Buy books in India online

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.

Buy books in India online

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

93 thoughts on “Buy books in India online”

  1. +1 for homeshop18. They do have the deepest discounts (compared to the dominant 3 – Flipkart, Indiaplaza and Infibeam) but this site is sort of hard to find when searching if you don’t know about it (Doesn’t rank very well on Google searches). Their service is very good (I have ordered over 9 books in the last 3 weeks) and their refunds are prompt (if needed). The only complaint I have is that many academic books show as out of stock (haven’t purchased non-academic books from them yet).

  2. hi folks,
    let us not forget that homeshop18 delivers with a bang with deep discounts(40%) and prompt service ,gives a pen as well! Compare the price of any book using indiabookstore.net among major indian online book sellers and you’ll know my observation to be true.i’ve ordered through flipkart and impeccable though their service is,i feel their book prices have slowly climbed up discounts going down!
    Homeshop18/books made their entry latest around feb2012 and right now give the deepest discounts and their service is all right and atleast as of now give free shipments for even book orders below one hundred rupees.they want to consolidate themselves in the online book bazaar and hence these obvious sweeteners,but they are irresistable right now!so bibliophiles whereever you may be do compare and shop(you know the site indiabookstore.net) and bask and i think atleast as of now homeshop18/books shines the brightest.

  3. Nice blog. I tried a new website http://www.sedalite.com last month and the experience was fabulous. Pricing was great and to my surprise delivery was rapid. These guys even called up after delivering my book and confirmed if I am satisfied. i ordered two more books last week today evening and they have notified in just 3 hours that my book is dispatched. i would say a must try.. loved the service

    1. I tried this sedalite.com based on your comment and seriously they have a rapid delivery, as far as delhi is concerned. i ordered a book in morning around 11 yesterday and they delivered it in evening itself. I was shocked looking at the service. The condition of shipment was great!

  4. I have been purchasing books from FLIPKART for past one month and have ordered more than five books and their service is just amazing. Best online website to purchase books in my experience. flipkart rocks….

  5. Flipkart and Infibeam are the top two right now – at least for me. Infibeam has some incredible second hand book prices, if you are willing to wait for the mandatory 45 days. Junglee has also jumped in as a channel partner for Amazon and hopefully they too will offer second hand books.

  6. Flipkart is the best place for online purchase as they are suit the pocket and prompt in terms of delivery. Good choice.

  7. Folks –

    Thanks a lot for the information. Right now I am looking to buy Andhra predesh State syllabus text books(10th class) online. But I don’t find any place to to buy them online. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

    Does it means, these books are not sold online and only sold in Local books shops(Mom&papa Stores int he street) or sold in the schools only.. I am little confused??

    Mohan

  8. AWESOME LetsKart.com I ordered “Revolution 2020” and they said that it’ll take 2-3 days. But it was delivered on the 1st day itself. The packing was excellent, quality was good..I am satisfied with their service 😀

  9. Well I have been shopping for Indian books for a long time. As I live in Us, I am looking for a website that offers Indian books in US that should offer discounts and payback guarantee. For the last two years, I have been using southasiabooks.com and it has helped me a lot when it comes on finding old Indian titles by famous authors. If there are other sites where I can compare prices, it will be a great help.

    Thanks for this post

    1. I searched for 3 books – The Idea of India, The Difficulty of Being Good and Dare to Dream and they weren’t there. Also noticed that the books present on the website seem to be on the higher end as far as price is concerned.

      1. Yes the price’s ain’t good. If I would have been in India the prices would have been so fair, but what can I do ….. I always buy more than too titles when I shop from southasiabooks.com. In that way I get 20% off. You can any idea’s ?

  10. Try bukfinder.com. It offers 15% discount and 60% buyback guarantee on college and school textbooks/guides. It is the only website in India to offer highest resale value on textbooks.

  11. Well….I must say….of all the things I’ve tried, in terms of Super & fast Delivery, infibeam.com is one of the best…..and in terms of costs, indiaplaza.in is gud…. Wenevr I’ve bought from infibeam, be it books, my digicam or mobile, they have delivered at an incredible speed…. much much before than the expected date to recieve…. So I’ll recommend infibeam.com to one & all ….

  12. i started buying books fromindiatimes but they take 2 weeks for my first order then i never that site, that was my first and last order then i switched to Flipkart and received books within week with good bookmarks in it and then i thought of trying Infibeam i put two orders there 1st order never arrive it was cancelled automatically so i never gonna use infibeam and recommend so to others 2nd order delayed nearly by week from expected date, infibeam is such a letdown
    flipkart is only site i found useful until now.I will try others sites in future and share my exp so

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