5 reasons to give Amazon a miss.

For various reasons, Amazon does not get a lot of praise from independent booksellers. It's not just they can offer books at big discounts (by pressurising publishers into giving bigger discounts), it's the fact they seemingly get away without paying an equal rate of tax to the rest of us.
Yet to be quite frank, I don't have too many problems with Amazon. They are an established fact, and if they didn't exist another online operator would no doubt take their place. Besides which I do use Amazon myself on occasion, both to sell and source books. I can't go into detail, but I find one or two larger publishers a bigger pain, and I suspect other booksellers would (privately) agree with me. Luckily there are publishers who are efficient and amenable to selling their books at a decent discount, even if some make it as difficult as they can..

Even so, and for obvious reasons, I do try and encourage book buyers to use independent bookshops, and for the following reasons:

1. Independent bookshops are often more flexible than you realise. If you see a second hand book in my store, and you see the same book of a similar condition cheaper on Amazon (taking into account the postage fee) then make me an offer. I'll probably accept it. So the argument that Amazon is cheaper is wrong, in that case!
2. We often have gift deals in the local vicinity you don't get from Amazon. For instance currently we are running a free pint deal for every book purchased in the store. In short: we give you free beer - Amazon doesn't! A no-brainer, surely!
3. You can examine physically books in-store, but have to accept the descriptions given on Amazon. What is "Acceptable" to some may not be to other people. And there are recorded cases of books being ordered online that never reach their destination. Do you trust the postage service 100% for that essential book?
4. It's easier to come across unrelated gems in a bookstore. This is despite the "recommended for you" algorithm that online sellers use - well perhaps I should say "because of" that algorithm.
5. We can organise book presentations and book-signing events in-store, or even in bigger venues locally. If you want to meet writers, pressure your local bookstore to get them along. Amazon won't do this for you either. And talking of book-signings, we hope to announce soon some big names coming to Madrid, courtesey of OffSide Books. Keep an eye on our website and/or Twitter feed.

Of course, I'm sure other people can give more reasons why you shouldn't use Amazon, and still others can tell us why you should. Just please remember we as independent booksellers are here to give you more. Try us once to see how we do just that!