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Illinois
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow A D.
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Bought a book from this seller on Abebooks. The book was in terrible condition (the condition was supposed to be as new). I returned it but I got a refund only for the book and not for the return shipping. The support told me that they couldn't return the money because of the Abebooks website rules, but this is a lie, since Abebooks says that the money for delivery is returned at the discretion of the seller. So if you don't want to pay for the seller's mistakes, I don't recommend you to buy books there.

Date of experience: February 23, 2025
New Jersey
1 review
0 helpful votes
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I ordered a book listed in "Very Good Condition" but it arrived in poor condition, with deep yellowing on all sides & yellowing deep into each page. I filed for a request for refund/return, which I didn't hear back from. Next day, I have two new emails from them asking me to rate my experience with Thriftbooks and customer service even though I had zero contact regarding my experience and return request. So I rated them low. After that, I get an email from a rep I'll call "B" ranting about my low review and how I'll never be satisfied, blah blah wah. He claims he sent an email about my replacement book. First I heard of it. I then get another email and it's this missing email. But all the dates are wrong. I consider changing my review due to some communication issues but B is such a butthurt little man, I added his drama to my review instead. Well, B went off the rails and sent me another jackhole email. Lord, it was bad, accusatory, self righteous, and weird AF. I wanted to give him some FAFO but realized B was a little man, and little men don't let it go. I wasted enough time, and I all-caps told him to stop emailing me. Haven't heard back but I screenshot everything and saved the correspondence just in case.
I am getting a refund for my whole order, but let's see if it happens. Just be careful of the bait & switch with the book conditions, and any customer service dude named B**** (rhymes with deuce)

Date of experience: February 25, 2025
District of Columbia
2 reviews
21 helpful votes
Follow Brittany N.
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Horrible service
November 29, 2024

I ordered a Marvel graphic novel called The Runaways for $15 bucks including shipping and was so excited to get it. They sent me a children's book called "the runaway" worth two bucks. I was super bummed and asked for the right thing and they said they didn't have any copies of the right thing at all. That makes no sense considering their site said they had multiple copies of the graphic novel I wanted, paperback and hard copy. Ridiculous. I did get a refund but I wanted my book. Just BS and I will never use this site again.

Date of experience: November 29, 2024
Louisiana
1 review
3 helpful votes
Follow ross s.
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Wanted to buy from you...didn't. It's a poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, business concept to not take all reasonable returns.

Date of experience: November 9, 2024
New Mexico
1 review
4 helpful votes
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BUYER BEWARE!
October 22, 2024

Does not send the edition they have pictured. This happened twice to me.
Good luck on getting a resolution your money back as well. Thriftbooks is a scam!
Unfortunately, Amazon supports Thriftbooks as a 3rd party bookseller, so check who the seller is before you checkout.

Date of experience: October 22, 2024
California
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Mark M.
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Ordered several books. One was never delivered. When I contacted customer service they refused to fullfill the order because it was past their 30 day window. Bad order fulfillment and just plain dumb customer service. Lost a good customer over a measly $5 book. Don't trust them. It's not that they have poor customer service, it's more like they just don't care about the customer.

Date of experience: October 11, 2024
California
1 review
1 helpful vote
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I order a book listed on their website with a specific cover as a gift for my Aunt. I wanted this specific book with this cover becuase it was a childhood book that she was attached to and lost. They sent me a book with the same title and a different cover. I reached out to them abd they said that it was the correct book and would not issue a refund or exchange. This is a awful company and i would never do business woth them again and do not recommend any purchasing from them.

Date of experience: October 8, 2024
Canada
1 review
2 helpful votes
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Ordered a textbook for school. The delivery status says "no safe drop" "return to origin". I live in an appartment in a safe neighborhood. No phone call. No email. No attempt to contact me at all. So if you have a job or are a student do not order anything from this site. You likely won't be home when its delivered so they will just send it back. Waste of time and money.

Date of experience: September 12, 2024
South Carolina
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Received one volume of a two-volume set
August 1, 2024

I ordered a two-volume set from Thriftbooks off of Abebooks.com. I emailed Thrift and asked them if both of the books were included, AS ADVERTISED. Customer Service did not answer my query, but sent a boilerplate response that was irrelevant to my specific questions. I sent the same message again and then a third time. I then proceeded to cancel the order within minutes of placing it but they sent the order to me anyway, ignoring my cancellation, and of course only one volume arrived. They then stated that they would refund me only if I returned the book I hadn't asked for! I refused. I'm retired, somewhat disabled, and I don't drive. It would inconvenience me terribly to take public transportation to a distant post office. I refuse to return this order that I did not want or ask for.

Date of experience: August 1, 2024
Virginia
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow A E S.
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Ordered 3 books. All hardback. Two came ok. One came paperback. Customer service said they would send replacement. It came - another paperback. This time they said they do not have a hardback. They did say they would refund the money BUT... this is not the first time I've had this problem. Definitely the last.

Date of experience: July 17, 2024
Ohio
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Cindy L.
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I purchased Genki volume 1 textbook for my Japanese studies and the front two pages were ripped out. If a book is damaged, Thriftbooks should alert the customers and let them decide whether or not they would like to purchase the item. It comes off as misleading and we as customers prefer not to do business with a deceptive company!

Date of experience: June 27, 2024
Massachusetts
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Mixed quality
February 20, 2024

Most books seem reasonable price for condition, but when a package arrived with the book section and listed CD missing, it seems my email bounced back. They need easily accessible Customer service, follow up for quality and to own any shortfalls.

Date of experience: February 20, 2024
Illinois
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Can I give a zero rating
January 25, 2024

I ordered a new book called the Atlas of Car Design. It's a big coffee table book that cost over $100.00. It came severely damaged. The spine was broken and pages bent. I think most of the damage was due to terrible packing. It took me 2 phone calls and four emails to finally get a return label. They received the return 2 weeks ago and still have not refunded my money. So now it's time to contact the credit card company. I will never purchase from them again.

Date of experience: January 25, 2024
Colorado
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Laura W.
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I've ordered from thriftbooks a few times, each time making sure to select ones that are in "very good" or " like new" condition, and each time without fail, they have pages upon pages written in, or worse... Unfortunately I will not be ordering again from them any time soon.

Date of experience: January 27, 2024
Colorado
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Gerard H.
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I searched the Thriftbooks website for "Catch-22" in hardback and ordered the one pictured in my search. The book I received was poorly photographed and it was unclear that it was a study guide and not the novel. Thriftbooks refused to offer me a return or refund saying I received the book I ordered.

Date of experience: March 14, 2024
Washington
1 review
2 helpful votes
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The stold my money
February 8, 2024

I ordered a 2003 edition of "Introduction to Complex Analysis" by Mark Ablowitz, paid over $100 and two-days shipping service. I received a $5 worth of an obsolete 1948 edition of the book "Complex Variables" by Ruel Churchill wich is actually marked down for $5. Customer support seems to he unexciting, I wrote a complaint and a review in their page, and I haven't got a response from them. Do not recomend, high possibilities of getting scammed, take your money somewhere else. I included fotos of my order and what they sent me in this review. They don't even provide this option in their website, so they obviously want to limit the customer's ability to file a complaint.

Date of experience: February 8, 2024
Washington
1 review
3 helpful votes
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Do Not Buy! Lie about Conditions!
November 2, 2021

I ordered around 50 books in total. The conditions as described were not what I received for nearly half of my order. Some books I ordered as hardcover came as paperback and vice-versa. Its like they literally grabbed whichever copies they had and sent them, ignoring what I actually paid for. One book marked "Like new" was nearly missing half the cover! And they want me to pay to ship it back!

I tried to reach out twice to customer service, both pre-order and after order, and they are terrible. Generic copy and paste messages. No authentic or genuine support. I understand sometimes things happen, but to be treated like poo, makes me think of your company that way. I will make sure I tell everyone I know to avoid you at all costs!

"Good"
"Good"
"Acceptable"
"Very Good"
+1
Date of experience: November 2, 2021
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Happy customer
April 7, 2022

I've ordered twice now from Canada. Books arrived earlier than expected, and in the condition promised. Unique titles of spiritual books that I can't get at our libraries and have to pay top dollar for at specialized stores. I'll keep ordering and hopefully won't have a negative experience like some have reviewed.

Date of experience: April 6, 2022
Texas
1 review
2 helpful votes
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Generous Customer Service
August 3, 2023

My grandmother recently bought a large order of Bible study workbooks that were in "used" condition, not understanding that these books might be written in or slightly damaged. She ended up spending triple digits on a pile of unusable books. To be clear, this was not the fault of the seller--the books arrived on time and in the advertised condition.
The return policy only accounts for items that were damaged or incorrect, so we doubted we'd be able to get our money back. I reached out to customer service anyway.
They acknowledged that their return policy didn't apply to our situation but offered a full refund anyway and told us not to worry about sending the shipment back. I was blown away. They showed a lot of integrity and humanity. I will definitely deal with them in the future.

Date of experience: August 3, 2023
Florida
3 reviews
8 helpful votes
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Don't Waste Your Money
February 14, 2022

The level of incompetence demonstrated by this company literally defies belief. I ordered The Sandman Vol. I, a 240 page graphic novel, and instead they sent me a 32 page preview of said graphic novel. No worries, I thought, it happens. So I contacted customer service and thought I had explained the issue and they proceeded to send my the exact same 32 page preview, again. I patiently tried to explain that they were sending me the wrong thing, but then they got all defensive and demanded photos of stickers on spines, which these pamphlets didn't have because they didn't even have enough spine to put a sticker on. My money is gone, they won't refund or credit it. I was forced to order the same thing from Ebay, but I still had to pay double what I should have. Just buy your books from someplace else. You're welcome.

Date of experience: February 14, 2022

Overview

ThriftBooks has a rating of 1.8 stars from 374 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with ThriftBooks most frequently mention customer service, good condition and dust jacket. ThriftBooks ranks 38th among Used Books sites.

service
154
value
154
shipping
157
returns
90
quality
153
+158