Nowadays there are more online bookshops than actual bookshops. They also relatively sell at cheaper prices. Kidsbooks.com, as an example, even claims themselves as the cheapest online bookshop for kids books. Well, is the claim true? And are the books worth the prices? Here is the honest description and review of the online shop.
Table of Contents
Kidsbooks.com
Being a subsidiary of Book Depot enables KidsBooks to sell books for children at the lowest rates. Besides, it also connects KidsBooks.com with various publishers and stores. The excess inventories or the ones that have sat on racks in a retailer but don’t get sold are the books that Kidsbooks.com sells. The books are mostly still sealed and have never been read or used before. So basically they are new, but cannot be categorized as brand-new.
Products and books
Focusing on kids books, the site has numerous genres. It includes workbooks, crafts & hobbies, science, children’s fiction, children’s nonfiction, arts, tween fiction, tween nonfiction, and more. Each genre is even divided into more subjects. Besides books, the site also sells toys and games like puzzles, jigsaws, card games, magic, and others. In addition, it also provides stationery, games, calligraphy kit, merchandise, and so on. It is pretty varied and complete, isn’t it?
All books usually belong to either bargain books or specialty products. Bargain Books usually have a line or dot to show that they were excessive inventory, but specialty books don’t. In fact, they usually come to KidsBooks.com still ‘in the season’ and in great condition. The price of specialty ones is slightly higher than the bargain books’ prices. Even so, the rates offered by KidsBooks.com are better than other online and offline bookshops.
Prices and Shipping
In terms of prices, it even guarantees the customers that if their purchased books have similar products on Amazon with lower prices, then it will refund the money. After some comparisons, kids books on the site are indeed cheaper than Amazon and other online bookshops. It even gives free shipping for a $35 purchase or more to USA and Canada. For international orders, they serve shipping for more than sixty countries with rates based on destination and weight.
After receiving the books, you might find small tears and bends as they have been handled several times before coming to KidsBooks. Yet if the damages are major and customers are not satisfied, they can make a service inquiry and return the products. If the return is granted, customers will receive a Return Authorization Number (RAN) which will reimburse the return shipping cost.
Pros
- Great value
There have been hundreds of online reviews and testimonies stating that the books are sold at the most reasonable prices. For sticker books that are usually sold at $3 or more at amazon, people could get them only for $1.5. Usually, $100 could offer 25-30 products which each product costs approximately $4 up to $3. If you live in the U.S.A or Canada, you don’t need to think about the shipping fee also.
- Various books and products
As mentioned before, the site provides kids books in various genres and subjects. It also covers various publishers including the famous ones or indie ones. Besides, there are activity sets, merchandise, toys, games, and stationeries.
- Good quality
Among the online reviews, there are only very few bad comments about the quality. Most customers compliment the great quality of books and other products along with the reasonable prices. In short, the site provides products with real pictures, and they resemble 100%.
- Responsive and friendly customer support
The company even mentions on its site that it will commit to friendly and helpful service to its customers. They are open to reaching by call, email, online ticket, and social media. Emails are usually responded to within eight working hours.
- Sale section, gift card, and coupon
As if not cheap enough, the site also creates a sale section that includes clearance and more discounts for kids books, sets, and other products. At some events, they also give coupons and gift cards with certain discounts. Of course, some of them come with terms and conditions.
- Friendly interface
With the choice of soft colors, the site arranges helpful buttons to help and make customers comfortable while browsing the products. Customers won’t get confused to make the payment even if it’s their first time.
Cons
- Slow shipping
The only major down of its service is the slow shipping. Although many reviews are saying that the shipping is fast, there are also many comments stating that the shipping takes more than the estimated time. Surely this problem is related to the shipping company, but KidsBooks.com should have chosen a better shipping courier provider. One even complains that the order was missing.
- No restocking and limited inventory
As it sells surplus books, they only sell stocks that they have. It can’t reproduce certain books because it is not a publisher. Once your desired product’s gone, then it is gone.
- Run out of stock easily
Due to its popularity for its prices, many people purchase kids books as gifts and even supplies for their home in a great number from this site. Don’t be surprised that minutes after you view a book, the book is sold out, especially the clearance or discounted ones.
- Prone to cancellation
Even when you make it to check out the items, there will still be a probability that your order is canceled due to a system error. This usually happens when somebody already purchased earlier than you, but the system hasn’t updated the page yet. Stay calm, your money will be refunded a hundred percent!
- Creating an account is needed
For people who prefer guest checkout, purchasing at KidsBooks.com might be inconvenient because it requires you to create an account and add some details before purchasing.
Conclusion
Though it has some downs, the offered prices along with the quality of the products are definitely something not to be missed out.
It is hard to find other places to shop for kids books with such low prices plus free shipping up to your front door. If you’re in America or Canada, this online bookshop is the best deal for you. For international customers, it’ll be better to check your local bookshops as the shipping fee will cost less.
Unless you’re planning to have joint business with KidsBooks.com, who knows you could open their branch in your own country.
