Barnes & Noble and Amazon, it’s almost like comparing apples and oranges except apples and oranges do share some similarities. Both Barnes & Noble and Amazon sell books and they both sell e reader tablets but that is where the similarities end. Amazon will stand behind you if you have any issues. They will also question their resellers when you have issues with them and give you information on them so that you can contact them if you need to.

I called Barnes & Noble to verify that the price I saw on their website was valid, that the reseller was reputable, and that everything was legitimate. The person told me that everything OK and that if I had any problems that they would stand behind me. Wow, sounds like Amazon, I have had nothing but good luck with them.

So I ordered the tablet on Barnes & Noble, they sent me a confirmation email and an email that said “Your Order *******41 Is Scheduled To Ship‏”. Then 6 hours later I received an email that said “Unfortunately, the Marketplace Seller providing the item that you ordered (as listed below) will be unable to fulfill your order.”. In the email it went on to say “If you would like to try to locate another edition, you may search by clicking on…”. Really, it is that generic? Another edition?

I can understand this, however, when I called to find out more information Barnes & Noble could not give me any information on the “Market Place Reseller”. They could not tell me if the seller had made any sales (ever), their address, phone number, contact person, reviews, etc… All they could give me was an email address, a generic gmail email address…… REALLY? That is all the information that they could give me? It said that they were a seller with them since 2010. I asked to speak with someone in their “Market Place” department, they told me that it was not possible, I would have to email the market plece and they will probably get back to? Probably? I had already been on the phone on them for an hour and was supposedly on the phone with a supervisor, but they could not give me any more information than the other person that I was talking to, which was nothing. They sent my name, address, and telephone number to someone. Could this be some sort of scam?

So, I posted my concerns on their Facebook page. They answered my posting by deleting it. So here I am, aggravated, tablet less and not able to get any further information. I decide to do an advanced search on the Barnes & Noble website for that seller, low and behold I find a bunch of items for sale and none of the items are available through that reseller. On top of this, they now show that they are a seller since 2012, but their profile still says 2010? What is Barnes & Noble doing here? What are they covering up and trying to hide? If you are thinking of buying anything from Barnes & Noble, rethink it.