151–160 of 303 posts
As a German I don't have to worry too much about the prices of books. We have Buchpreisbindung https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchpreisbindung
That's a great system that you have in Germany! Does it apply to used books also?
Is "cheapest" the right objective? Because if that's the case, book piracy seems like the clear winner. But maybe we should consider "cheapest with some boundaries". For instance, we probably agree that bookstores are nice for a myriad of reasons, even if we don't frequent them. They employ people in the area, they offer curation and recommendations, they invite speakers and host events, and they help local authors g…
As a German I don't have to worry too much about the prices of books. We have Buchpreisbindung https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchpreisbindung
As a German I don't have to worry too much about the prices of books. We have Buchpreisbindung https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchpreisbindung
Could you put the name of the shop on each search result? That way people can better pick their shop of choice (and avoid the ones they do not want to buy from).
Great idea. I'll implement that for sure. Another thing I'm working on is a "No Amazon" filter that just skips Amazon and any Amazon subsidiaries from the results
The market for inexpensive copies of books in the US is a complete mess, particularly wrt used books. If you look on-line, you can find lots and lots of used books for sale from book dealers. Many are priced way above what they cost new or what a similar new book would sell for today. Many books recently released are available in used condition at prices well above what the same books are still selling for new -- ie the original publisher's list price -- why is that? Even stranger, if you have used books that you have read and want to sell, you will have a very hard time finding any book dealers who want to buy them. Most used book dealers don't buy used books from people who buy and read books. A few will, but they are very selective and almost all of them offer only in-store credit, not money. But they all have lots of used books listed for sale at $20 to $100 or more plus shipping. Where do they get their books? Are books that we donate to thrift shops and library book sales getting recycled through the book dealers at such high prices? It looks like that may be what's going on.
I know that these dealers have expenses, and many of them may not even be very profitable, but modern automation and materials handling machines are amazing and are supposed to allow very efficient management of inventories and sales, and that's not what we've got. If the typical used book was listed like on the OTC stock market, the bid price would be around 25 cents and the ask price would be around 50 dollars. Market failure. What's it take to fix it?
I don't think they'd have a reason not to use such a system if it existed. In a few cases they might be forced to lower prices or fail to sell a particular book but I would guess it would be a net gain for everyone.
Is "cheapest" the right objective? Because if that's the case, book piracy seems like the clear winner. But maybe we should consider "cheapest with some boundaries". For instance, we probably agree that bookstores are nice for a myriad of reasons, even if we don't frequent them. They employ people in the area, they offer curation and recommendations, they invite speakers and host events, and they help local authors g…
I think we have to consider why books exist. There are many reasons such as disseminating knowledge, broadening perspectives, entertainment, but I would think one of them wouldn't be "to let people have a nice job in a shop".
Considering your site doesn't ask for my location, I assume it doesn't account for that. Might be a nice feature to add.
As a German I don't have to worry too much about the prices of books. We have Buchpreisbindung https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchpreisbindung
Exactly, the cheapest and fastest way to get a book in Germany is most likely your neighborhood book store on the way back from work. (And if they don't have the book in store, they can order it for the next day.)
Nice! But does it account for shipping costs? When ordering from overseas, sometimes shipping costs can be more than the price of the book. Considering your site doesn't ask for my location, I assume it doesn't account for that. Might be a nice feature to add.