Book Depository closing down
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It appears Book Depository has been hit by the Amazon lay-offs as well, as they've announced that they'll be closing down:
We are sorry to let you know that Book Depository will be closing on 26 April 2023.
You can still place orders until midday (12pm BST) on 26 April and we will continue to deliver your purchases and provide support for any order issues until 23 June 2023.
From all of us at Book Depository we want to say “thank you." Delivering your favourite reads to you since 2007 has been a pleasure.My own thoughts: I've been using Book Depository for the better part of a decade now, and will sorely miss the ease with which you could place pre-orders and get them shipped individually fairly close to release without having to worry about shipping costs. Now, my only remaining alternatives are Amazon itself (which I'm loath to use), and a couple of local options which are significantly more expensive than Book Depository while at the same time not supporting pre-orders, on top of which they charge shipping on smaller orders (meaning I'll have to buy in bulk to save money). Needless to say, it'll become quite a bit more cumbersome to keep track of, and buy, new releases from now on, and chances are I'll have to at least cut the number of series I collect in half (well, not literally have to, but it'll become so much more bothersome to keep track of things that I just can't be arsed).
ETA: A few alternatives I've seen suggested (that are relevant to myself):
- https://www.rarewaves.com/ (based in the UK, though they might be suited for European customers in general. They appear to be cheaper than my local alternatives, even factoring in shipping fees. But inventory is spotty for all but the latest volumes of most of the series I'm collecting (not that that matters, since I'm unlikely to start collecting any new series in print any time soon (unless I win the lottery, and can buy myself a house to store it all in)))
- https://www.adlibris.com/ (for Scandinavian customers, specifically customers in Finland, Norway and Sweden. They have a pretty complete inventory of the titles I checked. For the most part, they're more expensive than Book Depository, at least as far as light novels and manga are concerned)
- https://www.outland.no/ (for Norwegian customers. Fairly expensive, spotty inventory.)
ETA:
- https://blackwells.co.uk/ (Appears to have fairly complete inventory as well, and like Book Depository, it seems shipping is included in the price of each item, and you can pre-order ages in advance. Might be my next go to.)
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Ebooks pros based on your post.
Buy direct from publisher giving more money into their pocket helping them to translate more books. No shipping costs. No book storage problems. Cheaper to purchase a book. Can be pre-ordered in advance as well.
In response to who to use. I have used ravenwares before for anime and had no problems with the shipping UK to Australia. I have not used the others.
While I am currently hating on Amazon for just about everything at the moment I would say that in relation to physicals they were usually cheaper than Bookdepository for me. When you pre-order you do not pay until the book releases unlike Bookdepository which charges at the pre-order date. Amazon shipping is free on most things with Prime membership. The packaging for Amazon and Bookdepository is usually the same.
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@Curra said in Book Depository closing down:
Amazon shipping is free on most things with Prime membership.
With the caveat that you have to live in a country where Amazon has a presence. For me, the shipping costs generally meant that ordering from Book Depository was cheaper.
