[nick1689]

Decided lately that im gonna start buying up all my favourite books. Just wondering if for someone living in Australia if Amazon is still the best online store for buying books?

Is there any Aussie online book stores that sell all the fantasy books?

Any help will be great!

:D

[Eventine]

http://www.galaxybooks.com.au/

http://www.infinitas.com.au/

[nick1689]

http://www.galaxybooks.com.au/

http://www.infinitas.com.au/

Amazon seems to be a lot more less expensive than these stores.. even with shipping. Is there a pro to using these stores than to Amazon?

Any other Aussie stores?

[Metal-Demon]

There's Minotaur in Melbourne (which was incredible!!) and a little store in Brisbane called Pulp Fiction that I really liked. Perhaps you could try them ...

I wish we had stores like them back here in Saskatchewan. :(

[U-Borat]

Nick, remember one thing though.
Amazon lists prices in POUNDS, those websites are Australian.
The current exchange rate is something like 2.5 aussie dollars to 1 pound.

Now, as to Amazon, I personally think that it isn't all crash-hot if you're Australian.
Me and my mate, we did some calculations, and found you have to purchase I think, more than 10 books at a time just to break even (as in, discounted books vs the shpping costs).

What is far easier is to go to a local bookshop, as many of them stock lots of fantasy, and they also import stock from elsewhere free of charge.

So really, unless you're too lazy to go to one of the bookstores, there really isn't any advantage in using amazon IMO.

[JohnH]

It's all going to depend on what it is you are shopping for. Galaxy and Dymocks both import many of the top US and UK titles. However they lump on an additional amount to cover shipping costs. In some cases this is on top of the original retail with no discount. I have seen some US books cheaper even paying the shipping as the discount is 40-50% off the US retail price. And regular Amazon, as opposed to Amazon.uk seems to have a better shipping rate oddly enough to Australia last I checked.

It comes down to simple math. Figure out a shopping list and compare. Go through Amazon or Amazon.uk pick the books you want and take the order to the end without actually placing it. See what you get. Do the same for Dymocks or Galaxy or Infinitas. Just make sure you convert US dollars to Australian dollars. Mistake one for the other and you could be in for an unpleasant surprise. Also figure in the time you might wait for the book as opposed to getting it quicker from a Domestic service if they already have it in stock. Consider the reverse as well. If it is something you want as soon as it comes out and can ship, and it is worth a couple of bucks extra, you might want to go with Amazon.

Another route to go is check out Abebooks.com as you can do a detailed search that lets you specify the country.

[U-Borat]

Having done some research, I've come up with the following conclusion.

Amazon US shipping is about half the price of Amazon UK shipping.

Secondly, in the argument of local bookshop vs amazon US, the prices are quite close actually.

On average, a book from Amazon US costs 15 dollars AUS. (including per book shipping)
On average, a book from a local Australian bookshop costs 20 dollars.

Then you tack on the extra 10 dollars or so for the delivery package shipping, and you find that if you ship 3 books or more from Amazon US, you get a discount comapred to a local bookshop.

But against that argument, is that it takes 2 weeks minimum for stuff to come in from Amazon, plus the hassle for using Amazon, as well as the fact Amazon charges a few extra for hard-to-find titles (which some bookshops also have btw), and the result is that it's actually pretty much a coin flip over which is better.

Just avoid UK amazon.

[nick1689]

Having done some research, I've come up with the following conclusion.

Amazon US shipping is about half the price of Amazon UK shipping.

Secondly, in the argument of local bookshop vs amazon US, the prices are quite close actually.

On average, a book from Amazon US costs 15 dollars AUS. (including per book shipping)
On average, a book from a local Australian bookshop costs 20 dollars.

Then you tack on the extra 10 dollars or so for the delivery package shipping, and you find that if you ship 3 books or more from Amazon US, you get a discount comapred to a local bookshop.

But against that argument, is that it takes 2 weeks minimum for stuff to come in from Amazon, plus the hassle for using Amazon, as well as the fact Amazon charges a few extra for hard-to-find titles (which some bookshops also have btw), and the result is that it's actually pretty much a coin flip over which is better.

Just avoid UK amazon.

Yeh i just noticed that as well, thanks for the help. I am probably going to be buying more books than 3 at a time anyway so ill go with amazon US. If only they had an Amazon AUS.. Someone should look into that.

[Eventine]

One thing to remember when purchasing off Amazon US is that a lot of the time you're going to get US editions of the books - icky covers, thin paper and all.
Plus, not all books available in Aus/UK are printed in the US.

[U-Borat]

That's a very good point.
I really don't like the Del Rey etc covers at all.

Is there such thing as a good cover from America?

Like Martin, Erikson, Bakker all have better British covers, and consequently Australian IMO.