Good site but not cheap, quite expensive actually. Review on Firstandsecond

"Firstandsecond" surely has got a BIG database. I mean you are likely to find 90-95% of the books here. But they are not cheap!

I have never seen them give any discount. The price of foreign books are not 1 Re below the list price in$ multiplied by the most expensive dollor rate around. Plus many times they charge a sourcing fee if the book has to be imported and it is somethign to the tune of 400 - 500 Rs. Plus there is local shipping charge, though it's less in comparison. But all in all, the whole deal never comes cheap.

But as far as the collection goes it's surely among the top bookstores. Recenetly there is also https://Indiaplaza.in (the new avatar of fabmall) who have also got as big a collection. So always compare the prices between the two. The latter may be slightly cheaper. And I think they don't charge sourcing fee either. There is also Rediff books nowadays, but it still seems to be in its infancy.

Secondly, always check Amazon. Amazon almost always have much cheaper prices. Like a book with list price above$30 is sold on Amazon for as little as$20, and this is not an exception, there are many books like that.(Firstandsecond price is always equivalent of list price.) But the problem is that you have to pay international shipping charges if you order from Amazon.  But even then sometimes I feel, even including shipping charges, it may be cheaper than our local online shops.

To sum it up, always compare these 3-4 options and then decide what you want to do. And if the book is a commonly available one, may be easiest and quickest to buy it from a local "traditional"shop rather than an online one. Mumbai and banglore guys can try Strand, they give very good discounts.