AbeBooks.com

The Great Gatsby: list price $13.95, $11.16 on Amazon.com – but only $1 on AbeBooks.com.

AbeBooks.com sells no books itself, but combines the full warehouses of smaller Web sites and actual bookstores. The reason the prices are so low is because you’re picking the lowest price out of hundreds of different offers.

When searching for textbooks, look here first. Forget full price, forget used and even forget half-off. Say hello to textbooks under $10.

Often, the lowest prices are for used books, but you can still buy new books if you’re willing to spend a little more. You can choose while you search whether you’re looking for new books, a first edition or even a signed edition. Search options include author, title, keywords, certain genres or subjects and an ISBN number if you’re looking for something specific.

In addition to providing a great search tool to get the books you need cheaply, AbeBooks often has themed sales or contests featuring new books. In honor of J. K. Rowling’s recent book signing tour, an article by an avid ‘Harry Potter’ fan included links to buy a Latin translation of the boy wizard’s first adventure.

The Web site’s marketing campaign involves ‘non-books,’ a series of hilarious titles that couldn’t possibly exist, like ‘Oops, I Was Wrong’ by George W. Bush, and ‘1985: Things are Looking Up.’ The books are followed by the slogan: ‘If you can’t find it here, it doesn’t exist.’

With more than 13,500 booksellers offering more than 100 million books, that statement is certainly true.

-Eric Meyers, asst. copy editor

Published on October 29, 2007 at 12:00 pm