Help Desk - Search Tips

On the left side of each page, you'll see a 'Search our Site' box. Just above that is a pull down menu with an option to restrict your search by specific criteria.

If you leave the option set to 'all' the system will search the entire database, and return results based on relevance.

If you choose a search criteria, only titles that fall within that area will be displayed. For each subsequent search, the system will remain set on your last chosen criteria (eg.: if you search by 'title' that choice will remain set until you change the pull down menu again). This allows you to search under the same criteria without having to select it each time.

You can enter any text into this search box: an author's name (King, Stephen or Stephen King), a book's title (Harry Potter), a category (Fiction, History), publisher (Random House) or overview (words entered will appear in the book's annotation).

You can even enter the book's ISBN to access just a single specific title. The ISBN is a 10-digit number found on the back of most books, just above the bar code. For example: 0-42518095-6. Please don't enter the dashes when searching online.

Once your search results appear, you can refine them further by category, price, publisher, author or quantity. For example, if you're looking for Baseball books, in children's fiction, priced between $3.00 and $5.00, you can use the menu on the left to refine your search based on your requirements.

The search is not case sensitive, so you don't have to worry about McDonald or mcdonald when searching.

Spelling also isn't an issue. If you'd like to search "Harry Potter" but you type in "Harry Poter" the system will offer you choices based on what it thinks you meant to type.

On a book's information page you'll also see 'similar' books, displayed to enhance your search results. We also provide you with a list of books other customers purchased in addition to this title.

If your chosen author has other titles available, we'll display a section entitled 'Also By this Author'.

On the bottom of the page, beneath the book's details, is a category called "other copies available". This category appears if we have stock of the book in our Autographed book department. You can click on the department name to be taken to the book in that section of our site.

If no results appear when you perform a search, try using a broader term. Instead of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, just type Harry Potter.

In the event that we don't have the title you're searching for, add it to your Favorites List. The Favorites List tracks your requests and is updated if the title arrives in our warehouse.