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www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/article.php/3712001
By November 19, 2007 Turn the Page: The Listers There are currently 22 multi-dealer, "pass-through" book listing services, varying greatly in size, terms, fees, affiliate programs and selling performance. Be aware that the one rule governing the sites is that the rules are subject to change. Like a spinning kaleidoscope, fees, affiliations with other sites, terms of service and other policies tend to be in a constant state of flux as the competition increases for the online book-buying dollar. Most Internet booksellers belong to at least one of the "Three As," Advanced Book Exchange (ABE,) Alibris and Amazon, the three largest databases. Here is a comparison of these and several other "contenders." Advanced Book Exchange (ABE): ABE now claims 13,000 dealers offering 100 million books. Prior to being bought-out from its founders several years ago, this Victoria, Canada-based company was extremely dealer-friendly, almost warm and fuzzy in its policies and attitudes. Now in its corporate mode rates have risen and policies have tightened, causing bellyaching among its dealers. Nevertheless, ABE remains the largest and probably the best sales-producing site for used, out-of-print and rare books. ABE's monthly fees begin at $25 for up to 500 listings, and range to $300 for over 150,000 listings. ABE charges an 8-percent commission on sales up to a $40 maximum per book, and an additional 5.5 percent for processing credit card transactions that must be processed through the site. The service offers live phone tech support, and allows customer contact. Order fulfillment rate is a big issue with all the sites. ABE has just initiated a public five-star bookseller rating based solely on percentage of completed orders. To combat the "one-cent-wonder" sellers, ABE has a $1 minimum book price. ABE offers its own free FTP book uploading program called Homebase, which is compatible with several other services. Alibris: Beginning in 1994 under the name Interloc, Alibris is the original prototype for online book listing services. Today Alibris claims 60 million books listed by an estimated 6,000 dealers. All tech support and queries are addressed by e-mail only, which can be maddening. The company publicly rates its sellers' fulfillment on a five-star basis and has a two-tiered business model wherein buyers can order directly from Alibris or the seller, in a semi-Byzantine system. On the other hand, Alibris caters to its customers with discounts and follow-ups, and has spent large sums of money advertising and establishing a major used/antiquarian book presence: the site sells books. Currently, sellers with less than 1,000 books listed can opt for a no monthly fee format in which there is a $1 surcharge per book and a 15-percent commission. There is a $20 application fee and monthly charges for listings above 1,000 books range between $20 to $150 and up, depending on quantity. Alibris uploads are compatible with Homebase. Amazon: No listing site elicits more bookseller complaints and outright contempt than Amazon. The site has a public rating system based on buyer response, which is widely thought to be subject to manipulation and misunderstanding. Buyers are charged $3.99 shipping, sellers used to receive $2.64 of that; now sellers receive $3.99 on media mail, but are charged an additional $1.35 per sale fee. In general, Amazon runs the site on a "their way or the highway" basis regarding its sellers, in my experience. Uploading to listing site servers is relatively simple on most sites, but on Amazon, books published post-1960 must be uploaded with their ISBN numbers, pre-1960s books are assigned BASINS for identification. All that said, thousands of professional booksellers list there because no site sells more new and used books on the Internet. Amazon claims 66 million worldwide customers, many buy books, the majority being new or at least common books, (80-85 percent by one estimate,) but many others purchase used and rare books from the Amazon Marketplace, making all the fuss worthwhile for both large and sophisticated booksellers as well as the $1 book selling crowd. Amazon Marketplace for books charges a $40 per-month fee for unlimited listings, a $1.35 surcharge per sale and 15-percent commission in its bookseller 'pro' program. Smaller dealers have the option of paying 99 cents per sale, 15 percent commission and the $1.35 surcharge, without a monthly listing fee. Biblio.com: This Asheville, North Carolina-based site is small but ultra dealer-friendly. It provides competent phone tech support and free listings to those with less than 1,000 listed books, who are charged a 15-percent commission on sales only. For those with more inventory, there's a 7.5-percent commission, and $10 to $40 in monthly fees for up to 40,000 listings, with an additional $5 charge for each additional 10,000 books. Biblio is not in the sales-generating league of the "Three As," but it has become increasingly popular among many high-caliber, out-of-print and rare book dealers because of its seller-friendly terms and "we try harder" company attitude. Biblio uploads are compatible with Homebase. TomFolio: This service was originally started as a bookseller co-op with sellers paying $500 to become shareholders and have voting rights on officers and various issues. There was always a certain elite aura among TomFolio-ites, but competition in the online book selling market is such that they now also offer membership to non-shareholding listing dealers, who are vetted. Membership charges range from $35 per month for up to 4,000 listings to $95 per month up to 100,000 listings with an additional $15 charge for each additional 25,000 books. Unlike nearly all other listing services, TomFolio helps members set up their own Web sites. TomFolio was started as a labor of love by a small number of book loving, dedicated dealers with strict ethical standards policed by an ethics committee. Though sales and membership have increased over the years, the service is not in a class with the Three As, and by most accounts, sales remain fairly sparse while their members remain fiercely loyal to the site. Smaller sites such as Choosebooks, Antiqbook and UsedBookCentral are also popular among some used and rare book dealers. (Continue to Page 3 for Steps on Selling and More Resources) |
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