This is the first of my shopping recommendations when it comes to book-buying, and today I'm introducing: Book Depository! I'm not sure how I stumbled on it in the first place.. It might have been on a hunt for a book, or it might have been fate. I don't know. I'm feeling romantic, so let's just call it fate.
Why do I love it so?
No paypal account needed.
I can pay straight from my credit card. I do have a paypal, and I do occasioanlly use it to purchase things fom ebay of etsy, but the credit card associated with that account is now dead. And I can't be bothered to register another card. I could. But I'm lazy. So this may not be a plus point for everyone, but having the choice matters to me.
Free shipping.. EVERYWHERE.
Seriously. Everywhere. It's not some random promotion or a seasonal thing. It's free shipping. Everywhere. All the time. I'm in heaven. Frankly speaking, shipping is a bitch. Most times the shipping costs is more than the cost of the actual item when you order things from Indonesia, and whilst I don't mind forking out the shipping money - free shipping is a godsend.
The way the books are shipped.
Tax is also a bitch. If I'm not mistaken, if you purchase items worth more than $50 online.. You have to pay additional tax when it gets here. Whilst it is mostly over looked in Jakarta (where people tend to spend lots on online shopping from international websites), I know my friends have had troubles in smaller cities. Even in Bandung. Book Depository sends their books individually, so the cost of each package never goes to $50 - no matter how many books you've purchased. I once purchased around 7 books (not all mine!) and they were all shipped on the same day, individually packaged. Best thing? They arrived on the same day too!
Great customer service!
My last purchase went missing. My stomach was in knots. I waited up to a month before I started panicking. Then Deskynowsky (one my victims from recommending Book Depository. Avid shopper :p) told me it happened to one of her shipments once and she reported it. They immediately sent her replacement copies. I tried to contact them, the response was immediate, polite and helpful. They gave me a choice of my money back, or replacement books. I chose the books! Waiting on their arrival now!
Honest to God, they're not paying me for this post! Haha, I'm just so very, very in love right now.
My wages mostly go to books and bras. Expensive hobbies. So Book Depository was a godsend. Aksara is way overpriced with a poor selection of titles, Kinokuniya is also a little on the expensive side for me. Periplus and Times is awesome, but they are ever so tiny, and they don't always have the books I want. Gramedia is cheap, but again - poor selection of books. Second hand book stores don't have the new titles.. etc etc.
Now if I could only find an online bra store that stocks the good stuff with free shipping.....
Crossposted at rainbow madness.
