• amazon / ebay

    From Ogg@VERT/CAPCITY2 to Arelor on Monday, April 05, 2021 15:59:00
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Saturday 03.04.21 - 09:37, Arelor wrote to Divarin:

    Amazon is becoming increasily aggresive in that regard, for
    that matter. It is very hard to be an Amazon seller unless
    you devote all your energies into selling your stuff through
    them, and adapt your catalogue to the sort of thing they
    want to offer. Their plans are clearly tailored to have you
    sell lots of cheap junk through them. In a couple of years
    it won't be feasible to sell through Amazon unless you are a
    manufacturer yourself.

    I saw something afoot when amazon acquired abebooks.

    Prior to that, I took advantage of amazon's "free" listings for
    a few hundred specialty books. The "plan" was to keep adding
    more non-specialty books - primarily my entire collections of
    some genres - as I phased out of abebooks.

    But not long into the process, amazon kicked me off "the
    program" due to insufficient sales above an established minimum.

    Then I decided, screw that, and left both of them.

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
    þ Synchronet þ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP
  • From Arelor@VERT/PALANT to Ogg on Tuesday, April 06, 2021 02:27:26
    Re: amazon / ebay
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Mon Apr 05 2021 03:59 pm

    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Saturday 03.04.21 - 09:37, Arelor wrote to Divarin:

    Amazon is becoming increasily aggresive in that regard, for
    that matter. It is very hard to be an Amazon seller unless
    you devote all your energies into selling your stuff through
    them, and adapt your catalogue to the sort of thing they
    want to offer. Their plans are clearly tailored to have you
    sell lots of cheap junk through them. In a couple of years
    it won't be feasible to sell through Amazon unless you are a manufacturer yourself.

    I saw something afoot when amazon acquired abebooks.

    Prior to that, I took advantage of amazon's "free" listings for
    a few hundred specialty books. The "plan" was to keep adding
    more non-specialty books - primarily my entire collections of
    some genres - as I phased out of abebooks.

    But not long into the process, amazon kicked me off "the
    program" due to insufficient sales above an established minimum.

    Then I decided, screw that, and left both of them.

    Amazon actually screwed Abebooks, which is a pity because I used to love Abebooks.

    Back in the day, if you purchased many books from the same seller, you paid a single delivery fee for the order. Now they bill
    you a delivery fee for each book yet they still send you the books in one package. They are getting to keep the extra delivery
    fees as full benefits. Suckers.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL
  • From Ogg@VERT/CAPCITY2 to Arelor on Tuesday, April 06, 2021 09:23:00
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Tuesday 06.04.21 - 02:27, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    Amazon actually screwed Abebooks, which is a pity because I
    used to love Abebooks.

    I do still find and order books from Abe on behalf of customers.


    Back in the day, if you purchased many books from the same
    seller, you paid a single delivery fee for the order. Now
    they bill you a delivery fee for each book yet they still
    send you the books in one package. They are getting to keep
    the extra delivery fees as full benefits. Suckers.

    There was a time when members of Abe (myself included) could
    list a book for $1, and have a $30 shipping fee (justified by
    international shipping for example), and the %age that Abe would
    take for their commissions would be from the $1, not the
    shipping fee. Then, they changed that and started taking a %age
    from the listed shipping fee too. Can't really blame then can
    you? I would have listed more books with them if they would NOT
    take a %age from the shipping fees that I would apply.

    The fellow you runs this:

    https://www.abebooks.com/cardinal-books-abac%2filab-london-birr-
    on/244405/sf

    ..visited my shop. We had an interesting chat about books,
    ofcourse! He says he's doing quite well despite being *just* a
    used books shop. He has over 11,000 listings.

    I only ever had 400 at most.

    Love it or hate it, Abe still has a good lookup feature. I just
    can't justify the regular monthly fees, especially when there is
    a slower period and if I don't have the time and resources to
    list my own 10,000+ pieces inventory.

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
    þ Synchronet þ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP
  • From Ogg@VERT/CAPCITY2 to Arelor on Sunday, April 18, 2021 14:51:00
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Tuesday 06.04.21 - 02:27, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    Amazon actually screwed Abebooks, which is a pity because I used to love Abebooks.

    I just learned that A-n owns Book Depository (BD) too. Since
    2011.

    I really like BD system. Most of the time shipping is already
    factored into the final price. Deliveries from the UK (main
    depot) to Canada arrive within a week. Too bad that BD felt
    compelled to sell out to A-n.

    Infact, A-n owns/controls all of the following:

    Book Depository
    GoodReads
    Abebooks
    Audible

    I'm currently reading the following with my eyes closed (ie
    audio version):

    How to Resist Amazon and Why: The Fight for Local Economics,
    Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-
    Powered Future! | Paperback
    Danny Caine
    Real World (series)
    Microcosm Publishing LLC | Microcosm Publishing
    Business & Economics / Labor / Business Ethics / E-Commerce - General (see also Computers - Electronic Commerce)
    Published Mar 9, 2021 | Sales (#643)
    $12.95 US / $16.99 CA list price

    A fine alternative to A-n for finding books is emerging:

    https://bookshop.org

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
    þ Synchronet þ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP