My First Bookoutlet Buying Experience

Sometime last month BookOutlet held a Mother's Day Weekend sale and had all of their books on 25% discount. Oh gosh, my budget just went *poof!*

I had long heard of BookOutlet but since I live in the Philippines and shipping from US to my country is like shitting a brick, I just tortured contented myself with scanning bookhaul images on Tumblr and Instagram.

Well, last May there were just a lot of books on the website that I wanted to get! With the sale on top of the already-low prices, I knew anything I'd buy would be a steal--if only there's nothing as pesky as international shipping fee! I immediately researched courier services that offer consolidation free of charge (POBOX and Pinoyboxdelivery.com). I even created an excel file and made tables with estimates of how much I'd spend... and considering I wanted to buy more than 25 titles, my estimate ballooned to P10,000.00, with almost half of that for the international shipping from US to Philippines.

So, the sale was to start on Friday and I just about gave the idea up. Good thing for me, I found BookOutlet PH on Facebook on Thursday! Yippee!

They consolidated orders from multiple people, so I'm guessing they were able to fill up a balikbayan box easily. For those who don't know, a balikbayan box is an international delivery option that's very useful for Filipinos abroad. It's common practice for them to send gifts and packages to their families and friends back home. They can save a lot if they ship everything in one go though, in one huge balikbayan box which usually costs $50-100, depending on box size, shipping company and shipment time.

I spent hours poring over the BookOutlet website, making sure I didn't miss an author or book that might interest me. After a night's sleep though, practicality penetrated my brain, so I whittled down my buys to 16 books. It cost me only P4,200, excluding shipping within the Philippines. Considering I also ordered hardbounds, this is an absolute steal! =D

My orders included books by Jamie McGuire, Gail McHugh, Jennifer Armentrout, Meredith A. Walters, KA Tucker and Colleen Hoover. Sadly, the website ran out of Maybe Someday before my order was finalized :( also Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed In Blood. I didn't like ordering the sequel, Girl of Nightmares, without book one, so I just scrapped it off the order list. Sad...!

Anyway, I am just super excited for my books to arrive!!! ETA for the shipment is first week of July. In the meantime, I just need to keep myself from checking the website daily and get tempted to buy even more books. My wallet's calling for a month-long book-buying ban.

Oh, it's gonna be a looong wait! The moment I get those books in my hands though, I just know it's going to feel like Christmas.