Run away from Loot

I’ve bought quite a lot of novels and random hard-to-find titles from Loot over the years, and I’ll give credit where it’s due: sometimes they really do have cheaper books, and you can find gems there that other shops don’t stock. Their book selection is actually decent.

But MY WORD… everything else? Absolute chaos.

The website is honestly the worst I’ve ever used. It’s been slow and clunky for years. Pages take forever to load, half the time something doesn’t work properly, and the layout feels like it’s stuck in 2010. It’s like they built it, switched off the lights. No urgency to improve it, no real upgrades — just buffering circles.

And then there’s delivery.You order a book and basically forget you ordered it. I made a recent purchase on 28/01/2026 and the estimated delivery date is 05/03/2026. That’s not delivery — even god gets back you quicker . Nearly a month to get a book? In 2026? Come on.

What makes it worse is that most of these bookstores are local suppliers. Other retailers use the same suppliers and somehow manage to get the book to your door in under a week. Clearly it can be done. It just feels like there’s zero urgency. You pay, and then… silence.

Customer service and after-sales support? Probably the most frustrating I’ve dealt with. You feel like you’re chasing them instead of them helping you. It gives the impression that the customer isn’t exactly at the heart of the business.

Honestly, if they don’t wake up soon, the likes of Takealot and Amazon are going to sink them without even trying. Right now, ordering from Loot feels like ordering from the past — and not in a nostalgic way. Fix the website, sort out the delivery times, and maybe act like customers matter. Because at the moment, it really doesn’t feel that way.