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Amazon, Abe books or book depository

For discussion about particular book sellers (brick-and-mortar bookstores, online book sellers, auction sites, swap sites, etc.)
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emr
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Joined: January 2009
Location: Castilla

Post by emr » Tue July 5th, 2011, 6:23 am

[quote=""Veronica""]I don't really believe their map- according to the map on my computer there is always someone buying a book in Alice Springs, Australia (and it's not me!) - what about the rest of the country? Just happen to be one buyer?[/quote]

lol They have made you capital of the country ;D
"So many books, so little time."
— Frank Zappa

annis
Bibliomaniac
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Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Tue July 5th, 2011, 7:25 am

Yep, all for one and one for all- recent news confirms that Amazon (which already owns Abebooks) will be taking over Book Depository.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/amazon-s ... 1h00b.html

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Veronica
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Joined: July 2009
Location: NT, Australia

Post by Veronica » Wed July 6th, 2011, 11:57 pm

[quote=""emr""]lol They have made you capital of the country ;D[/quote]


If only! I don't even live there! :rolleyes:
"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted"

rebecca191
Reader
Posts: 75
Joined: January 2009

Post by rebecca191 » Fri July 8th, 2011, 2:21 am

Oh that stinks! I hate Amazon, and I loved the free shipping which I bet they will get rid of. :(

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Vanessa
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Fri July 8th, 2011, 8:54 am

Amazon might not get rid of the free shipping - that could lose them lots of customers.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Jemidar
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Joined: February 2010
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Post by Jemidar » Fri July 8th, 2011, 3:22 pm

[quote=""Veronica""]I don't really believe their map- according to the map on my computer there is always someone buying a book in Alice Springs, Australia (and it's not me!) - what about the rest of the country? Just happen to be one buyer?[/quote]

They don't differentiate the different parts of Oz, as far as they're concerned we all live smack bang in the middle. A couple of my purchases have shown up on the map as Alice Springs and I definitely don't live there :p .
Jenny

"Well-behaved women rarely make history."
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Currently Reading:


gyrehead
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Joined: December 2008

Post by gyrehead » Fri July 8th, 2011, 6:40 pm

In hindsight it seems a rather brilliant bit of work. I wonder how many other people will try the same thing. Or perhaps did but didn't succeed. In a way I'm surprised that Amazon took the bait. BD had whittled away pretty much most of any real significant pre-order discounts in the last 18 months or so. The free shipping was nice but never offset the Amazon discount on US prices whether you had prime or used simple common sense to bundle orders to always get the $25.00 and over per order free shipping.

I think Amazon might have been a bit snookered. I imagine that even with the heavy cash grabbing up front that BD did with their customers, the drop in pre-orders with loss of the deep discount and the shutting out of US customers on more than half of their UK titles (and most accessible inventory), the top heavy start-up debt had to be ready to topple the whole Potemkin Village. Then again, Amazon might have picked the mess up at a real steal too when all the debt is settled and the pre-order assets are figured out.

In fact with careful consideration I often found much cheaper UK editions either through BD's abeboks account (with still free shipping) or just waiting a month past release and searching Abebooks and putting it on my wish list. Even with shipping costs, it was still cheaper than the few editions as a US customer I could even buy through BD.

One thing I am hoping this move does take us closer to is greater UK edition access here in the US. For a small time Amazon had UK editions at a very significant discount. Rather than BD's form of free shipping, which it would suffer no harm in dropping -- no one else offers free worldwide shipping so where are they going to go? Ah, that's right, many more might consider going Kindle. Owned by, what's that company's name again....? --- I can see Amazon opening up mass shipping of UK editions and then offering them a slightly "tariffed" rate to their US customers much as Amazon UK does for US editions. All the while still putting them under the lure of Prime membership shipping or discounted $25 and over free shipping.

As an Amazon shareholder I'll have to look at the quarterlies a bit closer next time and see what it says the strategy is in that regard. Hope they got BD nice and cheap. And not just as a shareholder. Too frustrating to have a "not available" for pre-order on almost a hundred UK editions already this year that I either had to search out elsewhere or just miss out on until I make my next trip to London and hit the bookstores.

rebecca191
Reader
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Joined: January 2009

Post by rebecca191 » Fri July 8th, 2011, 11:49 pm

I just really hate shopping from Amazon and will only do it if there is literally no other alternative. I feel like all they care about is the Kindle and I will only read print books and I hate ebooks. They have temporarily removed print books in the past over Kindle pricing disputes and allow book ratings to get trashed by 1 star reviews from people who admit to not reading the book and who are giving 1 star because there's no ebook or the ebook is too expensive. Sigh! I really don't know where I am going to get my UK books from now. I am just really opposed to giving Amazon any of my money. I guess I'm lucky in that BD had about 95% of the UK editions I've wanted this year.

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