Their
ads are good. They're simply old dustjackets with a tag line based
on the premise, 'Lost it then? Find it here.' And that's a shame
because the company is a complete waste of time and money. Despite
large warehouses and maybe a nice suite of offices they are a web-based
business. But they're trying to add a layer between customer and
retailer when this is exactly the fat that is being reamed from
the book business. So why are they doing it and how did they get
to the position they are in today?
Early Years
In the early 90s if you were in the book business or occasionally
read the trades you'd have heard of Interloc. Interloc were one
of many companies trying to bring together book buyers and sellers.
However, their method was a little odd. They were building a searchable
database that was only available to booksellers. The customer was
left out. They were soon left behind as others realized the advantages
of directly reaching the customers rather than a middle man. Services
such as the Advanced Book Exchange (ABE), Bibliofind and Bibliocity
(see below) sprang up and quickly found both funding and revenue.
All the while Amazon showed that with books - a concrete item with
known specifications - could be marketed and sold over the net.
Interloc were being pushed out of the market. They
needed to reinvent themselves. So, a couple of years ago, they transformed
into a customer-focused service, Alibris. But their business plan
was again based on proprietary information. This time instead of
the bookseller paying a fee to be part of Interloc, the bookseller
disappeared into the Brand of Alibris. And paid 20% of the price
of every book for the opportunity.
This is where it gets downright ugly. There are
no saints in business. This is used books, as nostalgic and basic
a product as there is outside the bare necessities. The market is
changing from month to month and very rapidly concentrating. ABE
has a business arrangement with Barnes & Noble (B&N), the
'category killer*' chain - although Alibris just sneaked around
the back and made a deal with B&N to be the first service they
go to when an out-of-print book is requested. Bibliofind has been
sold at least twice since starting up and is now owned by Amazon.com.
Amazon have thus far left well enough alone (although I cannot condone
Amazon's out-of-print search practices of adding huge markups to
the books). Bibliocity has disappeared into Alibris. So we need
to take a more detailed look at Alibris' business practices.
The Middleman
Alibris are an oddity: a two-year-old company with $100 million
to spend on advertising, sorry, brand-building. They apparently
have 1,700 book shops signed up compared to the 6,000 plus on ABE
and Bibliofind. The business model begun by ABE, Bibliofind -- and
later adhered to by services such as Global Book Mart and Yourbooks
-- is to charge the book shop a fixed amount per number of books
listed with their service. Thus if a book shop sells one book or
twenty books, the cost is the same. Alibris is very different. They
charge a flat 20% fee on every book sold. Their are two ways this
20% can be paid as illustrated:
This book is listed by the venerable John
T. Zubal Books in Cleveland, OH:
Bibliofind Listing
Richard Frothingham, Life and Times of Joseph
Warren. Boston: 1865,. quarto, orig. cloth, INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR,
untrimmed as issued & mostly unopened; bookplate & other
minor ownership markings but, in all, largely unperused, bright
& clean, very-good, American Revolution Massachusetts Paul
Revere British Empire Politics Government Military Affairs Rare
Books $350
Alibris Listing
Richard Frothingham, Life and Times of Joseph
Warren. Boston: 1865,. quarto, orig. cloth, INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR,
untrimmed as issued & mostly unopened; bookplate & other
minor ownership markings but, in all, largely unperused, bright
& clean, very-good, American Revolution Massachusetts Paul
Revere British Empire Politics Government Military Affairs Rare
Books $420
Exactly the same book, one $70 (20%) more expensive
than the other. To check this for yourself go Here
(as of 5/3/00 this may change or be sold)
Alibris either takes 20% of the original price of
every book, or, 20% is added to the price of the book.
Not surprisingly they have been slow to find book
shops to sign up for this 'deal.' Thus they are looking for ways
to leverage their name into becoming the only available choice for
used books. Last year they bought a competing service, Bibliocity.
We had been listing books with Bibliocity but when offered the chance
to list with Alibris our answer was a very quick and definite No.
Imagine our surprise last month when we logged on
to the website of our distributor for new titles, Ingram, and found
an Alibris link. Alibris has signed a deal with Ingram to offer
out-of-print searches in new book shops. Knowledgeable book shops
not do this. They will use Bookfinder or one of the other Meta Search
Services (see below) to check a range of options and prices on the
book you are looking for. When you go to a chain book shop such
as B. Dalton or Waldenbooks and they offer a search for used or
out-of-print books (e.g. Source Records of the Great War)
they will probably be using Alibris. With the built in 20% mark
up. And Alibris thoughtfully provided a further markup chart
for the new book shop to use. By the time they are finished you
are being quoted almost twice the price you would pay in a regular
used book shop. Write down the quote. Go home - or to a library
if you do not have internet access - and go to Bookfinder and check
the price yourself. Alibris is listed there and you can laugh at
their higher prices and the quote you received as you buy the book
you want from Global Book Mart or Antiqbook.
Controlling the Net
The only reason they are getting away with this is ignorance. The
same books, the same dealers are out there and can be found on Bibliofind,
Bookavenue, etc., but no one else is pasting the world with advertisements
in quite so unsubtle a manner as Alibris. They know they have a
short period of time in which they can take advantage of the public's
ignorance as to the existence of other, cheaper services before
they disappear just like last time, with Interloc. Their basic problem
is an inability to recognize the free nature of the internet. Subscription-based
services are on the rise but for the most part the individual using
the Internet in the USA does not need to pay for access: either
to connect (www.altavista.net,
www.freeinet.com), to find
books (www.bookfinder.com)
or for services and information (i.e. www.phonefree.com,
www.nytimes.com).
Two of the most popular types of sites are recommendation
(www.recommend-it.com,
www.apple.com) and comparison
sites (www.cnet.com). And a quick
tour of these will show that they are not charging their users or
customers. Many industries are experiencing a collapse as individuals
or businesses are brought into direct contact with one another.
Dell is a leader in home computing and has a roaring trade through
its website. Everybody wants to reach their customers directly.
The traditional role of the middleman is changing. They are no longer
necessary. Where they can be useful, in comparisons and recommendations,
they are charging the companies that list with them, not the customer.
Brand Building
National branding for used books, is an idea that B&N, Borders,
Book Sense and others are investigating. But from the independent
book shop's point of view it looks like we'd be losing our name,
reputation and the individuality that makes browsing in different
parts o the countries so much fun.
At this book shop we have spent 25 years building a unique and hopefully
interesting shop. We have had a website for about five years and
the only thing holding us back on Internet sales is data entry -
the industry bottleneck. Every week our website gets hits from all
over the world: Japan, The Netherlands, Australia, Spain, New Zealand
and more. Alibris requires book shops to give up their name and
spirit and package books under one brand. Books are no longer held
in the shops, instead they are warehoused by the company. They are
shipped by the company. Billing is done by the company. Book shops
do not immediately receive payment.
It is an interesting idea to apply such ideas and
potential efficiencies to the book business but where they will
lose is their insistence on control and proprietary use of information.
The Future
According to a recent New York Times article Alibris is burning
through their cash reserves very quickly. They need to have something
to show for it. So they have signed on with B&N and Ingram to
be the out-of-print vendor of record. They have the cute ads in
the expensive dailies and glossies. But who are they providing a
service for? Neither the bookseller, nor the buyer. Who benefits?
The potential shareholders of Alibris? I doubt they will make it
to their Initial Public Offering. Their business model of controlling
the flow of information and placing themselves as a nexus for book
buyers and sellers to meet is outdated. There are already too many
other highly efficient and profitable sites doing just that. They
are a huge, sleek, good-looking dinosaur, which will soon be extinct.
* 'category killer' is a business term that has
come to mean a business that is so efficient or so well advertised
- that initially it kills off all competition. Later when the field
is clear, they can do what they like, thus B&N and Borders recent
quiet switching of their basic 10% discount to a bestseller-only
discount.
Book Search Services
These sites search at least two or three (and often
more) of the listings sites below. They are free to use and are
funded by (non-intrusive) advertising. Bookfinder is the mother
of them all book comparison sites whereas 123pix and Addall boast
CD's and many other products.
www.bookfinder.com
www.addall.com
www.123pix.com
www.choosebooks.com
www.isbn.nu
Book Listings
These sites come and go, BookFinder.com above is
the best way to keep up with what's going on. These are sites that
book shops pay to list their books. Here you will find many copies
of most common books and usually at least a few of uncommon ones.
Some of them are bigger than others, some of them are better designed
but none of them are charging you 20% to use them.
www.abebooks.com
www.tomfolio.com
www.bookavenue.com
www.antiqbook.com
www.biblion.com
www.bibliofind.com -- subsumed by Amazon; gbmbooks.com, bookradar.com,
usedbooks.com -- seemingly defunct
###
This first appeared on the website of Avenue Victor
Hugo Bookshop and was reprinted by Pat Holt in her Holt Uncensored
column.