posted on March 6, 2001 07:05:50 AM new
Bookdealers, Amazon's Bibliofind site is now free. My theory is that Amazon has decided to phase out Bibliofind, and encourage bookdealers to switch to Marketplace/Zshops (note the increase in listing limit to 40,000 items at Zshops).
posted on March 6, 2001 10:23:24 AM new
You may be right, but they will have to do a much better job of integrating out-of-print books, with and without ISBNs on their site! Right now, it's very clunky. I sell almost no OOP books on Marketplace, even with an ISBN, because the buyers see this "This title is out-of-print. But we can do a search for you...blah, blah, blah" screen. Amazon doesn't even announce that there are any Marketplace copies available until you click onto the next screen. This will be interesting to see how it plays out.
posted on March 6, 2001 11:22:55 AM new
I went to the Bibliofind site and found the free notice. But I couldn't find it on Amazon. If you list on there, can people find your books via Amazon, and if so, how, exactly?
posted on March 6, 2001 03:03:12 PM new
No---they exist as seperate operations. But AMAZON when buying "Out of Print" books for customers that order that way will look on Bibliofind first. Amazon.com buys lots of books from me for these customers.
posted on March 6, 2001 03:26:52 PM new
Zazzie, I'm assuming from what you said that you are a Bibliofind bookseller. Are you planning to stay with the site, now that some changes are being made? What is your sense of what might happen to Bibliofind down the road? Just curious for the point of view of someone already selling there...
posted on March 6, 2001 04:15:58 PM new
It will be a wait and see for me. Right now I can't even check online if I've got any orders--though they do contact you via email when you have one.
But to date--Bibliofind has been great. When Amazon bought it a couple of years ago they just left it alone didn't change anything, didn't add any bells or whistles, and it just chugged along--spewing out orders. I've had absolutely no complaints to date. I'm glad they've removed the ability for the buyer to put in their CC card--I don't have a merchant account and it confused many when I would send them an invoice via Billpoint or Paypal. and it wasn't encrypted when they did. I wonder if Amazon.payments will somehow be implemented there???
I don't know for sure if Amazon buys first from Bibliofind--but I send out weekly to them. But with Marketplace and Zshop being pushed I have found that the orders are decreasing though.
posted on March 7, 2001 05:06:27 AM new
I'm trying to puzzle this out. Say I have an out of print book. I list it on the Amazon record that says it's OP.
In order for a person to utilize Amazon's out of print service [and therefore maybe end up using Bibliofind] don't they have to click on the title and get to the place where they would see my listing?
In other words, if I have the OP book, is there any benefit to me to listing it on Bibliofind rather than Marketplace?
posted on March 7, 2001 06:25:01 AM new
I sold on Bibliofind for about 2 l/2 years and just took my books off that site this December. The advantage was no cost other than the $25 per month subscription fee (now waived apparently). Many dealers had thousands of books listed there (and I guess still have). So, there is no 5% as in zshops or 15% + as in Marketplace to pay when you sell a book on Bibliofind (unless they have altered that recently).
The disavantage: not as many sales as on Marketplace & zshops. But Amazon's OP dept does search Bibliofind and many dealers with bricks and mortar shops buy there for their customers and booksearch folks buy from Bibliofind.
The secure ordering used to be a plus before the breach of credit card info happened.
Donny B. Seagraves
Junebug Books
www.junebugbooks.com
posted on March 7, 2001 08:45:47 AM new
Keziak, that's my complaint about selling OOP books on Marketplace - the customer has to click on the book title to find out there are Marketplace sellers who have it. Amazon's link should say "This Title is Currently Out of Print - but We have 3 Copies Available from Marketplace Sellers", or something like that to encourage the buyer to take the next step and CLICK! This is one area where half.com has it all over Marketplace, as far as I'm concerned. At half, the title shows up, and half cheerfully announces there are 3 copies available, and the customer doesn't even half to care if the book is OOP. Now if half sellers would just stop listing books for $0.75...
posted on March 7, 2001 10:02:53 AM new
half.com is not in the business of competing with its own sellers as Amazon is. Amazon would rather sell you a new book, but if that's not available, they'd rather find an OP copy for your and sell you that. If that's not possible, they'd rather sell you a copy via a Marketplace seller who pays 15% plus part of the shipping cost to Amazon. Lastly, is the zhop option at only 5% commission to Amazon (plus the $39.99 a month Promerchant fee the seller pays). Add the numbers up for yourself and you'll see the logic of their links.
From the seller's point of view, I'd rather sell you my zshops copy and pay Amazon 5% plus the pro merchant fee each month and get a fair shipping payment from you that actually covers my shipping costs to ship the book to you. The next best option for me is to sell the book to you through Amazon's out of print dept. Then there's the Marketplace option, more costly to me but offering potentially faster turnover for my investment. Last is the Amazon selling you the new book option. No commission in it for me, but if Amazon stays in business, there is a benefit for small sellers.
Donny B. Seagraves
Junebug Books
www.junebugbooks.com
posted on March 7, 2001 10:08:39 AM new
Me---I'd rather sell them a copy for their OP customer and not pay anything. And I've set the shipping rate which Amazon pays me in a nice check so their is no Amazon.payments commission either.
posted on March 7, 2001 11:57:39 AM new
If they are able to someday seamlessly integrate Bibliofind or something like it into the main Amazon site, they'll be able to instantly say that there are x copies available of this book. They won't require the buyer to take the initiative to click to the next page and see what's up. We all know that a hefty percentage of potential buyers will never click on the link if Amazon just timidly asks them if they want Amazon to search their out-of-print sources.
posted on March 7, 2001 12:23:11 PM new
Gosh, Zazzie, you're inspiring me! I was going to wait until the usually-slow (for me) eBay sales months of July and August to list a whole bunch of books on Bibliofind, but maybe I'll do it sooner, since sales on eBay are not really too exciting right now!
posted on March 7, 2001 12:25:05 PM new
I'd rather sell you an out of print book through my zshop using Amazon.payments than sell you one through Amazon's out of print search. The main reason is the out of print search process takes a long time from order to check arriving while payments is fast -- I usually transfer that money daily. The check can take two weeks to arrive.
Donny B. Seagraves
Junebug Books
www.junebugbooks.com
posted on March 18, 2001 11:51:10 AM new
Hey Zazzie & June, ya'll sound like you're doing enough biz to know... Which is preferable to use for credit card payments, Paypal or Billpoint, or other, and why? Particularly on these other than auction sites?
Well, I just visited Amazon, been awhile since I was there...as you can probably tell. Can someone help enlighten me about these Zshops? What is the inventory limit in a zshop? Must be much less than a marketpro shop, I assume... Otherwise, why would one want to pay the $40, instead of just the quarter and 2.5? For the bulk loading?
As I don't normally go to Amazon, I did have some trouble finding the zshop storefronts. Do you sell well, there?
Is it preferable to Biliofind? I have to wonder how it could be, since Bibliofind charges no fees...other than being able to accept all payment options.
I am full of questions, aren't I!
[ edited by escandyo on Mar 18, 2001 01:23 PM ]
posted on March 19, 2001 08:44:00 AM new
Well, I suppose I must talk to myself! So, I have discovered to have a zshop, you not only get to pay the commission but pay the $40 a month? Doesn't sound too hot.
Then, I found the marketplace option. Not only did I have a hard time finding where to find the listings by sellers... They require 99 cents plus 15 percent! Half charges 15 percent, period! Why the 99 cent additional fee? Half accepts the credit cards for me without additional charge, so where is the bonus? I don't get it.
I guess that puts me back at Bibliofind. I just don't want to mess up my Billpoint no charge electronic checks, or being able to accept Paypal account payments, which are free, nor the up to $100 in credit card payments, free!
Western Union Zap sounds like a hassle. Is there no other low budget option operating right now to accept credit cards? Bidpay it OUT at $5 or more a pop.
