Alternative Books Selling Sites

Alternative Book Selling Sites to Amazon

Internet sales have become a vital source of income for many dealers of used books, even those who own bricks and mortar shops.

Types of Online Bookselling Sites

Online book selling databases include amazon,ABE and Albris. We can refer to them as the 3As.Amazon, Albris & Abe.

The 3As are simple to use although they allow little or no direct contact between customer and seller. According to sellers that tend to deal with rare, antiquated books these sites are flooded with badly described books listed by hobbyists with little knowledge, who are aided by tools that favour the lowest common denominator.

This is predominately because the 3 As are all essentially corporate in nature and show little interest in the complexities of the out-of-print book market or the relationship between booksellers and their customers.

On the whole many sellers using the 3As have little expert knowledge of book selling and use of features such as automatic ISBN matching and Image matching tend to be inappropriately applied, which for buyers it can result in making it more difficult, rather than easier, to know with certainty what you are buying.

Independent Sites

You may not be aware of it but as well as the corporate sites that we hear so much about such as the 3As, there are independent sites where you can also add your books, these include biblion and booksatpbfa.

These type of independent book selling sites can provide a marketplace where professional booksellers are able to list their books on the Internet and promote contact between buyer and seller. The best of independents sites encourage dealers to conduct business to the same standards as they would if you visited them in person, in their bookshops or at book fairs.

Many of the dealers listing on independent sites have experience in selling out-of-print books and are able to offer informed advice about the books they are selling. They will also quote you the actual shipping costs which may well be cheaper than the 3As.

Horses for Courses.

If buyers only really want to buy run of the mill paperback novel then they probably would not bother much with independent online stores who would not so likely stock them anyway.
However, if buyers are collectors or want a specific book in a specific condition, then they may prefer to try Independent online sites.

So is it worth multi listing on different sites to sell your book stock. Yon can certainly try this. You would need to look at the different sites and download their uploading system. Add your inventory and see how it goes. Remember that some sites will ask for upfront fees, some may only want certain types of books. Remember that if you sell books on one site to remove them from any other sites you use.

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Sharon@canonburypublishing.com