I just want to formally go on record and say that I now do not like pbshop. Just so you know, this is some merchant that acts as a third party seller on Amazon.
I was ordering Wittgenstein’s Mistress by David Markson and it was out of stock locally and on Amazon. Amazon listed third party sellers as having it, so I ordered it from one of them. A lot of the sellers were listed as shipping form the UK. I didn’t want to go with them because of how long it would take. I ended up deciding to order from pbshop.
Now, according to them, their listing said it shipped from the UK. I say it didn’t. I ignored cheaper ones listed as coming from the UK in favor of one shipping from the US. However, I then get an email saying that my order would be shipping from their UK warehouse. Great. Double or triple shipping time. I reply immediately to express my displeasure and I get an automated email saying they are closed because of the inclement weather in the UK. Then they respond and insist that their ad should have specified shipping from UK. Then they send me another email saying to expect long shipping times because of the monster storm in the UK.
So, I maintain their ad didn’t say shipping from UK. They chose to ship from their UK warehouse and now will take forever to ship me this book because of the snowstorms there. Fuck them. Remember their name. When it comes time to order from a third party seller on Amazon, don’t do it. They can expect a bad review as well.
Man, don’t get between me and a book I want. Don’t promise me a book I want and then withhold it. I will be as unreasonable and aggressive as you’ve ever seen. I am not a reasonable man. Frankly, I’m an asshole. Expect that. Don’t reply to complaint emails with obviously modified form letters written in three different fonts and offering no consolations whatsoever. They only piss me off. Don’t withhold Wittgenstein’s Mistress. It won’t end well for you.
(Note: this blog posted early because I’ll be wandering around Omaha today during my normal posting time.)
David Atkinson's Blog 
The same holds true for The Book Depository. I ordered the twelve books on the Poldark series for my wife. Total of $126. I got ONE book. After waiting ten days I emailed them and they said they had all been “dispatched” on Dec. 21st. I think that was total bullshit. They either didn’t have the books to sell or they “jobbed” it out to other sellers in the UK. Visa reversed the charges without any argument whatsoever.
I’ll hold off on resorting to that as of yet. I’m sure this is on the way, just not here yet. I just want my book but it seems hard to find a copy of this stateside right now.
I’ve ordered from them before, not seeing any indication of them being a UK company. It took over a month for my book to arrive. Columbus got here faster. AMAZON, when you use a second or third party seller denote the location of the seller….like, NY, CA, China, UK, etc.
Thank you. I wish I had read this before I ordered. I will NEVER order from a third party again either. I ordered from pbshop via Barnes & Nobel. Neither place will be getting my business again.
There are some outstanding 3rd party sellers on Amazon. Stay with those who have a 97% or higher feedback rating.
Some third party sellers who have problems still can have very high, even 97% or above feedback ratings. I’m not sure how, but it seems as if some do enough business (or have found some other way) to get tons of feedback every single day. I’m not sure if it’s all real, and kind of doubt it with some sellers, but negatives can sometimes get lost in the overall volume. I’d say to look at some of the negative feedback as well, and attempt to evaluate whether buyers are being unreasonable or whether a seller might still have issues.
Update: still have not received the book. It’s been a long time since December 17 when I ordered and December 20 when they said they shipped.
Still no book. Just more automated emails detailing reasons why shipping delays (such as due to increased custom inspections) aren’t their fault.
It’s January 21 and no sign of a book yet.
Not that I want to sound like a broken record, but it’s January 25 and no book yet. Pbshop has two more days before they exceed even their unnaceptably long shipping estimate. I’m sure I’ll receive another email soon explaining why they aren’t responsible when their products don’t arrive in an acceptable amount of time. What will it be time? More UK shipping delays due to the fact that UK has weather? More unprovable claims that US customs is taking longer to clear books? Sunspots? Global warming?
Well, today is the last day in Pbshop’s original unacceptably long shipping estimate. We’ll see if the book is waiting for me when I get home today. 25 business days (39 total calendar days) so far since they supposedly shipped.
The book finally arrived. Last day in their originally extremely long shipping estimate. Further, the book was not new. As banged up as it is, it counts at least as a decent condition used. This was the worst Amazon seller I’ve ever used. Here was my one star amazon review:
Seller shipped from UK which was not indicated on ad. Took 25 business days (39 total calendar days) for book to arrive. Condition was not new but was instead banged up a decent amount. Other than automated emails explaining various reasons why delays not their fault, got one email with hastily misspelled thought mixed with various boilerplate paragraphs. I’ll never use this seller again.
I REALLY wish I would have read this before I ordered from them. Damn near the same thing happened with me. However, I didn’t have the storm delay issues. I have learned to ALWAYS read user reviews for the seller before I order.
Sorry it happened to you too. As many people as have reported that they’ve never had a problem, there are still plenty who report problems. Sorry you’re in the latter group.
I learned the hard way too. I will NEVER order from a third-party seller again.
pbshop clearly states that they ship form the UK, I have used them two times speciafically because of that (I am from Spain) one from middle 2010 and the other now. It was you who didn’t see that. Sorry
Alvaro, I’m very glad that you had a good experience. I am also glad that their ads YOU ordered from said that they shipped from the UK. However, the ad I ordered from in the Amazon third party seller list said that they shipped from New York. They have operations in New York as well as the UK. It is a little hard for you to say what the ad I ordered from said since you didn’t see it.
i just ordered from these clowns on the 10th of this month. The website says shipping from NJ not the UK. I ordered the book along with a few other things on amazon. Everything showed up like it was suppose to, on time. Not the book. I contacted them through email and they are now saying that the book is estimated to arrive on Sept 3rd!! Are you kidding me?? I’m from CT and the book is shipping from NJ that’s a 3 hour drive, and now i have to wait almost 20 days for a $15 dollar book to arrive when i could have driven there and gotten it myself….. PBshop is full of shit and i wish we could all figure out a way to get them off the internet because this is ridiculous.
Either they didn’t have your book when you ordered and had to get it or that isn’t shipping from NJ. Hope you get it soon.
http://www.gosale.com/store-info.php/12840/pbshop
don’t assume the other guy is less knowledgeable than yourself : i’ve been waiting for a shipment from pbshopus in Elk Grove, Illinois, not the UK — they are not always, or only, shipping from the UK.
in addition, they claim to ship within two days (as per Amazon seller requirements) or they will notify the customer. it was a full week before they claimed to have shipped … that notification (generated by Amazon) was the first notice i received
what prevents a book store from shipping within a few days ? it was never in stock to begin with
maybe if i was in Spain i’d have had a good experience
indeed
I ordered through Barnes and Nobel and I had no idea it was being shipped from the UK. Maybe it’s different in Spain.
I realize this is a bit old of a comment by now, but decided to refute that all of their stuff ships from the UK. For example, here is a screen shot of one of their offerings today: https://davidsatkinson.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/untitled.png
I ordered a book from them and it clearly said it would be shipped from the UK. The book came in great shape in less than a week.
Glad you had a good experience. Mine was not so good and mine didn’t say that it would ship from the UK.
My experience was horrible too – and nowhere did it say it was shipping from the UK. I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.
I realize this is a bit old of a comment by now, but decided to refute that all of their stuff ships from the UK. For example, here is a screen shot of one of their offerings today: https://davidsatkinson.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/untitled.png
I am a seasoned book buyer. Only order from third party sellers on Amazon when they state on their business profile that they are a real bookstore and actually have the inventory they list. Here is a partial list below of some booksellers on Amazon that have no inventory and have all their books drop shipped from distributors or publishers. Do not buy from these people.
pbshop (also known as the paperback bookshop, also know as the Paperbackshop-US Elk Grove Village, IL U.S.A., also know as pbshopus located in Illinois)
The book depository
any_book
quality 7
profnath
—superbookdeals
ExtremelyReliable
allnewbooks
Moviemars-Books
Livrenoir
And many more… someday I will make a complete list. There are about 15 more than are shown on this list. All of these book dealers should be removed from Amazon and ABE.
These sellers do not care anything about you. It’s all about money for them. They are all actually breaking Amazons listing rules which say, ” NO BOOK CAN BE LISTED BY A SELLER UNLESS THEY HAVE THE BOOK IN THEIR OWN INVENTORY”.
Buyer beware — Do not order from these booksellers. They don’t care anything about books or customers. They don’t know what inventory they have because they depend on the distributor to let them know – only after you order the book!!!! They came into existence when the internet started to make fast money by listing large inventories from large book distributors such as Ingrams and Baker and Taylor – both of which have large warehouses in the USA and UK. When you order a book from them and the distributor is out of stock on the book or has raised the price they can’t ship it to you.
I didn’t know they did that. Over time I’ve started remembering some of the third party bookstore sellers that I’ve had good experiences with. When I notice them in a list of available third party sellers, I do tend to go for them.
Thank you very much for your partial list of “drop shippers.” How did you know? Could you tell us? And … dying to know who the others are….
Thanks again.
Like “Tired of being ripped off”, I too am a seasoned bookbuyer and a bookseller as well. I even sell OOP, HTF and rare books on modern design history on Amazon (among many other places) – and what I list is IN STOCK. Most folks who buy from Amazon are not aware of these “drop-shippers” and don’t seem to pay attention to feedback percentages and rating counts – any FB below 98% should, IMHOP, be avoided and rating counts in five or six digits are usually suspect. Some of the other practices by this ilk is to list a title and then ask a smaller “real” seller to drop- ship the book to their customer with no paperwork; the other is a bait & switch tactic – list a book very expensively in hopes some unsuspecting buyer with bite on the overpriced listing – then look for a cheap copy and do the drop-ship with no paper work trick or buy it and reship it (resulting in very long delivery time). Another common denominator is that these disreputable sellers are usually impossible to reach. If you want to see all of this at work, read the heartbreaking frustration of unsuspecting students who, at their professors’ urging, order a textbook in August. The feedback is filled with complaints from these poor kids who got hideous underlined, hi-lit copies; copies that came weeks into a class or no copy at all. quality7 is an expert at this despicable practice – sadly August must be one of their best seasons.
It is pretty easy to spot a bookseller who actually POSSESSES the books they list – give them the business, not these charlatans! But for those who haven’t yet figured out this annoying (and I say illegal) practice, I would like to add to the list begun above. Again “These sellers do not care anything about you. It’s all about money for them. They are all actually breaking Amazons listing rules which say, ” NO BOOK CAN BE LISTED BY A SELLER UNLESS THEY HAVE THE BOOK IN THEIR OWN INVENTORY”.
Buyer beware — Do not order from these booksellers.”
pbshop (also known as the paperback bookshop, also know as the Paperbackshop-US Elk Grove Village, IL U.S.A., also know as pbshopus located in Illinois)
The Book Depository
any_book
quality 7
profnath
—SuperBookDeals
SuperBookDeals- yup, two different ones
ExtremelyReliable
allnewbooks
Moviemars-Books
Livrenoir
amitcj
Technikbuch Berlin
fantastic_shopping
internationalbooks
bordeebook
DailyDeal USA
thriftbooks
TSCBOOKS
betterworldbooks_
elistics
woodys-books
I encourage folks to add to the list…
Please add “hippo_books” into your list. As in today, they have nearly one million rating with more than 10,000 rating in a month (suspicious enough – I pretty doubt that they actually sent that much book in one day). I recently purchased a book from this seller, and it take me 52 days for the book to arrive (although it is still within the time limit it is still a terribly long time to wait – to the point I virtually giving up on this book). When I track the book via its shipping company, the company reply “Please contact Discover Books for assistance…” (a neighboring bookshop in Ohio). It appears to me that this bookshop is clearly drop-shipping with probably no book in their inventory.
I previously purchased several books from Amazon and when I traced back the seller, it appears that the successful purchases have annual or lifetime rating of around 3000. For now I was using this as guide for purchasing books online.
Personally I never try these few booksellers (please correct me if I was wrong), but I feel that these booksellers are potential suspects:
owlsbooks (585k lifetime rating, 3300 rating/month)
Your Online Bookstore (450k lifetime rating, 2300 rating/month)
Silver Arch Books (238k lifetime rating, 3000 rating/month)
By the way do you have extra tips for detecting reliable bookshops on Amazon? (I am a newbies in desperate for books). Thanks
I don’t have too many tips. This kind of thing has burned me a bit on third party sellers unless I can’t avoid it.
I can vouch for Book Depository. I have bought books from them for years as there are no English bookshops where I live, and they have always provided a stellar service. Books from the UK to Spain typically take 7-10 days, a little more on occasion, and whenever a book didn’t show up (happened twice in dozens of purchases and one time it was an expensive 3-volume “The Complete Calvin and Hobbes”) I always was given the option for a refund or replacement.
I just want to add that is usually cheaper if you buy directly from their site with free shipping, rather that through Amazon who take a cut.
I have actually ordered from Book Depository before and had a good experience. It did take a bit, but I knew it was going to when I ordered…especially since I ordered books before release. Frankly, even with the time, I was thrilled. The books I ordered were French textbooks and I saved around $50 or more off what I could get the books for on Amazon.
Thank you for this valuable information.
Fuck… I came across this post searching for the pbshop website. When I ordered it did say it was from the UK, but I still got it because I didn’t mind waiting. It’s now 7 days past their shipping estimate. I wrote them and they just basically said “Really? It should have been there by now. Check with your post office.” I did and nothing. Now I know I can sit and wait a good while before I get it.
It’ll get there eventually. Most people I’ve heard from said they got their shipment eventually. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you that it will be soon.
so glad i read your post, as i was about to order a book through them due to it being the cheapest one that i had found. I will now go through another company!!
Some people seem to have had good experiences with them, unlike me. I’m just not willing to risk them again.
Very informative stream. Glad I found your blog. I also agree that buying from third party vendors on Amazon should be avoided. I have ordered from the Book Depository in the UK numerous times and have generally had good experiences. But I felt a sense of unease to find out that The Book Depository does not stock inventory and drop ships from others. I ordered a book from them about 9 days ago, and their order tracking feature on their website keeps showing my order as “processing”. I emailed them and they told me they were having a bit of a delay, but that it would be sent out this week. They also said I could cancel my order if I wanted to, which I found an odd thing to say, since I was just checking on the status and don’t want to cancel. I also noticed that over the past couple days, the publisher raised the price on the book a little bit. Now I’m wondering if the Book Depository is not levelling with me…are they going to honor the original price I paid for it, or are they going to stall me and hope I cancel my order, in the hope of me reordering later at the higher price? Thoughts, anyone? Am I overthinking this?
Hopefully they are just being a good seller in giving you a chance to cancel because of the delay and will still honor the original price. I can’t really say for sure though. I’ve never bought from the Book Depository.
Thanks, David. Found your website and blog last night and I’m glad I did. Some of the morsels of thought are hilarious. Remember that all the great essayists (Montaigne, Seneca, etc) just put their thoughts out there and let them flow.
Glad you like the blog. I’ll probably never be one of the great essayists, but I have fun following in their footsteps.
I agree 1000% they are pure shit. Ordered on May 4th and now June 1st delivery. Nowhere did it say they were shipping from UK!!!!! Never deal with these “wankers”.
Sorry it happened to you as well. It seems like some of their ads say UK, but others don’t. Maybe some are originally supposed to ship from their US arm and then something happens and they shift to the UK one without asking the customer. I hope you get your book soon.
David S. Atkinson.
SIR, THANK YOU FOR THIS BLOG. I WAS GOING TO ORDER A MUSIC BOOK FROM, PbShop. I DO NOT WANT TO WAIT THREE OR FOUR WEEKS. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY BRITISH SELLERS DO NOT OFFER EXPEDITED SHIPPING; NOR, PACKAGE TRACKING INFORMATION. YET, FOR SOME STRANGE REASON THIS SELLER SEEMS TO BE THE “ONLY GAME IN TOWN” FOR “HARD TO FIND” OR UNPOPULAR BOOKS. Mr. Atkinson, YOUR INSIGHT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON
Well, I never meant to say that they are bad in all cases. Some people do all right with them it seems, but it seems like it can get bad when things go wrong (and they sometimes do). Regardless, I hope you find what you are looking for.
I wish I’d found this blog post before ordering. I just had the same experience and then some. Your comment sums up my experience pretty well.
“The book finally arrived. Last day in their originally extremely long shipping estimate. Further, the book was not new. As banged up as it is, it counts at least as a decent condition used. This was the worst Amazon seller I’ve ever used.”
Same thing happened to me, but I told them it was no good to get a damaged book as “new”. They asked me to ship it back to them. No label, no payment, just an address. That’s not the usual level of service 3rd parties on Amazon provide, but whatever. So I box it up (as opposed to the cardboard envelope they used to send it to me), ship it via USPS and wait. Weeks later…nothing. I email them saying, “What the heck? Where’s my replacement or refund?”
They respond, “we never got it.”
“Whaaaa…?!?!” I check USPS. Oh yes they did. After pasting that confirmation in an email and sending it back, they said they’ll refund me for the book. I have to respond reminding them about my shipping costs, too. So far, I’ve received neither. Contacting Amazon. Stay away from pbshop!
Damn, sorry to hear that. Your experience was even worse than mine.
Yes, unfortunately, it was. After filing a claim with Amazon, I’ve finally gotten the original $34.49, but I’m still out $8.71 for the cost of shipping the damaged item back to them, and I still don’t have the book I ordered two months ago. Here’s my original description of the condition to the company:
“Wow, this book was not in ‘new’ condition, nor anywhere close. The corners were all damaged, the back 20 pages are bent and stuck together at the corner. The cardboard packaging seemed ok, so not all of the damage was sustained in shipping. By that, I know the book couldn’t have been in new condition when it was shipped. This seems like blatant misrepresentation to me.”
Not much that you can do at this point, though…other than just not order from them again if they don’t make this right.
Alright, I wanted to update here. They haven’t processed, but after about a dozen emails with at least 3 people at PBShop and Amazon, I am supposed to be getting a refund for the full $43.20 I spent dealing with this nightmare. It was like pulling hen’s teeth, but I think I’ll finally get to square 1. Now, about ordering that book…
Given the value of your time, you still aren’t quite back to the beginning.
I’d agree, but try convincing a company of that. I hope your blog post here stays up for as long as they are around as a warning to others.
I have no intention of taking this post down anytime soon. Some people appear to have done ok with this seller, but others have had some bad experiences.
Interesting thread. I’ve been in the music & book distribution for 30 years and yes most of the Amazon 3rd party sellers are drop shippers. pbshopus sells under a myriad of aliases to keep snoopers at bay and keep customers coming back. Elk Grove Village is right near the airport so my guess is that they are only a mover of product and warehouse nothing. While the 3rd party sellers are mostly crap a few can be trusted. Ordered a CD from Amazon fulfiller Newbury Comics at Xmas and the “NEW” disc had a promo hole in it. Appalling! Stay away from them! Got all my money back but the point is that these sellers care very little as does Amazon. The third party seller business is a HUGE money maker for Amazon as they no longer warehouse 1/2 of what they did 7-8 years ago. They still make a ton off these guys and no longer bear the expensive of carrying a million plus SKU’s. I’m very sorry to hear about all the troubles you all have had. It really is a shame what goes on out there now. These companies aren’t even in the music or book business they are computer companies first.
I don’t like them either…..Ordered a book on 6/30. They said it shipped on 7/7. Got it on 7/18. Traced the DHL tracking on the package when I got it, and it said it was shipped on 7/15. Very untruthful people. I will never order from them again!
That’s poor. I see no reason for them to say they shipped before they did. It’s not like you couldn’t find out, obviously.
Waiting for a book from pbshop….4 days to go in their very long estimate. Amazon has listed it as “shipped” for more than a week. Stay tuned. Very enlightening thread–didn’t know about AMazon’s growing dependence on drop shippers.
Good luck, I’m pulling for you. You’ll certainly get it eventually. I just don’t know when.
Aloha,
Yes, thanks so much for this blog. I ALSO am frustrated and pissed off with pbshop. I ordered from them because there were two books I wanted and I thought … silly me… that one shipment would be easier.
I just emailled them yesterday politely asking when the book was sent.
They emailled me back a bog standard email not answering my question but that yes, it had been delayed a bit with the storm but had been shipped. They didn’t answer my question.
My next email back was not as polite as my first one. I don’t expect to get a reply.
I also ordered and think they must ship from EVERYWHERE. I got one thing that said because of the storm in Maryland they would be a bit slower. Now someone on Amazon says they are out of Secaucus NJ and someone else Elk Grove IL (sounds like their central warehouse – maybe). That makes sense that they might be a receiving warehouse near an airport.
Also thanks for the list of ‘do not buy from these sellers’ – fantastic! Have copied and pasted it into notes. 🙂
Well… coming up 3 weeks tomorrow for these books. I had til the 19th to receive them. Then I’ll be contacting Amazon directly and throwing a wobbly.
Thanks for this great blog.
Aloha Meg Amor 🙂
Sorry to hear your experience was so much like mine. Yeah, I think they have some UK facilities, but also some facilities in the US. Regardless, delays and poor communication seem to be a bit of a problem for them. Not all the time, as some people have reported, but certainly more often than is acceptable. As for throwing a Wobbly, I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m not even sure where you’d find a member of the Industrial Workers of the World anymore, but I’m certain he or she would object to being thrown. 🙂
Just to update–got my book from pbshop on the very last day of the projected time span. Excellent condition. So they did the deal for me.
Glad it worked out for you.
Amazon has morphed into nothing but another money hungry, greedy corporation who tosses quality and customer service out the window just to make a buck. Why do they allow those outlaw sellers to violate their policies? It’s another way to make a dollar. They could care less if those sellers hold an inventory or from wherever they ship or say they ship from. I’d bet that 98% of the positive reviews those sellers have posted are created by the sellers themselves to obtain a high “Feedback Rating” Does Amazon monitor where those customer comments come from? I doubt it. and if they did, they sure wouldn’t want to stop it as the seller may lose sales and Amazon would lose another buck as they get a cut of their sales. . And it’s getting worse. Here is another thing that Amazon customers should be aware of:
Beware when seeking an old title that has been republished and posted for sale on Amazon. Amazon is using interior previews of good quality, re-created books like those from Badgley Publishing Company as the interior of ocr’d and photocopied books produced by fly-by-night con-artists like Nabu Press, Ulan Press, Kessinger Publishing, Bibliolife and others of that ilk that use OCR and photocopied pages from an old book, jack up the price and hope someone is foolish enough to buy it along with the missing pages, garbled text and blank pages. When you click on the Look Inside feature, a little window at the top of the screen drops down and says that what you are looking at is not what you will get if you click on the add to cart button! This little window disappears as soon as you click anywhere on the screen. I just looked up “The Life of John Wesley Hardin” Look at this link:
The web page says this $22.99 book is published by Ulan Press. Click on the Look Inside feature and you will find the interior of a book published by The University of Oklahoma Press!
I don’t know much about a lot of that, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I support my local independent (Tattered Cover) whenever I can, and mainly get my harder to find titles from other independents (like Powells).
Have ordered dozens of books from pbshop (through play.com) and they all got here (Netherlands) and in good condition (even the 2nd hand ones)
Just ordered 2 more
Glad you didn’t have the same kind of problems I had. Seems to work better in Europe. Regardless, they don’t seem to have problems ALL the time.
I’m a college student and the same thing happened to me. It took 6 weeks to receive my textbooks from this company. Pbshop is an awful company!!!!
Some people have good luck, but it seems to go wrong for a significant number of people (like you and me). Sorry to hear your experience was like mine.
Yeesh! I was going to order an 8-book series (used books) from Pbshop, but after reading your posts, no way. I too assumed that PB was a giant warehouse. It’s just WRONG for PB to list books they don’t have in stock! I wonder… does their shipping take so long because they are retrieving your books from the four corners of the earth?
A big “thank you” to the person who listed booksellers to avoid. Good to know.
But… who to buy from?
Has anyone dealt with Abe Books? They are an Amazon 3rd party who (perhaps suspiciously) lists ALL the paperbacks in the series I want to buy – at very cheap prices.
Can anyone suggest a used bookseller, or 3rd party that’s reputable & reliable?
Thanks, all of you fellow bibliophiles!
I’m not sure about PB listing books they don’t have in stock. Some people have mentioned that, though. My problem with them was suddenly shipping form the UK instead of the US like the ad had listed, exacerbated by shipping problems going on between the US and UK at the time. As for Abe, I’ve had good experiences with them in the past. They also have a site separate from amazon (http://www.abebooks.com/). I’ve also had good luck with Powells (https://www.powells.com/) (new and used).
My issue is a little different – all these re-sellers are claiming to offer my novel for sale… but they don’t show up as actually buyers of the books (or amazon is not crediting their sales). They’re basically kiting – claiming they have a book in stock, then taking an order from you and then placing the order on amazon.
I’m not getting how they would make money on that. Why would anyone buy from them if they’re just buying it from amazon when an order is placed? Wouldn’t the buyer just buy it from amazon, since I’m guessing that the re-sellers won’t offer it any cheaper?
Add pbshopus to this list. Had the misfortune of dealing with this scum as Quality 7 as well. After three days of ‘Shipping Soon’ on Amazon, I asked to cancel . . . especially after I discovered the Quality 7 connection . . . another nightmare.
They refused.
Gave me some song-and-dance about being unable to cancel because I didn’t asked for it within the first fifteen minutes. Keep in mind the items didn’t ‘ship’ from their location. Of course, we all know that there is no warehouse to speak of. This tool buys from other sellers, gets his money from Amazon, and then receives money at cost to the customer. They, in turn, give him positive feedback for their troubles.
Very slick.
After three days of wrangling, and involving Amazon, I reversed the charges. Amazon, God bless the customer service rep, sent me the requested book at one-day shipping free of cost.
And pbshopus?
That idiot still sent the book after all the requests and cancelled payments. More to the point, somehow he got his negative feedback from me removed. Still waiting to see the explanation on that one.
Regardless, hope my experiences warn off any other buyers until this trash is removed from Amazon.
And, hopefully, for good.
On that note, if anyone has any doubt, I bought a book from them under Quality 7 and received it with packaging marked BetterWorldBooks all over it.
That wasn’t so slick.
Wow. Glad you at least got your situation partly resolved. I don’t think they’ll be going away from Amazon anytime soon, though. Seems like they manage to keep enough people happy that Amazon will probably put up with those who aren’t.
They’ve actually got a pretty good rating on Amazon right now, probably because they do so many transactions and not all of them go bad. When they do go bad though…
You know, I’m hearing tales that this guy is somehow getting the people he buys books from to somehow leave positive feedback for him. Don’t know if that’s true, but I have sneaking suspicion when certain names leave the same generic feedback.
Again, don’t know if it’s true, or even possible, but something seems off with it.
Yeah, I don’t know if that’s true or not either.
Big up for you David as of your warning ! I, as a “hobby” buy new books, strategy collector’s guides for games, games also, etc. for myself & also some to sell in future. I’ve a perfect feedback on ebay & Play.com as both a buyer & seller, mainly as a buyer. I pride myself that I put the customer first & it’s nice to know people are getting a great service & are 100% pleased. I, as well as you & others here, do find it horrifying that third-party sellers & even some main sellers blatantly lie about a binding contract as of our purchasing from them. We keep our end of the contract then they lie & need chasing up to sort it. Which defeats the purpose totally of Customer Services. Even though we’ve purchase protection from Visa, Paypal, Playtrade, etc. they’re ultimately our last line of defence if it all goes pear-shaped as of these so called dealers it’s bloody awkward with all the lack of communication & excuses they make. I was going to make a purchase from them on Play.com, they were unsurprisingly the cheapest, but definitely wont now ! Many thanks for your revelation & to others on this blog. p.s I’m in Scotland, U.K. & we get messed about too, after the money’s in their hands.
Some people have said that they’ve done all right with them. But, obviously, some haven’t. It’s always hard to ignore a seller that is the cheapest, even if you’ve heard of other people having issues.
Yeah, you get what you pay for, sometimes. Though ironically service quality gets “cheap” when you buy cheap, not in all cases thankfully.
Definitely. Some places cut service to cut costs, but I’ve had plenty of inexpensive book suppliers provide great service.
Got snagged again.
Ordered a book from Daily Deal USA. First book ordered, last to arrive of course. Contacted a representative, who gave me the usual excuses. Three days later, my book arrived . . . in Better World Books’ packaging and with their return address.
Funny, I ordered from Daily Deals.
This company, along with its network of various names, is nothing more than a spider company. Here’s a link that explains it: http://badbookseller.blogspot.com/2011/09/dailydeal-usa-meet-spider.html
Word to the wise.
That’s exactly why I try to find someone I trust and then stick to them. It’s bad enough to find somebody I don’t want to deal with only to have them hide themselves as someone else.
Hopefully, this will be my final entry on this nightmare.
Despite repeated requests to cancel an order, including reversing the charges through my bank, these people still sent the item. It arrived yesterday, I ‘Returned to Sender’, and told them as much in an e-mail. Now read this gem which I got today:
–
We are very sorry but we are yet to receive your returned order.
Please can you answer the below questions?
What date did you send it back?
Which postage method did you use?
Do you have any tracking for this package?
With this information we can better assess when we should receive and process your return.
–
Let me get this right . . . these people want me to provide the exact information I requested, but they refused or couldn’t? Let’s just say, I told them no . . . not so nicely.
Seriously, I hope my experiences and this blog stop any future customers from ever doing business with these scammers. Please, if you’re reading this, do NOT do business with these people!
Fair warning.
Wow. I suppose all I can say is ‘good luck.’ I hope this ends soon for you.
Glad I investigated these people before buying from them. It seemed odd to me that based on their feedback numbers they would need to be selling over 3,000 items a day but somehow this massive inventory is in a warehouse manned by robots who cannot answer a telephone or properly reply to an email…
Wanted to get this audiobook, listed as New from 7.44 (save 50%) Used from 10.58 (save 29%)
The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons – Guess who’s at the top of the list under the New tab? You got it, pbshopus at $7.44 plus 3.99 for domestic shipping ships from US 10-14 days etc. But guess who’s ALSO at the top of the Used list?! That’s right, they’re selling the same item in condition Used-Like New for $3.14 more, so why would they undersell themselves? I imagine there’s a couple of people getting orders and filling them via computer without actually having stock at all. A few people and computers at headquarters in Illinois, another few in the UK, some in New Jersey so they can turnaround and fulfill all these incoming orders but not in any quick way unless someone is willing to pay the expedited costs and they’ll still be given days to fulfill even overnight shipping. Amazon’s boilerplate regarding this says that “Most sellers agree to ship within 2 business days”
But they won’t be getting my order, I’m all for people making an honest buck but not at the expense of hard working and honest sellers. What bothers me most is how it seems they scan the listings of titles on Amazon and reduce their sales price so that it’s low enough to make their listing appear at or very near the top of the list – and everyone loves a great deal, right? But they didn’t think to check whether another of their “drop-shippers” was offering the same title in better condition for less!
Thanks for your dilligence!
TheGuid
I can’t say for sure that’s what they are doing, but it certainly sounds suspicious and it does pay to be careful. Good luck, and good choice. I’ve only read “Hyperion” and “Fall of Hyperion.” Is “Endymion” good? I’m presuming you’ve read/listened to that one if you’re going for the final volume of the Cantos.
There is nothing more dangerous than a group of unhappy bookaholics sharing experiences. Thank you for the information and big lol’s. I haven’t had a problem with Amazon in the past, but I am in to reading scandinavian mysteries and discovered this morning that the two books I ordered on Saturday, won’t be arriving until the end of June and early July. Wondering what the H, I decided to find out where pbshop is and discovered this blog. Now I know and now I am unhappy.
Sorry you have to wait. I hope your books arrive sooner.
For the record, quality7 sells as milde4 on half.com. They own NOTHING. Buy a cheaper copy of a book they are selling on Amazon, and then watch quality7’s price jump to $999 within the day. TOTALBOOKS and BRILANTI BOOKS are another drop-shipper (may be the same company). I have complained to Amazon but they don’t care. The good news is, i know if I buy from any of these losers and the book comes in worse condition than listed, i will get a full refund from Amazon and sometimes a little extra if I complain loudly enough.
BEWARE ALSO “Blue Sky Books” on Alibris. Bought a “New” book that stayed unprocessed for a week. Finally got a return e-mail from “Tony C (“Tony C.” ” stating “sorry i just sent your book – Sent from my MetroPCS 4G Wireless Phone.” Over a week later, I received this from Alibris: “We were just informed that this item is no longer available from the particular Alibris seller you had selected.” So … over a week for a response, then say you sent it, then another week for a cancellation. No book.
More Craziness in the Amazon Marketplace
A book was released TODAY on Amazon. Along with dozens of “New” copies being sold by marketplace sellers for more than Amazon’s price, there are FIVE “Used – Very Good” and “Like New” copies that appear. So a brand new book is “Used-VG” instantly?? And the descriptions of the sellers and locations (all but one in Pennsylvania) make it clear that this is one seller using 5 diferent aliases. My guess is they will buy them new and ship them shoddily so that they are in VG condition when they arrive. So .. beware:
Good For Readers
UrBookstore1
Xciting Prices
BookHouseUSA
—SuperBookDeals
Quality7 / Milde4 / Trebronics Jeff and Betty UNETHICAL SELLERS MAKING PROFIT OFF BOOKS THEY DO NOT OWN GREENVILLE, SC
Read this blog, but take your blood pressure medication first
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/12/21/trebronics-on-amazon/
Dear Sir…
Please forward my letter of concern to the legal department. I am hoping you can solve a serious problem I have with my book, Does Anybody Here Speak English. The book was self-published by Xlibris (print on demand) in October, 2009. I received royalty checks through 2010, and then they suddenly stopped. For 2 1/2 years since I haven’t received one royalty check even though many sales have been made and documented from receipts sent to me by the purchasers.
I am really trying to track down these sales, and who the culprit is who is reaping benefit of those sales. The publisher, Xlibris, say they have no report of sales since 2010 and cannot help me. Lord knows how many other sales have been made in 2 1/2 years that I know nothing about.
Anyway, all book receipts sent to me was ordered by Amazon and sent by Pbshopus. Most certainly, someone is reaping the benefit of many sales, and it isn’t ME.
Sincerely, Patricia LaPlante
I’m not sure who you think I can forward this to. I don’t have any legal department or any involvement with one related to any of these entities.
Oh, no, David. I didn’t expect you to tell me where or whom to contact to help resolve my problem. It was just a copy of a letter that I sent to an intellectual property attorney. I truly suspect Xlibris is keeping my royalties after they have been notified of a book sale. BUT, from the reviews I read about Pbshopus, a third party dealer, they are not blemish-free either. Complaints about them are legion. All of my returned invoices show that Pbshopus was a third party that sent the book out. Anyway Xlibris is working on my problem again after the last royalty department specialist left the company. Once again, she tells me Xlibris will conduct an audit. But what excuse can they possibly come back with? “Oh, yes, we found notifications of book sales somewhere, and we will send you a check.” Hah! Patricia
Got it. I was confused for a moment. I hope they end up giving you the money they owe you soon.
David…I’ll let you know how it goes. Maybe they can redeem themselves. Although, one of the 12 invoices sent back to me from a friend was a sale he made through Barnes and Noble and the third party seller was Solominesbooks in Pennsylvania I never got a royalty check from Xlibris on that either. Patricia
Xlibris is a well-known scam. This has nothing to do with Pbshopus. Read and be better warned: http://www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-by-company/xlibris.html
I’m experiencing the same problem with them right not I have been waiting two weeks for order and have not received it. I will never purchase threw them again. Every body here needs to make sure they go back to their Amazon order history and give this company a negative rating.
Has anyone purchased a book from an Amazon reseller and the book showed up shipped from Walmart.com? Very strange. The book I received was the book I ordered. The packing slip said “third party order”. Looks like the reseller went on Walmart.com and purchased the book there and had Walmart.com ship me the book. And to make this ever more strange the price the reseller paid Walmart.com for the book, taxes and shipping was $11.00 more than what I originally paid the reseller. I checked my credit card statement and I was charged the correct price from the reseller. So two questions…why would a reseller use Walmart.com to purchase and ship the book and how could the reseller buy a book from Walmart.com and take a $11.00 loss on the sale. Doesn’t make any sense.
It’s never happened to me. I could come up with an idea or two, but it would just be speculation. For instance, perhaps the reseller took the order and then discovered they had actually double-sold the book and had to order quick from Walmart.com in order to be able to fill your order for the book they turned out not to have. Or, perhaps they don’t maintain actual stock and had planned to fulfill the order through a cheaper place that fell through and had to order more expensively from Walmart.com as a last resort to be able to fulfill the order quickly. As I said, though, I’m just speculating.
How come these complains never show up in amazon.com. Indeed, almost all the reviews left on amazon.com about this seller are super, including perfect customer service. I ordered a book and waited for three days. Then I got an email telling me that the book was shipped after I requested a cancellation. I will wait for a few days. If I did not get what I ordered, I am going to tell amazon what happened. If you do not mind, I hope I can leave a link to this blog, so people will not get upset again.
I think people have left amazon reviews when unhapppy, but they do such a volume of business that the orders that go bad can get buried in the ones that don’t have any problems. I certainly left an unfavorable amazon review. I hope your order turns out better, but I dont mind you linking in your review if you end up unhappy as well.
Again, I suspect a lot of the ‘reviewers’ sell their product through this scam. No proof, mind, but something feels off. Granted, anything below 95% approval rating on Amazon is suspect. And, at this time, PBShop barely maintains 90% approval.
No idea why Amazon doesn’t step in, but the seller remains to sell through a third-party interest despite Amazon’s policy against it. Because of this, and other questionable sources, I buy my books directly from Amazon now. It’s just safer, faster, and more practical.
Perhaps, that was Amazon’s goal all along.
I just started ordering direct from a seller I know for most of my used purchases and buy from my local independent for new. I just go to unknown third parties when the book isn’t available anywhere else, in those rare cases.
I placed an order for The Transhumanist Reader in *NEW* condition for $32.87 from pbshop on 10/01/13. My Amazon account states that it was shipped on 10/04/13. No tracking information was provided for my order and it was a new book. Exactly what kind of seller on Amazon does not provide tracking information for a new book???? My Amazon account states: Standard Shipping
Shipped Delivery Estimate
Oct 29, 2013 – Nov 12, 2013 by 8:00pm
Today is 11/11/13. This book was NEVER delivered to my home. The seller NEVER provided me with tracking information prior to 10/04/13 until I inquired of the location of my book on 11/09/13 via ‘contact seller’ tab on amazon. I strongly feel that it is the seller’s responsibility to provide a tracking number for a customer’s purchase as soon as it ships. According to USPS tracking it was allegedly “delivered” on 10/17/13 at 11:45 a.m. It was never delivered to my home. I NEVER recieved my book. I am a lover of books I love collecting books. I would have known if the book was delivered to my home because I have been anticipating this book AND extremely hyper vigilant for its delivery ever since I ordered it. The merchants profile on Amazon states that pbshop ships from the UK within 10 to 14 business days. But allegedly it was “shipped” from Secaucus New Jersey????
I’ve had a number of third party sellers ship without tracking, particularly if they were using media mail. However, I always got the book I ordered. I was almost always getting used books though. When I ordered from pbshop, it said it was coming from the US, and then came from the UK. I think they MUST have both US and UK branches and sometimes mix operations. Sorry to hear this got quite this screwed up for you, though. Are they offering to do anything about it?
At the risk of jinxing myself, I have had a good experience with pbshop, and I’ve ordered from them at least 3 times over the last 3 years. I should say that I’m pretty insensitive to the shipping time. If it gets to me in by the stipulated date, whether that is 2 weeks or 6 weeks, I’m generally satisfied. When I’m ordering from a seller I haven’t bought from before, I check customer comments. If there are negative comments about inaccurate book quality, hassles with returns, or shipping the wrong item, I stay away. If the complaints are about long latency between order and arrival, which is a concern students often voice, I figure it’s worth it if the price is right. As someone else said, generally I also avoid sellers who have feedback lower than 95%, though it depends on the kinds of complaints.
I do not need to repeat what others have so eloquently have stated about pbshopus
they are not a first class supplier like the many positive reviews state.
needless to say – this is the last time i will order from them. their turnaround times are not evident until you place the order. 3-4 + week is crazy
I am very disappointed in the poor customer service from Amazon’s partner PBshopUS In September of 2014 I purchased this book advertised as in “Used – Very Good” condition, which according to the Amazon criteria, is as follows: “Used – Very Good: Pages and dust cover are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine is undamaged.” What I received, however, was a book more in line with the description of Acceptable, which according to the Amazon description is as follows “Used – Acceptable: All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting, but the text cannot be obscured or unreadable.” In addition, some pages of the book were dog-eared, and the cover had creases from being folded. I sent pictures and asked for a return authorization and to be sent another copy of this book that matched the description of the book that I purchased. They agreed, providing I paid for shipping the book back, a book that they never should have sent to begin with, because it was not in accordance with the standard established by Amazon. I am not certain why PBshopUS might deliberately misrepresent the items they sell, or ship items they should have know did not meet the minimum criteria for the category. Nor do I understand why the burden of their mistake should fall on the shoulders of their customer, But I do know that after several e-mails, they have demonstrated no regard for their customers once the sale is concluded, and that Amazon, in failing to ensure sellers understand and meet the standards it establishes, is, if not complicent, than is complacent with sellers operating outside of the marketplace norms.
I have noticed that PBShopUS, SpeedyHen, the Book Depository and Ria Christie Collections all seem to be the same vendor (or same vendor network) shipping from different locations. SpeedyHen “ships from” Florida. PBShopUS from New Jersey, etc.. I have ordered a couple of items and within hours of ordering, the stock from the other vendor(s) disappeared. For instance, if I ordered something from SpeedyHen, the stock from the Book Depository and PBShopUS are gone. It’s happened too many times and too systematically to be random. (Also, these vendors are on Ebay as well. I haven’t followed them to there to notice a pattern, but beware that they are on Ebay.) What I have noticed on Ebay is that SpeedyHen on Ebay shows up as SpeedyHenUK (which again, on Amazon, it says Florida). I have received items ordered from SpeedyHen (out of Florida) in a timely manner and have no complaints (so far), but I just thought it was bizarre that the vendors (it’s always the same 4-5 vendors that are only offering the items that I’ve ordered and then once I order something it’s no longer available through the other vendors.
I almost always go through places like Powells any more for my used books. This gets so complicated and I can’t be sure who I can trust.
They’re on AbeBooks too. Thanks for the warning; you’ve likely saved me time and hassle.
They seem to be everywhere.
In July 2012 I added to a list of these unscrupulous third-party sellers on Amazon. Dropshipper, Bookjacker, Spiders – by whatever name identified – BEWARE! Many of these that claim to have book inventories so large that their shop landing pages on Amazon have this exactly in common:
“Page 1 of 5556”
Somehow I doubt this consistent 5556 x 18 – 100,008 number of books is a coincidence!
Today, I’d like to update it and encourage others to copy/pasta and do the same to put the names of these scammers out there.
pbshopus
Any Book
quality 7
Motor_City_Books
profnath
—SuperBookDeals
SuperBookDeals- yup, two different ones
super_star_seller
ExtremelyReliable
academic_book_guy
AZ_Fulfillmentallnewbooks
Moviemars-Books
Livrenoir
amitcj
Technikbuch Berlin
fantastic_shopping
internationalbooks
bordeebook
ucaedu70
thriftbooks
TSCBOOKS
betterworldbooks_
elistics
Daily Deals
Murray Media
-DailyDeals-
brookebooks,
JoyPros,
Vault Media,
Wisepenny Books
BooKnackrh
TOTAL BOOKS
brandnewgoodsus
woodys-books (tho they seem to have been decommissioned in2013)
PBShop is a horrible place to buy from on Amazon. They do not keep up with inventory, and send only pre-prepared emails with no human intervention. I will never do business with them again.
Why do I buy with them? I bought my book this tuesday, and I found later this information, I don´t waiting two or more weeks. Thank you for bring us this, I never buy with again. (I´m sorry my english is very bad).
They answered me! It´s great because gave me my track number! And from New Jersey!
Glad to hear it worked out for you! Sometimes it does work out. Glad you’re one of the ones that did.
I too, but next time I will not buy with them, however this time was good. I am waiting.
I am just lending my voice to all of the others talking about the disreputable bookseller pbshop or Paperbackshop 801 Penhorn Ave #5 Secaucus, NJ 07094. They owe us $43 and have not refunded us. We returned the book to them, as they agreed, with the proper return shipping label. I also paid for the shipping back to them, another $5. There has been no credit given. I have emailed them, and received no response. I also cannot find a phone number for them online, which is pretty telling. This is a thieving company. Do not buy from them.
I’m having the same problem with theses bastards right now! I ordered a book on my 7th, they said it would arrive on June 1st, it’s now June 4th and I still don’t have it!!!!!
I ordered a book from them too and it was supposed to be delivered by August 31,2015. I have tried to contact them several times with no response and I paid more for the order threw them than i would have if I ordered directly from the site. I am extremely angry. Do you have a number for them or a different email I could try?
Sorry, I don’t. Any info I had would have been almost five years old anyway so it probably would have been out of date.
Ahh, I ordered a book fr these assholes and it’s yet to arrive. I need for a class I’m taking and now I’m shit out of luck! Fu%king incompetent third party seller!!! 😡 shame on Amazon!!!!!
Pingback: In Defense of PB Shop UK | The Noble Polymath
I ordered the “Poems of TS Eliot” and today received a 2016 Codebook! What? Who packed this? I ordered through Alibris and they tell me I have to ship it at my expense and they CANNOT reimburse me in any way for the shipping cost. I will ask PBShop for reimbursement, but judging by these comments, I am very unlikely to receive it. I buy a lot of books through Alibis, but I will go to Abebooks from now forward. Disgusted.
It’s now 2016 and it seems that PBShop’s business integrity has not improved. I recently ordered a book from them on Amazon.com. On the seller listing page, under the “shipping” column, it clearly stated that the book would be shipped from Illinois. BUT, as soon as the order was noted as “shipped” the shipping update showed the book being sent from the U.K. using a carrier called Orange Distribution Solutions. When I contacted them, their customer service person was quick to point out that the “product description” included a statement that the item would be sent from the U.K. (Who would even think to look in the description in addition to the info provided in the shipping column?) It is interesting that their customer service has refused to comment on the discrepancy.
I think sometimes they just use it as an excuse. There is one book I found that Amazon accidentally listed early. However, Amazon couldn’t ship because it didn’t have any copies. PBShopUK jumped right on there, continuously offering copies. Except, guess what? They don’t have any and can’t get them. They can only get them once Amazon actually gets them, because that’s where PBShopUK is going to get them. If you try to order, and I have, the order sits for a day or two before they cancel, suddenly discovering that “they didn’t have the item in stock after all.” However, the offer for the book stays up! Seriously, no matter how many times one orders and PBShopUK ends up cancelling after discovering they didn’t have the book and couldn’t get it, they keep the offer up. I’m playing a game with them at this point. It’s happened about 30 times so far. They just offer books they don’t have and it sometimes takes them a while to actually get them. I think that UK shipping time is sometimes an excuse to cover up for that. That’s the way it seems to me, but the above experience seems to strongly indicate that.
And I still think they say that afterward when it’s difficult to find whatever the original post said. Such as this one: https://davidsatkinson.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/untitled.png I don’t see “ships from UK” anywhere.
Or a PBShopUK one instead of PBShopUS https://davidsatkinson.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/untitled.png
Actually Its you fault…
They have Pbshop US
And they have Pbshop UK
Yeah, they do. At the time they also had Pbshop, which is who I ordered from. I didn’t order from PbshopUK. Regardless, they promised to ship from the US. PbshopUK can promise that. Want proof? https://davidsatkinson.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/untitled.png
I ordered a book from PBShop US nineteen days ago, and according to the tracking number, it still hasn’t shipped from their facility. It’s supposed to be here in a few days, but the nearest facility is 1300 miles away. I’ve been waiting on this book forever. I am the kind of person who reads obsessively. Not having this book right now is killing me slowly- just not as slowly as PBShop is shipping the goddamn book.
Same personal on Amazon. Ordered a technical book I needed for work. Found out the shipping vendor is Orange Distribution Solutions ???? They’re an overseas vendor. I was careful when selecting the book vendor. Checked for location. Also item description/condition which was still exists in the saved Order Detail is as follows: Condition: New – New Book.Shipped from US within 10 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000. The book is not location in the US. Complete and utter lie! Now I get to wait what will probably be 6 weeks and hope if doesn’t get lost or banged up in the overseas transit. Complained to Amazon. Told them I didn’t see where they were identified as an overseas vendor. They checked and said they couldn’t find any indication either and the seller is required to provide that info. Also told them that the item description/condition the seller had specifically added indicated it was in the US. They saw that too. They said they were taking a screen capture of that info. They said to let them know if it doesn’t arrive by the specified time frame and if it was shipped from outside the US. Surely enough people have complained yet Amazon still allows them to list for the $$$$.
We’ll try are on abebooks now and I suspect I’ve got the same issue.
I ordered from PBShop as well. My book never arrived. When I contacted them to cancel the order because it was late, they said I had to send the book back to cancel!!!!! I wrote a bad review for them on amazon, but when I went to check it later, I noticed that you can;t review anything but the 5 star reviews on their webpage. (( wonder if amazon knows of this). Never did get the book…. By the way, they had a supposedly 97% favorable rating on amazon. It must all be fake.
I ordered a book on Amazon and got a notice that it had shipped on June 11. Then, a couple of days later I got a notice from PBShop US, again saying the book had shipped on June 11. Today – June 18 – I tried to track the order, but could only get a message that the expected delivery date is June 22. I had no choice. Amazon dealt with PBShop US before I had even heard of the outfit. After reading your blog, I am now sure my book is coming from the UK. It probably has a US presence in name only. A shitty way to do business.
I believe PBShop is a subsidiary of Amazon. I’ve published several books using CreateSpace (the publishing platform of Amazon). In the process of editing and producing a book for a client last year, I learned that PBShop US began offering “used” copies of that book THE VERY SAME DAY I UPLOADED IT TO CREATESPACE. It is located overseas so that copyright violation cannot be pursued.
This is correct almost same happened with me also, DONOT order anything from pbshop us ,they don’t have a customer care number n they don’t provide any tracking number also. It’s a big NO. NEVER order anything from pbshop us . They even don’t deliver their package on time also