My sister recently started a blog, and I wanted to gift her a book on writing – Elements of Style. I have read this myself, and find it to be an excellent resource for anyone interested in improving their writing skills. I wondered how I could buy books in India online because I have never done this earlier, and this post is a summary of results I found.
There are several websites that sells books online in India, and the point of this post is to tell you where you can buy books online in India, and I will list down the options I came across.
First, Amazon sells this book for $7.95, which is ~Rs.350, so that is the reference price as I start my hunt. Let’s see if I get something close to that price or not.
1. Rediff Books: The first site I discovered was Rediff Books. I was able to find this book easily on this site, and there were three different options of these. The top result was the hardcover, which was priced at Rs.2,831, which is clearly way outside the range I am looking at. They have paperback editions as well, some of which are imported, and priced at a very reasonable Rs. 191 too; only problem – they will take 45 business days to ship! No, I did not make a typo – it really says 45 business days to ship!
Since this is a family blog – I will not get into what I feel about 45 business days to ship, and move to the third option. The third option was also a paperback edition, priced at Rs. 499, but it will ship at a more reasonable 4 business days. So far, this is the most reasonable option I see. But, I am not entirely satisfied, so I will try and hunt some more sites.
2. NBC India: Next, I went to the site of NBC India, and found the book there too. They had a list price on the paperback edition of Rs.366, and the picture of the book was exactly like the one I have. The price and picture pleased me quite a bit, but the results page didn’t show me the shipping days. I added it to the cart and went as far as payment options, but it didn’t show me how long it will take to ship, which is quite ridiculous. So, I dropped this option, and went off in search of another website.
3. India Plaza: India Plaza was the next website I saw, and this book was listed at Rs.149 there. That particular edition was Trade Paper, which sounded like a slightly inferior version of a Paperback. This one shipped in 16 business days, and that didn’t fit the bill for me. They had paperback editions listed for Rs. 582, but that also shipped in 16 business days. There was an illustrated version for Rs. 718 that shipped in 3 days.
So far, Rediff Books is looking like the best option.
4. Flip Kart: I have heard of Flip Kart before, but never actually used it. They had this book listed at Rs. 175, and they say it will ship in 4 – 6 business days. This is a paperback edition that was printed in 2006, and this option looks quite promising.
5. Penguin Books: Penguin Books also have a website that looked promising to me, but it turned out to be hopeless. I tried searching the book in their Search box, but it told me that I had to use a category first. Then I chose the category as “Title”, and it told me that it couldn’t find a result. They have a long way to go in terms of selling books online, and I’d be surprised if they are currently doing well in this space.
6. eBay India: eBay India also has this book listed for Rs. 653 in the buy now option. This is clearly higher than the two good options I already have, so I am not going to explore this any further.
7. A1 Books: I found this book in another lesser known website – A1 Books, which has this priced for Rs. 449, and ships it within 4 days. This looks like a decent option, but I clearly have better options at this point in time.
8. Amazon.com: I just realized that I didn’t mention that Amazon.com also ships books to India. They charge $4.99 to ship, and say that it can take anywhere from 18 to 31 business days.
After going through all these options, I felt that the Flip Kart option is the best one, and went ahead and ordered the book. I hope it reaches within the stated time, and is in good condition. If something is amiss, then I will update this post with that info as well.
Doing this kind of side by side comparison helped me quite a bit, and I know that in future I will only have to look at two or three websites to find out the best option. I hope you find this research useful too, and I’d be happy to hear your thoughts about buying books in India online. Has anyone done this before, and what has your experience been?
Image by ShironekoEuro
BTW, theres a site that does this comparison for you, you just need the isbn number. Just click this (http://isbn.net.in/1434102815) and wait a couple of minutes. Or use http://www.indiabookstore.net , it also tells you shipping time.
Thanks for the link. Since writing this article I’ve used Flipkart a few times and find them quite excellent.
Wow, thanks for this link. This is quite cool. I used to compare the prices anyways amongst Indiaplaza, Flipkart & Infibeam. Life just got a little easier. I have also heard of another site: http://www.iglooo.in. But what you have suggested looks more user friendly.
Thanks for the link Reema – have you ever noticed a trend in terms of which site is cheaper? I’m strictly speaking about price because service is a qualitative aspect and experience can differ from one to another.
Yes, 85-90% of the time Indiaplaza is cheapest. But they are a little erratic in delivery. Sometimes some books are sent promptly, and you may have to follow up for 1-2 of them. A couple of times there is no response also, but eventually they refund. The fact that I am still buying from them, so it is just a small hitch.
Thank you for your reply Reema, and might I add you have a great blog – congratulations!
Thanks a lot 🙂
You’re welcome, also I’m fairly certain you didn’t notice so letting you know that this week’s links contained one of your book reviews 🙂
Just saw it…thanks
i agree….indiaplaza & infibeam r certainly d best in terms of prices n delivery….
I have recently seen another website http://www.alekip.com and I purchased one book just to see how their service and commitment, and really I was surprised when I received the book within three days with reasonable price.Then I told my friend the same things and he also purchase another book and he also get within three days, I hope alekip.com will be the real competitor to the present bookseller flipkart.com or infibeam.com, you guys also check http://www.alekip.com
Never heard of this one, so thanks for sharing.
As per the Amazon.com
Total shipping cost = “Per Shipment” cost + “Per Item” cost. (If the “per item” cost is listed in terms of price per pound, you can check the weight on the item’s detail page.)
So it would be $4.99 for each book and $4.99 for the shipment as well.
Nice discussion and some great leads. I thought I had all the main booksellers bookmarked but there are quite a few I did not know about. Flipkart is a great place to shop, almost always the cheapest deal you will get and the only guys who allow COD. Pustak is awesome for the sheer variety they offer. There’s also Shopyourworld which is an Indian sourcing partner for Amazon. You can pick up some good deals on used books there, but be careful if there are CDs included in the original version. These never arrive with the used books. And sometimes with the new books too. Amazon also allows you to “Look Inside”, a feature that most other online booksellers have still to catch up with. This feature makes it almost like being in a bookshop.
Happy reading !!
Thanks Peter, I’ll take a look at the options and update the post with the new ones.
your book store is good and cheap, please provide your e mail address
i am not finding your e mail address
i have forgotten my login password if i can create new one. kindlyadvise
Hi KS, Which book store are you referring to? I’m a little confused as to which store login details you are looking out for?
i saw a new online bookstore in indian market. it is Storez18.com, it is a greater Disscounted bookstore than other online bookstore in india.
I’m desperately waiting for Amazon to service India. I ndia has so much potential, I don’t know why they haven’t already started their competitive operations here!
India might be a much smaller market for them when compared elsewhere, and looking at the number of players in this area, quite competitive too. Let’s hope they come here quickly though.
Just came across new site. try : http://www.shoppingmonk.com/books to get the cheapest price online price available for all books
Dear All,
I am regularly buying books from Amazon, Rediff and Flipkart. While purchasing my books, I never compare prices ( Later on I realised rediff is charging higher price compare to flipkart)
So far, My experience with rediff is horrible. I do not recommend anyone to buy from rediff. They usually cheat customer by providing insufficient information. On one ocassion, they did not deliver the books on time within specified limit and on another ocassion they have sent me different edition. Recently I purchased two books under single order from Rediff. After a week, I received email stating that my order is cancelled . Since they told me my order is cancelled, I ordered both books from Flipkart ( I shocked that price on flipkart was almost 20-25 % cheaper). I have recieved both books on time from flipkart ( 5-6 days). After 21 days, I have received one of the book from rediff under cancelled order. I have raised that issue with rediff but its customer care officors is sloppy and do not reply to my specific queries. They also took to reply almost 5-7 days to reply my emails.
In Sum, If I am buying books on my Indian address than I rely on Flipkart. Rediff is hopeless. I also rate amzon.com very high. They too have excellent service like flipkart. I usually purchase books from amazon.com if I need it at my Dubai Address. Purchasing books from India for overseas adress is little expensive because of coruier charges.
I hope this will help. Thank yoy
Thanks for your comprehensive comment, I am sure it will help other readers.
Checkout http://www.thestorez.com. They are relatively new and still some way to go. But browsing books on this site is much easier than other stores.
for all book lovers a FREE guide to buying/selling used books value of used books /download
Giving you another option now: We recently launched http://www.shopyourworld.com . The site enables buying from globally recognized stores such as Amazon, Target, Best Buy, M&S and may more. Many more options for the Indian consumer and with fully integrated landing prices (including shipping and delivery).
Let me know your thoughts on the same. Would appreciate feedback:)
Cheers!!
Hi, The comparison analysis is real great. Book is a universally accepted item type with unique item identifier ISBN. Comparisons based on ISBN would add to the excitement. I agree with Reema that a1books.co.in is as good. Being an Online Marketplace exclusively for books and as offerings are from US, UK and India one would find this online bookstore more exciting. Online Marketplace is like browsing thousands of bookstores in one, but ordering from one master online store. With eBooks and magazines added now A1Books now stands out. They are real strong in US and UK titles. With thousands of publishers participating and selling directly on a1books.co.in Indian books range also is exhaustive. The most exciting part of a1books.co.in is the uniqueness of their platform – where one could buy and also sell. A1Books has now done the value addition to books too similar to properties, vehicles, mobile phones – which all have a resale value. Now books also have a resale value. On a1books.co.in now one could also sell their Used Books. A nice concept: Buy, Read and sell to make money to buy more new books! Check them out. Kishore.
Hi, I have bought books extensively in the last one and half years using onling shopping sites. I started with http://firstandsecond.com, but then went on to using BSBazaar, Indiaplaza, Flipkart, A1books, Gobookshopping.com, Rediff and several others. For regular books, Indiaplaza by far has the best rates and they are quite good in delivery as well. If the book is available you get it in 2 days also. My second choice is Flipkart, and for all rare books, I strongly recommend A1books.co.in. This is actualy a market place and I have bought several rare books on Mahabharata from this site. Rest all sites are OK but not too competitive. Infibeam, I have heard is also quite good, but personally haven’t used so far. In Customer Service, Indiaplaza has a query trackingmechanism but sometimes they take a lot of time to respond. A1books have always responded in couple of hours. But overall, these 3 stand out amongst all others. One can also try http://landmarkonthenet.com.
I have been using Flipkart for quite some time now and have never faced any issue with the delivery of the books ordered. I also use Indiaplaza.in… The only problem with their site is that its very slow and at times stops responding… Otherwise even Indiaplaza is very prompt on delivery within promised time. I think both the sites also send regular SMS updates to on the delivery schedule… which are very helpful.
Hope this helps…
Thanks Vishal. This was quite helpful. I disabled the SMS feature because I wanted it to be a surprise, but maybe I’ll use it next time.
Hi,
I am a frequent user of flipkart, while my cousin uses IndiaPlaza. Like said earlier have had no issues with delivery from both sites. However, find better deals for most books on IndiaPlaza, than at Flipkart. Costs are much lower.
At the same time, some books are offered only at flipkart. So, you would need to go to the website for it.
I use Flipkart a lot! My experience with them has been really good so far… The customer support is really responsive in case of delays or any queries you might have…
That’s awesome then!
Hi,
Here is another one especially for books difficult to get in India –
http://www.pustak.co.in
I use flipkart extensively because of their reasonable prices and quick shipping.
Thanks for the tip Prasanth. I am also glad to hear you had good experience with Flipkart; makes me more hopeful that the book will reach in time, and in good condition.