I know, I know, there is nothing better than walking in a shop, opening the new books, smelling them, chosing which one to take home... but for the less fortunete of us, there aren't many bookstores with English books in them.
I shall introduce you to the buying process from my point of view (and before anyone asks or makes a smart-ass remark - no, no one paid me to say anything about the bookstores I'm going to mention).
Long time ago I started reading books in English. That actually ment buying English-speaking authors in bookstore around the corner. But the more books I devoured the bigger hunger was gripping me. I even got over my fear of used books because that meant I could start buying more for less money.
So what do I do when I find about a book I'd like to read? There are four steps :-)
1) I first visit the Bargain Bin at www.awesomebooks.com, because an average used book costs around 4 Dollars. That's really awesome. Plus there are special offers (10% off, 4 for the price of 3 etc.) all the time so they are giving it to you almost for free ;-) I've bought a gazillion books in there and twice the package didn't arrive and once they sent me a different book. In all cases they were very helpful and gave me a refund in no time.
Shipping costs: 0 if I buy 2 or more books
Shipped: within a day
Arrives: usually within a frickin' week
Condition of the used books: always very good (yellow pages, a bent corner here and there, but I've never gotten any gross one)
2) If I do not find the book I want in the awesomebooks world, I go to www.worldofbooks.com. The average used book is around 3 Pounds. They always send the books separately so you pay the shipping price for each book. That sucks, I know. But, for example, this summer they were giving you a free tea sample so I got addicted to the mint one. And I'm not complaining :-)=
Shipping costs: 2 Pounds per book
Shipped: within 3 days
Arrives: after 2 weeks
Condition of the used books: always pretty
3) The third bookstore I visit, if I don't find my book in those above, is www.betterworldbooks.com. I remember discovering it, finding a rare book in there, ordering it and THEN reading all the reviews which weren't in the favor of the store. But after a dreadful month and a couple of days the package arrived and the books were the ones I orderd, their condition was ok... I guess I was lucky. AND I helped to raise literacy somewhere in Africa. Well, who wouldn't feel the warmth inside after this? So, every now and then I order something from them, always afraid it's never going to arrive or that if it arrives it's gonna be some really bad copy but so far I can't complain.
Shipping costs: nothing ;-)
Shipped: within 4 days
Arrives: after a month
Condition of the used books: nice :-) except they put some stickers on the spines for better indentification and sometimes it doesn't come off easily
4) I either wait and after some time I repeat the process of looking for it in the stores mentioned above or I buy a new copy. Depends on how much I want the book.
Because just the other day someone saw a picture by my bed and talked about family values and all that jazz because he thought the picture was of my relatives. And I was just sitting there nodding and thinking about something else entirely since my brain was turned off. I do that often when I see the spark in the eyes of a keen speaker. And while I am not so keen to interrupt and point out all the mistakes and misconceptions of the speaker I just smile and nod like an idiot and just let my brain rest for a change. So this time I missed everything about families and young people not giving a shit about their roots. And then, as the speaker was walking away satisfied by his own speech he cast his last glance at my "family" picture. Except it looked different this time. Yes, roots indeed. And the shock in his eyes. Invaluable. 
