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Copyright
© 1995-2000 Aliens on Earth
This page: http://www.ufomind.com/catalog/philosophy/amazon/ (8/18/0 1:18) |
| Amazon | Ufomind Bookstore |
|---|---|
| "Earth's Biggest Bookstore" | "Supporting the World's Largest UFO and Paranormal Website" |
| 1000s of employees | Full-time staff of 2, plus informal help from 100s on the internet |
| Offers millions of book titles in every conceivable subject | Offers thousands of book titles on UFOs, the paranormal, psychology,
philosophy, geography and other topics that happen to interest us.
We do not sell books in topics that do not interest us.
See The Kind of Books We Carry. Our stock includes many specialized or hard-to-find titles that are not available from Amazon. |
| Offers significant discounts on new books from major publishers. | Offers fewer discounts on new books from major publishers, but matches or beats Amazon's prices on many small-press titles and all used books we sell. |
| Your purchase helps support a fast-growing corporation and its stockholders. | Your purchase helps support the Ufomind website, a valuable internet resource that is free to everyone. |
| Depending on the item, books ship within 1 business day, 2-3 days, 1-2 weeks or 4-6 weeks. | Nearly all books in our catalog are in stock for immediate shipment (with occasional delays for books on order). Most orders received by 5:00 pm Pacific Time on weekdays are shipped the same day. |
| Shipping charges are hard to find and are not obvious until the end of the ordering process. | Shipping charges are displayed "up front" in the shopping cart and linked to every catalog entry. |
| Standard Shipping in the U.S. takes 3-7 business days and starts at $3.95 for the first item. See Amazon Rate Chart. | For about the same shipping cost as Amazon (starting at $4.00), we ship by Priority Mail
for delivery in 2-3 days. For delivery in 3-7 business days. we offer lower cost book rate mail (starting at $2.50). See our rate chart. |
| International Shipping starts at $5.95 for surface mail
(plus $1.95 for each additional book),
or $13.95 for air
shipment via
a private carrier (plus $5.95 for each additional book).
See Amazon Rate Chart.
Air takes 7-21 business days. |
International shipping starts at $4.00 for surface mail
(plus $1 for each additional book).
Airmail is based on actual
postage and is up to 50% cheaper than Amazon.
See our rate chart.
Our airmail uses the standard postal system and takes only 5-10 business days to most worldwide destinations. |
| Canada and Mexico are treated as "International" destinations with same high shipping rates as Europe and Asia. | Canada and Mexico are "neighbors." Airmail shipping is only $1-2 more than U.S. Priority Mail. |
| Observation: Higher shipping costs and longer delivery times at Amazon may negate any savings in book discounts. | |
| Amazon | Ufomind Bookstore |
|---|---|
| Offers only books with ISBN numbers. | Offers 100s of items without ISBN numbers, including many privately-published reports and older books. |
| Offers few imported titles. | Offers dozens of titles directly imported from overseas. If we become aware of a useful title in our fields of interest, we will make every effort to get it. So far, we have imported books directly from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark and France. You can't get these titles from Amazon. |
| Has no used or out-of-print books in stock. Some out-of-print
books can be obtained via "our network of used bookstores," which must be
queried. Shipment takes weeks or months and the price includes a markup both
by the bookstore and Amazon.
Amazon offers no used copies of in-print books and cannot locate older books without ISBN numbers. Amazon does not let you choose paperback or hardcover, and you will not know the condition of a used book until you receive it. Provides no cover images of used books. |
Offers hundreds of used and out-of-print books in our topics of interest,
all available for immediate shipment at prices far lower than Amazon.
(Our used books start at
$2
and are rarely more than $30.
Used books from Amazon are rarely less than $30.)
The condition of every used book is specified in our catalog, along with whether it is paperback or hardcover. In our catalog, we provide high-resolution cover images of many of our used books, especially higher-priced ones. (You can't judge a book by its cover, but it sure helps.) |
| Offers money-back guarantee on new books. | Offers money-back guarantee on all new and used books. See our Returns Policy. |
| Credit card orders accepted on-line via secure server. | Credit card orders accepted on-line via secure server. |
| Orders not accepted by telephone, fax or mail. | Orders graciously accepted by telephone, fax or mail.
We accept checks and even cash if you prefer.
We also provide free advice by phone. If you call, you'll probably be speak to our director, who has scanned most of the books we sell and has read the most interesting ones. If you ask him what he thinks about a book, he'll tell you. (Watch out, you may not like what you hear!) If you ask, he can also direct you to what he thinks is the best book on a particular topic. |
| Catalog entries have complicated URLs that track who you are and where you came from. | Our catalog entries have URLs that are simple and stable.
No records are kept of your behavior.
Because we are a research reference as much as a bookstore, complete catalog entries are retained even if a book becomes unavailable. |
| Amazon's catalog entry for a hardcover book does not tell you when a lower-cost paperback version is available. | Our catalog system always directs you to the lowest priced edition available. |
| Less than half of Amazon's catalog entries include cover images, with no cover images for used books and few images for low-volume titles that are common in paranormal fields. | Most of our catalog entries include cover images, including used books and research reports. |
| Users can add their own comments to catalog entries. | Users can add their own comments and links to catalog entries. Our catalog entries also provide links to information about the author and the book's topic, so you can investigate them before buying the book. |
| Offers no used versions of in-print books. | We offer 100s of used copies of the same books we sell new. When a used copy is available, it is listed in the same catalog entry as the new copy. The savings is usually 50% or more off the new copy price. |
| Massively overvalued stock price. Company is worth more, on paper, than than the gross national product of Iceland, while having never shown a profit. | What goes up must come down. |
| Observation: At Ufomind, we wish we owned Amazon stock -- so we could sell it fast! | |
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Created: 12/5/98
