Mainstay` 71" 5-Shelf Standard Bookcase (Black)

Okay first off- this is a 6'x2'x1' (h-w-d) bookshelf DELIVERED for 44-60 bucks total. So you have to view it on this light, which for that alone these are amazing. Yes- it is a particle board and veneer paper unit. But you still can't buy the raw material for this price. Pros- the assembly was easy- and tbh the instruction sheet was pretty impressive for something in this day and age and this price point. Also each of the hardware parts were on their own sealed plastic baggie compartment. It's a fairly sturdy and roomie beast and you could likely add shelves- if you want toale itore stable and sturdyaune get se cheap corner brackets, angle or corner irons. Yes the back.is cardboard- you can change to cheap luan plywood for 7$ and se screws. This is worth the $. I do woodworking- I am.not going to compare a 50$ item to even 100$ set of shelves, so it would be unfair to give these less than 5 stars based on what you pay for them. You can't buy them in the store and drag them home for this price let alone have the heavy package delivered to you.NOW- the only downside- I initially ordered through a seller here that had good reviews, but very few and all recent. After a question about tracking number,I got an email response (and all subsequent responses) in the middle of the night in understandable but non- american syntax English, and with constantore than questionable explanations and the lie that they were "US (inland)" company. It was obvious that they weren't (which I even told them, if I got my item on time I'd be fine). They refunded my money with some crock about "returned to them saved in shipping). I ordered from an eBay seller the next day and had these 2 days later. With the drop ship boom, this seems to be a popular item- and many sellers list erican addresses, but these are just fronts for foreign drop shippers of varying reliability and trustworthiness, so be wary of that. And leave feedback for the seller on the seller section NOT Here.

My wife is an avid book collector and it seems like I'm constantly buying new shelves. We have a total of 12 bookshelves in the house, all completely filled with books.I got tired of paying 120+ a shelf from other brands, especially since the nicer shelves are already in the living room where people will see them. So I bought 3 of these with pure storage in mind over ascetics.I gotta say, these are 100% the best value dollar per dollar of any bookshelf I've ever bought. I am only going to be buying these going forward so I can keep buying her a shelf every 5 months without breaking the bank.PRO's:1. CHEAP! My god the price is unbeatable. $42 for a bookshelf? That's like flea-market prices.2. Easy to put together. In the past I've spent 4 hours putting shelves together before. The first one of these took me around an hour and a half. The other two about an hour. Hands down the easiest to assemble shelf I've ever bought.3. Sturdy. I haven't seen any bowling and I don't worry about it collapsing when the entire shelf is full.4. They look pretty good! Especially when the books are on it.CON's:I really don't have much to say here. Yes I can nitpick. If you buy multiple shelves and stand them next to each other, you may see slight differences in how the corners line up. To prevent wobbliness, you may need to put a felt pad under one of the feet so all 4 touch the ground evenly. But these are problems that all bookshelves have unless you're spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars.The only real "con" I would say is that Mainstay did not paint the top edge of the side boards. So if you are tall enough to look down on the top of the shelf, you will see the unfinished edge of the particle board (see pictures). Lazy but I'm not taking off a star for that.Other than that, these are slightly more narrow than I thought. They are 25'' compared to most of my other shelves which are over 30. However that can also be seen as a plus, because the more narrow shelves are less likely to bowl with more weight on them.Point is that yes, a $120 shelf is going to be better in about every way. However, these shelves are solid, cheap, easy to assemble, and look pretty good. 5/5 starts, and I will buy again.

I too, was taken in by thinking that I was getting 30 inch shelves. They measure 23.5 inches. This is deceptive advertising. I had purchased a Mainstay 5-shelf Bookcase about 10 years ago and it was identical as advertised and I was expecting the same product with this purchase. Wrong -- on my part. The original bookcase had full length sides and this bookcase has a two-piece sides configuration which weakens the sturdiness of the completed product. And again, this is not an actual piece of furniture because it is a press board or particle board product and not an actual wood product. One nice thing, was the price. I', keeping this product because I'm not going through the long and tedious process of returning it because of the false advertising. Keep trying. Maybe some day your product will be apprciated.