- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Ned's Berkeley Bookstore
Category: Shopping Books, Mags, Music and Video Bookstores Bookstores [Edit]
2480 Bancroft way(between Telegraph Ave & Dana St)
Berkeley, CA 94704
Neighborhoods: Telegraph Ave, UC Campus Area
(510) 204-0900
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 9 am - 5 pm
Sat 11 am - 4 pm
Sun 12 pm - 4 pm
- Price Range:
-
$$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
22 reviews for Ned's Berkeley Bookstore
22 reviews in English
-
Review from Emily M.
Oakland, CA
1/30/2012
The employees don't really know where anything is, or relevant books to particular classes. But they were reasonable when I went in to get what I needed.
-
Review from Eric B.
7/31/2011
For whatever reason, Ned's and I rarely crossed paths for Textbook purchased during my time at Cal. What I needed was at the Cal Bookstore across the street and I was very good in the used and classmate castoff departments. And now that I'm back as an Alumnus to audit a few classes, I'm fortunate that all my materials are available on-line.
So for me, Ned's is no more than a mildly interesting stop to look at Cal merchandise, office supplies, and what textbooks are being offered and at what price. This is probably where the last copyright-influenced battle in the digital revolution will be fought. It's been an OK no extortion experience, but there really are better places (and selection) available, even at the Community College level. -
Review from Nicoli J.
Berkeley, CA
1/16/2012
First of all, Ned's isn't any cheaper than the university's bookstore. The prices are the exact same down to the last penny.
Now to the part of the store that really frustrates me: the service. I ordered 3 books for in-store pickup. I was told that I selected shipping instead, even though on my receipt it clearly indicated in-store pickup. After exiting the store and checking the shipping status, it turns out my order was canceled because the books I selected for pickup were unavailable. I went back in the store and found all three books available for purchase. After waiting in line for 15 minutes, I finally got what I needed. Just order from amazon a week before the semester and save your money and time.
Update, 11 days later: I realized that one of my books was missing a few pages. I took it back to Ned's but they didn't have a replacement. No surprise there. The employees don't even take the time to ensure that their products are complete. -
Review from Austin W.
3/27/2011
I hate Ned's! I only come here when http://Amazon.com, other online stores, and the student store doesn't have the textbook that I *need* to buy.
Prices are absolutely terrible, the textbook you want is sometimes not there, the employees act like the last place they want to be is there, and the lines have wait times over an hour when it's the beginning of the semester and everyone is trying to buy their books.
Prices for everything else here is marked up as well, including notebooks, sweatshirts, and pens.
Note: the employees know very little about what courses need what books, or where books are located, so if you need help, you're better off pulling out your smart phone and looking it up online or looking around the store for yourself. I've been sold the wrong textbook before and came back only to find that they don't refunds. I don't know why they try to say their prices are the lowest, but they definitely are not. Look to online for your textbooks, or your friends. -
Review from Rick C.
Berkeley, CA
2/5/2011
People think that Ned's is cheaper than the Cal bookstore across the street. You guys are wrong. They paid $40 or $50 to make a banner that they hang outside of their store saying that they are cheaper. Well, they're not. You pay the same price or more for the same overpriced textbooks. Don't even get me started on the readers. Really, two readers for my law class (which is mostly SCOTUS cases anyway - public material non-copyright anyone?) for $110 including tax? I had to tell my parents that I was buying an exclusive made-for Cal book to justify that late purchase in the semester because my parents would laugh at my face if they knew I was just buying a book of COPIES for that much!
Buy your books on Amazon or Half, seriously. Support REAL students that sell their books online like you do at the end of your semesters. I only buy books on campus (Ned's or Cal) because they're readers or if I can get a discount from my scholarship association.
Also, what's up with not having sweet deals like your competition across the street after game days or other events? Hey man, this might be Berkeley but there's something called capitalism bro! Stop making money off of my ass for COPIES made into books and offer some discounts dude. Please also have some more man power, especially at the beginning of the semester so I don't have to think about how much more being here sucks, thanks!
Go Bears! -
Review from Melody L.
Irvine, CA
2/13/2011
Yeahh, I only come buy books at Ned's when I can't buy them anywhere else because they are Berkeley-specific. Pricewise, they are pretty much identical to the Student Store across the street (I always check both places before making a book purchase). At the beginning of each semester they also have Ned's Night where they give out free pizza!
Now the negatives...When I was a freshman, I came and bought a Math book here, and the employee sold me the WRONG MATH BOOK, despite me telling him I needed book X for Math 1A with Professor Wozicki (ugh spelling). Not only could I not refund it (and have never been able to, since it is Berkeley-specific and as far as I can tell no class has ever used it), but when I tried to sell it back to them the next day, they were only able to give me $1.
Another time I bought a Vision Science book for a class I was enrolled in for $100. I ended up dropping that class 2 days later, but apparently Ned's has some sketchy refund rules where you pretty much can't refund textbooks after a certain date. So a waste of $100. I don't understand this store and their irrationally sucky return policy. When I don't buy online, I would always pick ASUC over Ned's caus at least ASUC will give me a legit return policy. -
Review from Diana C.
8/3/2011 19 Check-ins Here
This place only sells their books only like $1 or $2 less than the student store. It's not worth it. Also, they advertise giving you a lot of money back for your used books. Not true.
-
Review from Kelly P.
6/22/2007
The only really cool thing about this place are the t-shirts they make which read:
"I got USED at Ned's"
Otherwise, it's an alright place to get textbooks, in that you feel slightly less raped purchasing books here vs. the University bookstore. -
Review from Liza P.
San Francisco, CA
2/9/2006
If you don't want to order your books online, this is the best store for textbooks - they usually have ALL the textbooks, and lots more [CHEAPER!] used copies than the Berkeley bookstore. Big bonus: They are right by the campus!
That said, textbook stores are still horrible! They sell books at RIDICULOUS prices [come on! If you're taking five courses, you're going to spend AT LEAST $500 on books, readers, etc!!!], and buy them back at even MORE ridiculous prices [read: buy a book for $120, sell back for about $40].
Also, I have a personal issue against the never-ending stream of new editions! The books are updated every couple of years [the major differences tend to be a different cover and relocations of a few photos within the text], and the old editions are rendered absolutely WORTHLESS! I understand that the professors who wrote the books and the publishing houses need to make money [when books are outdated, all the students are forced to buy brand new books], but this is completely unfair! I have stopped selling back my books, because they are actually worh more as reference books to keep around!
Boo for taking advantage of students!Listed in: Read good
-
Review from Brian K.
Huntington Beach, CA
9/18/2011
I only stumbled into this store because I had the unfortunate need to get books for my US History Class and Neds was the only store that had the books. After being smacked in the face with a horrendous odor upon entry, I was rudely treated and shuffled out with apparent disdain. Buy from amazon and wait, Neds sucks!
-
Review from Connie C.
San Francisco, CA
8/31/2009
This place is terrible. Not only are their textbooks way overpriced but they also brainwash you into thinking they have the "lowest price" and you can even sell books back to them for (wait for it) HALF of what you paid!!
You'd think that with all the money they make they could at least afford some decent AC, but no, in the beginning of the year it's always boiling in there, and there's a huge line of suckers willing to dole out large sums of money because they're "saving" like $10 by buying a used textbook.
I only come here when I absolutely cannot get my books anywhere else, or when I have some crappy beat-up printed-wrong textbook to sell. -
Review from Matthew P.
Berkeley, CA
6/1/2011
You may have heard their book-selling service sucks. Well, they're also an office supplies store. Well, you guessed it: They also suck at that, too.
I went here for 2 simple things: Pencils and graph paper. They didn't have either. I asked the cashier, "Do you sell pencils?" There were a bunch of pens behind him. He replied, "Nope, only mechanical ones." What the Hell? What kind of office supply store lacks pencils? Also, they had no graph paper, though they said they had some but ran out.
Also, when re-selling my books, the cashier was the rudest I have ever seen in my life. When I reached the front of the line, the cashier called to me by knocking her fist on the table-top as if summoning a pet. Then she told me that if I didn't hurry up in giving her my books that she would not transact with me. I was so shocked and angry that I packed my books back up and denied them the pleasure of my business.
This store does not care about its customers and is not well-stocked. This store is crap par excellence. -
Review from Charles L.
Berkeley, CA
9/1/2009
Offered me $1 and $2 for books I wanted to sell back. Such a great deal! *rolls eyes*
And the advertisement, "Why pay more across the street?" should be answered with "So I can pay the same amount, if not more at Ned's."
I only come here if they monopolize on the lab manual for my classes. -
Review from Ona P.
Berkeley, CA
5/29/2011
Last place I would look for books.
-
Review from Victor N.
Berkeley, CA
5/26/2011
This guys sold me a copy of a book labeled as "not for resale". The label was covered with stickers so that nobody would notice it. I would have been able to sell it back to Amazon for $99 but now it is worth zero because nobody wants to buy it! Shame on Ned's
-
Review from A N.
Oakland, CA
2/8/2011
Horrible. The whole place seems as if its an incubator for gangrene. The owner/manager acted as if his job was to sleep all day and that any question or action asked of him was outrageous not to mention he looked like he hadnt showered in 3 months and the idea of clean clothes and a hair cut would have been a foreign concept. The clerk had the intelligence of a potato and the selection of merchandise was about on the level of stuff the 99 cent store rejected.
The place is good if you want a Cal Tshirt or mug. Beyond that, this is not worth your trouble and just walking into the place would likely put you at risk for bird flu.
Berkeley would be better served by getting rid of this excuse for a "store" and replacing it with a coop where members of the Cal community get same discounts by simply pooling their purchasing power (or something like that).
Frankly, when I returned home after going to this dump, I felt the need to shower myself. -
Review from D D.
Helendale, CA
10/4/2011
HORRIBLE!!! This store also sells on Amazon so watch out. Don't buy from Internet845. Same people, won't give you a refund and doesn't ship for like a week after you order. They know when the UC's start class. My kids had to pay double price for the books they needed because this place shipped so late. AND THEN THEY CHARGE A $30 restocking fee? RIP OFFS and Blatant Thieves. Look elsewhere for your books.
-
Review from Lilly L.
Oakland, CA
11/13/2009
Ooohhh, I get it. "We have the most used books!" means the books are very used and old, not that they have a large quantity of them sold at affordable prices. Hm.
-
Review from Deborah T.
Elmhurst, NY
3/14/2007
To clarify some misconceptions:
There's this perception that Ned's is cheaper. BUT, Ned's textbooks ARE NOT cheaper than books from the ASUC bookstore. If you actually write down a selection of prices from the ASUC bookstore, and compare them to the prices at Ned's you will see that the difference varies -- sometimes ASUC books are cheaper by a few cents, sometimes Neds' are cheaper by a few cents.
Also, because the bookstore is run by the ASUC Auxiliary, funds go back to the campus... basically your money benefits YOU (maybe not YOU you, but the campus as a whole anyway).
With that said, you're still getting ripped off at the end of the day. To those of you who complain about this two-store monopoly:
Try http://half.com, http://comegetused.com, and http://abebooks.com. I rarely end up spending more than $100/semester on books, and I sometimes make a profit by selling my books for more than what I bought them for! -
Review from roshni r.
San Francisco, CA
3/6/2006
man, i had ned's bookmarked ages ago as a "must rate" and thought i'd be first, but i guess liza beat me to it!!
anyway, as she said, they carry all the textbooks for much cheaper than the official UC bookstore and while they're not as cheap as online, there's the convenience of immediate pickup and proximity to campus. they also have your regular run of school supplies and some berkeley paraphernalia. -
Review from Ethan C.
Berkeley, CA
8/29/2010
Horrible, horrible place. The prices suck here and the customer service ranges from poor to nonexistent.
I bought a Chem 3B lab manual through their website and paid w/ a credit card for in-store pick-up. I ended up being dropped from the class and went to talk with an employee about getting a refund. They refused issuing a refund even though I never even picked up the lab manual. It was still in their possession shrink-wrapped and unopened. I was completely pissed off over being unable to get a refund for an item I never even touched!
Thankfully I paid with a credit card. I called my credit card company and filed a dispute online. They revoked the charges and issued a full refund to me. The next day someone from Neds calls phone I listed for my online order and rants about my refund and threatens to report me to a collection agency.
After such a terrible experience I will never shop at Neds again. -
Review from Victor W.
Moraga, CA
11/5/2009
This place is really crowded at the beginning of each semester. They are good at ripping you off.
Go to the student store where the prices are the same, if not cheaper. At least your money goes back to the school!! Support CAL and not some greedy bookstore!
