Though Amazon now own them, apparantely they are pretty much allowed to operate independently as they always did.

They are clearly not operating independently, as overall, they are nowhere near as cheap as they used to be a year or so back, except on a handful of selected loss-leader items (e.g this copy of the Hobbit which is only AUD 7.99).

Their imaginary "RRP" (including postage) in Australia is quite often just the same price as going to a physical book store these days. Also, since the merger, the free shipping to Australia with Amazon for orders over 25 pounds has also gone, so the delivered prices between the two are much of a muchness. It is also worth noting that their "Free Shipping" is no such thing. If they were more honest, their prices would be advertised as "Inclusive of Shipping", given that the price you pay is completely different depending on the IP address you use to create your order. In Australia, for instance, you will be quoted a higher RRP (often a completely fictitious number) and a higher overall price. Now that isn't "Free Shipping" at all.

I'm actually trying to buy some books locally to try and keep the real stores alive a bit longer, as once there is no competition, there won't be any cheap books....

Can only speak from my own experiences with the .com and the .co.uk sites, but I always find them the cheapest place to buy tolkien books.

And no limits of £25 sterling total order etc for free shipping.

I agree Stu, except on one count --in the future there will definitely still be cheap books. In fact that's probably all there'll be: cheap, low quality books, with little intellectual value... & very little else.

BH

Book Depository do not have FREE shipping. Their prices are different depending on where you are located. Their shipping is, therefore, priced into the item cost that you are shown. If I buy the book in the UK it cost 10 pounds, and if I buy the same book in Australia it costs the equivalent of 15 pounds. The shipping - in this example - is (for an Australian buyer), 5 pounds. For BD to describe this as being free is fraudulent.

Now, in some ways including the shipping in the item price makes life easier, as with Amazon you have to put an order together and go through the whole process to find out the total cost, which is a pain.

However, my objection is solely to the description of it being "Free". It isn't, and I'm surprised that they have gotten away with claiming that it is. Just use a UK proxy and an Australian Proxy to view BD and you will see the massive differences in pricing applied to different countries.