Anyone hear of these e-book site? Are they legit and safe?

[rovingjack]

I'm looking at some books and there's a two volume hardback set of reference books I want for data, but the two volume set is close to 100$.

I googlle shopped the title and sorted by lowest prices, expecting to wade through several pages of unrelated crap... and then there it is first page, as an e-book.

One is listed on libloads .net and the other is listed on okey-books .com

They look to both be membership sites, and they offer trial memberships. Honestly sounds too much like a scam to me, but the opportunity to get an out of print two volume set of these books seems like it is at least worth asking around.

[akumabito]

Sounds a bit dodgy.. What books are you looking for? I can poke around a little, see what I can comeup with..

[Lady Chrystal]

Not looking good:

http://www.scamadviser.com/is-okey-books.com-a-fake-site.html

[Lady Chrystal]

Hmm, scamadviser says libload .net is not active.

And yes, I did remove the space.

Sorry, but they did look too good to be true.

[Birdnest]

I've published an e-book for Miss Bird ...

I've never heard of that site - any reputable e-book will be at the very least on Amazon and Google books, and perhaps Barnes and Noble.

Be careful there mate ... membership sites such as that are there to gather information to sell - things for sale are just a front for legitimacy (yeah, I know ... HARSH assessment ... perhaps I'm a bit jaded) 

[Crescat Scientia]

Every book membership site I have heard of is dodgy.  Many are mere Wikipedia-scrapers, selling reprints of Wikipedia articles at what looks like a bargain price, misleadingly titled to give the false impression that they are selling actual books instead of Wikipedia articles about those books.  (For example, a book entitled "American Steampunk Novels, including: Darwinia (novel), Warlord Of The Air, The Other Log Of Phileas Fogg, Infernal Devices (novel), The Martian War, The Glass Books Of The Dream Eaters, Mainspring (novel), The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (novel)" from a press you have never heard of (in this case Hephaestus Books), even though it costs about $19 from Barnes and Noble, is nothing more than reprints of Wikipedia articles on those subjects.)

If the e-book is not normally available from Amazon then the chances are it is a pirated edition, probably using word-recognition software, which means it is almost certainly riddled with errors, and possibly malware to boot.

I am certainly not an expert, but I personally treat the words "membership site" as the equivalent of "do not give this entity any of your information."

[rovingjack]

Figured as much. Damn, I'll just have to pony up for the books. It actually looks like they are not out of print, though the fourth edition is actually more expensive.

http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/about_book

I tried other sources from amazon because in the past when I've looked for relatively obscure books Amazon doesn't recognise them or doesn't have any to sell, so I go to used book swap sites and public domain works e-libraries and occasionally do a google shopping search for people selling or auctioning them off.

But they are on amazon it looks like. I have only ever spent that much on a book purchase once before, it was for an analysis and translation of Jabir Ibn Hayans book of stones and other alchemical works.

Like I said I go for the obscures and not easily found works. 

[Lady Chrystal]

Have a look at other Amazon sites. You may happen on a cheap copy elsewhere that's worth paying postage for.

No guarantees, but it might save you money.

[Aleister Crow]

Try out these:
www.alibris.com
www.abebooks.com

These are marketplace sites for used book stores, no memberships required. I've dealt with both of them and never had any problems.

[Crescat Scientia]

Try out these:
www.alibris.com
www.abebooks.com

These are marketplace sites for used book stores, no memberships required. I've dealt with both of them and never had any problems.

They are both highly reliable.  Abebooks is partly owned by Amazon.  I prefer to use Alibris because it's largely the same booksellers, except Amazon doesn't get a share of their profits.

[Mr Peter Harrow, Esq]

I have used Abebooks in the past, very reliable.