JEANNE-MARIE BUYS A BOOK!

On Friday I went online to buy “Don’t Make Me Think.” What a great title, I thought. The message? Get non-thinking zombie-types ie., most people, to click on the links of your site without even, well, thinking.

I started at Google, my home page on Safari, and entered the book title. Amazon was the first listing in the organic search. Since Jim wanted us to branch out and try something different, I looked over at the “Sponsored Links” and see that Ebay was offering something. Hoping to pick up a bargain, I clicked only to find a ZZ Hill 45 entitled “Don’t Make Me Pay for His Mistakes,” listed at $9.99 with no bids. Ah, the joy of search engines!

I went back to Google's organic search results and clicked on the link for the third entry because I liked the name: Sherpa Store. A clean, tastefully designed page popped up with a great shot of the book. But it sported the unattractive price of $35. I can do better than this, I thought. I was impressed that Sherpa offered its phone number right at the top of the page— something I’ve rarely seen offered by online marketers. But that wasn’t enough to get me to part with $35.

Next, I tried something called BooksPrice. This was really different. It was apparently one of those comparison shopping websites that rounds up every offering of the item you’re looking for (I used this once to get an electric toothbrush) so you’re sure you’ll get the best deal. Every website marketing the book is pitted against one another and listed in order of price, lowest first.

I really liked this site. Here's why:

It was clean and airy. Lots of white space. The first page I saw had a picture of my book with the ISBN number, author’s name, a link to some reviews and the list price. Two large links below were labeled “Compare Price” and “Add to compare-cart.” I chose the first and was blown away by the page of sellers, and their prices, that popped up.

Wanna see it? Click here!

http://www.booksprice.com/comparePrice.do?searchType=compare&inputdata=0321344758

The lowest listed that had a “like new” copy –I didn’t want a marked up dog-eared edition- was called Textbookx.com. BooksPrice listed the price at $20.49. Looking down the list, I noticed that all the usual suspects were also listed: Amazon, Powells, Overstock, Alibris, and even Wal-Mart! Each store had a rating (from one to five stars). Textbookx only had three, but for $20 and change I’d take a chance!

BooksPrice was great because it organized the page into columns with important info about what each seller had to offer: the basic price, shipping price, total for book with shipping, a customer rating (it linked you to Amazon to read the rating) PLUS the condition of the book. This made comparison shopping easy.

Here's something else I liked: When I ran my mouse over each seller, it told me a little about them. What kind of books they specialize in, where they're located, specials deals and memberships they offer. I could learn all this without taking the time to click and check them out.

Once I clicked on Textbook'x entry, I found my book with a short review. I put it in my shopping cart and pressed “check out.” I was allowed the option of either creating an account so I could come back and easily make more purchases, or just make a one-time transaction. I chose the one-time transaction.

The rest was fairly routine. Texbookx promised to have the book to me in 5 to 7 business days. I can’t wait to get it!