[quote=“Mawvellous”]You don’t need a credit card for books.com.tw/ You can have the books delivered to your local 7-11 and pay for them when you pick them up.
You can get pretty much anything in print, although for some books you need to wait while they are ordered in from overseas.
I definitely recommend this service![/quote]
You have just singlehandedly improved my LIFE! (If if works) Do they really do COD orders to 7-11? Do you just need the 7-11 address or the store number? I know enough Chinese to peruse the site, but not to read all the fine print.
[quote=“nemesis”][quote=“Mawvellous”]You don’t need a credit card for books.com.tw/ You can have the books delivered to your local 7-11 and pay for them when you pick them up.
You can get pretty much anything in print, although for some books you need to wait while they are ordered in from overseas.
I definitely recommend this service![/quote]
You have just singlehandedly improved my LIFE! (If if works) Do they really do COD orders to 7-11? Do you just need the 7-11 address or the store number? I know enough Chinese to peruse the site, but not to read all the fine print.[/quote]
It will come up with a map, and you can find your local 7-11. Couldn’t be easier.
[quote=“Mawvellous”][quote=“nemesis”][quote=“Mawvellous”]You don’t need a credit card for books.com.tw/ You can have the books delivered to your local 7-11 and pay for them when you pick them up.
You can get pretty much anything in print, although for some books you need to wait while they are ordered in from overseas.
I definitely recommend this service![/quote]
You have just singlehandedly improved my LIFE! (If if works) Do they really do COD orders to 7-11? Do you just need the 7-11 address or the store number? I know enough Chinese to peruse the site, but not to read all the fine print.[/quote]
It will come up with a map, and you can find your local 7-11. Couldn’t be easier.[/quote]
Excellent. Thanks so much for the links; I’ll find what I want on Amazon and see if they have them; they seem to have a huge selection!
[quote=“Mawvellous”]You don’t need a credit card for books.com.tw/ You can have the books delivered to your local 7-11 and pay for them when you pick them up.
You can get pretty much anything in print, although for some books you need to wait while they are ordered in from overseas.
I definitely recommend this service![/quote]
It’s always feast or famine. When only one solution is needed, two appear at the same time after years of no solutions.
Some banks in Taiwan (Cathay United, anyway) are allowing foreigners to have “debit card” type credit cards - you put money “on the card”, and can used it like a credit card to buy online.
Books.com.tw doesn’t hold a candle to Amazon or a lot of other places for that matter. It isn’t a matter of not being aware they exist. There are no reviews and they jack the prices of the books up in advance. Plus, you have no idea when the books from overseas are coming in. Amazon is faster, cheaper, and more reliable.
It usually takes 8 days (my experience) from shipping date for a book to arrive from Amazon using standard international shipping. I wanted a book quicker so I paid extra for UPS shipping. Today is the 8th day and I’m still waiting. Next time I’ll stick to the cheapest shipping option.
I use Amazon to find the books that I want, then look at books.com.tw to see if they have it in stock. It usually only takes a day or two to arrive if they do, and their prices are usually cheaper than local bookstores. Plus you can use cash.
Agreed that the more expensive shipping to Taiwan from Amazon isn’t usually faster. I guess they can’t make the planes fly faster. I didn’t think of it either and had to learn the hard way, too.
Agreed that IF books.com.tw has it in stock, it’s usually cheaper. But they tend to specialize in bestsellers and novelized versions of recent movies, etc. Exactly what i don’t usually read. But it’s worth checking first to see if they have it and it would be a good resource for people outside Taipei.
[quote=“Formosa Fitness”]Agreed that the more expensive shipping to Taiwan from Amazon isn’t usually faster. I guess they can’t make the planes fly faster. I didn’t think of it either and had to learn the hard way, too.
Agreed that IF books.com.tw has it in stock, it’s usually cheaper. But they tend to specialize in bestsellers and novelized versions of recent movies, etc. Exactly what I don’t usually read. But it’s worth checking first to see if they have it and it would be a good resource for people outside Taipei.[/quote]
Books.com.tw can get anything in, you normally have to wait 1-2 weeks. Often works out cheaper than paying Amazon’s prices plus 4.99 per shipment and 4.99 per book for postage. Depends what you are ordering I guess.
They don’t list many of the kind of books I buy. And their prices aren’t low enough on many books compared to Amazon, at least for what I buy. If it’s really mainstream and something that Page One or Eslite is likely to carry, I’ve found that books.com.tw will often have it cheaper than those two. As you say, it depends on what you buy.
But it does appear that most anything Page One has, books.com carries for less. So it’s a good source.
Does Customs slap additional import duties on goods shipped from Amazon US? Can I use my US credit card and account to pay for the stuff on Amazon (then have it shipped to Taiwan)?
Try purchasing an item from there up to the last page. It will tell you what import duties there are (if any). You can then decide if it’s worth proceeding or not.
Not usually. A search will reveal various threads about this. (For example, [url=Has anyone tried ordering books from Amazon? anyone tried ordering books from Amazon?[/url]) Also, Amazon won’t ship some goods outside the U.S.; so depending on what you have in mind the point might be moot.
I didn’t think of it either and had to learn the hard way, too.