Digital Book Home?

[Jenga5238]

Has anyone dealt with digitalbookhome.com? I'm thinking of grabbing an ebook here, and wanted to know if it seems legitimate to anyone? The sale seems rather "out of this world" but then again, they're in digital textbooks. Thoughts?

[AnemicOak]

The main things I see that make me question the site are a) the books are DRM-free and many are from hard core pro-DRM publishers, b) the prices, they're just so much cheaper than sources we know are legit that it seems questionable. Also no publisher I checked mentions them as a source for their material.

[Cinisajoy]

I didn't look as far as Brian, but the reviews turned me off completely.
Here is why. I noticed one review gave a name and the job. A quick Google on the University website shows no such person. There is an Odell but it is not James.

[rumrunner7]

Originally Posted by Jenga5238

Has anyone dealt with digitalbookhome.com? I'm thinking of grabbing an ebook here, and wanted to know if it seems legitimate to anyone? The sale seems rather "out of this world" but then again, they're in digital textbooks. Thoughts?

Paid with paypal and the download was fine. Surprised & happy.

[Demingy]

Originally Posted by rumrunner7

Paid with paypal and the download was fine. Surprised & happy.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's legit.

[pdurrant]

It looks like a pirate site to me. No way Addison-Wesley are allowing them to sell a DRM-free combined PDF and MOBI downloads version of Algorithms, Fourth Edition.

[Manabi]

It's a pirate site. This may be long, so I'll stick some stuff in spoiler tags:

1. Looking at domain's WHOIS data, it was created September 6th of last year. It's registered with Namecheap, which as the business name suggests is a discount domain name provider. It's not impossible a legitimate business would use them, but it's highly unusual. The domain is also using Cloud Flare. There are legitimate reasons to use Cloud Flare (primarily to mitigate DDoS attacks), but it's also a great way to hide the IP address of a pirate server. Finally, the only contact info for the domain is through Name Cheap itself, instead of even an e-mail with the company address. This is very unusual for a legitimate business.

Spoiler:

Domain Name: DIGITALBOOKHOME.COM
Registry Domain ID: 2160383538_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.namecheap.com
Registrar URL: http://www.namecheap.com
Updated Date: 2017-12-20T17:53:25Z
Creation Date: 2017-09-06T18:35:20Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2018-09-06T18:35:20Z
Registrar: NameCheap Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 1068
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@namecheap.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.6613102107
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Name Server: JEROME.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
Name Server: MELINDA.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/
>>> Last update of whois database: 2018-01-06T02:13:17Z <<<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://icann.org/epp

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar. Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
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The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.

2. The about page does not come across as legitimate. Full text in spoilers, but some quotes: "Digital Book Home is the leading specialist electronic book (eBook) retailer." This is generic as hell, and since none of us had ever heard of them before, very much a lie. A "business" that's been in existence for three months is something the "leading specialist" e-book retailer? Hardly.

Then there's the address, which is the clincher that they aren't legit. Check out Google Maps for that address. As you can see, it's in a row of brownstone homes. That's not a commercial location.

Spoiler:

About Us

Digital Book Home is the leading specialist electronic book (eBook) retailer. Users can download books to computers, dedicated eBook devices, PDAs and mobile phones and the software required is free.

Digital Book Home stocks all the latest bestselling and new release titles, which are streamed direct to us by leading publishers. But that’s not all. We also offer a huge selection of professional & technical eBooks and wide range of academic and scholarly titles.

If you have any questions or concern, please contact us at our US branch:

284 Herkimer Street

Brooklyn, New York 11216, USA

support@digitalbookhome.com

But wait, there's actually more!

3. On their FAQ page, there's a few telling questions:

10. Does the online access code come with the eBook?

The online access code DOES NOT come with the eBook version.

11. What are Converted-PDF format?

“Converted PDF” eBooks are eBooks that are originally in another format (EPUB/MOBI/AZW) and were converted to PDF format format for easy viewing purpose using the software Calibre.

Converted-PDF eBooks do not have as good quality as eBooks that are originally in PDF because Converted-PDFs take the format of its predecessor formats (EPUB/MOBI/AZW).

Moreover, converted-PDF eBooks do not have the same page number as its hardcopy counterpart.

We do not guarantee the quality of converted-PDFs and will not refund any complaints about converted-PDFs’ quality. However, we can re-convert the original format to obtain a better quality PDF for you.

So yes, this is a pirate site, not a legitimate one.

[pdurrant]

Moderator Notice
Thanks to Manabi for the research. Live links to the site removed.

Do not give your money to pirates. None of it goes to the authors, only to the crooks.

Thread closed.