Hive.co.uk - an online bookshop Reviews 

Lovely online bookstore. I love purchasing from here. Super quick delivery too!

I've had multiple orders from Hive over the past 12 months. Fast delivery, good range and ebook options are available too. Fantastic experience even when experiencing trouble. I enjoy the opportunity to support local book shops with my purchases.

I just received my first order this morning. This was my first order but it won't be the last. Lightening fast despatch, although delivery was a bit slow but That was royal mail not hives fault. Price was the best I could find on the internet and despatch was good. Wish I had found this company sooner. 👍

In May 2022 I purchased Moon Knight by Huston, Benson and Hurwitz Omnibus. Not used Hive before, but they had around 30% off and the David Finch cover I preferred. The book arrived promptly and with no defects or damaged corners. This was through sheer luck however, since this is a heavy 1184 pages hardcover book which Hive sent out with just thin board pack as protection. For a product with £100+ retail price, maybe they should consider putting in some bubble wrap, or other cushioning? For this reason, 4/5.

fast despatch, competitive price, book arrived in good condition

It's my first purchase from here. I've purchased some rare novels, poetry books, you can find out any types of books at this shop. They delivered it so quick. Recommended.

Nothing beats going to a bookshop in person, but Hive is the next best thing. Appealing and uncluttered site with excellent customer service; the next best thing to a friendly face behind the till. And every purchase leading to a donation to my favourite bookshop which I now live too far away to enjoy!

Ordered the funko jack and Sally exclusive blacklight keyring set as a present. Item arrived in a Amazon style envelope used for CDs etc.
Considering the item is in a box and a collectible it should be pretty obvious that it was going to turn up squashed.
Guessing they will all be the same. Won't be using give again

I've been using Hive for years, and never had any issues. Granted, they don't always have what I'm looking for, but I have a few places I can shop for books so don't have to use that other company!
Good value for money, bearing in mind that they donate a percentage of sales to a local, independant bookshop.

Great book store! Absolutely love the fact they support local bookshops.

I don't know who this company's target audience is, but it definitely isn't me.
I spent twenty minutes on their site and every single search turned up no hits at all. None, which is astonishing when you consider that they almost certainly operate a virtual inventory.
I suppose I'm just not in their demographic, although who that is I have no idea.
I love buying books, I do very little else, and the experience of being on a bookshop's site and finding they had nothing I wanted to buy, is a new and strange one.
I don't think I enjoyed it.

Kept updated very well

Made a preorder that I wasn't expecting urgently anyway but they still took the time to update me on the publishing/due date

Ordered a book for my husband and it arrived in good condition and within 2 days of ordering-very impressed! Also like how this company supports local bookshops by giving a small percentage of sales to help them.

Ordered loads of books from Hive. Always had a great experience. Highly recommended.

I ordered a Calendar in December 2021. The Hive price was the best I could find when including delivery. They promptly sent it out and Royal Mail claimed the item had been delivered, which did not occur. I raised an unfulfilled claim with the Royal Mail before Christmas 2021. By Monday 10th January 2022, I had received no response from the Royal Mail. I emailed Hive to query the way forward, where Tom dealt with the matter and a duplicate was dispatched, which has been received today, a mere two days later. The customer service was exemplary. The fact they donate to small book shops, is another factor. I will certainly use Hive again and recommend them to friends.

Just received the “Color Your Way Through the UK”, it seemed it would be the perfect gift for my friends 6 year old Grandaughter who is over from the US. Sadly it’s very poor quality, colour is spelt the American way (color), and the only place I can recognise from some of the pictures is London- and then it’s mainly just Big Ben. A waste of money and very disappointing.

Hive managed to obtain UK exclusivity on a popular Funko Pop figure, which I pre-ordered in September 2021 to ensure I got one. The release was delayed by 3 months, which was perfectly fine (not their fault), but then they simply cancelled my order with a message saying the supplier was unable to supply the item. This was in fact not true, and the stock had already been received by Hive, but what they wanted to do was actually put the price up from £15.75 to £16.99, forcing me to reorder at the higher price.

What I also don't like about Hive is that they supposedly offer 'free' delivery, but then the cost of delivery is clearly added into the sell-price of every single item. So if you want to order multiple items, you effectively end up paying multiple buried delivery charges instead of just one. To give an example, the item I ordered for £16.99 would be £12.99 anywhere else without the delivery charge added in.

Overall, having the privilege of an exclusive Funko Pop figure should have been the perfect opportunity for Hive to win new long-term customers, but rest assured I will never shop with them again.

I am in disbelief about my recent order.

Placed an order for an exclusive Pop vinyl a few months ago fo £15.75. today it was cancelled with reason stating "Supplier unable to supply items".

So I check the store, and the price has gone up and it's in stock.

Edit - upon contacting them they've offered me a partial refund with an apology which was good. Reasoning was any pre-order longer than 90 days automatically gets cancelled. Perhaps this is something to look into as this was delayed twice.

Really disappointed with these. First time I've used and a week after ordering a gift for Xmas on pre-order they cancelled. I'm still waiting for £108 to come off pending in my bank and I'm down quite an important gift. Wouldn't use again for anything on pre-order.

When our local bookstore closed its doors for good, I went in search for an alternative to the big chain bookstores that had taken over our town. Nothing close by, I ventured online and ot wanting to use amazon I found Hive online book store that also gives a percentage of the sale of a book to a local book store of your choosing!
Win win!
They have always been great service. I couldn't recommend them enough!