A Guide on Buying Books on the Internet
New Books or Used Books?.
If you have no budget constraints, the answer is obvious. However, many good books become out of print. Even if a given title is in print, one can sometimes get a good bargain from online used bookstores.
Looking for New Books on the Internet ...
The definitive search engine for new books is BestBookBuys.com. It compares prices from more than twenty major retailers including Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes and Noble, Bookpool and Powell's, amongst others.
Sometimes there are also some good bargains to be found at university presses. For example, both Princeton University Press and MIT Press ocassionally offer sales at least once a year. For books on mathematics, Springer's Yellow Sales is worth browsing.
Looking for Used Books on the Internet ...
The best place to look for used books is by far BookFinder.com ~ a search engine for the inventories of numerous used bookstores both in the US and other countries (UK, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, amongst others).
If you have the time and patience, you can also try eBay the auction website. You will be pleasant surprised at bargains you can get there. Amazon.com Auctions has also joined the fray but they still have a long way to catch-up with eBay in terms the number of available book auctions.
Another place to try is Alibris.com. Some of the participating bookstores on this website also appears on BookFinder.com (but not all). The prices at Alibris seem to be slightly higher than those listed at BookFinder.com possibly due to the commission they might be charging the participating bookstores. If you are desperate to find a book, you might still find it worth looking into. I personally order most of my used books from Alibris.com these days as they seem to be very reliable.
Alternatively, both Amazon.com and Borders.com offer search services for used books. If you do not have time to search books on your want list periodically this is a good service. I have bought out-of-print books from Amazon.com and my experience has been a positive one.
Latest Update: 1 January 2009