Mishawaka warehouse fire damages books

[Former]

As a former director level employee, I corroborate John's statements above. However, the misleading information on their website and marketing materials is/was a constant internal battle. Although they support non-profits, the way in which they do it is of questionable ethics. I choose to buy my books elsewhere.

[desert rat]

Work with this organization was BAD. DO NOT USE THEM!!! Turned in hundreds of books, and yes we prescreened and only sent ones in good condition. They said to send and then said they only accepted about a quarter of them….. but wouldn’t send the others back. Then they make you wait for your money…months. Right before payment they switched rep and tried to give us only half the money from the quarter of the books they accepted. Bad experience al the way around. Those who want to help others by collecting books find another group to work with. Better World Books are crooks!

[Softie]

I've found better prices at bookfinder.com , a clearinghouse of nearly all booksellers.

[Brian]

I've never seen such a grouping of pompous idiots. They lie through their teeth. They tell everybody they are into the 'three legged stool,' but they aren't into each leg equally. They treat their employees like trash. Just ask them what their employee turnover percentage is. They donate all this money to charity, but pay their employees dirt cheap wages. Please explain.

[Jirashi Sushi]

Well, I can't believe the bad attitudes toward BWB. Their prices for used books are WAY below market, and, very importantly, their book condition ratings are reliably honest. Good condition means very good, often almost new, although I would not recommend the 'Acceptable' ones.
The new books prices are about the same as other sellers'.
But, what is wonderful is that they charge only $3.97 for international shipping.
I've bought a lot of books there and will continue to do so.

[Rose From Arkansas]

I also buy from used Amazon and the book was like new! Payed a few cents for it plus postage. Excellent service, pacakaged well, would use this seller again.

Book buyer wrote:

Huh. Interesting posts, but they don't match my experiences with Better World. I received 2 used books yesterday that I ordered from them through Amazon. They were 5 or 10 cents higher than another seller, not one or two zeros higher. They came to me promptly and were as described. Sour grapes from a competitor, perhaps?

[My experience]

...in terms of being a customer was good, having received very quickly the book I ordered via the used-book aggregator abebooks.com , which I have used for years, in order to save money as well as support independent booksellers worldwide.

However, now I feel uneasy about patronizing Better World Books, as before googling the search term "Better World Books scam," which is how I came to this site, I e-mailed them with a question to which I am still awaiting a reply: "How is it that you came to acquire and are selling a libary book that was published only last year and received by the Queens, NYC library as a new hardcover?"

Are these books stolen merchandise?

[My experience - continued]

So to continue, I am now in possession of an essentially brand new hardcover book, released last year, that derived from the collection of the Queens Borough Public Library in NYC, at a time said library is facing $6 million in annual budget cuts and has posted an appeal on its Web site for donations to buy new books in this tough economic climate. Something just doesn't add up or seem right here...
See:
http://www.queenslibraryfoundation.org/site/P...

[My experience - concluded]

Well, for what it's worth, the following is the response I received from Better World Books; judge for yourselves its veracity or -- knowing the criticisms of their business model alrady voiced here and/or elsewhere -- any other standards you'd like to apply:

[If a book is identified as "Ex-Library" in our comments or description, it will most likely have some or all of the usual library markings - a card pocket, library stamps, a call number sticker, etc. Better World Books is currently working with a number of libraries who donate their overstocked books or old editions for us to sell. The libraries then select a local charity or one of our literacy partners (Books for Africa , Room to Read or The World Education and Development Fund) to receive the proceeds.]

[Wondering]

Has anyone actually SOLD ay books to BWB? They have a buyback program, in which you list the isbn codes on your unwanted books, and then they are supposed to either give a price to buy them from you, or tell you that they are not accepting that book at this time. I have tried selling several books to them...but all I get is "DONATION" in the price column. So they want the books, but only if I donate them? I even tried listing some books I thought would be very desirable, but did not really want to get rid of, just to see what they response would be. Again, they wanted the book, but only if I DONATED it.

So....has anyone ever SOLD a book to BWB? What was your experience?

I have bought several books from them, and my experience has been excellent with that. It takes awhile to get them, but for free shipping, I can wait a few days. Plus, I have found most books I've wanted used at a price of $3.95 or lower. The condition has always been good.