I came across abebooks.com when I was looking for the cheapest place to buy an expensive textbook for a class. I ordered the textbook from Abebooks, from the bookseller Colorbooks on December 6th. I paid extra for expedited shipping.
I received an email from Colorbooks2006 later that day (in broken English with excessive text formatting) saying that the book they had sold me was actually the international edition of the textbook. The email said that the international edition had a soft cover, and possibly different problems at the end of the chapters. For the relatively low price, this was a risk I was willing to take. The email said I would receive the book in 2 - 4 business days. The next day, I received an email from Colorbooks2006 which said the following:
"Thank you for your purchase. Your business is really important to us, and our top priority is to make sure you know that and to ensure that you are happy with our service. As I advertise in my description that normally we will ship out the book in 24 hrs. However, the book you are order is temporarily out of stock. I am trying to find the book. It may takes up to 3-4 weeks to ship out the book."
It is unclear why Colorbooks2006 and Abebooks would advertise books that they don't actually have access to, but I was again willing to give them some trust. I replied, asking if they would refund what I had paid for expedited shipping, and if they could guarantee that I would have the book by the first week of January, when classes begin.
After hearing nothing from Colorbooks2006 or Abebooks regarding my concerns, I canceled my order. Later, I received an email from Colorbooks2006 saying the following:
"I am really sorry for the problem. The book is really out of stock at this moment so I want to ask you cancel the order. Please accept our apologize for the problem that occur."
I would highly recommend not attempting to use Abebooks or Colorbooks2006 since apparently what they sell you and what they have access to are two separate categories.
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