Looks like a scam, smells like a scam... You be the judge. I ordered two books, highly technical and pertaining to a specific manufacturing industry. Something that probably not too many people order. I placed the order on 12/24/08 and their website stated that "few" of these books were IN STOCK. Well, imagine my surprise when a week later or so they told me that there was a sudden spike in the demand for these books (on Christmas Eve of all times!), and now the books are out of stock. (Well, at first they said they'll ship in 3 to 5 days, but that was a blatant lie). When they could not provide a date as to when they expected to have the books in stock I decided to cancel the order. I also notified AmEx to investigate this as possible fraud, which they agreed to do. Soon after I got apologetic emails from A1 stating that they will refund my money (they did), and that I should not re-order the books because they don't have them (it's safe to say they never had them in the first place, but that's not what their website said at time of purchase). Overall this was a very bad experience; who knows if I'd get my money back had I not notified AmEx of the situation. I'd say stay away from A1. It looks like a big bait and switch scam.

I purchased from A1Books.com because I need a book (of course). It has the lowest price of all the merchants. I received the book two weeks later. The transaction went smoothly, and I will order from them again if it has the lowest price.

A1 Books sells/distributes through Amazon and even though they cannot be easily contacted their phone number is 973-426-9995. I was only able to leave a voicemail regarding an item I ordered. 9 days later I received notice the item was not in stock. I expected it to BE here by now!! They are not available to comment?! I am concerned that if I cancel my order that it will not be refunded, since this company has a bad reputation. Once I reach resolution I will be leaving a review for this seller on Amazon.

Surprisingly good experience, especially with all the negative reviews I read about this dealer.  
 
I ordered a book for school that was close to $30 cheaper than anywhere else I could find it so I thought I might as well take the risk and see if maybe all the reviews I read were just unlucky.  
 
Ordered on the 3rd they said processing would take 5 days, got an email saying it was shipped on the 8th. Shipping took a little long as it was shipped via standard shipping but still landed within the 14 day expected shipping time given by the dealer.  
 
Pros: Very cheap books!  
 
Cons: Slow shipping and no tracking number for orders.  
 
Over all a good experience.

So I am writing this review because I had a surprisingly good experience with a1books. I was looking for a good digital camera and came to their website through a coupon site. i had never heard of them so i was highly skeptical to spend so much money. i googled them and came to this site - which made me rrrrreeeeealllly think about it...but then i happened to speak to mention it to a friend who had bought a webcam from them before and had a great deal - so i decided to give it a shot - because these reviews were mostly about books and i thought maybe electronics is handled by a different division.  
 
Either i was really lucky or i was really right - the camera - a nikon coolpix p80 - was a good $20 cheaper than any place else - got to me in 3 days of my order in fantastic condition. Needless to say, I am happy!

Well... as most everyone has had a similar experience, it has been 8 weeks since i placed my order with A1 Books and still I do not have a product or a refund to show for it.  
 
Because they do not have a published phone number on their website, there is no one to speak with regarding my order. Their helpdesk doesn't provide adequate service so I did some research. I found that their domain name is registered to a company called WebNotions, inc.  
 
WebNotions's contact info is as follows:  
WebNotions Inc.  
Private Company, Headquarters Location  
Netcong, NJ 07857-1013 United States  
(973) 426-9995 , (973)426-9955 fax  
http://www.a1books.com  
Company Description: Retail: Online sale of books and DVDs.  
 
So if your having a hard time contacting a live person, just call 973-426-9995 and you can speak with a person from A1Books. It helped me with my refund. Hopefully it will help you too.  

A book was purchased but A1 Books never paid the seller after a month and half. They are using feedback as excuss to not paying the seller; which nothing to do with him selling his book which I paid for and have received. The seller is very mad and not happy at all they are giving him his money. It is very suspicious and and fraudulent.

The service is absolutely horrible and incompetent beyond belief. I provided the correct shipping address, but the order never arrived and eventually made back to the seller. I was then partially refunded, meaning that I lost about $10, will never receive the book and wasted time waiting for the book and contacting A1books, just because A1books is so incompetent that they ship orders to themselves. I am a graduate students and will need to buy lots of technical books now and in the future, but I would rather cut my throat than do another business with A1books!

This review was modified by its author, dothemath, on 9/29/08 2:31 PM.

Ordered two books on 8/11 from sellers on A1Books. One book was received fine, the other was never shipped. Upon contacting the seller I received no reply, so I went to A1 who sent an email to the seller requesting order info. No reply was received (at least to me) so I recontacted A1 who, again, emailed the seller saying that if they did not hear back within 48 hours I would be refunded. That was on 9/11 and I haven't seen a refund or anything. I've done business with A1 before without problems but will think twice about doing so in the future.

Absolutely horrible. Order got delayed, and then took forever to ship. Please avoid this horrible, horrible, company. I needed a book for school and didn't get it - MY GRADES WERE AFFECTED. I have another book for another class THAT HAS YET TO ARRIVE.

VERY VERY BAD EXPERIENCE. VERY UNETHICAL SITUATION. I am warning everyone to NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY unless you like having high blood pressure. Never had I had a problem like this with an on-line company, and I order a lot of things on-line. I ordered an edition of a book that- from their site picture of the cover- was the 2001 edition. I ordered it BECAUSE it was the 2001 edition. It sold for $15.43. The book I received was the 1999 edition. THEN I looked on line, and the only edition they were showing at that time- which I knew by the cover picture- was the 1999 edition, but it was $8.37 BRAND NEW!!!!! The exact same book as they had charged me $15.43 just a few days earlier!!! Every time I tried to get satisfaction all they said was they would refund according to their policy. They weren't even willing to honor or even acknowledge the lower price. A simple acknowledgment would have been nice, because I was not asking for the lower price; I was asking for the 2001 edition, and was willing to pay $15.43 for it. I was NOT willing to pay double the asking price for the 1999 edition. I wrote, and then wrote responses to their unsatisfactory, mantra-like answers. I wrote that I saw the book being offered by them for the lower price BOTH on their own web site and the Abe's Books web site. They answered that Abe's Books wasn't their site- totally ignoring that I had provided THEIR OWN exact web address to the book. I also called the phone number on their web site; you had to leave a message for a call-back, which I never got. Two days later the web site said they didn't take phone calls. Figures, since the price apparently "changed" in the same speedy fashion. I sent the book back and got a partial refund. UNACCEPTABLE. I finally got satisfaction - no, not from them, but from my credit card company. P.S. If I had wanted the 1999 edition I could have originally ordered it for a lesser price from another company. I finally ordered and speedily received the 2001 edition for $9.99 from Clementine Books on amazon.com. Also have had great service from Brighton Belle on amazon.com. STAY AWAY FROM A-1!!!

This company is horrible. I ordered one book as following item:  
 
Item #1 : Transportation (with InfoTrac )  
ISBN : 0324202148  
Price / Item : $49.77  
Quantity : 1  
Will Ship In : 1 day(s)  
Expected By : 25-Jun-2008  
 
Seller : textbooksforless (textbooksforless@hotmail.com)  
SKU : 0324202148-NI  
Condition : Brand New  
However, the seller mailed me one wrong book and refused to refund all charge. I spent another several dollars to mail back. In total, I lost more than 10$ and got nothing. I have to wait another one month to order the book from somewhere else. The company is terrible. Be aware of this seller.

Below is a timeline of my order. The issue is getting an e-mail saying that my order has been shipped, then 8 days later getting another e-mail that my order is backordered! That is not good service.  
 
 
5/8/2008 2:44:00 PM: Ordered Radical Brewing with 3-5 business days shipping. Item was in stock at time of order.  
 
5/9/2008 E-mail that seller is being contacted to confirm order. The book was ordered through buy.com  
 
5/11/2008 E-mail that the following items on your Buy.com Marketplace order have shipped! The seller, a1books has confirmed the shipment was sent on Sunday, May 11, 2008. You have selected Standard shipping and should receive  
your item(s) in 4 to 14 business days.  
 
5/19/2008 E-mail from A1 that order has been delayed because they ran out of stock on the item ordered.  
 
6/03/2008 I wrote A1 Books an e-mail through their website (no phone number to call) asking for a free shipping coupon or percent off coupon if I decided to try them out a second time.  
 
6/04/2008 I received an e-mail back from A1 Books stating things about shipped using Standard Ground Shipping.  
Did they even read my e-mail? I'm not complaining about the shipping. The shipping is fine. I'm complaining about the not just misleading e-mails, but the obviously false e-mails that were sent to me stating that an item as has been shipped when it hasn't. And that it took them another 8 days to send me a second e-mail stating that my item is backordered.  
 
 
 
 

I would strongly advise staying away from this company. Customer service is nonexistent - nearly the same reply is given to all requests, and they do not offer telephone contact (that says it all). I ordered my book on the 15th of April from Alibris, and the order was not processed by A1 until the 22nd. It was shipped from New Jersey on the 24th and I still haven't received it, one month later (and I am in New York City!!). They keep giving me the runaround: please wait another 4-7 business days, etc. And they have no way to track your package once it has left the facility. I wish I had read these reviews before I ordered from A1... Stay away from this company!!

Absolutely horrendous website. Slow as molasses. Further ac ookie problem made me have to ask for my own password via email. What a headache. Finally gave up and went back to Amazon. Cost a couple of bucks more but Jesus I don't have time for this nonsense.  
 
DJ