Okay, HF-ers, because I'm not scouring the web looking for books for my Secret Santa giftee (and I'm sure many of the rest of you are doing the same), I thought it might be a good idea to make a list of great on-line sources to buy both new and used books.  If everyone could post websites where they find their treasures, I'll compile them here in this thread. 

I'll start with the obvious -

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/

Bookcloseouts - http://www.bookcloseouts.com/default.asp?N=0

Overstock - http://www.overstock.com/

Book Depository - http://www.bookdepository.com/

Barnes & Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Okay, what's everyone else have? 

http://www.sortfloor.com/

http://www.hamiltonbook.com/

http://www.ebay.com/

http://www.powells.com/

Thriftbooks -  http://www.thriftbooks.com/

Abe Books - http://www.abebooks.com/

Alibris -  http://www.alibris.com/

Half.com - http://www.half.ebay.com/

I usually go to Deep Discount DVD to search for exercise videos, but I just found out they have books too - ttp://www.deepdiscount.com/index.htm

I personally found a cheap copy of a book for my giftee on eBay!  It was several dollars cheaper than I saw on either Amazon or B&N used books.

Oh man, I should NOT have opened this thread.  That bookdepository is AMAZING!!!

http://www.sortfloor.com

http://www.hamiltonbook.com

Powell's is in Portland, OR and is the only bookstore I've been given a map to as you enter.

powells.com

Mimi, WOW, A Map. I think I need to go to Oregon.

My daughter asked me tonight, what I would do if the store closed and forgot we were still in there looking at books. I said I would be very happy!!

Except for the penny books, I always shop around a bit.

Thriftbooks is a favorite, but then most of their stuff ships from Seattle so even the snail mail comes pretty quick. http://www.thriftbooks.com/

Abe books is always worth a look and they have international sellers. Never had a problem. http://www.abebooks.com/

Alibris is another seller worth comparing, http://www.alibris.com/

Never ever had a service issue.

Some of those highly priced used books are sometimes cheaper in the UK so don't forget to check Amazon UK (or Canada). You never know, even with a bit higher shipping costs you might get a hell of a bargain (I just did).

Last tip and not just for books - use Google shopper. At the Google page chose the shopping option, and key in the title and author and/or the ISBN #. Never know what they'll find. We were scratching our heads at the office trying to find out where to get battery replacements for the emergency lights and I used Shopper with the product # and voila (!) it found us a store close by who stocked it.

PS, as many weekend trips as I've taken to Portland I've never had the courage to go into Powels. I know it's trouble with a capital "T".

half.com  http://www.half.ebay.com/

Thanks for all the suggestions. I didn't realize that being a Secret Santa was going to be so costly. As I just posted in the book deal thread, I went scrounging in used book stores today to find gifts for my secret giftee and spent almost $50 -- unfortunately, NONE of the books I bought were for my giftee!!! Anyway, I just posted several of those books on my shelf  and have a couple of freebies to offer with orders (Plaidy's The Reluctant Queen and Penman's Here Be Dragons) - I described their conditions in the book deal thread at the top of this forum. But I promise that I will find books for my giftee! (I'm about to search your suggested websites now...)

Update: Plaidy's The Reluctant Queen is taken.

Second update: Penman's Here Be Dragons is taken.

What was that used book fair finder someone posted once?

Used Book Stores have to be the most dangerous places ever !!! There's something about holding a book in your hand, flipping through the pages, reading a paragraph at random, noting that it is in remarkably good condition, wondering if you would ever see the book again if you let it get away from you, thinking 'what the heck; it's just another dollar (or two) ... and WHAM! ... there it is ... added to your stack!

Isn't this so, Linda?!?

Kelly

I really need to start shopping around more. I always buy the cheapest copy at AZN which is really short-sighted because if I saved more money, I could buy more books.

Valli - I find Amazon hard to beat.  Their regular prices on new copies of books always seem to be the lowest, and when you factor in their free (and usually pretty fast despite being free) shipping, excellent customer service, wealth of information at the site in terms of reviews, ease of searching, referring you to similar items, etc., they are the "go to" place for me.  Also, I've found lots of books on the Marketplace for less than $1.  Sure you factor in $3.99 shipping, but still, I've bought brand new books or used books in pristine condition for $5!  I also like Amazon because generally, unless a book is very old and out-of-print, you can almost be assured of finding it on Amazon.  You go there, do a quick search, you see all your options, you click what you want, check out and you're on your way in probably less than 5 min. if you're not browsing for other things, and if you are, drifting around Amazon discovering new books you need to have isn't necessarily a bad thing if you have time.  A lot of times I find the time savings alone makes Amazon the better choice than searching several "discount" sites. 

Apparently I'm a walking commercial for Amazon.  They should pay me for this stuff!  (As should the makers of the Swiffer cleaning cloths, because I can't ever have a conversation about housecleaning without extolling the many virtues of those.  But that's another story . . . )

Erika, R U thinking of bookfinder.com?

Genie, no, but I found what I was talking about, which is booksalefinder.com

Oh, OK, "fair" not "fare". LOL! Glad you found it.

Do not do what I just did!!

I was very excited to purchase on eBay a book for my secret giftee.  The book is described in the description section as a "hardcover" book in "brand new" condition.  Only after my purchase, did I happen to scroll MUCH further down to find that the book is a soft-covered Advanced Reading Copy. I'm usually very careful about online purchases -- but in this case, my excitement got the better of me (combined with what I thought was mild, if not outright, deception, perhaps inadvertent, in the description section). So -- make sure you scroll ALL the way through the description before purchasing.

UPDATE: The eBay seller refunded my money (less his listing fee) -- so I'm feeling less annoyed than I did earlier!

Deb I have done that before on Ebay. You have to make sure to read the small print. I fought one purchase because the person didnt list a shipping price (this was probabably 5 yrs ago) and they tried charging me $40 to ship a cabbage patch kid. 

Deb, that stinks! Oh, that would make me really angry and I would somehow mention it in the feedback. That is important info and should have been put somewhere highly visible. If the item really isn't what is listed, that should be the 1st bit of info about the product that the browser will see.

You can still send the ARC to your buddy, but you do need to include a postable book too. I am so sorry that happened!

Shelley, I probably will continue to buy most everything ay Amazon, mainly because I'm lazy and I just don't like to search and search for things. I'd rather pay the extra money to avoid the hassle. I just don't have the patience to be a good shopper. Actually, books are the only things I like shopping for, normally I despise shopping. Hate it!