Maybe because of my age (born in 1948) and the habits of a ministry covering some 50 years, I still cherish printed books. Don’t get me wrong, I have most of the latest digital Bible software with some 2,000+ volumes of resources. I also regularly buy digital versions of books for my Kindle app or Apple Books app, and have about 450-500 titles between them. But printed books are still my passion.
So when I am looking for a new reference book, commentary, or book on a special topic, I go for print most of the time. But this doesn’t mean I want to pay full retail for a new copy if a good used volume is available!
Now there are several places I can and do buy my used books. Here are most of the places I shop regularly:
- Abebooks – www.abebooks. Right now this is my first choice because of both price and variety
- DiscoverBooks – www.discoverbooks.com. Not as much selection and prices seem to be a little higher than Abebooks. On the other hand, I receive regular emails from them offering additional discounts which is nice if I they have books I want at that particular time.
- Amazon – www.amazon.com.
- Ebay – www.ebay.com.
Here is a recent example of a book I wanted for my library. It is the Lexham Geographic Commentary on Acts through Revelation, by Barry J. Beitzel, and published by Lexham Press.
- Lexham Press lists its retail price at $39.99+ free shipping.
- Amazon has it new for $29.73 + free shipping for Prime members.
- Ebay has several listings for it new at $30.42 and up – at present there are no used copies listed.
- DiscoverBooks – no copies presently listed.
- Abebooks had it used for $29.59 + free shipping.
The prices at all the sites except the publisher are constantly changing, so it’s worth checking them all to find the best bargain at the time one is ready to buy.
At a future date, I will probably also provide a review of the Lexham Geographic Commentary series.