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hgaterms t1_j2e2onp wrote

How have I not heard of this before? I'm usually using thriftbooks.com or the used section of Amazon.

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ameliaspond t1_j2ehpej wrote

Alibris.com is another wonderful site for used or hard-to-find books!

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Beamarchionesse t1_j2fmve0 wrote

Thank you for this information, it's been very difficult for me to find several obscure and/or out of print reference books as of late. I tried through my local bookstore, but it's unfortunately owned by an asshat who went "Why would you even want that?" when I put in the request.

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Toshiba1point0 t1_j2ebukv wrote

also abebooks or ebay

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Fr0gm4n t1_j2ec34x wrote

> abebooks

Amazon has owned them since 2008.

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Nossmirg t1_j2emovl wrote

Amazon owns them, but at least you are still buying from actual book shops, so they benefit.

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unklethan t1_j2eppzx wrote

I worked as the store manager of an indie shop for a few years after running their online store by myself.

Abe hardly benefits the actual book shops. It's crowded with megasellers, just like Amazon is. I would say half of listings on both sites are by HalfPriceBooks or Goodwill. Most sellers who move over 1,000 books a year online will use an automatic listing service like Neatoscan that posts on Amazon and Abe (and like 10 other sites) at the same time.

If you want to benefit actual book stores, buy from their website, call them and buy over the phone, or go visit them in person. Bookshop gets an honorable mention, because they share 30% of the profits with the book store while hosting the site and storing the books and doing the shipping. It's incredibly generous.

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