The vertical comparison-shopping site BookFinder used a recent economics paper to guide its decision in how to display books using its service. Bookfinder.com will now display all prices as postpaid, with the cost of shipping and handling built-in. By comparing total prices, rather than base prices, BookFinder says its comparison search engine can save book-buyers up to 45 percent.

An academic paper from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business called "...Plus Shipping and Handling," written by economists John Morgan and Tanjim Hossain, describes an experiment the authors ran on eBay: customers spent 21% more on CDs with a $.01 starting price and $3.99 shipping, vs. identical CDs with a $4.00 starting price and free shipping. The authors also explored why buyers were unconsciously biased toward the $0.01+$3.99 products rather than the "revenue equivalent" $4.00+$0.00 items.

BookFinder's founder Anirvan Chatterjee said, "We've noticed significant changes in the pricing landscape in the used and rare book markets. On one hand, we're seeing a flood of very cheap titles, often less than $0.25, where the seller makes the profit from the shipping charges. On the other hand, we're also seeing increasingly price-competitive international bookselling, where it can be cheaper to buy a book from another country, in spite of the relatively larger shipping cost. Bundling shipping prices."

BookFinder.com’s revamped pricing structure, presents book shoppers with a single price figure, combining the book's price plus shipping and handling. The website allows customers to search an inventory of over 100 million books for sale, from booksellers in over 50 countries. Shipping estimates are available for residents of over 240 countries and territories.

http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/rjmorgan/eBay.pdf

http://www.bookfinder.com