Biblio Book Search Updated

A quick update has been uploaded to the site tonight. Mainly, more up to date and accurate search results from Biblio.com. Only available copies are displayed now, so there should be no more "Another Customer has already purchased this book" pages from Biblio. Stay tuned for even more updates and improvements!

Updated Pricing Information and New Book Buyback Vendor

Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone! I have fixed the issue where Bunches of Books was not displaying the most up to date prices, so now they should return only the most recent results when searching for a book to buy! In addition I have added a new buyback vendor www.webuytextbooks.com
, and they seem to be offering a great price on certain textbooks. Be sure to check them out at the end of the semester when it is time to sell your books for cash! More updates and improvements coming soon, thanks for the support!

A few Updates to Compare-Books.com

It has been a busy week, but I have managed to make a few usability updates to Compare-Books.com. Among the new features are a searching reminder when searching for the lowest prices on books. The blank screen while waiting for results was just a little too off putting!

Second, it is now easier to return to your search results after comparing prices. This should help you compare prices on different edition books more quickly. This is especially useful for students because an older edition may have pretty much the same content and you will find that older used textbook prices are considerably lower.

Finally, users can no longer inadvertently click on the buy or sell tab before a search has been performed. There were problems with the site when users clicked through the tabs without having searched for a book or isbn, and getting random search results back. By disabling them before a search is made, the process of buying used books should be a lot clearer.

As always, keep the suggestions rolling in!

Better Book Category List

I am happy to announce that I have improved the browse by category list available on Compare-Books.com. The old list was, well, very unorganized and the books did not really show up in the right places. I have now included a set of top level categories and a plethora of sub categories in order for users to browse by the specific category that they are looking for. Thanks for everyone's support and suggestions, together we will make this site one of the best for comparing book prices on new and used books and textbooks!

New Book Buyback Vendor Added!

I have added eCampus to the list of buyback vendors. Choice is always good when selling your books, and now you can be even more sure that you are getting the highest price for your book! eCampus offers free online quotes, free shipping, and insurance and tracking included.

New Feature Added! Preview books when available!

A new feature has been added to Compare-Books, the ability to search inside the book before you buy it on qualifying books. To use this feature, simply start your search as normal, and if the book you are searching for allows full text previews you will see the following icon by the search result:



This icon will also be available on your price comparison page. This service is provided through Google, and should make getting the right book that much easier!

New Vendor Added - Bunches of Books

I just added a new textbook vendor to the site, Bunches of Books. Their inventory really is mostly college textbooks, with little extra. However, their prices are very good. I have run a few searches and they come up either lowest or very near the lowest prices on many textbooks. Hopefully this will help some students this coming up semester!

New Vendor Added!

A new vendor has been added to the Buy search results. eCampus
offers a lot more than used textbooks and new textbooks, however. They also have quite a large selection of non school books as well. I'm sure people will find some big savings on them during your searches!

New Way to Find at Local Library

I have updated the way in which Compare-Books.com returns local library results. For now, when clicking on the 'Library' tab, users will be shown a link to the search results. This was done due to the large amount of data WorldCat offers its users when searching for books at local libraries. The link will open in a new window, so you can still perform searches on Compare-Books.com. Try it out and let me know what you think!


Search for books at local libraries is a service brought to you by WorldCat. More information can be found at www.oclc.org/worldcat/

A Few Thoughts on the Site

As I am putting the finishing touches here and there on the site, I have come to realize that the most useful information that I can possibly get will be from the visitors themselves. As the site becomes more known about, I am hoping that users will take the time to offer suggestions as to how the service can be improved. One change I myself would like to implement would be the addition of a theme selector, with various themes users can choose from with different levels of displayed details about the searches they perform. As soon as I get some suggestions I will display a poll so users can vote on the most requested suggestions.

New York Times Bestseller Fiction Top 5

Top 5 fiction novels by the New York Times, with quick links to price comparison:

BLACK OPS, by W. E.B. Griffin


SCARPETTA, by Patricia Cornwell


THE HOST, by Stephenie Meyer


CROSS COUNTRY, by James Patterson


FIRE AND ICE, by Julie Garwood

New Feature Added!

I am pleased to announce that a new feature has been added to Compare-Books.com. We now offer the opportunity to see the 50 most recent searches through our site. Simply look in the top left or bottom left bar and click 'Recent Searches'. In addition, two new venues have been added: Overstock.com (wonderfully cheap new books) and TextbooksRUs.

Why another book price comparison site?

I started this venture with one goal in mind: create a SIMPLE, EASY TO USE website that only displayed relevant links to the most UP TO DATE prices from dozens of book vendors in order to offer the lowest prices to my visitors. Whether it be used textbooks, used books, or new books, you should be able to quickly find the best price.

As a graduate student, I have browsed many book comparison websites and noticed that, while most websites were relatively easy to use, changing from one form of price comparison to another was often a hidden function. For example, if I was looking for a book to buy, and wanted to quickly see the buyback prices for the book, I would have to search the website for a link to compare the book's sell price. I have overcome this on my site by implementing a tab system. For any ISBN searched for you can quickly compare prices both domestically and internationally, as well as buyback prices for the book. I have also added another feature not present on most book comparison sites; The ability to search through WorldCat for copies of the book at your local libraries. Now, you can not only get a low price for the book you are searching for, you may be able to get it for nothing at all!

Another feature that is implemented is real time pricing information. A lot of book price comparion sites aggregate book prices in a database, and it is not updated often. This allows for quicker searches, but the price may not always be accurate. If you search at other book price comparison sites and then go to buy the book, you may find out that the price displayed did not match the price at the actual store. Not so with Compare-Books. Our searches occur in real time, so only the most up to date prices are displayed.

I hope this encourages you to at least check out our humble corner of the web, and save a bit of money at the same time. I am looking forward to hearing from people! Have a great year everyone!

Compare-Books.com is Open!

After running through a few initial design changes, I am happy to announce that Compare-Books.com is officially open. A few more bookstores need to be added to the search list, and the international search is being uploaded as I type, but for all intents and purposes, the website is quite ready for public access. I look forward to hearing from people about any improvements I can make!

Be sure to check us out at Compare-Books.com!