So, what’s the best way to find books online? There are thousands of large bookselling sites, and individual booksellers, and Google searches don’t always work well for turning up the results you want.
Book marketplaces make finding books easier. Member booksellers each load their listings to a searchable database on the marketplace website, making it possible for you to search the offerings of hundreds or, in the case of the largest services, thousands of booksellers, all in one fell swoop. Millions of books can be searched in just seconds. When you order a book, it’s shipped from the individual bookseller.
Here’s a rundown of 30 book marketplaces, worldwide. First up, some great indie ones, then onto the big guys.
Independent bookselling marketplaces
There are lots of good bookselling sites out there, aside from the big ones we all have heard of (see farther down the page for those). These sites usually feature experienced, knowledgeable booksellers and have a strong emphasis on quality.
ABAA
The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America was founded in 1949 with a mission to promote interest in rare books, along with professionalism & ethical standards in the book trade. ABAA lists books from its member booksellers on its website.
Antiqbook
AntiqBook‘s slogan is “fine books, fair prices.” They hold booksellers to a high standard and won’t accept hyperbole, inaccurate book descriptions, or shoddy business practices. Based in the Netherlands with over 8 million books and hundreds of booksellers worldwide.
Biblio, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is independently owned. This company is dedicated to giving customers and booksellers alike excellent service, and to charitable works.
Over 5,600 booksellers sell on Biblio, so there’s a very large selection of books – over 100 million! It’s the best of both worlds – indie, and big. (There’s also a UK site, Biblo.co.uk.)
It’s my favorite place to buy books online. Check it out here.
Bibliophile Bookbase
Bibliophile is based in Switzerland with a few hundred booksellers located around the globe, but mostly in the UK, US, Ireland, South Africa and Australia. The website has been online since 1999 and is available in English, French, German and Italian.
PBFA
PBFA (Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association) lists many books. Booksellers are mostly UK-based, with a handful from other countries.
ILAB
The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers‘s slogan is “the world’s best books, the world’s best booksellers.” Their site lists books sold by almost 1,800 ILAB member booksellers, who must meet a high professional standard to join.
IOBA
the Independent Online Booksellers Association is a trade organization founded in 1999, for reputable booksellers who sell online. The site lists books from a portion of IOBA’s 300-plus members.
Livre Rare Book
Livre Rare Book searches 497 bookshops with over 3.4 million books. This French site is also available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.
Maremagnum
Maremagnum is based in Italy, and lists over 8 million books and ephemera for sale. Its sellers are located worldwide, and the website is available in Italian, French, Spanish, and English. Shipping within 2 days is guaranteed.
Scribblemonger
Scribblemonger is US-based and includes about 300 booksellers.
Tom Folio
TomFolio is a co-op, founded in 1999, whose members must adhere to a code of ethics. They offer books from about 120 reputable independent booksellers from the United States and a handful of other countries, along with a small selection of antiques and collectibles.
Uniliber
Uniliber is a Spanish site but is available in seven languages, including English. It offers nearly 4 million books from 300 bookshops, most of them Spanish.
Bookzangle
Formerly called World Book Market, Bookzangle describes itself as “an international group of booksellers who believe that quality of books and quality of service far outweigh quantity of listings.” Established in 2004, they have high standards for their sellers, who number a few dozen. Booksellers are based in the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. They offer bookselling software and many other services to their members.
The big guys:
These are the huge bookselling marketplaces, each of them listing the inventories of many thousands of booksellers. If you want the biggest possible assortment of books to search though, this is where you want to go.
And, when I’m trying to find out what a particular book’s current retail price range is, these (as well as Biblio, listed above) are often the places I look first, because the pool of books for comparison is so large.
However, on these sites the booksellers aren’t as closely vetted as on the smaller bookselling marketplaces, so you wind up with many very knowledgeable, reputable booksellers, along with a few newbies who don’t really know about books. So, read descriptions carefully.
AbeBooks
AbeBooks was established way back in 1996, making it one of the first sites of its type, and it is one of the biggest. Amazon now owns ABE, but it’s still run as a standalone operation with offices in Canada. Thousands of booksellers worldwide list their books on ABE.
You can search AbeBooks using the form below or by visiting this page.
Amazon
Though Amazon started out as a seller of new books, it’s now becoming quite popular with booksellers who list used, out-of-print, and collectible books there. (Do read descriptions carefully, and email the seller with any questions, as anyone with an Amazon account can list there.)
I’ve found a number of good finds at Amazon. Because Amazon is large, deals and rare items don’t often last long, so if you do see something special, I’d advise to jump on it fast. Check it out here, or use the search form below.
There are Amazons in several other countries, too: Amazon.co.uk
Alibris
Alibris has been online since 1998 and offers many millions of books offered by thousands of booksellers. It is the largest independently-owned book marketplace and they are involved in several social responsibility campaigns. Offers DVDs, too. There’s also a UK site.
Meta search sites
Want to search a bunch of these marketplaces at once? There are sites which will let you do just that.
- MareLibri searches 9 of the sites listed above; available in 13 languages. Very nice.
- Via Libri searches 18 different websites which include the inventory of 20,000 booksellers worldwide. You can register your wants and they will notify you when the books are available.
- Addall is independently owned and searches a few of the sites listed above, along with textbook sites and behemoths such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart
- Used Book Search searches books on the major bookselling sites, and has a nice feature where you can just see books located in particular countries.
- BookFinder4U is another independently owned site which searches over 100 bookstores including the biggies and some indies. Two search forms: one for used, and another for new books.
- ISBN.nu searches a number of bookselling sites. It shows pictures of book covers and has a really nifty interface.
- Bookfinder is owned by AbeBooks (which is owned by Amazon), Bookfinder searches those sites as well as other major bookselling marketplaces and websites, including many of those listed above.
Individual booksellers
We’ve also put together a list of individual booksellers you’ll want to know about. It’s sort of Beat / small press-centric, but also has some dealers who have a large range of book offerings.
Check it out here.
Know of any more?
If you know of other book marketplaces or even individual booksellers that we should know about, please leave a comment!
dolly bonugli says
Im looking for someone to help me answer a question, how does one know where to buy a true first edition book that is going to come out? For example a Stephen king book, the next one he releases where can i but a first edition ?
Denise says
Pre-ordering the book from a bookstore or online store, for pickup or delivery, on the publication day is the best bet for getting a first edition copy. The idea is to buy it immediately, before the book goes into additional printings. Your local bookstore should be able to help you out.
N Broadfoot says
Hi there,
I have a problem with AntiqBook too. Seller promised me a book but asked me to wait a month before posting due to Covid and said he’d set it aside. A month later, I have to prompt with a couple of emails and he says he’ll take it to the post office to check shipping. I prompt a week later twice, and suddenly the book is unavailable, no explanation. Now I try to register a complaint and it bounces back. What recourse do I have?
Denise says
You could try contacting AntiqBook to see if they can contact the seller. Aside from that, if the seller isn’t responding, you could file for a chargeback from your credit card company.
Marc Harrison says
Hi
Perhaps you could add to the PBFA site, that with almost 500 members it is the largest association for second hand / rare booksellers in the world. Each of their members has been sponsored in and abides by a strict code of conduct, so finding items on their website gives you some reassurance. They also put on about 60 book fairs a year, which are a great place to find books.
Another website that is excellent for finding very rare books is Catawiki. This is a Dutch auction site, with books from mostly Europe, but around the world. It is an auction site but has timed weekly auctions on various subjects (art & photography, Literature etc). It is great – as you see some very obscure items that you never knew you needed!
https://www.catawiki.com/en/c/141-books
Barbara Still says
I ordered from Antiqbooks a couple days ago and had a very odd experience leading me to believe it’s a scam website. Only articles such as yours give me any hope. I’m buying internationally, there will certainly be shipping costs.
> I added 4 items to my cart from the same book seller.
> I went to checkout, entered my details and credit card details.
> proceeded, thinking I would be given the shipping cost
> order confirmed! No shipping costs given at any point.
> email received from atiqbooks detailing order, still no indication of shipping costs.
> I emailed the seller directly to enquire
> 3 days later…
> still no reply from seller,
> no idea when an amount will be subtracted from my credit card
> no idea how much will be subtracted from my credit card
> I’m unable to buy anything else in case and exorbitant amount of money is suddenly subtracted from my card
Verdict:
> bad idea to enter credit card details on antiqbook
> have the feeling its a scam
> have no way to contact antiqbook itself.
… couldn’t recommend this site.
Denise says
Hi Barbara,
As I understand it, Antiqbook doesn’t automatically process sales, but waits for the seller to confirm and then finish processing the sale. As it’s a holiday week, you might give it a bit longer, as the seller may not be in. Just a guess. Good luck!
Denise
William Owens says
That was a very informative article! Thanks for sharing such useful …
Bui Kim Thuy says
I was expecting Barnes and Noble to be on the list, but it turn out to be nowhere. Anyway, thank you so much for this helpful list.
Denise says
Barnes and Noble, through their Marketplace program on BN.com, does offer used/collectible books. But that program has had some issues over the years and B&N hasn’t always been very good for booksellers (for example not paying on time, website issues, difficulties with managing books, few sales, seller support issues, etc.).
As a book collector, it may be worth checking out, but, for the reasons listed above, booksellers who list there will also, almost without fail, have their books listed in other bookselling sites (for example, ABE, Amazon, Alibris) as well.
Chris Morse says
Is eBay a viable place to sell collectible books these days? Seems like the inventory and prices are low there.
libros gandhi says
Los mejores mercados en la venta de los mejores libros de colección para toda generación y en todo idioma
Denise says
For those who don’t read Spanish — the comment above translates to (approximately) “The best market for selling and collecting the best books, for every generation and in every language” (gandhi.com.mx/libros).
Thanks for letting us know about this bookselling site!
Von L. Thiel / Interesting Books says
Denise-
After selling books online for 20 years I had a brainstorm this morning and googled “best bookselling site”. Your list came up and I thank you for it and agree with what you have to say. When I research prices I usually use ABE but I’ve noticed that sometimes they don’t have many copies. I’m wondering if it’s in decline. If so it’s too bad because I’ve always considered it the best of the major sites.
Amazon is almost impossible to work with and VERY difficult to do research on (all those different formats in their stupid catalog; maybe the catalog idea seemed good 20 years ago but I think it’s overdue to be discarded) but they do have the most customers, by far.
Biblio is, in my opinion, the best site after ABE and will be, hopefully, ABE’s replacement if the latter fails. Their technology is by far the fastest and best. I’ve been with them over 10 years but, unfortunately, their customer base is apparently pretty small, not many orders. If they spent the money to develop their brand, though, they could be a contender. By the way: they have a meta search site that is pretty new and quite good: bookgilt.com
Fast and seems to be accurate, I use it as a “reality check” for ABE when I do research. It searches Amazon, too, unlike some others, and is easier that searching Amazon itself.
Thank you very much for this list, very helpful.
-Von
Luke Yancey says
Thank you for listing all of these bookstores. I have been buying a lot of books from a used bookstore, but there are still a lot of books I can’t find because they are rare. I will make sure to check our Livre Rare Book. I hope they have books in Russian too!
Travis L. says
Fantastic list.
marc says
Hi,
The Books at PBFA site has not had a connection with the PBFA for many years. The organisation has asked Books at PBFA to remove all material relating to the association, and has asked them to rename.
The PBFA has got its own website http://www.pbfa.org.uk – as well as information about the members, and the fairs that that the PBFA put on, there are also books by the members available on the site – with full descriptions and photos.
Marc
Paul S. says
Thanks for the excellent list of book sources.
D. Raphael says
Glad to hear you found it useful, Paul!
Bookworm Chick says
Wow, great list, thanks for putting it together!