Online book shopping

For some professional development, and to see what Uncle Bob is on about, I decided to buy Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP).

I was impressed that QBD Online had a price (including delivery) of $53.95. This was comparable to Amazon ($53.18), and Book Depository ($57.54). (It's available for free online, but I think I'd rather pay for a hard copy.) I ordered through QBD. Eleven days later (admittedly some were public holidays), they informed me that they were "temporarily out of stock", and the publisher couldn't advise when more stock would be available. I wasn't happy, and asked them to cancel the order. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they responded very quickly (cancel requested 9pm, response at 6am). It means that I'm more likely to go back to them in future.

It was simple to order the book at Amazon. They said that the book was in stock. Twelve hours later I have an email saying that the book has been shipped. Nice contrast.