By: Revanche

Bargain book shopping

August 18, 2008

I was on the hunt for a copy of a book that was recently recommended: Carrie Black’s Basic Black.

I checked Paperbackswap.com first, since I’ve got some credits on that site, but no dice. I checked retailmenot.com for Borders.com coupons in case they still have that dandy 40% off coupon, no go there either.

I went to Amazon, and found that my preference, the paperback, isn’t out until September 9th, and Amazon’s currently offering a pre-order option with a Price Guarantee. If you haven’t heard of it before, the details are as follows:

Pre-order Price Guarantee

Amazon.com’s price for not-yet-released items sometimes changes between the time the item is listed for sale and the time it is released and shipped. Whenever you pre-order a book, CD, video, DVD, software, or video game, the price we charge when we ship it to you will be the lowest price offered by Amazon.com between the time you placed your order and the end of the day of the release date. A pre-order price guarantee message will appear on your Order Summary during the checkout process. If you use 1-Click ordering, pre-order price protection will be automatically applied. The order summary in Your Account will reflect the lowest price within 24 hours of the price change.

Terms and Conditions:

  • Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to items sold by Amazon.com, and not to items (or prices) offered by other sellers on our site. Does not apply to any products purchased at Amazon.com’s other sites, including Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.ca, or any other web site operated by Amazon.com or its affiliates.
  • Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to not-yet-released books, CDs, videos, DVDs, software, and video games sold by Amazon.com. It does not apply to other product lines or to items that have already been released.
  • Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to qualifying items displaying the offer message on their product detail pages. Items that do not display the offer message do not qualify, regardless of the nature of the items.
  • If your order enters the shipping process before the release date and the price is lowered before the end of the day of the release date, we will automatically refund your credit card for the difference between the price you were charged and the release-date price. If you did not use a credit card to pay for your order, please contact Customer Service.


The price ranges from $15 (after shipping) for a used copy of the hardcover, to $17 for a new copy from Amazon and it qualifies for Super Saver Shipping.

Because it was published in 2007 (so, recently) and I don’t have a whole lot of faith in our library, I checked our local library catalogue online without getting my hopes up and voila! They have it! I should really check there first. Unfortunately, my work schedule just changed today and I’m going to be stuck at work late every night for the rest of this month. Gar. Maybe my cousin will be able to make a stop for me.

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