I'd first heard about The Book Depository from Tumblr book blogs. They had me at free shipping—and I kept seeing these bloggers with the cutest bookmarks that, I learned, came with each order, respectively. I'd been a staunch supporter of Amazon and their glorious free shipping over $35 on many items, but I was swayed to check out this mysterious, bookmark-gifting site.

     First off, TBD is based in the UK, yet provides free shipping (and a massive selection of books) to many countries (160, I believe their site says). Seriously, a ton of books. I found anything from French fashion to the latest YA novels on pre-order to religious books to children's. I was skeptical that they might not carry such a broad selection, but lo, I was wronged. And not only are there tons, but the prices are great, especially, as I've observed, if the books are published older than maybe six months or a year and are paperback. None of this is good for my book addiction. But oh, so good.

     I then signed up and immediately began stockpiling books in my Wishlist. I'd had an eye on a few in particular, so I kept those in mind, And awhile later, after some tough decisions and trimming down my Basket contents to within my price range, I placed my first order.

     There's a page that estimates the shipping time for each country/area, which is a detail that always makes me happy. The USA is an estimated 5-7 days; not bad for free shipping!

     So I (impatiently) waited for my shipment, tracking once I was able to, adding more books to my Wishlist (a dangerous venture) and checking out the site. It is very user-friendly, and in my opinion, organized, the main page having sections featuring things like Bestsellers, New Releases, and the top books in various categories. Once you've been emailed your order number, there's a specific button at the top of the page in which you click and then put in your email and the number and it tracks your order.

     I was incredibly excited to finally get my package! It came in with the rest of the mail in the mailbox, in a brown thing that's sort of a mix of an envelope and a box—it's cardboard, but not exactly a traditional box. If you follow book blogs or Tumblrs, you've probably seen them. I failed to take a photo before ripping it open, but in my photo, the books are on top of it, and you can see their logo.

     Voila! What a handsome stack. I got these four books for $40.48, precisely. There are books as low as $5, depending on the publish date, popularity, etc. It was cheaper than it would have been if I had gotten them in a bookstore, and I couldn't find several of these at B&N at all or in the editions I wanted. 

     As for my first order, I'm completely, 5/5 stars happy with everything, but will make another post maybe halfway through 2015 or so after a few more orders to report on anything. If you were unsure about ordering from Book Depository or hadn't heard of it, I highly recommend you give it a try. The Book Depository

~Charity