Close to 100% of the AudioBook sellers in Australia do not actually keep stock of AudioBooks. Some claim stock levels of "Over 3 million titles" titles but in reality they have none, or very few.
They throw up a website with a long list of titles that they import to their website. They hope that you will buy one of these audio books, and that you will patiently wait the 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 60 or more days that it will take for that Audio Book to delivered to them. Then they will post it to you taking even more days.
An example of a typical website - that doesn't have it in stock....Usually ships?? 15 days and then extra for delivery!??
They say that, but they know that for most titles it is far from true. We order audio books all the time and we know that even from an Australian distributor it normally takes 14 days to get anything. What is worse however is that many of these titles are imported from either the UK or USA and thus take even longer.
Unfortunately you still might not. Many distributors still order the audio books from the publishers, so you have to wait for the publishers to send it to the distributors and then for the distributors to send it. We have waited up to 90 days with backorders for some hard to get audio books, and then been told they were no longer available. Do you really want to wait that long for your AudioBook, or take the risk of perhaps not receiving it after waiting that long?
The above example on a large australian booksellers site. We don't have it in stock - but our US supplier does and we will get them to post it "within 24 hours". Well with this example here is the stock level at the largest US supplier:
Yes - zero stock. So how were they going to post it within 24 hours - they can't!.
Posted to you within 7-10 days?
Well assuming that they really have it in stock, and that you don't order it on a Monday - because in the US its still Sunday and they can't post it - will it get to you in 7-10days? We don't think so - we have a lot of experience with international post and 7-10 days would be at best - a more realistic supply time would be 14-21 days. If you live in a rural area -even longer maybe up to 30 days!
Will they post it within 24 hours? - not if its a Sunday or Monday or public holiday in the USA or....?
We do. All items are in stock unless the items shows a warning that "this item is out of stock", which means you can't purchase it. If you buy and pay for an audio book during a business day, we try as best we can to get it posted that same day. We feel that an Internet store should be like any store. You don't go into a shop only to be told that the item you wish to purchase will take three weeks to source from somewhere else - you want it now. An internet store should be no different.
Some feedback from a website that suggests they carry lots of stock - but really orders it in (from their eBay feedback)
"Slow delivery but great book"
"Recieved exactly what was advertised, thanks! Postage was a bit slow though!"
"Item NOT in stock,disappointed! 2 weeks delay posting"
"Item NOT in stock NO communication regarding this until I contacted them
TWICE."
"selling items they have no stock of. refund given, paypal refunds are very
slow."
An update - Yet more Bad feedback - remember this eBay seller claims on their website that they have 40,00 items in stock!
"Out of stock for listed item. Disappointing."
"Mutually agreed to cancel item since item wasn't in stock."
"Paid on the 3oth received on the 12th Difficult to contact"
"Sent incorrect item. Returned and took over a week to get ordered item."
"delivery was delayed "
We noticed on a competitor's website that they were selling a particular AudioBook that we had been trying to obtain for months. This particular website advertises more that "Over 3 million titles" items available.
There was no indication on the description that it was unavailable. Postage within 2 - 5days, they said.
Here is the email we got on Jun 18th
And here is the email we got on Jul 3rd 15 days Later!!!
Why would you buy Audio Books from websites that don't have them in stock!