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CB Non-profit Organizations Review of GOTBOOKS.COM Books
GOTBOOKS.COM Books

GOTBOOKS.COM Books review: SCAM 11

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12:49 am EDT
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I recently found out after donating to this BOZO, naed BOB TICEHURST that he is a FOR PROFIT company. A one man show, he is the CEO, PRESIDENT, SECRETARY, and most importantly TREASURER of his COMPANY called GOTBOOKS.COM! I donated books, over $2, 000.00 worth (RETAIL VALUE) to this scam artist! I fell for the marketing scam he runs on the radio and in newspapers, saying he will pick up my books and do good things with them, like giving them to the TROOPS and people who really need them! WAS THAT THE BIGGEST LIE I EVER HEARD! I found out that the OWNER BOB TICEHURST is selling all the books himself, many thousands on AMAZON.COM alone! I found out too, that he has 2 BIG STORES, he created, or should I say we donors created for him by freely donating books to him. He runs very deceptive adds, never ever once stating he is a FOR PROFIT BUSINESS! This man has made his MILLIONS off unknowing people like myself! And I am not exaggerating when I say MILLIONS! BOB TICEHURST has been in business since 1999, after quiting his day job as an accontant, because he realized he could make more selling used books!(And those are his words, heard on a radio interview he did). I think people like myself would be outraged if they knew what Mr BOB TICEHURST does with their donated books. I learned that he only donates a very small percentage (less than 10%) is donated to"CHARITY", the least amount he has to donate to hold his status as a FOR PROFIT PROFFESSIONAL FUNDRAISER! Even his so called "CHARITY BOOK SALES ARE NOT COMPLETELY GIVEN TO A CHARITY". (Another deception if you as me!) Every Saturday, BOB runs this "CHARITY BOOK SALE" leading tons of people to believe what a great guy he must be to donate all procedes from the sale to charity. NOT! Well, no one can say it better than BOB himself. Here it is right off his website : Got Books is dedicated to finding great new uses for books! One of the best we've found is the Charity Book Sale, where many come to shop and none leave disappointed. We offer more than 50, 000 new and used books, videos, and records all for only $1 each, and that's not all- AFTER EVERY WEEK'S SALE WE SPLIT ALL OF OUT PROFITS with local nonprofit groups. Our sale is like a treasure hunt full of hidden jewels and undiscovered gems. Come on in- you never know what you might find! THERE YOU GO! Another thing I learned, is that BOB DOES NOT DISCLOSE WHAT HE MAKES AT THESE "CHARITY BOOK SALES" so he can donate the least amount and NO ONE KNOWS WHAT HIS PROFITS ARE! Being the EX-ACCOUNTANT he is, I must say, he sure knows how to work the numbers! So everyone... if you are like me, you have been duped by good ole BOB TICEHURST owner of GOTBOOKS.COM and his scam artist ways! To top it off BOB has plans of creating a USED BOOK STORE CHAIN! Now, I don't mind anyone who builds a business from the ground up with hard work, dont' get me wrong! I just don't like people like BOB TICEHURST who use other trusting peoples free donations to create his own empire! And thats exactly what he has done! Donated BOOKS = Free Inventory, its that simple! Oh one more thing, as if that wasn't enough, and this one just really kills me because I have a cousin in Iraq that is a Marine! BOB TICEHURST, an EX- MARINE uses his status of military involvement to promote and influence the donating factor! I am appalled to know that he stoops so low as to use the integrety of the MARINES to fuel his SCAMMING book business! Go to MARINEBOB.COM and see where that takes you!

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The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

11 comments
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Vanga
, US
Sep 29, 2009 7:01 pm EDT

GotBooks.com is a book seller who sells books on line through Amazon and his own website, Massbookstore.com. He has flooded the airwaves (WTKK) and newsmedia with his appeals for "donations" for charities and the troops. He has a website, www.gotbooks.com where he appeals for books for charity drives. He has set up drop-off pods in over 215 locations at churches, schools, shopping centers, and recycle centers in MA.

He cleverly disguises the fact that he is a for profit organization. His latest add in the Boston Globe yesterday (3/31/08) appears to be more of an article about the good work that he does, and never mentions that the books that he is collecting are sold for profit on the internet.

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chusettsbanana
, US
Jun 24, 2016 9:22 pm EDT

I'm in the middle on this one. I shop at Used Book Superstore almost every week, but I don't donate books and other media to them, for the very reason the OP stated. I would rather donate media to true non-profit charities like the Salvation Army or the Goodwill. For these same reasons, I don't donate to Savers. When you donate a book to Goodwill that will be sold for $1, Goodwill collects $1. When you donate a book to Used Book Superstore that will be sold for $1, how much goes to charity? My guess is less than 1/4 of a cent. The charity gets so much per TON of books donated.

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mamas3cuties
Danvers, US
Aug 12, 2011 3:26 pm EDT

The amount of effort that was put into this idea is not a scam, it's genius. These trucks drop off loads and loads of books which have to be sorted be MANY employees for quality. Most books can be resold and given to charity but there is a lot of books that are just too worn. I know in my day those books that my kids wrote in were never turned into recycled paper. His company recycles what can't be used. When you take a bunch of books to a library to donate are you really looking to see if every page is perfect... I don't think so. So, you think it's a scam, I say you are just mad because you didn't think of it first. Do you think when he started in his parents basement he was collecting donations from random unknown people? It wasn't got books then, it was just a man collecting books for resale. No deception, no lies. He's still doing that, just on a broader scope. I'm sure people have read the complaints and yet people still bring their books there. Say what you will, but people still want to get rid of the books. No matter how mad you get or how awful you think this man is, he is still doing what he claims to do... He is a for profit business AND donates to charity. Do you really think that with all the publicity this company has had, he hasn't been keeping accurate books? Charity books sales publicly advertised, donations to troops overseas, giving teachers discounts all the time...He's clearly not dumb, so I'm sure that the accounting books reflect every sale and every donation he has done and made over the course of the company's exsistence. Hell, I would be surprised if he hasn't been audited yet. If there was foul play, he wouldn't be in business. Just a side note, I bring my kids there to shop for books. As a mother of 3, I can't get out of Barnes and Noble for less than $30 a visit, so if I can get them books for a buck, bet your butt I'm going to. I have no problem giving him $5-$10 on a visit and walking out with a ton of books for the whole family. I have not personally donated books yet, but trust me, I'm going to.

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EducatorJM
Lowell, US
Aug 06, 2010 3:02 pm EDT

Why are you so upset? The man takes books you confess you didn't want and resells them to people who do. Basically he recycles them. Does he make a buck, perhaps, but a millionaire, not likely. He collects thousands of books a day which have to be sorted, many discarded (which get recycled into paper), and then transported for resale. He has dozens of employees who are not charity workers, but do expect to be paid (and he does offer health insurance). He also has rent to be paid since the landlords of his facilities are not charities either. He runs trucks to collect these books which use gas (not free) and require drivers (who usually don't work for free either). While your books may retail for $2, 000, the reality is that used books command a fraction of their value on the open market, assuming a buyer can be found. Add to that the fact that they do come to your house to collect the books (remember gas, truck, driver-NOT FREE): he does need to pay the bills. With dozens of employees on his payroll, rent, and other expenses, the fact that he can operate by selling books at a buck a piece is pretty impressive. And he manages to deliver cheap books to customers who are happy to get them.
As mentioned by other posters, even libraries can't offload all their surplus and would end up just dumping them in a landfill if not for gotbooks. Most of his donations would realistically end up in the trash if gotbooks wasn't in business.
On the other hand, yes you could dump them in a landfill. That would result in about 100 Gotbooks employees hitting the unemployment line, literally millions of unwanted books ending up in landfills each year (instead of reused) and people would end up paying full price for books instead of his dollar, which is far cheaper.
Personally, hats off to the guy. He takes your lemons and makes lemonade.

PS: GeorgeSunday, contact your creditcard carrier and contest the bill. Since you didn't receive the product you are not responsible for the charges.

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georgesunday
, US
Jul 29, 2010 3:27 pm EDT

I got a bookthrough Amazon.com and the seller was Got Books. I never received my book but my credit card was charged. I have tried to get a response from them but nothing. Watch who Amazon is dealing with.

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scot582
Lawrence, US
Feb 24, 2010 3:02 pm EST

The way it works when you donate books to library is. Library has book sales, but anything they don't sell will be given away to Got Books most of the time. I woked for Got books so I saw this happen all the time. it's kind of sad because one way or another these books find there way to Got Books.

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mass2424
, US
Feb 24, 2010 9:45 am EST

I do see a problem with ads over the airwaves. Unless you have total recall of the EXACT words used, it is difficult to figure out what might be going on. At least with a print ad or a website, you can see the words used and figure out if you need more info. If all you see is that he "splits" profits with charities - it doesn't tell you what the split % is (it could be 99+% to him and the "rest" to charity). Sometimes we hear or see what we want to hear or see. Perhaps someone like him is taking advantage of our default thinking. We must take some responsibility. Websites like this are good at pointing out that our assumptions can be wrong and to clarify what truly is going on. Not really a scam, but probably not what a lot of people think it is.

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mass2424
, US
Feb 24, 2010 9:36 am EST

Well, he does "split" the proceeds, doesn't he? The best defense we have against having our cash - or books in this case - not going 100% to a charity is to THINK! When a telemarketer calls and say they are "working for the police department", it doesn't mean they are an employee -they may be working on the 'behalf" of the department. I also ask what percentage is going to the charity. Usually it is less than 50% which is not acceptable to me. I don't call those guys dirtbags because they actually tell you when you ask. BOB TICEHURST wouldn't be a dirtbag unless he lies about the % he splits with charities.
JUSTMOM2: really? You'd rather your books take space in a landfill than have someone pick it up for free and make money on your junk? Why not at least try donating them to your local library. If you find that they don't want them, maybe you can see the value of Bob's business and then whatever he gives to charity is just a kicker, not a main point. (the main point being they come get your junk for free because they have the means to make money off of them). Otherwise try your own booksale/yardsale and donate the proceeds directly to charity.

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justmom2
Quincy, US
Feb 17, 2010 9:47 am EST

After hearing about GOT BOOKS being a scam we will no longer donate our books to them..I would rather throw them away then give them to this ###. In fact we had an appointment today for them to pick up over 200 books from us but we have cancelled the appointment. LOSER

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RoseRed8
Detroit, US
Jan 04, 2010 1:23 am EST
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Great post, R. Lamare. MarineBob is utterly reprehensible.

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jayjay022009
Brockton, US
Jul 14, 2009 11:00 am EDT

check out his " F " rating with the Better Business Bureau. He has two complaints that he wont respond to. THIS IS A SCAM! HE DOESNT GIVE TO CHARITY AND MADE OVER TWO MILLION LAST YEAR.