Amazon just bought Book Depository

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

I was looking to buy something last night, searched everywhere (not a book) then found it on Amazon...$20.67!! Yay thought I (the rest were high $30's, low $40's) so when I went to checkout, I discovered the delivery would be $24.50!!!! Consequently I cancelled that deal...:(

[Neko]

Yeah, shipping from Amazon can be pretty hefty :(

[Geoff]

Even if Amazon ends up being the elephant in the room, the one type of book shop that will always be around, is the second hand book shop. I buy most of my books from second hand book shops, as I am happy to wait a year or more for a particular book.
I can not afford to pay over $20 locally for a new book when I can buy from Book Dep.(at the moment) well below this price and it only takes a week or so from the UK.
I have also read about swap book clubs, hand one in and you pick a 'new' one to take home. This is not a profit system more a hobby based system.

[Matthew]

Heh. I poke through second hand bookstores all the time, but I will admit I prefer to buy new books when I can. I like to know that the author of the book is receiving money from my purchase.

Typically I use second hand bookstores to find books that are out of print or to trial new authors I'm uncertain of--if I like them I'll often try to buy original print books subsequently.