Who is your go to Chess Book Vendor?

How many have ordered paper bound chess books from Amazon only to come through smahed to heck?  Sometimes they come through in a formed box made to fit and comes through fine, sometimes in a bubble bag and come through semi okay as a corner might be crunched if no cardboard was instered in the bubble bag.  Sometimes they come in a way too big box with a couple bubble bags inside and the book is just getting smahed from side to side and top to bottom, you get it and it looks like it was in the trenches of WWI.  This is why I seldom order a paper bound chess book off of Amazon if one of my favorite vendors has the book in stock. I rather pay a couple extra bucks and get it in good condition. 

By the way I ship out books every week as I have a small business on another topic, not chess.  The USPS makes a FREE USPS PRIORITY bubble bag mailer that will easily hold one or two average chess books. The seller can add cardboard to each side inside the bag, which is what I do, books come through 98% unscathed.  I even add bubble wrap to the books before putting them into the bag whcih now assures they come through 100%. Never had a complaint about damage in the 10 YEARS I have been in business, yes since 2005. 

Shipping this way costs the seller $5.70 anywhere in the 50 states and take for the most part 2 days to reach the customer.  Why do many chess book dealers charge you $4 to ship media mail for just one book and lots more for more than one and even one book shipped USPS PRIORITY they charge you about $10-$12 a total rip off yes.  I have told so many chess vendors about this bag and the Zone boxes that all becaame available to businesses, you have to send away for them at the usps.com site, on January 2013.  I use the Zone A box a lot and that can hold a lot. Ranges from about $5.75 to about $9.00 depending on zone from my region. 

But I order books many one at a time usually and about 90% of them could fit in this bubble bag supplied totally from from usps.com. This particualar bag or the postage friendly Zone boxes are not available in the post offices as they were developed for commercial use although nothing is stopping anyone from odering these on line although you must have a sign on and password. 

So next time you get taken for high shipping costs and it still goes by 3rd class truck as all media mail goes, also subject to opening which I just experienced with a chess book vendor, ask them hey why do you ship yada yada yada, They will make it sound like they know it all and you are work, they are either ignoranat that these things exist or just lieing to you which seems the thing to do these days.  Yes USPS MEDIAL MAIL is 3rd class mail which means it gets moved when everything else is gone. Sometimes it gets to my door at amazing speed even from afar, which means they probably put it on a jet anways, and sometimes it takes 2 weeks.  A couple weeks ago they decided to open up a chess book I ordered and make sure there was just a chess book enclosed. The inspection held it up a week on its lousy 750 miles trip and I got the book 10 days later.  Had markings opened by the postal inspector. The mail person said that was probably because they mailed it in such a big box. 

Oh well, just trying to make sense why some chess vendors take us for fools and lie about shipping. All the USPS PRIORITY booxes are FREE and the only costs I have besides the postage for the order would be maybe some packing material although news paper, which there is still plenty of, works great and does not add to the cost of these  Flat Rate or Zone A/B/C boxes. 

Amazing how another HUGE chess book vendor (not the biggest but big) is completely clueless on shiping my 4 book order out in a zone A box for $7.55. It would have fit easily as each book was less than an inch thick and was 6x9.  I would up paying over $12 to get it shipped Priority and they feel they are doing me a favor.  

I have not talked to ONE chess vendor who uses zone boxes absolutely free from usps.com. It saves the CUSTOMER MONEY. I guess that's why they do not give a crap.  

I do commend the vendors who get the order out either same day if an AM order or the next day latest.  Maybe only 50% do this.

True chess vendors are shrinking. Not talking about eBay or Amazon, I am talking about true chess book vendors.  My go to Chess Book Vendors that carry the full selection are HOS/USCF (one in the same), Chess4Less , and somewhat Chess Books From Europe.  The later I use when I want a hard cover edition from Quaily Chess.   Chess Cafe used to be in this field but no longer is selling as ar as I can see untill further notice. 

Yes there are many chess vendors but most only carry a few chess books at best. The chess vendors who were driven out of business or shrunk their inventory to next to nothing are many.  They now try to make their money in chess sets and equipment. 

Of course I check Amazon as some people sell used books on here and eBay and throw in Etsy.  But these are not true chess vendors. Just take a look at Chess4Less variety under "chess history" and chess tournaments" as well as HOS/USCF. No one else carries such a selection who is strictly a chess vendor. I have found books at both places that no one else had even Amazon.  Also another thing a chess vendor will take care of getting you the book you rodered without it being destroyed, that is not the case anymore with others as many times now I get Amazon books loosley in bubble bags with the covers creased or the corners or spine crunched. 

Well there is my 2 cents on it all.

Chessco/ChessButler/Thinkers Press/aka Bob Long had an accident over the 4th of July and had to cancel his chess festival this year and will not be haaving one next year.  It was a serious accident.  I used to order many new books from him but the accident is going to slow him down a lot and I do not know what he has planned for the future. I do wish him well as well as a speedy recovery. At our age when you break many bones they just don't heal like if you were even in your 40's or 50's.  He truly offered many chessic items obver the years including rare Russian Pins and many fo the old time chess stamps. He was truly an all around vendor.  He published the books that no one else did and they were always interesting and the Purdy line were some of the best chess books ever.  If you all remember it was he who FIRST published Silman's book How to Reassess Your Chess.  I have the original. 

If you know of a chess vendor that has a compelete line at minimum of all new chess books including Cassia editions and McFarland (these both I enjoy collecting & reading) please add to this thread.  

Thanks Mac, I did pick up one magazine and one book from Dale this year.  He has the rare stuff and at least you know what condition it is in and how it was stored.  Never dealt with Fred Wilson. 

Bob Long sold his business to Chess4Less a few years back who has a direct link to England which sometimes has books in this country a couple months before they hit Amazon and the rest of the book sellers.  

Also bought from the used book internet sellers ie: Abe Books etc. when I am chasing an older book I just have to have. 

Brick & Mortar used book stores are getting as scare as hens teeth also. Once in a while I used to surprise myself and find a gem in a small town when I was passing through but those days are long over except for places like 1/2 Price Book Store. 

Thanks to a Google price compare, I found Thriftbooks.com. They have different used book stores as inventory. Great prices and free shipping deals. 3 books at $12 shipped better than the $29 plus shipping via Amazon etc. Big if is if they have the particular book, as with all used book sources. Thanks wiscmike for the great shipping advice too

Crazylocha, I have not received one chess item be it book or anything from any chess vendor since the USPS PRIORITY Flat Rate bubble bag or the zone boxes came out in January 2013. Since that time I must have ordered from about 8 different chess vendors and a variety of books and merchandise. In fact when I tell them about it they chalk it up to one more person telling them how to run their business. They can save THEMSELVES a lot of money and ALSO the CUSTOMER a lot of money. A win win situation.  And by the way all USPS PRIORITY comes with a free tracking number and also a free $50 worth of insurance to boot. 

Like I said every chess vendor I try talking to knows more than I do about shipping books and equipment and they use the same old USPS Medium and Large Flat Rate boxes for equipment when 98% of those situations can use Zone A and Zone B boxes for about $2 to $5 less and it is still PRIORITY.  That tells me they don't know dick about shipping.

Yes I used a lot of UPS & FedEX in my day until the USPS One Rate boxes etc. came out some years ago. The one rate boxes of the USPS travel 3,000 miles in 2 days for cheap and you can't get that with UPS or FedEx, not even close, but there is a time to use them, but not for most chess items.  

Only talking domestic shipping here and didn't want to get off the dwindiling chess vendors but maybe a mid size chess vendor might be able to save a few thousand dollars in postage!!  Might make all the difference in staying in business in this tough economy.

Well shortly after I said I never recived one chess box in a zone box I did get a book from Chess4Less in an USPS PRIORITY Zone A Box.  Packed well came through unscathed.  No complaints on the way HOS/USCF also packs their books and their fast turn around service.  I do have many packaging complaints and I do list them, take picture of them and fill out the form to let Amazon know about them. I keep asking why did "for the MOST part" discontine mailing out books in their signature Amazon cardboard book box. I never do get an answer. 

TONY PETERSON

http://www.chessbooks.co.uk

He's groovy.

If you own Amazon stock, or mutual fund does, send complete set of issues to their investor relations dept. Bet they respond. Or my all time favorite, direct to each board member office, return receipt requested of course. Then someone HAS to sign for it.

i am curious if chess vendors is a successful business.

not many people play chess compared to other hobbies like golf or swimming

i was wondering who buys this stuff like the over priced chess book and dvds.

chessbazaar.com all the way!

A while back I bought Bronstein's Zurich 1953 from Book Suppository and the spine was damaged. They sent me a new one very quickly, and I didn't even have to send the faulty one back. Postage was (and still is, I believe) free.

https://www.bookdepository.com/International-Chess-Tournament-1953-Zurich-DI-Bronshtein/9780486238005

Totally agree Shelby, Greg gets the NIC and Everyman books a good 6 weeks before Amazon and he packs them so NO damage comes of them which is more than Amazon does.  

@fewlio......Chessbazzar is not a chess book vendor.

E-books I can see the value of them teaching etc.  I guess I am so old I can't stop collecting regular chess books which I know is a dying hobby.  I have been collected chess books for the best part of my life now in retirement I am collected even more.  

I would imagine you can have the e book on  device and project it on the a screen for the whole chess class to watch and go through a specific ending ie: Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual.  Can't do that with a book. 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.forwardchess

I'm no spring chicken. I still acquire print books faster than eBooks, and prefer them. But, i recognize that each has its own strengths and weaknesses. This graphic shows one benefit of eBooks that is prohibitively expensive in printed texts: colored arrows.

Yes exactly what I was thinking when you told me you used e-books to teach chess. You can't show it any better than that. 

I also created flash cards for the 48 essential pawn endings and the first 24 rook endings in Dvoretsky. My one-on-one students and I work through these on occasion. It can be helpful to look at what Dvoretsky writes and is much easier to carry my iPad than a shelf of books.

I wrote about the good, bad, and ugly of eBooks recently: http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2017/03/kindle-chess-books.html