Thankfully, though, none of that happened. Everything was good, and since I really found all the reviews posted by other bloggers sharing their experiences with BD extremely helpful, I thought I'd pay it forward and share mine as well.
1. Why order from Book Depository?
In a nutshell - shipping is free AND they deliver straight to your place. You don't need to jump through all sorts of hoops the way you have to when ordering from Amazon. Also, they have a pretty good selection for both discounted and regular-priced books.
2. Create your BD account.
Super easy. Make sure to double check your name and shipping details. You wouldn't want them to ship your package to the wrong address, would you?
3. Shop.
Easiest thing in the world to do. Want me to do it for you? :D
4. Pay.
Technically you don't need a credit card since they process their payments via PayPal, and the latter allows you to pay using your debit card. Once you've paid, BD will email you an order confirmation.
This means your items have finally been dispatched. You can double check by logging in to your BD account.
Click on Orders (upper right corner of your screen). Input your order # (just copy paste from the subject line of BD's second email) and your email address.
This is the hardest part. Because I've researched about other people's experiences, I know that the luckiest ones were able to receive their packages in one week. The not-so-lucky ones had to wait for 3 weeks or even an entire month. The average though is 3 weeks, but even so, knowing this still didn't stop me from worrying. In fact, I was so paranoid about this that I even posted a question on the #romanceclass FB group when normally I'm too shy to start any kind of thread in any forum. >.<
That was today, by the way, and everyone reassured me that my waiting period was normal.
But then here's the weird thing. An hour after I posted my question, someone knocked on our door and, well, well, well - what do you know? My package has arrived! Syet, sana pala hindi ko na lang kinapalan mukha ko and nag post pa ko sa FB group. >.<
I can't remember if I shared this before, but I once had an artwork commissioned for my book & when the artist shipped it to me, she also included a notebook with a custom designed cover (to match her painting) as a surprise. Unfortunately, I was so excited over the painting that the moment I saw it, I didn't care to check the rest of the package. I was too busy oohing and aahing over the painting and getting it framed. By the time I found out from the artist abt the notebook, it was too late. I'd already thrown away the package. The boyfriend even tried going through our rubbish but bec days haf already passed, one of the helpers must have already taken out the trash days ago. So anyway, lesson learned from there. >.<