The following on-line bookstores, second-hand sites, and business marketplaces have been useful in acquiring most of my collection. While there are other on-line bookstores and sites that I regularly peruse, I've restricted this list to just those that I've actually used. I've also excluded the big sites like Amazon, ABEBooks, and ebay. Some of these sites don't have English interfaces (I've marked those that I know do), but a generous application of Google Translate is usually sufficient to navigate those that don't. Making a purchase through a second-hand sales site usually involves emailing the seller directly and arranging a PayPal or Western Union purchase. Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal have been sufficient payment for about 90% of the purchases I've made on-line and overseas. Western Union suffices for the rest. Several of the sites also have the prices displayed in a choice of currencies including Euros and US Dollars. My preferred express service is DHL. National postal services usually take at least twice as long with occasional significant delays (up to five weeks) at U.S. Customs. It may seem to be counterintuitive, but customer service in smaller countries off the beaten track is often exceptionally good. My experiences with sellers in Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bangladesh, Hungary, and Indonesia have been particularly noteworthy. Notes on payment and purchasing procedures are based on my last interactions with the site, which may have been several years ago.
Ali & Nino. Baku, Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani and Turkish editions with English interface. Payment is through a PayPal link after exact shipping costs are calculated. (Azerbaijani, Azerbaijani [H], Turkish B)
Anticariat Academic. Bucharest, Romania. Romanian editions. The order form only has Romanian in-country shipping options, so just select one of the options and when the owner sees your foreign address he'll write and make arrangements for payment and shipping. (Romanian B, Romanian C)
Antikvariaat. Tartu, Estonia. Estonian editions with English interface and request feature. (Estonian A)
Antikvariát Avion. Liberec, Czech Republic. Used Czech and Slovak editions. When checking out it's tricky to use a credit card from the US because of the aggregator they use. After placing an order, you can request PayPal and they'll send you an invoice. (Czech E)
Antikvárium. Szeged, Hungary. Hungarian editions. International buyers don't get to pay right away from the website. Within a few days an employee in Szeged will get up-to-date shipping costs and send out an email with the final cost and a PayPal link. (Hungarian B, Hungarian D, Hungarian [S] A)
Bland. Reykjavik, Iceland. Second-hand sales platform for Icelandic editions. At the time I bought my copy, there were about six sets being sold by a single individual, but I have not seen any copies for sale for a long time. (Icelandic)
Emka.si. Ljubljana, Slovenia. Slovenian editions. At the bottom right of the page there is a link in English "To our international customers" that is very informative. (Slovenian A, Slovenian B, Slovenian [H], Slovenian [S])
Fahasa.com. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Vietnamese editions with English interface. (Vietnamese)
iBook.lv. Riga, Latvia. Second-hand sales platform for Latvian editions. (Latvian)
Imbryk. Minsk, Belarus. Belarusian editions. There are two search bars at the top of the page (blank slots followed by an "OK" button). Type "Tolkien" in the bottom one. The on-line presence of Imbryk has been gone for several years. Its present existence is unknown, but given the history of other bookstores in Lukashenko's Belarus it is probably closed. (Belarusian)
imusic. Risskov, Denmark. Northern European editions. (German A)
Njuškalo. Zagreb, Croatia. Second-hand sales platform for Croatian and Serbian editions along with other Tolkien memorabilia. (Croatian A,Croatian B,Serbian B)
Superbuy. Hong Kong, China. Chinese editions. Ordering from Superbuy is very complicated and involves several steps where you interact with the agents procuring your books. You also have to carefully look at the (free) photos that they provide once they have received the books from their suppliers. About a third of the time in my experience, the book that I've received is a different edition of the book I've ordered (it's still FR, for example, but has a different cover from a different publisher). You have to then explain why the book in their hands is not the book you want. They will then try to find the correct book. At every step of the process, there is also an icon that you use to tip the named individual who performed that step (the purchasing agent, the photographer, the shipping clerk). Overall, I've been happy with the end results, but it takes more work on my part. It is a far cry from the "click, pay, and wait" service that the vast majority of on-line sellers provide. (Chinese [Simplified] H, Chinese [Simplified] I,Chinese [Simplified] L, Chinese [Simplified] O, Chinese [Simplified] P, Chinese [Simplified] Q,Chinese [Simplified] [H] E, Chinese [Simplified] [H] F,Chinese [Simplified] [S] A,Chinese [Simplified] [S] B,Chinese [Traditional] C, Mongolian [Bichig], Mongolian [Bichig] [H]
Tezeusz.pl. Poland. Polish editions. Their registration software is a little wonky and will not always register your correct country. Double-check before placing an order. Polish J
Todocoleccion. Malaga, Spain. Second-hand sales platform for Iberian peninsula editions with English interface. (Basque A)