[Hack] Even Cheaper Prices at Book Depository

8513

Go to Deal

muzzamo on 24/01/2011 - 14:42 whirlpool.net.au (2381 clicks)
Last edited 25/01/2011 - 15:50 by 2 other users

Taken from whirlpool from here and modified slightly http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1441298&p…

Basically the "free shipping worldwide" policy at book depository isn't 100% true. If you visit the site from a UK address, the total price including shipping is cheaper than if you visit it from Australia.

Method (from WP post):
Install the edit cookies plugin for Firefox from here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4510

Then use the lunchbrowse.com to access http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/fccbookclub (most web based proxies will do). Use this address to make sure that the coupon code box appears at the checkout later. I added a book to my basket at this point.

Then go to cookie editor – search for lunchbrowse.com. Click the c[bookdepository.co.uk][/][ENTITY_SESS_ID_UK] and copy the content bit which will be something like: lngmess7j75vji24rlvva8imv5 (do not use this one!)

Then search for bookdepository.co.uk in the edit cookies section. Edit the entity sess id and paste in that one you used.

Then access the site bookdepository.co.uk in your browser and you should have whatever you added to the basket and have UK prices as well. Change the currency to AUD at the top right.

When you are ready, go to your basket and add the coupon code FCC221 for another 10% off.

As an example, I was able to get "the rough guide to thailand" for $13.69 delivered. This compares to $23.27 without the 10% off and this hack from book depository, or $19.50 which was the cheapest price on booko (abebooks), or 39.95 from dymocks in store.

One word of caution: don't buy through the proxy. It will probably work but is asking for trouble. Use the technique above to avoid entering in confidential information (paypal account) on a proxied page.

Mod: Put back original description for clarity

Mod: Further discussion here

Related Stores

whirlpool.net.au

• 1
• 2

• • 

    donny1916 on 24/01/2011 - 18:07

    That's significant. I wasn't that sure I'd even bother with using this method if the gain was very small but upto 30% makes it worthwhile

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 24/01/2011 - 18:19

      It's considerably more than that in some cases.

      'The Snowman', Jo Nesbo, for example, costs $5.21 (USD) via proxy to Book Depository UK.
      It costs $10.80 (USD) through oz front door UK Book Depository.

      Or another current bestseller:

      'Room', Emma Donoghue, costs $6.22 (USD) via proxy to Book Depository UK.
      Versus $12.34 (USD) through oz front door UK Book Depository.

      Or

      'Eat, Pray, Love' $5.43 (USD) versus $12.34 (USD).

      There's dozens of these. Some with even larger discrepancies.

      Might be legit (with an explanation that's not transparently obvious - maybe bestsellers are subsidising shipping costs of some other stock?), but my 'hunch' would be, as well as covering increased shipping costs, there's perhaps a little gouging of Australian customers going on. At least on the more popular stuff.

      Again, though, even at the hiked price, they're still remarkable deals by Australian standards. And, regardless of the whole debate, i still love the store.

    • 

      omygodde on 24/01/2011 - 18:52

      +6

      I just bought a book which is $80 originally and $40 with the trick + 10% off…

      Being a loyal BD customer who has bought numerous books from them over the years, I actually felt a bit cheated when I found out they can charge so much for shipping while advertising it free shipping worldwide.

      That being said, I immediately felt much better after placing the order.

• 

  infernal_max on 24/01/2011 - 18:05

  +1

  Morality is not a bargain, therefore complaining about this deal being active is futile as it's up to the discretion of the user. Personally, if I wanted the book I'd just buy it straight away, but im not bothered if others do. I find quite offensive actually how carefree some people use the term moral users/immoral users…

• 

  nowlan on 24/01/2011 - 18:33

  +5

  Sounds like fraud to me.

  • 

    ahoyhoy on 24/01/2011 - 18:59

    -2

    So that would make the book depositry a victim i've just dialled 000 we don't want to reduce there profit margin sargent gillroy said he and his wombat are onto this criminal activaty

  • 

    wryun on 24/01/2011 - 19:22

    Agreed. There's a line somewhere between legitimate 'dodgy' bargains and straight out scams… I'm just not exactly sure where. This one, however, seems very much over that line.

• 

  Colombian on 24/01/2011 - 18:36

  -1

  We can't make justice by ourselves.

• 

  firedragon on 24/01/2011 - 19:13

  PLEASE HELP :)

  If I want to use this hack, but don't want to use Paypal, (want to pay with my credit card), what should I do? Thanks!

• 

  Broden on 24/01/2011 - 19:16

  Who reads books when you can watch the movie

• 

  morini on 24/01/2011 - 19:55

  "A person who by any deception dishonestly obtains for himself or another any pecuniary advantage shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years." - UK Theft Act 1968
  In a legal sense it's for the courts to decide, but in a moral sense I wouldn't go anywhere near it. Yes, they increase prices for overseas buyers to account for the increase in postage - even if you found that somehow morally objectionable, two wrongs don't make a right.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 24/01/2011 - 20:05

    +3

    "Yes, they increase prices for overseas buyers to account for the increase in postage"

    Don't disagree with rest of your post (the legality is probably on nose, wherever people stand ethically), but this bit's a bit of a guess imo.

    As said/showed in post a few up, their bestsellers are more than double the price on many (most?) occasions. Could easily compile a basket costing $50 via proxy versus $110 for same non proxy.

    I find it unlikely that that extra $60 would be purely covering their costs of additional shipping (some of it? sure). Can't say absolutely, of course, but if were to take a guess - as those assuming the differences is just reflecting shipping costs are doing - i'd say there's more likely some gouging going on there also.

    ed: wasn't me who neg'd you btw.

    ed2: Your last bit: Two wrongs sort of could make a right (if not perhaps a 'legal' right). If you don't want to rip them off as an Australian (with their extra shipping costs), but don't want to be ripped for being an Australian either, could buy every second book off them via proxy. Reduce the averaged out differential to something more in line with what would logically be their extra shipping costs. Neither side would get to rort.

• 

  mxyzptik on 24/01/2011 - 20:07

  +2

  PRICES: BOOKS. Australians (cluey OzBargainers excepted) have been paying EXCEPTIONALLY high prices for books for many decades. I recall a UK global publisher clearly showing in their annual reports (way back in the '80s) how much more money they made out of the old colony than anywhere else - and nothing much changed until now.

  GENERALLY: I believe that if you are rolling in it then why not pay the going price to the 'good' retailer like Book Depository, but for those that have little money (many more in number), whom generally the odds are stacked against, then I lose no sleep over them using their initiative and getting the goods for as little as they can.

• 

  djones145 on 24/01/2011 - 20:08

  +3

  the thing is
  if you are in the uk and access the site, it allows you to send books to australia at the lower price

  the question is
  why offer uk people to send books to australia, using australia credit card or paypal?

  since they allow u to send books to australia when u enter the uk site using a uk proxy, i dont see much of an issue

  if they didn't allow u to send it to australia, but u found a hack around it to trick it to send it to australia and get the lower price
  then thats unethical

  • 

    omygodde on 24/01/2011 - 20:37

    That's why there are so many cheap books from UK seller on ebay. All they do is order the book for you on BD and keep the change.

• 

  goatus on 24/01/2011 - 20:11

  +1

  Its possible the price discrepancy isnt to do with shipping at all. Perhaps its like Aussies paying more for itunes downloads because of different licencing agreements with the australian holders of the material (ie Sony australia has a different agreement with itunes than Sony US does). Perhaps the same happens with book publishers?

• 

  firedragon on 24/01/2011 - 20:29

  Can someone tell me how I'd go about using Paypal to pay - do I actually have to do it on the proxied page? i.e. click 'checkout' and go on from that?

  Thanks.

• 

  outlander on 24/01/2011 - 20:30

  Sounds like the same thing with dvd regions. Most people don't have a problem with buying region 1 or 5 dvds.

  I was looking at The Art of Electronics, but it seems that, after 22 years, a new version is being released, so theyve got rid of the old one. new one is on preorder. you think this trick works for preorder? lol

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 24/01/2011 - 20:40

    +1

    It's a little different, though. Dvd regions, i think everyone agrees are pretty cynical. Merely there to maximise profits for distributors, to keep a heavy handed control on release schedules, to do a bit of title specific gouging etc. There's really no counter argument.

    In this case, Book Depository has a theoretically good - or sincere - reason for Australian prices to be dearer than UK prices: shipping (which is built in - debate about 'free shipping' logo aside for the moment). Trouble is, without any transparency, there's a question mark if it is merely shipping that accounts for the extra dollars charged, or if there's any further advantage being taken of being able to identify and isolate Australian customers.

    • 

      surm on 24/01/2011 - 20:53

      +3

      This book is $64.50 when visited from an Australian IP.
      http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780071744324/Star-Sche…

      The same book is $43.50 (that's without the 10% discount) when visited from a UK IP, with "free world wide shipping".

      Think this way. How about getting an agent based in the UK to order the books we want from The BD. Is this ethical or not? If this is ethical, then one can mimic the UK based agent by using a UK proxy/IP.

      • 

        donny1916 on 24/01/2011 - 20:58

        +4

        I think that's the crux of the debate. If I can call a friend in the UK to purchase a book using their internet connection and put in my delivery address without it being immoral or fraud then then why is using a proxy any different.

        Some people need to get off their moral high horse.

      • 

        surm on 24/01/2011 - 21:03

        +1

        donny1916,

        It comes down to ethics surrounding "Man vs Machine" :-)

        One can either use a human in the UK, or a machine in the UK as the "proxy", but which one is more ethical than the other?

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 24/01/2011 - 21:06

        Oh, i agree there's a flaw in their representation of 'free world wide shipping' without qualifiers how/why that's so (what it means), and at the very least, inconsistency in who they'll allow to order from where and send to where (given their system setup of multiple price points for different regions).

        The ethical part of it, for me, though is more how much extra the costs are and whether those extra costs ring true as being legitimate costs they could likely defend. I love the store, and basically just want to treat them in a way that feels even handed.

        A $21 difference on a - i presume oversized? - paperback is a bit steep. But a say, $7-10 difference, at those prices, i could accept (as a hypothetical).

        It's not really black or white imo. I definitely see the misleading aspect of 'free world wide shipping', but frankly it doesn't chaff too badly. But i also do see some of their price differences being a bit too large in places to give them the benefit of the doubt as purely covering shipping costs.

      • 

        surm on 24/01/2011 - 21:12

        snp,

        The same book can be delivered to Aus for AUD $43.50 from the US based The BD web site (from an Aus IP address). It is even cheaper from AbeBooks.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 24/01/2011 - 21:14

        Well, if that's the case, it's completely funky.

        Mind you, there are funky examples that go the other way.

        They were rare, but i did see the odd book costing less on Book Depository non-proxied than proxied. Which seems to defy any obvious logic.

        This is the thing, without transparency it's hard to know what's what or why.

      • 

        leegan on 24/01/2011 - 21:25

        Seriously guys, Why don't you consider the fact that the prices may be based on the demand in each of the countries perhaps. I've also found books that are cheaper in Australia than via the UK proxy.

    • 

      outlander on 24/01/2011 - 21:30

      It is refreshing to look at a world map. Argentina, which is not even as far as australia is away from england, has roughly the same prices. The shipping prices must be calculated by a formula.

      Does bookdepository always have 'free shipping'?

• 

  firedragon on 24/01/2011 - 21:06

  The FCC221 code isn't working anymore :(

• 

  run2dmax on 24/01/2011 - 21:28

  +9

  This is ridiculous. They are offering the price as free shipping based on where they are shipping it too. If you walk into a shop and tell them they are shipping it to a house just down the road, they'll give you a price and then you sign the deal. You can't then go and tell them to ship it to the otherside of the world for the same cost.

  Sure they could get around this issue by making you have to input the shipping address and then they add shipping on top of that, but I really like BD's simple pricing. I hate Amazon's cheap prices and then massive shipping which you only find out once you've gone through the process and adding it to the cart and adding details.

  This is just taking bargain hunting too far…

• 

  elcheapo on 24/01/2011 - 22:20

  +4

  Bargain is bargain .. but "hacking" DB to your advantage, it is scam.

• 

  sev snape on 24/01/2011 - 23:02

  +3

  Better World Books do this too. They recently introduced free shipping worldwide, but most of the books from AU internets upped ~$3.

  It seems to be the standard when offering "worldwide free shipping" nowadays - to access the price from an AU computer a book I was after was $8.48, but viewing it from the proxy server (USA), the price was $5.48.

  It may be "free worldwide shipping", but it is not "free worldwide standard pricing"

• 

  MementoMori on 24/01/2011 - 23:08

  +2

  For what it's worth, I think it's still good that this was posted. All us nerds live to hear/learn about this real world hacking.

  The choice of whether to use or not is up to the individual.

  BTW… There are places where you can get books for FREE and much quicker! They're called libraries.

• 

  pauly on 24/01/2011 - 23:09

  +4

  There's a bit of personal attack going on here, and there's already enough said on ethics/moral issues.

  If you have any input to this type of post or if you have an opinion on how we can better deal with this, please continue your discussions here:

  http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/38308

  Thread locked.

• 1
• 2