Books - The best deal?

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tablesalt

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I was thinking of buying a lot of books for presents this Xmas. Where would I get the best deal on books? Amazon undoubtedly cheaper, but when it comes to delivery charges it works out almost the same as the large retailers. Is there a good website or a shop that one can recommend?​
 
I always use www.play.com as delivery is included and its hassle-free. You can also get books through play.com's associates if you click the "New and Used" option ...you may get a better deal there and its still uses the play.com interface so you don't need to sign up to a different company.
 
www.thebookpeople.ie is good, but only has a limited number of books. If you find what you want it is good (free delivery, I think, over €55). Play.com is fairly good too, with delivery charge included in the price, but I find it tends to work out the same as amazon over a few books. Chapters (on Parnell St) tends to have good value in books, but if you are buying a lot then again, it tends to even out (some being cheaper and some more expensive).
 
I have bought a lot of technical/ craft books this year from:
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/
following a recommendation here. The free delivery is a real bonus and the range of books available is fantastic; my wife has bought a few academic/ research books from them as well. It's a great service.
 
sqonk am I doing something wrong, picked 5 books on play went to check out and the 5 I picked are UK delivery only??
 
Easons have an offer on at the moment. Buy two for €25.00. Bought separetly €16.95. No links with Easons.
 
Non-internet options....

Chapters Bookshop on Parnell Street (formerly on Abbey Street), nearly opposite Moore Street. Good prices on new books and a good secondhand section too.

Reads of Nassau St. doesn't have a s good a selection since Eason's bought them out.

If you are near Galway, Charlie Byrne's Bookshop is very good .[broken link removed]
 
As far as buying online - I have been doing some comparisons myself and found that Amazon is usually the cheapest if you are buying a few books at a time. Easons online are overpriced and the delivery is more than amazon. Reads is cheaper than Easons but still more expensive than Amazon .Play.com is d great for small orders of top selling books - but amazon has more stuff and is usually cheaper for orders over 3 or 4. Waterstones site is pretty good and they have a [broken link removed]at the moment but you have to use it by Nov 23rd.
Book Depository is in my experience pretty close in price to Amazon for larger orders but can be cheaper on orders of 1 or 2 books because of the free delivery.
 
I have been doing some early xmas research and these guys seem to have the best prices around, at least on the books I am after.
I am going to visit the shop - not sure how the delivery costs compare:

http://www.booksunlimited.ie/
 
Conshine said:
I have been doing some early xmas research and these guys seem to have the best prices around, at least on the books I am after.
I am going to visit the shop - not sure how the delivery costs compare:
Click to expand...

If you mean visit the "actual shop" I don't think they have one - I think they are just online. Delivery is €5.50 for 1 or 2 books then €2.50 for each book after that. Delivery is cheaper than Easons and Amazon - but the prices of the books don't seem great - ie
random selections
Richard Hammond On The Edge 24.10 euro Booksunlimited
At Waterstones it is 9.49 GBp (13.50 Euro) diff of 10 euro!

Jamie At Home - 31.73 euro at booksunlimited but 12.50 GBP (17.60 Euro) Diff = over 14 Euro.

Conshine - What were the books that you found to be "the best prices around" ?
 
I emailed them and they say they have shops here:

We have branches at:

Blanchardstown s/s Dublin 15

Tallaght sq s/c Dublin 24

Donaghmede s/c Dublin 13

Northside s/s Dublin 13


Ok - I have not checked personally, but the wife was looking for some books and she told me that they seemed the cheapest for what we were after - mainly childrens books, but one for the mother in law that sticks in my mind is something like "1001 uses for Vinegar" (??)
 
for sheer selection, reliability, ease of use of website, 'recommendations' made online, after sales service and overall good price I really think amazon.co.uk beats all.

Ive tried most of the other sites mentioned but if youre buying a lot of books and you want them fast you cannot beat amazons service. I often go off and use somewhere else for a while, but I always find myself drifting back....
 
The second-hand websites on amazon are excellent 1p per book and if you order several from the one dealer, it ends up a lot cheaper. The second hand books were in perfect condition...
 
i'd like to second/(third?) play.com i used them recently for a hard to find book on film noir and the price i got it at was less than half amazon's price. it was also cheaper than using www.bookfinder.com
play's delivery is free and usually very quick. when i checked waterstones the delivery costs were too high, similar with amazon.
 
it depends, if you name a specific book you can run around the various websites and find the absolute cheapest option - and its not always amazon. as a general rule I find them to be the best - if I was getting specific Id go off checking elsewhere too.
 
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