Independent alternatives to Amazon for books (UK), checked against who actually owns them
Most Amazon alternatives aren’t what they look like. 8 of the 12 shops in the table below are controlled by Amazon or by one of two investment funds, and one of those 8 is a shop almost nobody knows is connected to anything. Every row carries the company number, the register it came from and the date somebody read it, so you can check any of it yourself rather than take our word. Last verified 5 September 2026.
Describe the book you’re after
| Shop | What it is | Who controls it, and how we know | Independent? |
|---|---|---|---|
| AbeBooks | Used and rare book marketplace | Amazon.com, Inc.US listed company, SEC CIK 0001018724. Amazon told the SEC it acquired AbeBooks in December 2008. No UK company operates abebooks.co.uk; the site's own terms name a German operator, AbeBooks Europe GmbH.Checked 5 September 2026 | ✗ |
| Book Depository | Free-delivery bookseller, site closed April 2023 | Amazon.com, Inc.The Book Depository Limited, company 05124926, still on the register and in members' voluntary liquidation, which is the solvent kind, since 14 August 2024. Its person with significant control is Amazon.Com, Inc, 75% or more, notified 6 April 2016.Checked 5 September 2026 | ✗ (gone) |
| Waterstones | High street chain | Elliott, a US investment fundWaterstones Booksellers Limited, company 00610095Checked 4 September 2026 · the chain, filing by filing | ✗ |
| Foyles | London institution | Elliott, a US investment fundW. & G. Foyle Limited, company 00945131Checked 4 September 2026 · the chain, filing by filing | ✗ |
| Blackwell's | Academic bookseller, family-owned for 143 years | Elliott, a US investment fundBlackwell UK Limited, company 00796591Checked 4 September 2026 · the chain, filing by filing | ✗ |
| Hatchards | Britain's oldest bookshop brand | Elliott, a US investment fundThe trade sits in Waterstones Booksellers Limited, company 00610095. Hatchards UK Limited, company 02368576, files dormant accounts and cannot be running the shop.Checked 4 September 2026 · the chain, filing by filing | ✗ |
| Wordery | Online bookseller, free delivery, looks unaffiliated | Elliott, a US investment fundWaterstones Booksellers Limited, company 00610095, is the seller named in wordery.com's own terms. The old Wordery.com Limited, company 08134714, was dissolved on 28 September 2024, and its last person with significant control was an Elliott vehicle.Checked 5 September 2026 · the same chain, filing by filing | ✗ |
| World of Books | Second-hand books at scale | Livingbridge 7 Global LP, a private equity fundWorld of Books Limited, company 06437594, sits under five companies to Circle Topco Limited, whose person with significant control is Livingbridge 7 Global LP, a Scottish limited partnership, SL034568, notified 25 June 2021. The controller is that fund, not the Livingbridge firm as such.Checked 5 September 2026 | ✗ |
| Bookshop.org UK | Online store that gives its margin to independent bookshops | Russell Andrew Hunter, an individualBookshoppe Limited, company 12831176, whose sole person with significant control is Bookshop Holdings Limited, company 12827799, whose own sole person with significant control is Russell Andrew Hunter, notified 20 August 2020. No corporate or investor holder anywhere in the chain.Checked 5 September 2026 | Routes to indies ✓ |
| Hive.co.uk | Online store where a local shop you pick gets a share | Jonathan James Little, an individualHive Store Limited, company 07300106, which is the seller named in hive.co.uk's own terms, sits under The Little Group Limited, company 03246086, and then The Little Group Holdings Limited, company 16787075, whose person with significant control is Jonathan James Little. Gardners Books Limited, company 02010127, is a sibling in the same group, not the operator.Checked 5 September 2026 | Family-owned ✓ |
| Oxfam Online Shop | Second-hand, charity | OxfamRegistered charity 202918 in England and Wales, and SC039042 in Scotland. A company limited by guarantee, company 00612172. The charity itself is the seller of record on the shop's own terms.Checked 5 September 2026 | Charity ✓ |
| Daunt Books | London independent mini-chain | James Daunt and Katherine DauntTravel Buff Limited, company 02253675, runs the shops under Daunt Books Limited, company 03068928. Both are registered as persons with significant control of the holding company at more than 25% but not more than 50%, so neither holds a majority alone.Checked 5 September 2026 | ✓ |
| Your local shop's own site | Buying direct | The shopDifferent for every shop. Ours are checked one at a time in the directory. | ✓✓ |
One US fund owns most of the famous names
Between 2018 and 2022, one US investment fund quietly ended up owning most of the famous names in British bookselling. Elliott acquired Waterstones in April 2018, Foyles that September, and Blackwell’s in February 2022, ending 143 years of family ownership, with Hatchards already inside Waterstones. Every list of Amazon alternatives that sends you to these shops is sending you from one American giant to another American fund. The company numbers and the filing dates behind each of those four rows are in one fund, five bookshop names, walked one company at a time.
The one worth saying out loud, because almost no list carries it, is Wordery. It looks like a plucky independent discounter and it turns up on alternatives lists written by people who would never send you to Waterstones. Its own terms name the seller, and the seller is Waterstones. The table row above gives the company number.
And the strangest footnote in British bookselling: Daunt Books remains genuinely independent, owned by James Daunt and Katherine Daunt between them, and James Daunt is the same man Elliott employs to run Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.
The genuinely independent routes, and what actually reaches the shop
Buying direct from a bookshop’s own website is the gold standard: the shop keeps its full margin. On Bookshop.org, a bookshop you choose receives 30% of the cover price, which the site says is its entire margin on that sale, and when no shop is chosen, 10% of the sale goes into a pool shared across participating shops. The ownership behind that promise is in the table row above, and it ends at one named individual with no corporate or investor holder anywhere in the chain. On Hive, the local shop you nominate receives a share of each sale, but the percentage isn’t published, so we won’t rank it against the others. What is checkable is the ownership, and it also ends at a named individual, in a family group in Eastbourne. One correction we owe you from our own last check: Hive is not run by Gardners, the wholesaler that supplies most UK bookshops. The two are siblings under the same parent, and the row above names the company that actually sells you the book.
Where we fit
Highstreett is a personalised search engine for places and books. Describe what you want in plain English and, once you're signed in, it remembers your taste, your saved dietary needs, allergies and religious requirements, and what you've liked before.That’s the whole model, and the rankings are never for sale.
Questions
Is AbeBooks independent?
No. Amazon told the SEC it acquired AbeBooks in December 2008, and the table above gives the filing. It's one of the most common false alternatives: the marketplace sellers on it are often independent shops, but the platform and its fees are Amazon's.
Is Waterstones owned by Amazon?
No, but it isn't independent either. Waterstones has been owned since 2018 by Elliott, a US investment fund, which also owns Foyles, Blackwell's, Hatchards and the American chain Barnes & Noble. The table above gives the company number for each, and a separate page walks the chain filing by filing.
Is Wordery independent?
No, and this is the one most lists get wrong. Wordery reads as an unaffiliated discounter, but the seller named in wordery.com's own terms is Waterstones Booksellers Limited, company number 00610095, which is the Waterstones trading company and therefore Elliott. The company that used to run it, Wordery.com Limited, was dissolved on 28 September 2024.
How does Bookshop.org pay bookshops?
A bookshop you choose receives 30% of the cover price of your order, which is Bookshop.org's entire margin on that sale. If you don't choose a shop, 10% of the sale goes into a pool shared across participating independent bookshops.
What's the most ethical way to buy books online in the UK?
Buying directly from an independent bookshop's own website, because the shop keeps its full margin. Where that isn't practical, Bookshop.org and Hive both route money to independents, and charity sellers like Oxfam fund their cause. The one thing to avoid, if independence is the point, is assuming a famous name means an independent shop.