I accidentally placed an order and asked to cancel immediately. They told me they couldn't because for the first time in their history they shipped within 24 hours. When I asked why I didn't receive a shipping notification they said that sometimes their system goofs up. 11 days later I get a shipping notification, and checking with the post office they don't have it yet. I contact them and they tell me that due to an unforeseen shipping error, the package that got shipped without a shipping notification has now been returned to them! It's obvious that when they told me the first time they had shipped it they hadn't. No notification, no tracking number, no package headed towards me. That's a far more likely explanation than two rare glitches in a row, one with the shipping notification and a second with the shipping. I will no longer be doing business with this company. They've now lied to me multiple times just to keep the profit from a couple of books. read more

I ordered a book from Alibris with the total including shipping and tax costing $85. Received the book yesterday, and promptly contacted Alibris because the book is not as described in the listing. a "Client Services" person named Dhaval Suthar replied that I could return the book, but I would have to pay for return shipping. I replied that since it was their book description that was wrong and misleading, they should have to pay for return postage. I haven't heard from them. This is very poor customer service or client service, or anything they might want to call it. read more

Bare-bones Useless! Their Customer Serve-Us Number is useless! They represent small booksellers with crappy copies, passing them off as "Very Good." The most recent book I received had the cover come unglued from the text, as I was reading the unexpected "Happy Wedding Shower, Love, Mom" message on the first page. You would have better luck with ebay.com! read more

I'd been a customer of Alibris.com for more than 12 years. While I found lots of good used books, and only occasionally did I get shorted (but reimbursed), what was scary was the lack of direct communication with anyone at Alibris and when there was some communication with Alibris, it was slow and inadequate. If I really ran into trouble with Alibris over a book, over a charge, or a bookseller, just who could I count on to get resolution? I had no idea. Like most people I signed the Terms of Service to become a customer, and I never really read the agreement. However, last month I started receiving repetitive emails asking for information from me from Alibris, telling me to respond but only if I were dissatisfied with my purchase. I did not respond at first because the instructions in the email were clear: do not respond if you are satisfied. But then I got a second email the following day, making the same request. I ignored it. Who was responsible for sending me these emails? Was it a third-party bookseller, was it Alibris, was it a customer service rep, or was it somehow an automated email? Who could I talk with to find out? No one. I ignored the second email, but then i received a third, and i decided I would respond. I responded angrily and asked why I was being sent emails requesting a response that wasn't really necessary, especially since the customer was satisfied with his purchase -- and I used a couple of expletives. I never got a reply to my angry query, but when next I tried to order a book from Alibris, I swiftly learned my account was suspended. I couldn't order books any more. I created a new account with Alibris then and used a different email account as well, though I used my same charge card. At first, I was successful in purchasing books. I bought two without any difficulty, and at last I thought the obstacle that Alibris had posed me was finally overcome and done with. But then I went to order a third book, and learned my new account too had been suspended without notice or email. Why wouldn't Alibris allow me to purchase a book? When Alibris suspended my first account that I had for 12 years, I thought it was because someone at Alibris hadn't liked me using a couple of foul words in my email and was punishing me for foul language. But when Alibris suspended my second account, I queried Alibris and a nasty man who heads Clients Services at Alibris emailed me, signing his name Ryan Warner, and asked me if my email's name was different from the name on my account. My email name was George Smith and my account name was George, so I said No, it is not different. I never heard back. I wrote Mr. Ryan Warner a second time and still no response. After I had emailed him three times, Ryan Warner wrote me back telling me i never answered his original question -- which, in fact, I certainly had done and I had the Sent emails to prove it. I never heard back from Ryan Warner. Today I complained about Ryan Warner's behavior on Twitter or X, and before I knew it, Alibris blocked me from posting any more comments. Finally, I read Alibris's Terms of Service contracts. Little did I know that Alibris states it can terminate any account for any or no reason at all. The reason I wasn't able to get any communication from Alibris about my account was because Alibris doesn't want to waste time communicating or negotiating its decision on terminating or suspending an account it deems it doesn't want. That's all there is to it. So if a customer does or says something, anything, once that Alibris doesn't like, it will terminate you as a customer, and you will NEVER get a second chance with it. The lack of communication lots of customers complain of about Alibris is all in the Terms of Service. Alibris wants just to press a button to delete and you've been X'd. This is a lousy business practice and Ryan Warner is a lousy intermediary between Alibris and the customer. Alibris's Terms of Service and Client Services are unfair and inadequate for good business about books. Tip for consumers: The Terms of Service at Alibris are such that the company can suspend or terminate an account without providing any reason at all, and Alibris does employ the Terms of Service in this manner with customers. read more

It is more than frustrating dealing through this company because of the frequency of cancelled orders with no other explanation than the generic "the specific copy you purchased is no longer available." I ordered two books on their platform yesterday from two different vendors and one day later both have been cancelled. I do not have this experience on any other platform. read more

Unethical selling by ALIBRIS. Alibris is selling used books. Their website states that "Eligible items for free shipping are listed with the Super Value Shipping truck icon. There is also a filtering option, to "Find only books eligible for free shipping". Based on this, the book I picked was eligible for free shipping, but when - I wanted to pay, a $4.99 charge showed up for shipping. I contacted Customer Service. I was told the following by Rajesh Dhabhai (Client Services): "I have reviewed your shopping cart and found that you've indeed selected the item eligible for free shipping. However, your cart still did not qualify for free shipping. For clarity, I've mentioned all requirements below for an order to be eligible for free shipping: - Item should be listed by Alibris - (requirement met) - Item should be shipping within the US - (requirement met) - - Individual item value should be $4 or higher - (requirement met) Order total should be minimum $39 or more - (did not meet this requirement) As you may notice above, your cart is meeting first three requirements but missed the fourth one. Therefore, you see shipping applied to your order as it is not eligible for free shipping offer." Before one puts the item in the cart, the book is eligible for free shipping. After one puts the item in the cart, the book is no longer eligible for free shipping as hidden criteria are applied after the fact. I consider this unethical selling and baiting. NO company should be allowed to do this. I will never use this company based on this experience. read more

bait and switch scam! They sell you a cheap priced book and then you get an email saying it's not available anymore but you can buy one of our replacements... which of course is the more expensive version. And now you've wasted time waiting for the book. read more

If you don't want to feed the Amazon monster, Alibris is a good source for 2nd-hand books. However,once they have your credit card number, they make book ordering so easy that, if you are not careful, you will hit the wrong button. Once you hit the button, there is no mechanism for cancelling an order. If you go to the trouble of looking up their customer service and compose an email, it will bounce back as undeliverable. This is why I've decided to stop using them. read more

Received the wrong book. Tried four times to submit the contact form, didn't work. Called, and there's no actual people available or voicemail access. Don't waste your money on this inept, cynical cashgrab of a service. read more

Alibris scammed $50 from a book I ordered they never delivered. Their sales process and customer service are incompetent - NEVER DOING BUSINESS with ALIBRIS again. We purchased 100s+ of books from Amazon for 10 years - Alibris cannot even deliver one book order. They used PayPal to charge me so will have to invoice them again and leave this review as a word of warning. Their office in this Emeryville listing is defunct - dangerous town my friend's coworker had his life taken in a hit and run at ~age 34 in 2020 before the official pandemic crisis began - Notified the Emeryville Vice Mayor we partied with back in 2018 - she's a goodie. I would like to rescind this review if Alibris pays back & refunds $50 to me, or gives me a gift coupon code with an approximately equivalent amount read more

alibris - Newspapers & Magazines Near Me - Emeryville, California

Alibris is a scam. They ship even when asked not to. They and their 3rd party honor nothing. Once they are paid they ignore you. Shop anywhere else but Alibris. They will scam you. read more

I was ready to place an order and the shipping was said to be given later. My 3 books totaled less than $6.77 and the shipping, when shown, was $12.47! Very disappointed and had I not been paying attention, I'd have paid almost DOUBLE the price for the books. I won't even bother looking here at books anymore. read more

Alibris = (in my personal experience) THE WORST BOOKSELLER known to man. These guys are as unscrupulous as they are awful. They lie! My best advice, do not purchase a book from Alibris, do not do business with Alibris, and do not set yourself up for unfulfilled promises by Alibris. Each time I purchase a book from Alibris, I think they may get better, but, they don't, they are consistently awful. Time and time again, Alibris booksellers have said that they have shipped me a book, but, they didn't, they lied. Alibris does not hold their Booksellers accountable. Alibris will take your money for a book, which you won't receive, then they won't issue you a refund, for not having received the book, until the 3 or so week shipping window is exhausted. Also, Alibris booksellers do not typically provide shipping, tracking numbers; of course they don't, because their booksellers don't ship the books that they say they have. It appears that Alibris has outsourced their Customer (DIS)Service to a third world country. The Alibris customer service people that communicate with you, by email, when they decide that they want to communicate with you, have a very poor command of the English language, and they lie. I wonder if this company is set up as a Ponzi scheme? read more

I ordered a book but as soon as I placed the order I realized it was being sent to a friend's address instead of to me. This was because, unlike most websites, Alibris automatically uses the last address to which you sent an order, rather than reverting to your standard (i.e. home) address. So less than a minute after placing the order I tried to contact customer service, which I learned is only possible via email. Asked them to change the mailing address and, since the book hadn't even been published yet, thought this would not be a problem. Got an unhelpful automated response. The next day, having heard absolutely nothing further, I emailed again asking that the order be cancelled so I could re-order it and have it sent to me instead of the friend whose address was used. This time I replied to the automated response to explain more about what happened. 13 hours later I got a response saying, "Sorry, we can't change anything once you place the order", which is simply unacceptable. AND it turns out the book was shipped at the same time I got that email, even though Alibris said it wasn't going to be published until four days later. read more

I ordered a music cd from alibris. After about a week I emailed to inquire as to the status to which there was no reply. They do not email status reports re delivery. They also tell you to not follow up, wArning that second follow ups will only delay the response to the first. I waited 2 more weeks to respond again only to finally get a response that the package had been delivered prior to my first inquiry. Had I received a timely response I might have asked neighbors if they had seen the package. Alibris service is the laziest I've seen since the Internet has arrived.THE WORST. DON' T waste your time and money. read more

It deserves 0 stars. Ordered a book almost three weeks ago and there is no sign of it. I ordered another book at the same time from Amazon and it arrived four days later. There is an expectation of a reasonable delivery time and there was no warning of considerable lengthy delays. It is no wonder that Amazon's book business is booming when it's competition is Alibris. If you want to wait for a month before your book is delivered, then by all means, buy through Alibris. If you want it faster, then don't. read more