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Amazon.com |
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Barnes & Noble |
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Borders Books & Music |
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Literary Guild |
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Quality Paperback Book Club |
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| SITE: |
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amazon.com |
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bn.com |
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borders.com |
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literaryguild.com |
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qpb.com |
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| PRODUCTS: |
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Online bookseller |
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Online site for nationwide retail chain |
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Online site for nationwide retail chain |
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Books club |
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Paperback bookseller |
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| BEST FOR: |
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| PLUS: |
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Huge inventory and prompt shipping; courteous and helpful customer service. |
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A wide selection that includes e-books; rare, secondhand and out-of-print store can help locate long-lost favorites. |
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Good graphics make it easy to move around the site. Titles listed in best-selling order, which can take time to navigate. |
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Up to 50 percent discount for members; per-item shipping fee is free
after fourth item in an order, excluding the first order.
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Four books for $1 each upon joining; no commitment and no reply card to deal with. |
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| MINUS: |
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Crowded home page can be daunting; discounts not as steep as before. |
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Selections can take time if you don't know what you're looking for.
For holiday delivery, orders should be placed about two weeks before
Christmas.
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For last overnight delivery, orders must be placed by 1 p.m. EST Dec. 20; for ground delivery, three to seven days before. |
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Membership commitment with a minimum number of books to order. |
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Searches limited to browsing. |
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| ORDER BY: |
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For delivery by Dec. 22, place orders three to seven days before then. |
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Selections can take time if you don't know what you're looking for.
For holiday delivery, orders should be placed about two weeks before
Christmas.
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For last overnight delivery, orders must be placed by 1 p.m. EST Dec. 20; for ground delivery, three to seven days before. |
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Standard deliveries take seven to 10 days; express deliveries take five to six days, based on availability at time of order. |
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For new members, delivery can take two to four weeks. |
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| BOTTOM LINE: |
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With music, video, software, electronics, toys, tools and more, Amazon
is a one-stop shopping destination.
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The ultimate bookstore, and then some. Also sells music, software and
posters, and offers free noncredit online classes.
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Selection as vast as its stores, with music, videos and e-books also
available; reviews are well written.
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Popular books at a low price. |
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This is the place for paperbacks, with many titles exclusive to club
members; discounts can be substantial.
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| SUMMARY: |
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Amazon.com set the standard and remains at the top of the book heap, but
its nearest competitors, Barnes & Noble and Borders, want a piece of the
pile too. All three discount the most popular selections to varying
degrees.
Amazon.com's home page appears cluttered, but you can quickly home in on
a specific item with its all-product search. Regular customers also
receive recommended selections based on past orders.
The Borders and Barnes & Noble sites are easy to navigate.
Borders has a nifty link to children's books, with listings by age group
and award winners. Barnes & Noble offers free online classes (for fun,
not credit).
The Literary Guild and Quality Paperback book club sites require
membership to earn discounts on products. Similar to these are Book of
the Month Club (www.bomc.com) and the Doubleday Book Club
(www.doubledaybookclub.com).
Also consider the iBooks site (www.ibooks.com), which allows a preview
of its digital offerings and customization of your online bookshelf.
Because the books are kept online, there are no shipping costs.
A must for bargain hunters is the Web outpost of Portland, Ore.-based
Powell's Books (www.powells.com), which offers new and used books,
hardback and paperback. It feels like an online version of an
independent bookstore.
Powell's has seven real-world stores, and its online inventory is
updated daily.
Another good source for bargain books is Columbia-based Daedalus Books
(www.daedalus-books.com).
For out-of-print books, the best alternatives are Alibris
(www.alibris.com) and BookFinder.com (www.bookfinder.com).
All the sites have good return policies, but check for specifics. Same
goes for shipping.
For last-minute gifts, the Big Three have gift certificates that can be
sent via e-mail.
– Michael Trimarchi
Other Category Comparison Charts:
Dep't Stores |
Beauty |
Books |
Clothing |
Computers |
Electronics |
Food |
Movies |
Music |
Toys
Online Holiday Shopping Stories:
Return to the Lead story, or read about:
Decking the Halls With a Mouse;
Avoiding Pitfalls;
Shopbots;
Foreign Purchases;
Online Greetings;
Customizing Gifts;
Comparison Shopping
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