There are no words for how much this sucks. If you are outside the US/EU, reasonably priced books in english aren't easy to find. CompSci literature in English? Forget it, buddy. Book Depository had decent prices with free international shipping to most of the world. Sure, I have to wait a month and sometimes they have to reship because it got damaged in transport, but if I need a book immediately Library Genesis is right there. Book Depository built out my home library for both fiction and non-fiction, and I will miss it dearly. Salute o7
I'm really pissed off. I live in Europe outside EU and this is the most convenient way to get books in English. Often a translated book does not exist here at all, so Book Depository was a blessing in these situations.
Seems like nothing is sacred to the corporate quarterly reports. If a corporation made a little less profit this year compared to the last one (did not have losses!), it apparently justifies shutting down an online book store that ships a ton of titles at reasonable prices with free shipping to 160 countries in the world!
I'm inside the EU (Ireland) and "reasonably priced books in English aren't easy to find" unless you're buying pre-owned books and in most cases I can't find what I'm looking for specially when it comes to tech books. As an island, we're very much dependent on Amazon.co.uk for books.
If you're in Dublin then Chapters has a fantastic, on-going (closing down, perhaps?) sale on fiction. I can't find books cheaper on Amazon than there. For tech books, I get the ISBN from Amazon and then order them from Books Upstairs. It is more expensive, but not excessively so.
They don't have everything when it comes to tech or more niche material, but Kenny's (https://www.kennys.ie/) is very good and offers free (and often fast) shipping.
That also looks like a good alternative for the EU and some other countries, with delivery at €1 per book. (Just not the USA, which is €9.50 for some reason.)
While Book Depository definitely had some of the lowest prices, I wouldn't say we're very much dependent on Amazon - I've found that almost everything I've looked for can be found in a handful of bookshops around Ireland (Chapters, Kennys, Charlie Byrnes, Easons, Books Upstairs, Vibes and Scribes) - it's been a good few years since I've had to rely on book depository for a book
Book Depository is still the best way to get reasonably priced books not in English too. I have managed to get a number of books in Swedish that were stupid money from other vendors or would not ship outside of Sweden (Adlibris, I am looking at you!)
> I feel like there are no words for how much this sucks for me personally. It seems to me that if you are in most countries outside the US/EU, potentially excluding strong US/EU-adjacent economies such as Canada, UK, and Switzerland (Switzerland technically not being a part of the European Union), books in english can be hard to find for some people. Book Depository had what I consider to be decent prices with free international shipping to most of the world. Sure, I have to wait around a month and sometimes they have to reship because it got damaged, possibly in transport, but if I would like to have a book at that very moment I can use Library Genesis. Books ordered from Book Depository make up a large part of my personal library, with a few exceptions course.
It's not so bad. I used to order from book depository in an attempt to use an amazon competitor. Then I found out amazon owns it. Closing it down makes it more obvious to everybody that there is none, not in a really serious way, for online books outside the USA
In Poland there is a whole ecosystem of resellers who sell various books on Allegro (which is basically polish equivalent of Ebay + Amazon).
I am not sure exactly how do they get the book info, but it is quite clear that they get the inventory off Amazon, who ships the books to the resellers first, who repack them and send them to direct customers.
Of course you can ask, "why not buy at Amazon (or Ebay) directly"? Well, for many years Amazon was simply not available in Poland, it also required a full credit card (not only a debit card), while Allegro allows many more payment systems.
I tried buying some really obscure books on Amazon - and the interface is pure garbage. When I looked for random items, those often looked like cheap knock-offs?
Generally once per year I try to look at various "best books of 2022" lists [did hacker news have one?] and then try to get the obscure books. Often it feels easier (but not cheaper) to get them through those third party sellers than search on Amazon that offers 10 options of used books, semi-used books, PDFs - I genuinely dont know how to exclude the things that I dont want.
This reminds me how EBAY tried to enter the Polish market and their launch was so damn bad and the website so damn poor, that after 2 years they licked their wounds and simply exited the market.
I wish more people know Allegro, which has its own share of problems, but is so much better (I think most problems came when venture capital came, bought it and now tries to squeeze money out of it).
In Poland you buy something on Allegro and usually in 1-2 days you get it to a parcel locker machine. Which is like a machine that stores the packages for you in a safe way. I never understood why those dont exist in USA. As I understand the delivery drivers throw the packages on your garden, where they can be stolen, damaged by rain or so on.
I think Germany also has parcel lockers + the concept was introduced to UK due to all the Polish diaspora ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parcel_locker ), but when it comes to number of machines per capita Poland probably wins.
Thank you for sharing a glimpse of the ecosystem in Poland!
By the way, Parcel lockers do exist in the US (at least for Amazon package deliveries) https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=.... The US also has Post Office (PO) boxes that you can rent for a nominal fee a month (these are basically lockers for all types of mail including parcels).
Parcel lockers are a very interesting concept. It's generally something quite straightforward - something that stores items for your at a location (and you get an email / SMS notification + can open it via code, or app).
The idea probably was invented in many places, but I think Germany had them first. They are incredibly popular in Poland, because they are very reliable. Towns are full of them and in last years, basically even the smaller villages get them.
This all happens at the expense of couriers (who are more expensive) and 'regular' post (who is run by the state and sadly was quite unreliable. In fact it was so unreliable, that they bought a private company just to handle the packages. The bought company called POCZTEX is now very reliable, but 'regular' post used to send mail lost a ton of market share).
I wonder if Amazon copied the idea from Allegro, or possibly German post, or perhaps Korea (who also has them I think?).
Now Poland is a place of an interesting battle, where Inpost parcel lockers have most of the market share and locations, but multiple other service providers (Polish post, Allegro, Amazon, Aliexpress) try to build their own networks.
There are of course also multiple courier companies.
Normal post office is becoming more and more unprofitable - despite good locations. They deal with the low margin letters. The parcel market has much better margins (even despite being cutthroat).
Is there any notification via email or SMS? "Decades" suggest that they are just physical lockers that you have to go and manually check for mail. We have these too in rural areas, where delivery to every single farmhouse is too expensive and time-consuming. But modern parcel lockers are different. They are networked computers connected to solenoids that operate door locks. You get a code via mail or SMS when a parcel arrives, and when you go pick it up, you enter the code and a door automatically unlocks and opens.
Sending a parcel is similar: you can prepare a shipping label at home and print it out. When you arrive at a locker, you just scan label's barcode, a door opens, and you pop your parcel in there. Or you can prepare the label at the parcel machine, it will print out a sticker for your parcel. Stick it on, scan the code, door opens, put your parcel there.
Different size doors are for small / medium / large parcels. Center section has touchscreen, payment card reader, barcode scanner and a printer for shipping labels and receipts.
Such parcel lockers have been around for approximately 15 years, but usage exploded somewhat later.
"Decades" suggest that they are just physical lockers that you have to go and manually check for mail.
The USPS parcel lockers were around long before the internet. Back then when you had a package, the postman would stick a sticky note to your door to let you know to go pick it up.
Today, the USPS will email you a list of all the mail and packages with photos you are getting that day.
It doesn't notify you upon delivery, unless the sender requests it. But once you have the package ID number (which comes with the email), you can put it into any number of free or paid apps that will alert you immediately upon delivery.
The one you show looks like a bog-standard parcel locker operated by any of dozens of delivery companies, office buildings, apartment buildings and retail stores around the country for years and years.
They put a key in your personal mailbox that corresponds to a specific locker. You use the key to open the locker. You cannot remove the key once it’s used to open the locker. I’ve personally used these arrangements since the 1990s.
I'm in the Baltics and Allegro is a good option where available, but I'd really like them to expand as not all items can be shipped here. I don't really understand the logic of what can and cannot as I've bought small items and large items (headlights), but quite a lot of things are not available. Last year they added English translations on the site, but searching for items in Polish returns many more results so it's not a great experience.
The market here is really ripe for a big seller as if I buy the typical "I'll just buy it from Amazon" products locally they are very overpriced - I joke that it feels like the distributor in Germany (or whatever other European hub it comes from) adds 30%, then the person who brings it here adds another 30%, and then the person who sells it here adds another 30%. For example last week I bought some insect screens from Amazon DE, they were 3 for €16. If I buy locally the cheapest price is 1 for €20.
Amazon DE ships here, but they have a €10 shipping fee so I save up until I have many items in the cart, and then it still takes a week to arrive. AliExpress is a good option now they've started charging VAT (no customs to deal with) but it takes 1 to 2 months for items to arrive from China.
An “extraordinary and unprecedented” global protest from antiquarian booksellers has forced the Amazon-owned secondhand marketplace AbeBooks to backtrack on its decision to pull out of several countries.
AbeBooks had told bookshops in countries including Hungary, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Russia that it would no longer support them from 30 November, citing migration to a new payment service provider as the reason for the withdrawal. The move prompted almost 600 booksellers in 27 countries to pull more than 3.5m titles from Abebooks’ site, putting them on “vacation” as they cited the motto of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, “Amor librorum nos unit” (love of books unites us).
It's really bad. We probably want to not have monopolies like Amazon moving forward. So much so that we could probably pass laws to prevent it. Just in case we forget.
It’s a complex area - any time I read into the history of “antitrust” etc in the US I get lost in a quagmire of details.
Overall the US seems to be incredibly open to monopsonies, monopolies, and oligopolies, and very hostile to any restraint on such things. Though, the merest hint of success from a non-US entity seems to invoke bipartisan terror and pleadings for sanctions and new regulations. Funny that.
I do wonder if Brexit and customs to be paid for all of the EU has anything to do with this decision.
Book Depsitory is based in the UK. I have inadvertently ordered from them, to the Netherlands, as they had a “Bookdepository NL” store, which made it seem like they are an EU entity.
However, when the book arrived, I was hit by unexpected customs charges that were half the price of the book. Looking at recent reviews, there was a surge of these complaints from all customers in the Netherlands [1]
Perhaps the timing on these customs surges are accidental, of course. But I can’t imagine that Brexit helped with their EU sales.
I think books should be exempt from import taxes into the EU -- at least, the ones I ordered from the UK a while ago had a yellow sticker saying that, and Denmark didn't charge me any fees.
However, if even 1% or 0.1% of orders gets incorrectly taxed that could lead to negative reviews and put people off.
I've never ever had to pay VAT at the customs for Book Depository orders in Finland. My most recent order came in March and I had a pre-order for June.
Books are not VAT free. On a €15 book I ended up getting charged €9 for customs:
€1 for the reduced VAT for books
€6.50 for the customs handling fee
€1.50 for VAT on the customs handling fee
So it’s the customs handling fee being added that’s contributed to the price increase. Seems like the Netherlands started to enforce it for even small value orders from the UK.
Definitely disappointed, I used them regularly for the last 6/7 years, ordered from them over 70 books and this feels like a punch in the gut. My country is not served by Amazon Prime, so basically for a single book I have to pay a delivery fee of 10 euros... While on the other hand Book Depository offered a free delivery, although you waited a month or two.
Shame, it really sucks, never should have allowed Amazon to buy them.
Goddammit, I had no idea Amazon owned Book Depository. Their service was great and it was the best way I had to buy technical books when i lived in Brazil.
I'm surprised but not surprised. Books get delivered 2-3 months later, if they ever get delivered at all. Need to contact support for replacement. End up preferring to pay the premium at local booksellers than buying from Book Depo. How do they even make money like this.
1. It was a good place to buy English books in non-English speaking countries.
2. The shipping was free (Actually, folded into the price of the book and location dependent)
3. Delivery could take anywhere between a few weeks to months.
I'm wondering if it would be viable to offer an alternative service out of India and I'm willing to try out an experiment: Post the title of a book you would have bought via Book Depository and I'll try to send it out to you for free. Just let me know when the book arrives and in what condition so as to gauge how reliable the postal network is. I don't have a budget in mind but I'd like to ship at least 5 books to different geographies.
At least to my country, BD shipped envelops with books and declared them as print media, it seems to have a international very low postage tariffs. When I get books from Amazon they are always shipped in boxes and that is packages and subjected to much higher tariff and customs fee if above a certain value.
While the number of native speakers is minuscule, English is widely used in India. And according to Nielsen, India is the second largest English-language book market in the world.
They will send a confirmation email. After you click the link to confirm, it says "We will provide your information to you as soon as we can. Usually, this should take no more than a month."
EDIT: you can export your book database as CSV (shelves, ratings, reviews, etc) here https://www.goodreads.com/review/import (there's a link towards the top to export...disregard that the URL says "import".
Can it reasonably take a month to export the data from Goodreads? I barely use it but from what I recall its basically lists of will-read and have-read right?
Is that delay strictly a "cooling off" sort of tactic?
I assume this data export includes much more than just the book data (which I just discovered you can get immediately as CVS via https://www.goodreads.com/review/import) which might be part of a compliance requirement.
Update: I got an automated email from Goodreads to download this export. It contains a bunch of json files containing user/usage-related data for my account like request logs, newsfeed updates, kindle logins, site settings, etdc.
Hopefully not, maybe someone should scrape everything from there. I didn't know amazon owned book depo, maybe I should have guessed something has changed when they starting sending increased number of marketing emails a year or two ago.
Living in France, to buy technical books in English for sensible money and without onerous shipping cost, I always used Amazon and the books were often delivered by Book Depository. Wondering how things will be after it closes.
They also deliver worldwide for free. Meanwhile ordering a 13.18€ book from Amazon.de will incure 9.85€ in postage because my closest Amazon is an entire Baltic Sea away.
(Well, technically Amazon.de has free deliveries too – you just need to buy order at least 99€ worth of them at once)
"They also deliver worldwide for free.". They calculate shipping in the price. So depending on where you are you will see different price of the book. Still, the only option to get many english books shipped to a big part of the world.
I just checked a book ( The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson in paperback ) for shipping to New Zealand.
Book Depository is $NZ 21.19 total. Including shipping a NZ Tax (GST). Discounted from $24.77
Amazon is $26.27 for the book, $24 for shipping, $7.50 for tax and $1.30 for "Exchange rate guarantee fee". Total is $NZ 59.27 or almost 3x what Book Depository wanted.
Wow, are you forced to have that if you make that purchase? That's a huge percentage to charge to cover someone's exchange rate risk over that timespan with those currencies. Someone's making out like an absolute bandit there.
Well, "extremely cheap" shipping then. I had that 13.18€ Amazon.de book pre-ordered on Book Depository for 14.00€. So the Amazon.de delivery is 12 times the cost of the Book Depository shipping cost.
Had to order it from a local retailer instead since it releases in June, where it cost me 16.10€ with shipping.
This is every big tech company for the last couple decades. They buy up their competitors or potential competitors and either immediately or eventually shut them down. I'm sure this will lead to great things.
EEE is about extending open standards in a way that extinguishes the competition, since they can't keep up. Amazon buying a competitor and shutting it down might be monopolistic, but it's not EEE.
This does suck for obvious reasons, but I also think we need to get a good, thin, eInk tablet like Remarkable or Boox Note down to the sub 100 usd/gbp price. Kindles are ok but they’re too small for textbooks and you’re also locked into Amazon. Plus they’re read only (apart from the latest one), and the new generation of tablets around atm can serve as paper like notebooks as well as eReaders. I like reading paper books as much as the next guy but it is hard to justify sending millions of books each year all over the world when we could send them over the wire for a fraction of the cost and pollution.
Well if it’s in a proprietary format, then sure. But if it’s not then no, they can’t do that. And it’s not like paper books haven’t been subjected to regional bans and text changes (see the recent roald Dahl news) so I don’t know what you’re getting at there. People can still import paper books regardless and people can get around digital restrictions through things like VPNs, torrents and what not also. There’s nothing stopping someone from sending a usb stick with an entire library of books into a country either and arguably a lot easier than sending one paperback as you could hide a usb in anything.
I use speedyhen for books in the UK. They are usually as cheap as Amazon and delivery is free. I don't know if they'll accept orders from abroad though.
It took longer than I thought. Amazon bought TBD over a decade ago. I figured they would have snuffed them out years ago. It was a sad day when they got bought by Amazon. Good luck to the team.
