Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#1

Post by fraXis » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 7:59 PM UTC

Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon
insidehook.com

Re: Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#2

Post by ilamont » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 8:06 PM UTC

This is an interesting concept. Fulfillment is handled through wholesaler Ingram, which works if the book is in Ingram's catalogue, but not for titles gathering dust on the shelves or in a back room.

Also, my experience with shipping via Ingram is it's slower.

Certainly not an Amazon (books) killer, but it certainly gives an option to indie bookstores which can't bother with their own website.

Re: Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#3

Post by WorldMaker » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

How does it differ from previous IndieBound efforts?

Re: Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#4

Post by dahdum » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

Cool concept, but the books I compared were 20-50% higher than Amazon, and they charge another $3.50 to ship in 7-10 days.

Re: Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#5

Post by teruakohatu » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 10:14 PM UTC

So this turns bookstores into super affiliates? Also while sharing a pool of secondary affiliate revenue.

I am a heavy user of Amazon's Abebooks. When I buy from there bookstores get 92% of the revenue, and bear the costs.

Surely a model like this for new books is better than bookstore.org model?

Re: Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#6

Post by throwaway_pdp09 » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 10:53 PM UTC

dahdum wrote: post #4

Cool concept, but the books I compared were 20-50% higher than Amazon, and they charge another $3.50 to ship in 7-10 days.

Haven't read the article but like what you say, I tried to get a book from waterstones, a UK bookshop on my high street. I don't mind paying 20% or 25% extra as I don't like amazon and I do want to support local bookshops but when they cost that much more and they don't have it in stock and can't tell me when they will get it in, I say screw you and go with amazon.

Re: Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#7

Post by jfim » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 10:57 PM UTC

dahdum wrote: post #4

Cool concept, but the books I compared were 20-50% higher than Amazon, and they charge another $3.50 to ship in 7-10 days.

Amazon typically sells books below MSRP, whereas it seems that Bookshop sells at MSRP (ie. the same price that you'd buy the book in a brick and mortar book store).

Re: Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#8

Post by runemadsen » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 11:02 PM UTC

This type of site has excited for almost 15 years in Denmark (antikvariat.net). It's a shared archive and purchasing platform for all used book sellers, and it has proven to work exceptionally well.

Re: Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#9

Post by bookshelf11 » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 11:04 PM UTC

If the website is run as poorly as that article is written I don't have high hopes. They wait until the 10th paragraph to tell you how the hell it works!

Re: Thanks to Bookshop, indies stand a chance against Amazon

#10

Post by wdb » Fri, Apr 03, 2020, 11:06 PM UTC

throwaway_pdp09 wrote: post #6

dahdum wrote: post #4

Cool concept, but the books I compared were 20-50% higher than Amazon, and they charge another $3.50 to ship in 7-10 days.

Haven't read the article but like what you say, I tried to get a book from waterstones, a UK bookshop on my high street. I don't mind paying 20% or 25% extra as I don't like amazon and I do want to support local bookshops but when they cost that much more and they don't have it in stock and can't tell me when they will get it in, I say screw you and go with amazon.

Actually, occasionally Waterstones is actually cheaper than Amazon :)