LiseM

Hi There,
am a newbie to the forum. Grew up in Perth but have lived in London for the last 11 yrs & am now moving to Melbourne early next year (having only visited there once!) Feel like I'm in no mans land these days - don't know Australia anymore but not really a true Brit either!!

Anyway - on a visit to the parents in Victoria earlier this year it struck me how expensive books are in Australia in comparison to the UK.
Just wondered if people could tell me where they buy cheap books in Australia or more specifically Victoria / Melbourne?
I looked in a few 2nd hand book shops & a lot were FILLED to the rafters with mills & boon type paperbacks - not really my thing!

Here in London I buy from charity shops, ebay, amazon, swap on the website readitswapit & use the library system to reserve new books which has been a godsend & money saver!
I checked the ballarat online library service catalogue to see if the books I'd like to read were available & sadly not many of them were stocked

So now I'm wondering if I should get the books I know I want to read whilst I can find them cheaply & ship them over with the rest of my gear or does anyone have any tips for me? Like - do they sell the latest paperbacks in supermarkets over there for a reasonable price? (tesco often has 2 for £7 as do the other supermarkets...)

Cheers!

aliciaoggy

Hi don't know if this will help but there is a website called the bookdepository books well priced and free delivery worldwide.

Australia_bound?

Plenty of book shops that sell pre owned books in and around Melbourne. New books are expensive in Aus, not many deals to be found from what we have seen.

Katherined0

I also use the book depostitory
www.bookdepository.co.uk
It seems to be the cheapest way to buy books out here.
That said our local library is fantastic. Free reservations and have got 95% of the titles I've been looking for. books are good quality and well maintained too. Way better than the libraries in the UK.

Katherine

quoll

We now have the occasional Borders which has a good range. Failing that, get them from Amazon UK - they dont work out too expensive.

Ballarat has a couple of good second hand bookshops in Sturt St (well there were two last time I looked but they were renovating and one of them may have gone). One of them had some real treasures of hard back Georgette Heyers which helped me upgrade from the paperbacks I had.

Also just up the road from there, in Daylesford, is the Book Barn down on the lake - lovely selection of second hand books and well worth a look for anyone looking for second hand books. There are other shops in Daylesford town as well which have a good range.

We always buy loads of books when we go home for a holiday - we do tend to raid Heffers in Cambridge for books that we dont have here but that doesnt stop us buying from shops here or even Amazon US/UK

Katherined0

I find that the postage to Australia with amazon makes the books more expensive than the book depository.
Also if you register with Borders online they send out weekly money saving vouchers which give you some good bargains!

Ozzy dog

Have used these guys for our book club before - no complaints.

https://www.booktopia.com.au

Hope it helps

Tracey

Gems

Book depository gets our thumbs up
Great for getting my kids loads of books at good prices. I have a house full of book readers!

Gems

quoll

Yes but you dont pay VAT so it isnt that much different.

Katherined0

How come?? My amazon orders always include vat?!

melbournegirl

You can buy top seller books in BIG W much cheaper than most bookshops. Myer and Kmart also have good deals on as well with Myer often doing 30% off books. Target do specials as well.

BIG W though seems to be cheap all the time not just during sales.

For example a $50.00 cookbook in a bookstore such as Collins would sell in BIGW for $35.00. They don't have a huge range though but you will find the most popular books there.

Otherwise the local library is great.

Hutch

If you're in Oz and you order from the Amazon US site (amazon.com) then there should be no sales tax.

spartacus

Penguin are always good value, even out here. Currently reading ‘The Fabric of the Cosmos’ by Brian Greene. Thoroughly recommend it. Wasn’t a great believer in Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle previously, but now I’m not so sure.

LiseM

Thanks for the Replies! Hmmm, ok will keep all of this in mind. I have friends who order off the US amazon website so I'm guessing it must be cheaper than the UK site. Look fwd to checking out the libraries if they're as good as people think! A lot of London boroughs have now joined forces to allow borrowing from all of them - so I've had no problems reserving the latest release books I've wanted & getting them pretty quickly soon after - saves a fortune not buying them!
Think I might buy the few books I know I'll have trouble finding in Oz & just ship them - might be cheaper in the long run for me to do that!

mulben

So now I'm wondering if I should get the books I know I want to read whilst I can find them cheaply & ship them over with the rest of my gear or does anyone have any tips for me? Like - do they sell the latest paperbacks in supermarkets over there for a reasonable price? (tesco often has 2 for £7 as do the other supermarkets...)

Cheers!
New US books + some 2nd hand
http://www.strandbooks.com Freight @$6.99 1st book, then $3.99 US

Large catalogue of 2nd hand (very cheap) Freight @ $3.99 US
http://www.betterworld.com

New US / UK / Australian (mainly print over runs) Freight varies $4 to $7
http://www.allbooks4less.com

Say no more, very good
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk

Keep up with new releases
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

With exchange rates taken into consideration Betterworld works out at
A$10.50 delivered very good condition hardback
Never buy under "good" condition or you will be disappointed