for discounts from bookstores. I can't help it. Every time I see a 50% to 70% markoff I can't stop myself from picking it up. Or in this case, clicking it into my shopping cart.
I opened my gmail account this morning to clear the deluge of daily emails I receive and came across the newsletter from Barnes and Noble. They are having a books clearance sale, most at 50% off. I wasn't looking for anything in particular but decided to just have a look around. Two and a half hours later, I find I have charged USD96.29 for 10 books.
I mean, on the outset, looks like a good deal, roughly USD9.50 per book right? Well, the discounts were super cheap, most of the books were about USD3.99. What jacked up my total was the international shipping costs. The cost of shipping exceeded the total amount for the books by nearly double. I paid USD62.39 for shipping and handling when my total cost of books was USD33.90. All I can say is the books were dirt cheap and the cost of shipping basically offsets the discounts and makes it equivalent to if I had gone to the store and bought them myself.
Why then would I go through with payment if the shipping total is more than the actual costs of the books themselves? Well, some of these books are hard to find in my home country. Some have ceased to exist (i.e: probably didn't generate good sales and was returned to publisher), some can't even be found in my country and others were just stories that appealed to me. I did make myself get a range of genres: heavy reading, light chick lit, period dramas and a biography that I've always wanted to read but couldn't find anymore.
After using the online currency converter, it all adds up to more or less the retail cost of the books sans discount. I'm fine with it. I've reconciled. This should be my last books purchase for the year. I believe it should last me till December. I still have quite a few here that I have not touched. In fact, I have about 3 books I have started but haven't finished. I'm also slowly going through "The Iliad".
I hope this time I will have a seamless shopping experience with barnesandnoble.com. This is their second chance to redeem themselves in my eyes. And considering it's quite a large order, this should sufficiently test their customer service. I hope I am not disappointed.
I opened my gmail account this morning to clear the deluge of daily emails I receive and came across the newsletter from Barnes and Noble. They are having a books clearance sale, most at 50% off. I wasn't looking for anything in particular but decided to just have a look around. Two and a half hours later, I find I have charged USD96.29 for 10 books.
I mean, on the outset, looks like a good deal, roughly USD9.50 per book right? Well, the discounts were super cheap, most of the books were about USD3.99. What jacked up my total was the international shipping costs. The cost of shipping exceeded the total amount for the books by nearly double. I paid USD62.39 for shipping and handling when my total cost of books was USD33.90. All I can say is the books were dirt cheap and the cost of shipping basically offsets the discounts and makes it equivalent to if I had gone to the store and bought them myself.
Why then would I go through with payment if the shipping total is more than the actual costs of the books themselves? Well, some of these books are hard to find in my home country. Some have ceased to exist (i.e: probably didn't generate good sales and was returned to publisher), some can't even be found in my country and others were just stories that appealed to me. I did make myself get a range of genres: heavy reading, light chick lit, period dramas and a biography that I've always wanted to read but couldn't find anymore.
After using the online currency converter, it all adds up to more or less the retail cost of the books sans discount. I'm fine with it. I've reconciled. This should be my last books purchase for the year. I believe it should last me till December. I still have quite a few here that I have not touched. In fact, I have about 3 books I have started but haven't finished. I'm also slowly going through "The Iliad".
I hope this time I will have a seamless shopping experience with barnesandnoble.com. This is their second chance to redeem themselves in my eyes. And considering it's quite a large order, this should sufficiently test their customer service. I hope I am not disappointed.
