ABE and Alibris are services various booksellers, and even random
individuals, can join to sell books; they pay ABE and Alibris for this
service. I looked into the terms of both a couple of years ago when my
mother died and left me her large personal library (most of which,
however, is still sitting exactly as she left it). As I recall, at the
time ABE only charged a percentage of sales, but Alibris charged a
listing fee whether the book ever sold or not.
Addall.com and Addall.com/used are meta-search services. Addall.com is
the new book search service--but see below. Addall.com/used lists all
the offerings of ABE, ALIBRIS, ILAB, and a couple of European
ABE/ALIBRIS-like services. For whatever reason, Addall.com/used also
lists many brand-new books; some of which, particularly books from
foreign booksellers, are not listed in the "new" Addall.com at all.
Listings in Addall.com are not weeded out for source duplication. You
may notice--especially if you are looking for an unusual book in used
condition, where few copies are available and descriptions of condition
are very detailed--as many as four different listings for the exact same
copy of the same title. Furthermore, the prices for duplicate listings
vary slightly depending on the fees of services like ABE, etc. that are
being meta-searched (the seller lists the book price and if there's an
extra fee, they just tack it on). For foreign purchases, the currency
conversions may vary.
Bookfinder, once M-X Bookfinder, is an older service with search
features that I think are no longer as good/sophisticated as Addall's,
and usually with no larger selection.
ABE, Alibris, etc. only make sellers guarantee that a certain PERCENTAGE
of titles listed are actually available. This is because many of the
sellers also run bookstores; and so a customer might well walk in and
buy a title before the online order is placed, or before the online
database has been updated.
Amazon Marketplace makes sellers guarantee copies are actually
immediately available, but many of them pay no attention to the rule. A
lot of the big Amazon Marketplace, and a few eBay, sellers of new books
just upload a major wholesaler database (which the major wholesalers
provide to bookstores). This composes their huge listings of books. If
anyone buys a book, they just back-order it.
Fran
Lavolta Press Books on Historic Costuming
http://www.lavoltapress.com
Melanie Schuessler wrote:
For finding books online, also try
http://used.addall.com/
http://www.addall.com/
http://www.bookfinder.com/
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