Amazon and Law Bookstores

Where and How to Buy New and Used Law Books and Casebooks, Case Briefs, and Law Study Guides and Aids.

In 2021, most of the independent bookstores were out of business. That is not good. You can find used casebooks on Amazon, and that is good. We don’t like Amazon, but there is no other choice. Buy used books when you can, don’t destroy them, and get an Amazon reseller account and put them up for sale when you are done using them.

Never rent a book. You have to be born brain-dead to rent a book with all the scams that are pulled when it comes time to return the book.

Our opinion on Amazon is as follows: Amazon is a good place to go looking for what is available, but once you locate a product, make the small bit of effort and find the original publisher or even manufacturer, and buy directly from them. All books have the publisher’s name, and you can locate their website in seconds.

This alone will save you $100’s if not $1,000’s and may even get you some great deals that WILL NEVER be done on Amazon. Things such as no taxes and lower prices are very common. Most of Amazon’s much higher prices and costs are to charge you for the vast amounts of delivered but not received product. You subsidize all kinds of crazy terms and conditions for those who buy on Amazon that if you order direct from suppliers and vendors you will get better service and save a small fortune. We know three vendors that sell on Amazon and sell directly. When they ship a product on Amazon to an Amazon customer, a good number of the products are never received. When they ship the same product direct from their facilities using the same shipping methods, the numbers of not received products drops dramatically. You pay for it which is just one of the many reasons you can get better deals by going direct with vendors and suppliers than you ever can ON AMAZON.

We know of 3 major publishers that offer discounts of 15%-20% if you buy direct from them, and they will even give you free freight. When you have to buy a new book, that is $50-$60-$70 or more in savings for each book.

It is estimated that convenience costs you 20% or more of the cost of a product. That is a steep price for YOU to pay for subsidizing all that convenience that Amazon alleges it provides.

Amazon provides you with absolutely no better protection than that provided by your credit card company. In fact, it is simpler and easier to handle a real customer complaint through your credit card company than it is to deal with Amazon.

Another scam that Amazon runs is the shipping scam. They have expedited shipping which you pay a lot more for to get an item faster. Amazon is extremely careful to label what they call their shipping with words such as “standard and expedited.” These do not equate to such things as ground shipping from UPS or priority mail from USPS. They tie the moniker to the amount of time and not the method of fast or slow shipping. So if you pay for expedited shipping and you are just 2 miles from their warehouse or shipping location, you are taken to the cleaners. They ship a slow rate and pocket a lot of money.

The other scam is “free shipping.” If anyone reading this actually believes in free shipping, then you are a prime candidate for being brain dead, or maybe you already are dead and are a Zombie. You are an I D 10 T, or what is commonly known as an idiot. Free return shipping is paid for by you. Free shipping is factored into the price. NOTHING IS FOR FREE. If those who return products all the time never pay for that shipping, those who keep the products pay substantially higher prices.

If you keep your eyes wide open in using Amazon, you can locate good deals on used books and find lots of products that are extremely useful, and purchase directly from the vendors and save a ton of money. Locate the vendor and look them up on the web, and buy from their website.

There is no good advice or any kind of relationship you can establish with anyone at Amazon. You can get some great deals on used books and find lots of what is available for sale not found anywhere else. That’s where it ends.

Bsmsphd.com was going to start selling casebooks along with a printed version of their case briefs to go with it for special pricing and establish the ability to resell the same materials after you are done with them. Buy from them, resell through them if the book is still in demand. Their main advantage is that they do not charge taxes in 48 of the 50 states. But they didn’t do it because so many of the publishers will give you 15-20% off the price of the books if you buy direct.

NO school bookstore will sell you casebooks at 20% off, but most of the publishers will if you buy directly. Returns are fairly easy too, just save their box they send the book to you, and if you have to return it, all you need to do is package it up and slap the return label on it.