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Amazon to Acquire AbeBooks
Amazon has announced this morning their acquisition of AbeBooks. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. AbeBooks is a marketplace for used, rare and out-of-print books. AbeBooks reports over 110 million books listed for sale and "tens-of-thousands" of sales every day.
Think of AbeBooks in the same way you think of purchasing from a third-party dealer/seller on Amazon's books category. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2008.
Amazon and AbeBooks have worked together for years now. AbeBooks began online operations in 1996 and is based in Canada.
AbeBooks will continue to function as a stand-alone operation based in Victoria, British Columbia. AbeBooks will maintain all of its websites, including its Canadian website with Canada-specific content, such as reviews of Canadian-authored books and interviews of Canadian writers.
ABE has long been a major rip-off for sellers, surviving only because they've effectively had a monopoly in the antiquarian book market. I've been hoping that Amazon woud expand in this area and give ABE some serious competition, but it's hard to guess what the result of this acquisition will be. Amazon has been friendlier to independent sellers than has ABE, but we'll see...
My latest VISA bill showed a "foreign transaction fee" (FTF)for a book purchase through abebooks even though the book came from a bookstore in Michigan.I understand this fee started in April 2008 by VISA and is passed on to the customer. So to avoid the FTF I will have to find an "American" internet site to buy my books from now on.
Hi,
Now that Amazon is buying you over, can self publishers still register and sell through your window market place?. Can a seller pay with bank cheque or draft for monthly suscirption where there is no credit card or debit card available.
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