Independent and Online Bookstores/Retailers

I buy my share of used books and I typically start with the major online sellers, BarnesandNoble.com, Alibris, Abe’s Books and Amazon.  What’s nice about them though, is that they steer you to independent, online retailers and sometimes, for some reason or other you strike up a conversation with them or something about them strikes your fancy and you become a customer.

And so it was with Marie of LD Books. I bought a book from her and because of the tight wrapping, I ended up nicking the book with a scissor when I opened it. Being a stickler for unblemished books when I can get them, I wrote to Marie suggesting in the future that she leave a little scissor room on the package so customers can get their scissors under the tape and open the package without damaging the book. Really and truly, a constructive suggestion. Marie ended up refunding my purchase price, despite my protestations. (I donated the proceeds to an upstate library that lost much of its children’s collection due to flooding.) She also asked whether it would be alright to suggest future books should they come her way.

And then there is CDBaby who, when confirming my order wrote: ”

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our world-renowned packing specialist lit a local artisan candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved “Bon Voyage!” to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, November 23, 2011.
We hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. In commemoration, we have placed your picture on our wall as “Customer of the Year.” We’re all exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Sigh…
We miss you already. We’ll be right here at http://cdbaby.com/, patiently awaiting your return.”

There is something about the small guy. Mystery on Main in Brattleboro, VT or the Old Bookstore in Unionville, NY or CD Baby or LD Books–and these are only a few. They provide you with more than a product.  They provide you with old fashioned customer service.  They earn their reputation the hard way…by working hard to make customers happy.

So, forget about Amazon’s request that you scan a book at a local bookstore and then buy it through Amazon for a 5% discount.  Amazon will never, ever, give you the excellent customer service that the independent bookstores will give you.  So, please, please, please patronize your local book stores and music stores. They deserve your business.