posted on July 3, 2001 02:42:48 PM
Half.com has reached an agreement with ABE (which
has 28 million or so used books) so that ABE dealers can be listed on half.com. While ABE dealers are not heavily involved in the $.75 market like many half.com dealers--so there will be little effect there; for dealers who have better stuff there will be a massive increase in the number of competing books available:
From [email protected] Tue Jul 3 16:30:44 2001
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2001 12:50:21 -0800
From: Advanced Book Exchange <[email protected]>
Subject: Half.com Reseller Program Announcement
Dear ...,
We at abebooks.com are pleased to announce a new reseller program targeted at reaching the American buyer market. With our proposed July 24, 2001 launch, qualifying dealers will be able to have their books listed for sale on half.com (www.half.com).
Half.com is concentrated on expanding the U.S. market for used, rare, and out-of-print books through a customer focused Web site, simple one-stop ordering, extensive advertising, and providing convenient shipping options for both customers and dealers. Now part of our reseller network, half.com^Òs buyers will be able to acquire books from participating abebooks.com member booksellers easily and efficiently.
Registration for this program begins on July 3, 2001. Currently, it is open only to abebooks.com member booksellers in good standing, who are located in the United States. Please be aware that only book listings with ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) included in the book description field, subject/keyword field, or in the HomeBase 2.1 ISBN field will be available for listing on half.com.
As with all abebooks.com reseller programs, your participation in the half.com program is optional and free of charge. You will gain access to a broad and established customer base, while receiving weekly payments for all books sold and shipped. Abebooks.com will be responsible for ensuring that your inventory, and any inventory updates you send us, is uploaded to half.com^Òs database.
For more information on registering for the half.com program, please go to the following link.
If your browser does not support links, go to the abebooks.com Members Menu and click on the ^ÓBookseller Programs^Ô link. From this menu, click on the "Half.com Agreement" link. There you will find the Dealer Agreement with a detailed description of the half.com program and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs).
We would like to welcome half.com to the abebooks.com family. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this new program at [email protected].
On behalf of all of us at abebooks.com,
Juanita Bright
Programs Administrator
www.abebooks.com
Phone: 1-800-315-5335
Fax: 1-250-475-6014
6-10 Mon-Fri 10-2 Sat PST
posted on July 3, 2001 02:49:50 PM
Two thoughts come to mind:
1. Most ABE sellers probably consider half.com a trashy venue
2. Most ABE listings seem VERY high priced, so I don't see the probability of continued price deflation.
I get more worried about the remainder folks who manage to get some quality books in such QUANTITY to reduce the value to zero. This just happened to me. I spent $$ on what has been in a past a sure-fire winner in a specialized field. But once I got home I found ebay glutted with copies that have "remainder" written all over them [so to speak]. You can see the prices dropping steadily on this once desirable book. : - (
posted on July 3, 2001 04:23:38 PM
questions-
i have never seen remainder books marked remainder??
where would i find it and how does it look like??
also why are books on ABE with no isbn numbers?
i thought most books do,some dont but they are in the minority.
posted on July 3, 2001 04:25:16 PM
Books on ABE are rarely at half of list price. Compounded with the lack of valid ISBN, it will be surprising if this have any impact at all on half.com or ABE.
posted on July 3, 2001 04:44:11 PMhwahwahwahwa ~ The most common remainder mark is a black slash on the bottom of the book. Sometimes a red dot is used, sometimes a stamp or even spray paint.
Books printed before 1971 do not have ISBN numbers.
posted on July 3, 2001 04:48:33 PM
Hwahwa...older books don't have ISBN numbers. I don't think one could say the non-ISBN books are in the minority. I have an inventory of about 1500 used books and probably only about 15-20% have ISBN numbers...but most of my books are 1950s and earlier.
I don't see how this will hurt the half.com seller....ABE books seem to be rather high priced. But I am wondering what was meant by "free of charge"? Does it mean the ABE dealer pays no additional charge to ABE to be in the program but still pays the half.com fees if an item is sold....or does it mean the ABE dealer doesn't pay the half.com fees (which I seriously doubt, but one NEVER knows!)
posted on July 3, 2001 05:16:23 PM
free means free to list with the aid of ABE,yes,they will pay half.com fee when book is sold on half.com.
never would i think that books business is forging ahead in cyberspace faster than other retail sectors .
now the level playing field-retailer barnes and noble has land and cyber shop and a handful of dealers,amzn and big discount book sellers and bibliofind and small fish on amzn /bibliofind,now we have ebay/half,com with abe.com.
it looks like every retail bookseller is on the web,far ahead of other segments of retail industry.
what do you think will come out of this scenario?
who gains,who lose?and whatabout the wholesalers and publishers??
posted on July 3, 2001 07:58:04 PM
Who gains? Well, I for one hope: the buyers! I'm a librarian who until recently was a bookbuyer for 9 years! But I never buy a book except for a gift...because they cost too much brand-new. I feel really strongly about this. Books should be for everyone, but it honestly defies my belief that folks routinely pay those prices.
I am proud to now be a tiny part of an enterprise that enables people to get the books they want for less money. Sure, I want the high bids, but the vast majority of my books sell for less than the standard hardcover price, and that works for me because I pick them up for next to nothing.
I remarked to DH the other day that another thing I enjoy is honing what modest skills I have in figuring out what books people would want to read, for one reason or another. I have so much more to learn, but it really pleases me when my customers thank me for offering a book they can really use, or have been looking for, etc.
posted on July 3, 2001 08:14:17 PM
Um, I'm an antiquarian bookseller on ABEbooks, so to list my books on HALF do I have to list them at half their original retail price, I mean I have here for example an 1862 book valued today at $350 but the original price was $0.25, so I guess I'll go list it at 12-1/2 cents, Duh....
posted on July 3, 2001 09:07:35 PM
not all books are listed at half the original list price,some are at original list price.
but i have yet to see any book on that site selling at premium over list price.
why would anyone sell a book for so little if the book is out of print,rare and in mint condition and has good content???
posted on July 3, 2001 10:16:38 PM
I have been an ABE book dealer for many years. I am signing up for this program. The explanation on the ABE site says I will get full price. In other words, if I have priced the book at $10, I will get $10 plus a shipping allowance. I would guess this means that the book will appear on HALF.COM at $12. We'll see. Also, not mentioned above, is that only books priced less than $150 will show up on HALF.COM. I guess I will have to go put ISBN numbers in my descriptions.
posted on July 3, 2001 10:53:19 PM
Grovbook, is that something Half is sticking to Abebook listers in particular? I've seen more than a few books there listed over $150! Several for twice that.
posted on July 4, 2001 04:52:21 AM
"The explanation on the ABE site says I will get full price. In other words, if I have priced the book at $10, I will get $10 plus a
shipping allowance. I would guess this means that the book will appear on HALF.COM at $12."
Wait a minute. Won't you get your $10 MINUS the half.com commission, then PLUS your $2 shipping allowance?
If it works like it does for all the rest of us, your book will be listed for $10.
The "half" aspect of half.com hasn't been valid for months and months, in contrast to Amazon where you have to list at either 20% below their list price [if in print] or 20% above it for collectibles. But on Amazon you have to pay their commission too, of course.
posted on July 4, 2001 06:29:31 AM
a book with a price of 10 will be listed at 10 ,customer will be charged 10 plus 2.29-2.99 shipping.
if your book is heavy and/or needed to be insured or confirmed delivery,you have to build these extra costs into your price.
so when you list a book on either amzn or half.com,you need to price your book taking into consideration-
extra shipping cost,
commision ,
transaction fee.
dont forget to include a profit for your hard work!!
posted on July 4, 2001 06:37:28 AM
books without ISBN number or with ISBN number not found on site database would not be listed.
the current procedure of listing your book on either amzn or half.com is to first find the title of the book ,and confirm your copy against that title on their system by ISBN,author,publisher,date,hc or softbound.
in other words,you cannot create a new title for your book just because the system does not have it.
i found some foreign books with valid ISBN not listed in amazon database.
posted on July 4, 2001 07:03:45 AM
half.com and abe.com may say you cant list a book on half.com(=losemoney.com)for more than 150,but if they dont build in the program logic to check for it,sellers can always list a book over 150 dollars.
there are plenty of books out there worth over 150,half or no half??
ABE will increase the price of the book when listed on half.com. If my book is listed on ABE at $10, when it is listed on half, it will be listed at $11.50, so that half will get its 15%, and I get my full $10. This is what currently happens when ABE books are listed at the Barnes and Noble site.
The other great thing about listing on half through ABE is that the shipping allowance is greatly increased--for media mail, my shipping allowance will be $3.50; for priority it will be $5.82.
I stopped listing on half last January because of their poor customer service. I have been very pleased with ABE's performance and will happily allow my ABE items to also be listed on half.
posted on July 4, 2001 08:25:49 AM
if the same book offered by the same dealer has a different price tag on ABE and HALF.COM,is it fair to the customer??
i know certain discount bookseller jacks up the price of the books sold on amzn by a few dollars compared to their own website.
(its own website does not accept credit card and has a fixed shipping charge no matter how many books you order)
half gets the $1.50. ABE does not get any portion of the money from books sold on half, nor does ABE get any commision on books sold on its own site. Booksellers pay a monthly fee to ABE to list books on ABE and the rate varies by the number of books listed.
posted on July 4, 2001 09:29:45 AM
But can you imagine how many new booksellers will sign up on to ABE ..in order to get their FULL selling price and a higher shipping allowance??
People who have never heard of www.ABEbooks.com will be signing up. And it is quite likely some money between companies is changing hands.
posted on July 4, 2001 09:30:04 AM
Murph - You are very informative, thank you. I guess I assumed ABE was like Bibliofind...you list the books there, but get payment from your buyer. Am I now understanding correctly that you get paid by ABE itself? If your allowance for postage is $3.50, what is the buyer charged?
I, like you, think it's quite likely that some money is changing hands between half and ABE--but as long as it's not coming directly out of my book's purchase price, I'm happy,
Keziak,
I don't know how much the buyer is charged for shipping: I can't imagine it would be more than they're charged for any other book, but that detail eludes me.
As for your understanding of how ABE works--it's mainly correct. Generally on ABE, the transaction is between the seller and the buyer. Most of my buyers send me checks or money orders and ABE provides no service other than being then venue that brought the buyer and me together. However, ABE does offer an ABEcommerce program where the buyer can use a credit card directly at the ABE site and the seller is paid through ABE via direct deposit into the seller's checking account. The seller pays nothing for this service, but the buyer does pay a surcharge for credit card use.
To use the half.com service provided by ABE (as well as the Barnes and Noble service), the seller must authorize ABE to use direct deposit. So, ABE is collecting the funds from half and will deposit it into the seller's account. If I read the wording of the agreement correctly, all "sold" or "confirmation" emails will come to me from ABE, not from half.
I also wonder whether the thousands of ABE sellers will have their own half.com identification. I suspect, although I don't know for sure, that ABE will have just one seller's ID which represents all the ABE sellers--like alibris on Amazon's Marketplace.
posted on July 4, 2001 09:55:00 AM
I BUY BOOKS ON HALF.COM(or rather losemoney.com) and pay from 2.29 to 2.99 on a book (shipping),
so if abe sellers are getting more for shipping a book sold on half.com,who is subsidising the difference??
something does not sound right, a book is listed on abe for 10.00 .
when abe list this book for the seller on half.com,it is listed at 11.50??
if so,then the seller is saying i have paid my dues to abe and now if the customer finds me on half.com,you have to pay 11.50.
if you find me on abe,com,you pay 10.00
of course shipping is another story,accepting credit card varies with abe dealers.
this 2 tier price structure would create disgruntled customers,not to mention customers busy searching and comparing,running from site to site to find the best buy??
[ edited by hwahwahwahwa on Jul 4, 2001 09:57 AM ]
posted on July 4, 2001 10:03:40 AM
I am betting the ABE listed books and the books listed directly at Half will be seperated in some manner. ABE seems to indicate that there is more direct contact between buyer and seller than exists on Half now
posted on July 4, 2001 10:22:50 AM
do i interpret this to mean abe.com will upload all its members who want to list on half.com as one entity(or one half.com user id) and when the book is bot,abe will internally sort out whose book is it??
if there is a customer dispute,the customer will first email half.com,then half,com will pass this email to abe.com and abe,com will pass this email to individual seller.
i thought ABE.com is the largest booksite in the world,why does it have to do this,stooping to half.com,is it for the ebay exposure?is it becasue it is left in the dust by amzn ??
