete run-down on sales tax and shipping rates, click here:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/help/po_shipping_options.asp
DELIVERY:
As promised, my books arrived in good condition later the same day. I had the option of returning the books within 30 days to my local B&N store for in-store credit. I could also return the stuff the B&N Online for a full refund, provided the package hadn't been opened ... if it had, they could only be exchanged for something else. However, I was fully satisfied with what I got.
OVERALL:
I am quite satisfied with my experience with Barnes & Noble Online. I'll be happy to shop there again in the future, but I won't totally abandon Amazon.com either.
Recommended:
Yes
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