Alibris

Full review
The very first book I ordered from Alibris was a Bill Evans book on Jan 23rd from the seller "A1Books.com"  If you look at their page in Alibris, you will notice it they are rated 5 blue circles which is the highest I had seen and I chose them because the a new copy of the book was $13USD opposed to $20 at Amazon.com AND was IN STOCK; I had noticed that other books I was thinking about buying were not. Alibris' email on the 25th informed me my book had been shipped Jan 24th, and expected by Feb 8th. On the 26th, A1books.com support sent me an email saying my order was being "processed" and when I clicked on the only link - "Help Desk" - I was taken to an order details page telling me the book was NOT IN STOCK with no mention of when it might be. A1books.com sent me an email on Feb 4th mentioning it was shipped on the 3rd, and finally, after a series of clicks through the "Help Desk" I got a link to a tracking site and tracking number. USPS tracking put my book "Enroute to Local USPS Facility" from Allen Park, Mi on Feb 7th, this is 20 min from my home in bad traffic and I'm hoping to get the book today, the 10th.

Alibris "Order Details" page maintains it will be here by two days ago.

Early in this fiasco, I ordered another book from another seller (also 5 blue meaningless circles) with USPS priority shipping and the book got here a day in two days, before Alibris sent me the email telling me it had been shipped.

There is no way to review the sellers; making the idea of having a rating system laughable.  Also Alibris seems to be removed from the Returns/Complaints side of the business.  I couldn't find one link to specifically complain about a seller.  Just the general inquiry email link. Also there was no way to complain about Alibris' inconsistencies with what was really going on during the shipping process.

Coordination between the sellers and Alibris could be improved.  I have had many more and much better experiences with sellers at Amazon and eBay.  Early disappointment makes it hard to want to return.

On a more disturbing note, Alibris has saved my credit card info and I cannot find a link to remove it.

Cheap books, Cheap service, Dangerous Mix?