Bookselling News and Views

Featured Author - Ann Barton Langley

2011-11-24T16:00:00.001Z

Ann Langley loves to write. Her pen name, Ann Barton Langley includes Barton, her maiden name, which is a big part of who she is.

She has written poetry for as long as she can remember, but on retiring as a Dental Nurse, she decided to go to a creative writing class, and joined a local group.

One of her first challenges was to write a short story based on a piece of poetry. She started writing and couldn’t stop, and so her first novel, Millie’s Lyme, was born. Millie’s Lyme is set in and around Lyme Regis, Dorset.

She has since written a number of short stories and a host of poetry - several of which have been published, and the rest are in the process of being collated into a small book which she hopes to publish at a later date. Somewhere amidst this she wrote the sequel to Millie’s Lyme, which will be published in 2012.

Although Ann was born and brought up in Somerset, the Dorset coast is one of her favourite areas.

You can read an excerpt from Millie’s Lyme and contact Ann by visiting her website at:

www.annlangleyauthor.co.uk

Stock Deliveries

2011-10-10T14:02:00.000+01:00

Over half of my deliveries from Bertrams sent by Yodel (DHL) fail to arrive the next day. They are either put on the wrong van at Yeovil or delivered to the wrong address.

The latest example was an order that was supposed to arrive last Friday. It was delivered to a shop seven miles away. The shop reported the problem to both Bertrams and Yodel.

The situation was not helped by the fact that the tracking link that was supplied by Bertrams was out of date which made it look as if Yodel had not updated their tracking information. It was only later in the day that I realised that there had been a problem when I inputted the parcel number directly on Yodel's site.

I contacted Bertrams by phone and Yodel by email. To date, I've had no response from either.

Featured Author - Alan Dearling

2011-09-10T10:44:00.000+01:00

Alan Dearling is the author of The Friendly Invasion. All his life he has written articles, books and helped other people publish their works. He has been a youth worker, social worker, university researcher and a publisher. He is currently a director on the boards of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and the Copyright Licensing Agency.

Alan lives in Eyemouth in the Scottish borders and enjoys a pint or three of traditional, alcoholic apple juice. He lived for over fifteen years in Lyme Regis and five years in Teignmouth where much of the action in The Friendly Invasion takes place. Alan can be contacted through his website www.enablerpublications.co.uk

Featured Author - Wentworth M Johnson

2011-04-04T12:19:00.007+01:00

Wentworth M. Johnson is a Canadian writer. He was born in March 1939, Cambridgeshire, England. He is the great grandson of William Edward Bourne 1851-1925 (playwright, dramatist and theatrical producer).

His early career was with the Royal Air Force working with the Ghurkha regiment reclaiming Borneo after it had been invaded by Indonesia and later as navigator with 1125 Marine Craft unit, chasing pirates in the South China Sea. He spent two years in Nairobi on international communications and handed the Small station over to the Kenyan Army.

He moved to Canada after leaving the RAF in 1967 and worked in a lumber factory for a short while. Then spent five years working in a munitions factory and laboratory after a disagreement with the boss walked out and immediately got a job with a local television station and worked there for some twenty-eight years. Took early retirement in the year 2000.

Johnson has published newspaper and magazine articles, as well as a number of fiction and non-fiction books including The Bill Breyner Mystey Series: Fiend's Gold, Mania, Edinburgh Cuckoos, Damp Graves, Lions and Christians, The Canadian, The Dutchman and The Mermaid.

Delivery delays to USA and Canada

2011-02-25T09:26:00.003Z

Some packets that would normally be sent by air are now being sent by surface mail. This is because the United States Department of Homeland Security is continuing to require increased security measures for items carried on passenger airlines.

Most items, including personal letters and cards, magazines, CDs, DVDs and lightweight packets, will be delivered in the US within a few days of posting. However, there are delays of about two weeks for some heavier packets.

OFT responds to Amazon 'Price Parity' complaints

2011-02-04T17:45:00.006Z

The Office of Fair Trading have responded to MEP Graham Watson about the complaint that have been made about Amazon's 'Price Parity' policy:

"...The OFT is aware of the concerns in relation to Amazon's policy. Although the OFT has not yet launched a formal investigation, we are currently considering the issues raised under our powers and in accordance with our priorirtisation principles..."

Also see:
Amazon introduces Price Parity policy

Follow us on twitter
Latest posts

Amazon seller forums unavailable

2011-01-25T15:51:00.003Z

Anyone else getting a 'cannot display webpage' when trying to access Amazon.co.uk marketplace seller forums?

I tried viewing the 'Seller Connection' forum this morning and it is still unavailable this afternoon. I can still read Amazon's announcements but there is no mention of this problem. The Amazon.com forums are still available.

Amazon increases shipping fees

2011-01-04T10:23:00.003Z

Amazon has, without notification, increased the shipping fee from £2.75 to £2.80. I have just tried listing a single book and it looks as if the seller profit is increased by the full 5p. I have updated my Amazon Marketplace Profit Calculator to match, but please use with caution until Amazon make a definitive statment:

Amazon Marketplace Profit Calculator

Follow us on twitter
Latest posts

1,000,000 books to be given away

2010-12-03T12:35:00.003Z

20,000 book lovers will give away 1,000,000 books on the inaugural World Book Night which will take place on Saturday 5 March 2011 and will be broadcast in partnership with BBC Two.

An independent editorial committee composed of a broad mix of booksellers, librarians, authors, broadcasters and other individuals selected the 25 titles to be given away to the public on World Book Night. Prior to this, the book trade was canvassed for recommendations and hundreds of lists were received.

More from World Book Night

Follow us on twitter
Latest posts

Fake book reviews on Amazon?

2010-12-02T10:00:00.003Z

Publishers are being accused of hijacking Amazon's customer book reviews to praise their own volumes and disparage the opposition.

We have been aware that authors have been organising favourable reviews for their books, but now it seems to have taken on a whole new dimension - it has been reported that authors are turning on each other, agencies are charging up to £5,000 to place favourable fake reviews and Amazon has recruited a team of amateur critics to restore the balance.

Read more from The Daily Mail

Follow us on twitter
Latest posts

Amazon takes on publishers over eBook prices

2010-10-17T16:53:00.000+01:00

Amazon has posted an open letter to Kindle owners on its website urging customers to 'vote with their purchaes' against publishers who set fixed prices for electronic editions.

Lorry crashes into Lyme Regis Hotel

2010-10-15T18:40:00.004+01:00

Three people were injured when a Royal Mail Lorry crashed into the Mariners Hotel. Beatrix Potter wrote The Tale of Little Pig Robinson while staying at the Mariners Hotel when she was 17. Many of the illustrations are based on the spectacular scenery in and around Lyme Regis. Tracy Chevalier used the Mariners Hotel as one of the locations in Remarkable Creatures.
More from the BBC
Follow us on twitter
Home

£2m restoration plan for John Fowles' Lyme Regis house

2010-10-06T16:18:00.005+01:00

The Landmark Trust has applied to West Dorset Council for Listed Building Consent for their plans to restore Belmont House to its eighteenth-century villa form as owned by Mrs Eleanor Coade (1733-1821), the remarkable businesswoman responsible for the invention of Coade stone.

In the 1880s, two large rear wings were added to the house by a local doctor. These became dilapidated and were largely removed in the 1960s. The Landmark Trust has concluded that the remnants of these later extensions so compromise the intent of the original eighteenth-century seaside villa that their removal is justified.

Once restored the building will be available for self-catering holidays for eight people, so assuring an income for its future maintenance. Working with the Lyme Regis Philpot Museum, the Landmark Trust also plans to open a museum room in the former coach house which will be devoted to the house’s past inhabitants.

More from the Landmark Trust
Books by John Fowles
Follow us on twitter
Home

Campaign for real books

2010-09-24T10:09:00.002+01:00

CAMBO, a campaign for real books was announced this week. The brainchild of a trade journalist, this subscription-based, non-profit making organisation's aim is 'to preserve, promote and increase sales of paper books, both old and new'.

More from CAMBO
Follow us on twitter
Home

Actors required for literary roles in Lyme Regis

2010-09-12T09:56:00.004+01:00

A literary-themed night for the Lyme Regis Artsfest is being held on the 1 October, but three cast members have 'dropped out' due to other working commitments. Unfortunately, the show can't go on if they are not replaced. So, if you are a budding Mary Anning, Bilbo Baggins or Tom Jones and would like to take part in this voluntary project, please contact natalie.manifold@hotmail.co.uk

Also see:
Lyme Regis Literary Events

Follow us on twitter
Home

World's most expensive book up for sale

2010-09-09T18:11:00.003+01:00

A rare copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America is to go on sale at Sotheby's.

Only 119 complete copies of the 19th-century book are known to exist - and 108 are owned by museums and libraries. A separate edition of the wildlife book sold for a record-breaking price of $8.8m (£5.7m) a decade ago.

More from the BBC
Follow us on twitter
Home

Bibio introduces commission-free, dealer-to-dealer sales

2010-09-05T11:54:00.012+01:00

Sales to other Biblio sellers are now commission free providing you give a minimum 5 per cent dealer-to-dealer discount. Biblio is going to fund this by phasing out fulfillment discounts and cashback purchasing incentives.

More from Biblio
Follow us on twitter
Home

Children's authors go it alone

2010-09-05T10:41:00.003+01:00

Children’s authors are side-stepping 'risk-averse' traditional publishing houses and establishing their own initiatives to get their books to market. A number of established authors, including Lucy Daniel Raby, are not being published who would have been published five years ago and are looking at different ways to market.

More from The Bookseller.com
Follow us on twitter
Home

Lyme Regis' oldest bookshop closes

2010-09-03T16:05:00.011+01:00

Serendip Fine Books in Broad Street, owned by Marguerite Chapman, has closed after over 40 years of trading.

The shop's façade (see above) had been left as dressed for the shooting of The French Lieutenant's Woman (1982).

It's always sad when a bookshop closes, but all is not lost because we hear that it is to be taken over by Chris and Bee Paignton who run The Archway Bookshop in Axminster. They plan to re-open the shop 20 October.

In the meantime Marguerite Chapman is looking for a small shop in Lyme Regis so that she can continue selling secondhand books.

We will keep you posted on any developments over the next few weeks.

Bookshops in the Lyme Regis area
Follow us on twitter
Home

Oxford English Dictionary 'will not be printed again'

2010-08-31T09:52:00.001+01:00

The next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the world’s most definitive work on the language, will never be printed because of the impact of the internet on book sales.

More from The Daily Telegraph
Follow us on twitter
Home

Amazon Marketplace Disbursements

2010-08-29T16:57:00.003+01:00

Your earnings are automatically transferred to your bank account every two weeks and take about a week to appear in your account. You can also initiate a transfer once every twenty-four hours. Some sellers 'disburse' once a week and others every day.

When deciding on how often you should transfer your funds, it's worth bearing in mind how much money you can afford not to access for up to 30 days. The reason for this is that if Amazon suspects that there are any problems with your account, they will suspend your account first and ask questions later. An account can be suspended for something as small as your credit card expiring as well as more serious breaches of their terms and conditions.

If it is only your credit card that has expired, you can get access to your account soon after you supply the revised details or register a different card.

Unfortunately, Amazon only let you know that there is a problem with you card when you try to do something like disbursing your earnings. In this case you will receive an email telling you that “Your Amazon.co.uk Marketplace deposit is on its way”, but within the hour you will receive another email telling you that your disbursement has been delayed. In reality, the payment has reversed and you won't be able to initiate a another transfer of funds for 24 hours.

Follow us on twitter
Home

Book Depository's sales rise 20 per cent

2010-08-28T09:50:00.004+01:00

The Book Depository's sales in its latest financial year have increased by more than 20 per cent to £74.2m. For the year ending June 2010, sales increased by more than £12.7m. The internet retailer, which won the BDS Direct Bookselling Award at the Bookseller Industry Awards in May, refused to disclose profits for the business.

More from The Bookseller
Follow us on twitter
Home

Waterstone's to open bar and restaurants

2010-08-24T09:42:00.004+01:00

Waterstone's is opening a new bar and restaurant in its Manchester Deansgate branch and a new café in its Cambridge Sydney Street branch.

More from TheBookseller.com
Follow us on twitter
Home

EU responds to Amazon Price Parity complaint

2010-08-21T10:19:00.011+01:00

The European Commission has responded to MEP Graham Watson's Parliamentary Question on concerns about Amazon's Price Parity policy:

The Commission wishes to inform the Honourable Member that the Commission follows very closely the developments in the market for the online sales of books and is aware of Amazon's price policy.

As regards compliance with competition rules, Article 101 TFEU prohibits anti-competitive agreements between two or more companies. In this case, it concerns a unilateral decision taken by Amazon. Therefore, it appears that Article 101 is not applicable. Article 102 TFEU prohibits companies with a dominant market position from abusing their position. However, the Commission has not assessed whether Amazon has a dominant position. The Commission is hence not in a position at this stage to take a view on whether or not Amazon's price policy is in line with EU competition rules.

As far as small book retailers are concerned, the Commission would like to inform the Honourable Member that so far it has not received any formal complaints in the matter of Amazon's price parity. The Commission will continue to monitor the developments in the market for the online sales of books so as to ensure that competition and level playing field is preserved amongst all market players.

This response raises a number of interesting points:

Although Price Parity was initially a unilateral decision taken by Amazon, what happens if a company which sells on Amazon Marketplace complies with the policy? Would this be considered to be an 'agreement between two or more companies' and would it put the seller in breach of Article 101 TFEU?

Although Article 102 TFEU prohibits companies with a dominant market position from abusing their position, it was surprising to hear that the Commission has not assessed whether a major player like Amazon has a dominant position.

What constitutes a formal complaint? We know of several sellers who have complained through their MEP and we also know that the IOBA wrote a letter of complaint to the European Commission.

Graham Watson has written directly to the Commissioner to register the concerns that have been expressed to him and to ask the Commission to investigate Amazon's market position and policy. He also said that he will continue to pursue this important matter with the Commission, and will keep the bookselling community updated with any progress.

The question of how vigorously Amazon are enforcing their Price Parity policy still remains. We know that they have added a 'Tell us about a lower price' link on their product pages, but that would only be effective for new books. There is no mention of Price Parity in the Amazon.com Terms and Conditions - and Amazon Germany does not enforce Price Parity for books. We have seen no evidence - apart from The Book Depository's apparent departure - of any seller being warned about non compliance. Please let us know if you have any information regarding Amazon's enforcement of this policy. You can do this anonymously by adding a comment to this article.

Also see:
Amazon introduces Price Parity policy
Amazon Referred to European Commission
Amazon Price Parity Does Not Apply to Books...
Amazon Introduces 'Tell us about a lower price'
Has 'The Book Depository' left Amazon?
Copy of the IOBA's letter of complaint

Follow us on twitter
Home

A.S. Byatt and John Carey win oldest book prizes

2010-08-20T22:40:00.002+01:00

Novelist A.S. Byatt and critic John Carey have been announced as the winners of Britain's oldest literary awards. They were awarded James Tait Black Memorial Prizes which are for best work of fiction and the best biography published during the previous 12 months.

More from the BBC
Follow us on twitter
Home

Used book sales on the up

2010-08-20T16:07:00.002+01:00

A poor economy drives supply and demand according to a report by Publishers Weekly. For example, Alibris had a great 2009 with double-digit growth and is still seeing growth overall in 2010.

More from Pubishers Weekly
Follow us on twitter
Home

UK Book sales reach 15 month high

2010-08-20T09:48:00.002+01:00

Book sales have been higher than last year for the fourth consecutive week, the first time the market has experienced continuous growth over a four-week period for almost 15 months.

According to Nielsen BookScan's 'Total Consumer Market' panel of some 6,500 UK book retail outlets, just over £2.5m more has been spent on books over the four-weeks to 14th August period in 2010 than last year — up 2.1%, and up 3.3% on the same period in 2008.

More from 'The Bookseller.com'
Follow us on twitter
Home

US publisher to abandon traditional publishing

2010-08-13T10:20:00.004+01:00

Dorchester Publishing Inc, announced that it was abandoning traditional publishing and moving over entirely to POD and e-books. Last year sales dropped 25 per cent.

More
Follow us on twitter
Home

Video of in-store Print on Demand machine

2010-08-11T20:24:00.001+01:00

Wylie's exclusive eBook deal with Amazon

2010-08-11T10:39:00.005+01:00

Last week's news of literary agent Andrew Wylie's exclusive agreement with Amazon.com to publish Kindle editions of 20 backlist titles by notable writers represented by Wylie provoked strong reactions among some major publishers and elicited extensive industry discussion regarding the implications of this agreement.

More from the ABA
Follow us on twitter
Home

Apple faces lawsuit over 'iPad is like a book' claim

2010-08-06T09:16:00.004+01:00

Apple is a facing a class action lawsuit in California from consumers who feel that Apple's claim that 'reading on the iPad is just like reading a book,' is false. The claim was filed last week claiming that because the iPad overheats after prolonged use and its poor visibility in sunlight prevent it from living up to Apple's marketing promise. There is a link to the actual legal document (PDF format) within the link below:

More from The Consumerist
Home

Amazon.com Marketplace launches shipping service

2010-08-05T17:01:00.003+01:00

Except that it isn't really a shipping service and it isn't FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon). It's just an online postage buying service - much like PayPal have been doing for some time now. Sellers buy postage through their Manage Orders pages by clicking the Buy Postage button under the order's Product Details section.

Amazon Seller Support Blog
Home

This weekend's PBFA Book Fairs

2010-08-04T18:17:00.002+01:00

FORFAR 2010
Saturday, 7 August, 10.00am-5.00pm
Reid Hall, Castle Street, Forfar, DD8 3HX
More

BALLATER 2010
Sunday, 8 August, 10.00am-5.00pm
Victoria Hall, Station Square, Ballater, AB35 5QB
More

LONDON HOLIDAY INN AUGUST 2010
Sunday, 8 August, Noon-5.00pm
Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury, Coram Street, London WC1N 1HT
More

Biggest U.S. book chain up for sale

2010-08-04T10:52:00.003+01:00

Barnes and Noble in the USA is struggling and is considering a sale of the America’s largest bookstore chain.

More from The New York Times
Home

Feedback plummets on Amazon Marketplace

2010-08-03T14:42:00.006+01:00

Many Amazon Marketplace sellers are reporting a significant drop in the amount of feedback that they are receiving from their customers. One of the reasons for this is that Amazon do not allow customers to leave feedback until 48 hours after despatch. Although this prevents impatient customers from leaving negative feedback too early for non delivery, it does have the effect of penalising efficient sellers and frustrating customers who want to leave feedback as soon as they receive their order.

Amazon's responses to seller complaints have - to say the least - been varied:

"Feedback issue being addressed... highest priority."

"There is a delay for leaving feedback. Buyers must wait the estimated delivery time has been concluded before leaving feedback to ensure that buyer has received the item prior to leaving feedback."

"If your buyers are having trouble leaving feedback, please ask them to contact our customer service department. Their phone number is 0800 496 1081."

"No issue - buyer in question needs clear details on 'How to leave feedback'."

And Amazon's response to a buyer complaint (edited to correct the English):

"As you know you can leave feedback only when estimated delivery date has passed. We have set this time frame based on inputs from sellers [!] and various resources."

Home

Has 'The Book Depository' left Amazon?

2010-08-02T09:56:00.003+01:00

During my recent browsings of of the the Amazon.co.uk website, I realised that I hadn't seen any listings by The Book Depository. An example of this is Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. The Book Depository would normally list a popular book like this on Amazon, but they have listed it only on their own site at a penny less than Amazon. I wonder if they have decided to leave rather than comply with Amazon's Price Parity policy? Please add a comment to this article if you have any information on The Book Depository's compliance with Price Parity.

Amazon introduces new Pricing Policy
The Book Depository
Home

Penguin celebrates 75 years of publishing

2010-07-31T09:21:00.004+01:00

Current Penguin chief executive and chairman John Makinson credits Sir Allen Lane as the man who changed the reading habits of a nation:

"When Allen Lane founded Penguin in 1935 he had a pretty simple, but pretty radical idea: make great literature available to everyone at an affordable price and for it to appeal not just to the wallet, but to literary taste and the eye, with beautifully designed jackets and style," says Mr Makinson.

"Although they were not the first paperbacks, they were truly innovative and captured the imagination."

More from the BBC
Home

New Forest Book Fair

2010-07-30T09:18:00.002+01:00

Saturday 31 July, Lyndhurst Community Centre.

A mix of stock from booksellers from across the southern counties and beyond, including first editions, aviation, military, natural history, the arts, and general stock - also ordnance and antiquarian maps and prints.

Early trade buyers may use free car park through a five-bar gate beyond the main entrance. For further details please email enquiries@fairharebooks.com or call 023 80781927.

PBFA Book Fair, Exeter

2010-07-29T10:22:00.001+01:00

To be held Sunday, 1 August, 10:30 – 16:00, Matthews Hall, Topsham EX3 0HF

More from the PBFA

Tracy Chevalier Sells 'Remarkable Creatures' Film Rights

2010-07-28T17:53:00.002+01:00

Tracy Chevalier (The Girl with the Golden Earring) has sold the film rights to her book about Mary Anning who uncovers dinosaur fossils near her home at Lyme Regis and has a fight to be taken seriously. I wonder Remarkable Creatures will have the same effect on Lyme Regis as The French Lieutenant's Woman?

Dan Brown Breaks UK Sales Records

2010-07-28T09:31:00.002+01:00

The paperback edition of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (Corgi) sold a massive 118,230 copies in just three days last week — the biggest ever first-week sale of a paperback novel. The Robert Langdon conspiracy thriller sold 27 copies per minute, on average, according to Nielsen BookScan data.

More from The Bookseller

Peter Carey Makes Man Booker Prize Longlist Again

2010-07-27T20:34:00.002+01:00

Peter Carey, two-time winner of the Man Booker prize, is one of 13 authors to make the longlist for the 2010 award.

More from the BBC

New Design for Biblio Sites

2010-07-27T20:22:00.002+01:00

Biblio has redesigned its Biblio.co.uk and Biblio.com sites. It does provide a better, more coherent look and, according to Biblio it is:

"...only the beginning steps of our longer term strategic plan to differentiate Biblio and its booksellers as the premier destination for book collectors and other discerning readers who share our passion for the book as a tangible object and for the independent bookstore as a cultural institution."

It's just a pity that so few customers seem to have heard of Biblio.

Amazon Introduces 'Tell us about a lower price'

2010-07-27T10:13:00.004+01:00

If you go to one of the Amazon product pages and look at the bottom of the 'Product details' you'll notice that further opportunites for providing feedback have been added:

"Would you like to update product info, give feedback on images, or tell us about a lower price?"

The last one is particularly interesting because it gives a clue how Amazon might enforce Price Parity across the board without investing huge resources. Simply, it looks as if they are going to rely on customers and other sellers to report - in many cases unwittingly - those who are violating the Price Parity policy.

Amazon Price Parity Does Not Apply to Books...

2010-06-12T10:08:00.001+01:00

Books have been exempted from this policy on Amazon.de's site in Germany and this is clearly stated in Amazons' Terms for their sellers...

Clause 2
Are the conditions for price parity for all items that I offer on Amazon EU platform?
The conditions for price parity are valid for all items that you offer on one of Amazon EU sales platforms. The price parity does not apply to the supply of books on Amazon.de. Other parity requirements (e.g. regarding customer service and return and refund policies apply), however, even for that product category. For sales of books that fall under the French law on fixed book prices, the terms and conditions apply to price parity too, but of course these products at the item prices to fixed prices to take account of the book trade. [sic]

[The auto-translation is a little muddled at the end but the main sentence is clear.]

Source: Sheppards Confidential Newsletter No. 163

Original German link: http://www.amazon.de/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200458420#all

Amazon Referred to European Commission

2010-04-16T16:52:00.003+01:00

Graham Watson, MEP for West Dorset, has submitted a Parliamentary Question to the European Commission on Amazon's Price Parity policy:

“Online retailer Amazon has become a major retailer of books across the UK and wider EU. Its online market place has provided a valuable virtual shop window that has benefited many small specialist book retailers across the EU.

However is the Commission aware that Amazon is now demanding price parity from undertakings wishing to use this market place service, which will prevent undertakings from selling their products at a lower price than the price of the product on Amazon’s online market place? Does the Commission consider this could be damaging to small local book retailers that utilise Amazon? Does the Commission consider this decision to be inline with EU competition rules?”

Amazon introduces new Pricing Policy (Price Parity)

2010-03-23T16:48:00.011Z

I run my own website and set prices to give me a fair return. I also list my stock on Amazon Marketplace and set prices higher to account for the Amazon selling fees. From 31 March, Amazon are introducing new terms and conditions which prevent sellers from pricing an item on other websites lower than they are selling it on Amazon. To comply with this, I will need to lower my prices on Amazon (and make a loss on many books) or raise prices on my own site which will reduce my sales and give my customers a worse deal.

Also see:
Amazon Referred to European Commission
Amazon Price Parity Does Not Apply to Books...
Amazon Introduces 'Tell us about a lower price'
Has 'The Book Depository' left Amazon?
Amazon Price Parity Does Not Apply to Books...
EU responds to Amazon Price Parity complaint

Follow us on twitter
Home

Amazon Pending Orders Problem

2009-10-24T10:31:00.004+01:00

Amazon's official time for expiring and re-listing pending orders has been increased from 3 to 7 days. In reality, many sellers have been reporting that it can take up to 12 days or more for the pending orders to expire. From other Amazon sellers' comments and my own experiences we now know that:

Pending orders are not cancelled by putting stock on vacation.
Pendings can still convert into orders after 11 days.
It can take 12 days for pendings to expire and re-list automatically.
Customer Service refuses to cancel pendings at any time.

So, if I want to be sure that I don't get any orders while I'm on holiday, I need to put my books on vacation 14 days before I go - even if I am going to be away for only a couple of days. I will, of course, continue to sell my stock on other sites - which don't have Amazon's pending policy - until 48 hours before I leave.

Alternatively, I could take the pending items on holiday with me, ready to post if a pending converts into an order.

Or, I could carry on as normal, apologise to the customer if any problems result and take the hit on feedback and metrics.

I would be very interested to hear of other sellers' and customers' experiences. I would also like to see a copy of the email that Amazon sends to a customer when an order goes pending.

Follow us on twitter
Home

IOBA Membership

2009-08-03T16:03:00.002+01:00

I recently applied for membership of the Independent Online Booksellers Association and, although I was turned down for unspecified reasons, I was invited to join their mentorship programme. Joining this programme does not guarantee future acceptance into the organisation. Does anybody know anything about this scheme? Is it a hurdle that all applicants have to jump? Is membership of the IOBA worth the effort of participating in what seems an open-ended scheme?

BookFinder.com - Buy 'Direct from Seller' Links

2009-08-03T15:58:00.001+01:00

I was checking the price of a book (ISBN 0586042385) on BookFinder.com when I noticed that several of the copies could be bought 'direct' from sellers who are not listed as one of BookFinder.com's sellers. Obviously, this gives sellers a big price advantage if they can sell their books directly. Does anyone know how to do this is?

DHL Problems

2009-07-30T18:25:00.002+01:00

I have been experimenting with selling new books on my website. To do this, I set up an account with Bertram's who provide 'next day' delivery through DHL. Out of the twelve deliveries that I have had to date, five went on the wrong van to be 'returned to base' and delivered one or two days later, and the latest delivery was delivered and signed for by a shop that is seven miles away!

Am I just unlucky? Is it a problem with my local depot or is it that DHL don't understand post codes? I would be interested to hear whether anyone else has had similar problems and whether any of the other couriers are any better.

Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle

2009-07-18T16:10:00.003+01:00

These George Orwell books which include 1984 and Animal Farm were added to Amazon's catalogue by a third-party who did not have the rights to the books. When Amazon were notified of this by the rights holder, they removed the copies from their systems and from customers’ devices and refunded customers. Amazon did not notify their customers or give any reason for the refund - the books just disappeared from their Kindles.

Amazon Web Services - Authentication Changes

2009-07-15T20:44:00.004+01:00

Just a reminder that, in a month's time, data requests to Amazon Web Services (or Product Advertising API or E-Commerce Services or whatever they are calling themselves now) will need additional authentication.

This may not effect many booksellers, but if you use Book Listing software, Book Scouting software or use the Amazon database to create Amazon Affiliate adverts and you have problems on 15 August, then the new authentication requirements may be the cause.

I have managed to make the changes to my software, but only after a lot of difficulty: Amazon WebServices help pages are next to useless - the best help you can get is from the AWS Developer Forum:
http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/forum.jspa?forumID=9

I also had to get my web hosting service to update my server so that my PHP programs could use the required encryption functions.

Nochex Problem

2009-07-10T09:40:00.003+01:00

When I first started an online shop, I accepted both Nochex and PayPal on my website. I used Nochex as my main payment service provider because customers didn't have to join Nochex to make a payment and Nochex also accepted debit cards. When PayPal introduced these features and when eBay bought PayPal, I decided to make PayPal my main provider. I still accepted Nochex for those people who preferred Nochex, but very few payments were made with Nochex.

After a while, I tried to log into my Nochex account only to find that my account had been suspended due to inactivity. As it is Nochex's (security) policy not to send notification, I had no idea of how long the account had been suspended and how many customers I had lost.You can't re-activate the account online — you have to download and print a two-page form, answer security questions, provide two original (?) proofs of identity (they don't return these so they recommend you send photocopies!) and a cancelled cheque or paying-in slip - and then post it to them. It took two weeks and two emails after they received this documentation to get my account reactivated. Nochex do not have a customer service number.

When I finally gained access to my account, I discovered that Nochex had charged me a £20 dormant account fee - again without any warning or notification. I have now closed my account and will no longer be accepting Nochex on my website.

Also see:
Credit Card Processing

Lyme Regis Plans Literary Festival

2009-07-08T10:28:00.000+01:00

Lyme Regis is to have its own literary festival (LymeLit) during October either annually or every other year. The first festival will be in 2010, but some of the events will have a practice run in this year's ArtsFest. For details of the book-related events in this year's ArtsFest, please go to:
www.LymeRegisBooks.com/book_events.php

Bookselling Website

2009-07-07T09:35:00.000+01:00

I am developing a website that is aiming to provide useful information and resources for booksellers. If you would like to see what I have done so far, please go to:
www.LearningPages.org/bookselling

Amazon 'Seller Connection' Forum

2009-07-06T09:30:00.000+01:00

I don't know about other Amazon sellers but trying to find the jewels among the off-topic and sometimes unpleasant postings is taking an increasing amount of time and effort.

I tried setting up an alternative book selling group about eighteen months ago but it withered after about a year because too few people participated.

Recently, I asked the forum whether anyone would like to take part in a survey to try and understand the reasons behind sales fluctuations. I have had very little response.

Perhaps people are happy with the myths and are happy with the forum as it is. I'd be interested in hearing other sellers' thoughts on this subject.