From abebooks.com:

New Features

• Real time inventory management: HomeBase 3.0 will automatically send listings and wants to Abebooks as they’re entered or edited with no need to e-mail or FTP files. The FTP option will be retained to accommodate users who don’t want to be online when they work. You may still export a listings or wants file and e-mail it as an attachment via your e-mail program if they choose.
• Multi-select: Up to 100 listings or wants may be selected and edited/deleted at once. For example, if you realized you mis-typed an author's name on 5 listings, you could select them all and make the update once, and the edit would be applied to all 5 listings.
• Improved Price Partner: Price Partner is built into HomeBase 3. Booksellers may select a sub-set of their listings and increase or decrease prices by a fixed amount or a percentage on only the selected listings. They can also update all selected listings to the same price.
• ISBN LookUp: ISBN LookUp will now return more than one result if we have several matches to the ISBN in our database. The bookseller can choose the best match from the list. In addition, many more fields may be returned by ISBN LookUp.
• Quantity: If you have more than one copy of a book, you can use the quantity field and we'll automatically decrement the quantity online when a book is sold; no more manually re-listing!
• More Import Options: HomeBase 3.0 can import almost any type of file, so getting set up is easy.

I like the improved import/export features so far, but I am a little put off by the automatic updates to the website. For those of us who list on several websites, this can create a problem. I will be doing a full review of the software once I've had enough time to use all of its new features.

Labels: abebooks, database, homebase, software

From PW

The decision by AbeBooks to place an 8% charge on seller shipping expenses has caused outrage among many of the online retailer’s booksellers, who called the move shortsighted and one that discriminates against international booksellers. Hannes Blum, Abe CEO, said that in order to cover rising costs and compete in a marketplace that includes Amazon and Alibris, Abe needed to find a way to boost revenue. The benefit of instituting a charge on shipping fees is that it has the dual affect of raising revenue while discouraging gouging on shipping costs by booksellers who sell books for (literally) pennies and make their profit on shipping charges.

This is a BIG deal. Eight percent is no small chunk of change; we routinely eat up to $20 on shipping as it is, to add another 8% is going to kill a lot of smaller dealers.

Labels: abebooks, comissions, international shipping, shipping costs

From Auctionbytes.com

Online bookselling site Abebooks.com has acquired Chrislands, a business that builds, hosts and maintains online bookstores, the fourth acquisition in four years.

This had been rumored for a while, but has finally gone through. Abebooks maintains that the pricing and services of Chrislands will not change, but time will tell. Chrislands offered many smaller bookstores a gateway to the web with their easy hosting setup and database management. Chrislands was easy, but simple, and their services were limited. Perhaps Abebooks will allow them to offer more robust packages.

Labels: abebooks, antiquarian bookselling, chrislands, retail, web

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6528972.html

The Vancouver-based new and used online bookseller, AbeBooks.com, has launched a new sales site called Gojaba.com to serve bibliophiles and booksellers in Sweden and Russia. The site, which will facilitate the sale of used, rare and out-of-print books, was launched today and is intended to branch out to serve other emerging bookselling markets, the next of which will be Brazil.


Gojaba, which will charge a subscription fee to users, is intended to serve the expanding market for online bookselling in these countries. With the flat monthly fee customers can list up to 20,000 books on the site, which does not charge buyers a fee. The site, currently in beta, also does not issue commission fees on any transaction.


Speaking to the new site, AbeBooks CEO Hannes Blum, who called Gojaba's approach a "simple no-frills" one, said the company hopes to "help buyers find books in markets where the online book trade is developing."

I have mixed feelings about the international market. It is, at the same time, easier and harder than ever to sell books overseas. USPS has made customs issues, packaging, rates, and online tracking easier than ever. On the other hand, credit card verification, email scams, and other pitfalls make it tougher to know your books will arrive in safe hands. We ship overseas everyday, and 98% of it goes wthout a hitch. It's that 2% can hold up an order for weeks.

Labels: abebooks, internation bookselling, overseas, russia, sweden