Barnes & Noble.com

Full review
Life is an adventure. Sometimes that adventure involves long periods of idleness during which I tend to go through massive piles of books. This means I have a very intimate relationship with most of the brick-n-mortar book stores, along with their on-line counterparts. One of my most frequently visited sites is Barnes & Noble.

B&N has a ridiculously high inventory. Luckily, the website breaks things down rather nicely against an easy-on-the-eyes white background making my site navigation a piece of cake. If I know exactly what I'm looking for having just read a rave review that interests me, I can use the search box to find it immediately. On my more leisurely days though I just click on any number of genre choices and browse away. The hardest part of a visit to the B&N website is narrowing down my shopping cart at check-out time. heh.

As far as pricing goes, they are about the same as all big-name book stores on the web. If you happen to have one of their membership cards, you can use it here to save 10%. What I don't like about this though is that their card is $20 annually, while others such as Books-a-million only charge $10. But what can ya do? If you're going to be purchasing as many books as I do, you really should go on and get that card.

Shipping is right up there amongst the best of them. I alway choose to have books shipped together to save on shipping costs, but they don't make me wait. Oh no. They always have gone on and shipped the books that are ready to ship and the balance later, yet they do let me have the lower charge. Can't complain on that score at all. It's all about the customer service with me and that gesture makes me a loyal customer. If you spend over $25, it's free.

But it isn't just all about the books. If you're into DVDs or board games, you can get those here too... along with things like CDs and Video Games. Pretty much something for everyone.

Returns can be either shipped back, or taken directly to your nearest brick-n-mortar location with no hassles whatsoever, at least none I've run up against. The two times I either mis-ordered or got the book I just ordered as a gift and had to return they were very nice about it.

So. I'm going with the whole 5 stars for Barnes & Noble. Having been a customer of the on-line store for over 7 years has to say a lot. They have a fantastic selection, great shipping prices, wonderful packaging, and top notch customer service. They may not be the cheapest around, but they aren't way high either. Sometimes it's worth the extra 50 cents per book to know that you'll get what you ordered in a relatively short time frame. Go for it with confidence.