FAQ: What is a saved search or want list?

Being notified when a book you're looking for becomes available is easy with Biblio's saved searches.

As many seasoned book collectors know, used, rare, and out-of-print books can move fast on the internet: especially more desirable or scarce books.

Occasionally, when you search for a book on Biblio, you may find that we don’t have any copies available at the moment.  Don’t give up hope, though!  That elusive, rare book may be a lot closer to your fingertips (and bookshelves) than you think.

Biblio booksellers add millions of books to our site (yes, that’s a literal “millions") every week, and we are adding and updating these to our sites 24 / 7.  That means the scarce title you were looking for could be available in a matter of minutes!  And, you’ll likely have to be fast if you want to purchase it, because there will be dozens – perhaps thousands – of others looking for that title to become available.

So, what’s a poor soul to do?  Keep Biblio open on their computer screen and refresh their search all day long?

Well, you could….

…but we think we have a better way:  when you search for a book on Biblio, you can “save" it as a search (also known as “add to want list") and we’ll e-mail you as soon as we find the book.

How to save a book search

When you do a book search that doesn’t find results (here’s an example dead-end search*), here’s what to do:

1. Make sure you spelled everything properly and that there aren’t any typos in your search.  Nobody thinks they ever make typos (including us), but we all do.
2. If everything is spelled correctly, look for the blue button that reads, “Save this search" and click on it.
3. When you click “Save this search", one of two things will happen.  If you’re logged in, we’ll automatically add this book search to your saved search (or “want") list. If you’re not logged in, you’ll be asked to create a free account or log in.  This is needed so we can set up your saved search, but does not obligate you to buy any of the books we find.  Once you’ve set this up, we’ll add your search to your list.
4. That’s pretty much it. We’ll send you a daily e-mail if and only if we find the book(s) you’re looking for. If you prefer to receive these only weekly or monthly, you can change this setting by visiting your saved search list and updating your preferences for that search.  You can also modify your search criteria (for example, if you find you’re getting too many e-mails – or, not enough).  And, of course, if you do decide you no longer wish to receive these notifications, you can always remove them from your saved search list.

* The first search I tried surprisingly turned up results: goldfish training.  Well, we like to say we have a book for every interest, no matter how… er, hopeful.