Mega corporations with large territory on the World Wide Web seem to crawl through Cyberspace with the power of a glacier, engulfing smaller entities in their path. This past week, eBay - the online auction granddaddy of all "glaciers" - absorbed a portion of ABE.com's customer base through an affiliation between ABE.com and eBay's Half.com property.
Booksellers listing on ABE's service were invited to add their ISBN-numbered books onto the Half.com site. Requirements were few: be in good standing with ABE.com, be based in the U.S., be able to accept electronic fund transfers, list book prices in U.S. dollars, and fill out an application to join Half.com. It would cost the seller nothing to participate.
Half.com http://www.half.com listings only show the seller ID and feedback. In the case of ABE.com http://www.abe.com sellers, the seller ID is always "abebooks," so you never know the name of the bookseller.
Alibris http://www.alibris.com also employs this sales method (without the seller ID and feedback feature), a move that makes them a wholesale customer for the independent seller. Alibris, and now Half.com, get the original seller to do all the work and house the books. Prices are often marked up from the seller's original listing, and books ordered via these vehicles are usually mailed out from a clearinghouse where new packaging bearing the company name and logo is used for direct mailing to the customer.
Half.com and Alibris effectively cut out communications between buyers and sellers. ABE.com, on the other hand, allows sellers and buyers to deal directly with one another. The only exception is their contract with Barnes & Noble. But unlike the Barnes & Noble deal in which the seller pays a 10% commission to the book-selling giant, Half.com is not asking for a commission above the price mark-up they employ. At least, not yet...
This brings up a question for the individual seller. Can the larger companies like Half.com, Alibris, Barnes & Noble, etc., produce enough sales to compensate for the loss of a bookseller's individual identity?
The answer is yes and no. The number of sales may rise, even the income may increase despite the fees charged against each sale, but there are two concerns that unfold. Price wars ensue, each dealer trying to undercut the other by 50 cents or more. The other concern is that the same book springs up on various sites, making it seem less rare. Granted, newer books sold via Half.com don't affect the rare antiquarian dealer; but it will exacerbate the competition among sellers who specialize in modern firsts.
I spoke to Gary Brodeur of Brodeur's Books. He claims that the overall prices of books he sells through Half.com have risen, and books do sell, making them a viable source for moving books off the shelves and into a customer's hands.
It's an interesting dilemma. Will the independent bookseller become nothing more than an organized book scout for larger services that assume the role of Internet "bookstore"? What happens to the bookseller that spent years developing a reputable shop presence both in brick & mortar and the Internet? How can they compete?
That question was pondered by and seemingly answered by Tomfolio.com http://www.tomfolio.com and UsedBookCentral.com http://www.usedbookcentral.com by re-instituting the old Bibliofind model of facilitating the sales of books between buyer and seller, staying out of the game except to collect the fees paid by sellers to list their books online. Unlike the giants, these companies don't have stockholders to please.
Unlike eBay, Amazon, and the like, the vagaries of the stock market don't force the smaller companies to seek new methods of collecting revenue. But the word "YET' comes to mind. It's no secret the Internet is an ever-changing place.
The upshot is--Half.com is a company like any other, it's in the business to make a profit. It is a customer-friendly site that, though ownned by eBay, is reminiscent of Amazon.com-- same color scheme and layout. It's a trading post for people who want to buy things at a fixed price, bypassing the auctions and getting a bargain to boot. Bargains can be found. So can the customers. It'll be up to the savvy seller to help shape the site into something that can be lucrative and less competitive. But that's a tall order put to a heretofore disorganized crowd like independent booksellers.
About the author:
Edith Reynolds is a former newspaper and magazine writer. She and her husband Dan own an antiquarian bookstore, The John Bale Book Company in Waterbury, CT. For the past 10 years, they have specialized in early Americana and rare bindings. They are members of the ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers of America Association), ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers) and OAUA (Online Auction Users Association). Edith manages online sales. In addition to their bookstore, they sell on eBay and at book fairs. They will launch American Booksellers in January, an e-fulfillment center for online booksellers. Visit their Web sites, http://www.johnbalebooks.com and http://www.sellusyourbooks.com. eBay ID: BALEBOOKS
