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Omnivorous Amazon to Acquire AbeBooks

posted on August 20, 2008 at 2:59 PM MT, by Rixon Reed

The earth's biggest online book retailer is just about to get bigger--a whole lot bigger.

Amazon has reached a purchase agreement with the extremely popular Victoria, British Columbia based used book online marketplace AbeBooks (formerly known as Advanced Book Exchange). If the purchase deal goes through--and it most assuredly will--it's likely that Amazon will add another 110 million books to their already huge database in the near future. Here's Amazon's press release.

Should book lovers be worried or rejoice? Though AbeBooks has been told by their soon-to-be new owner that they will continue to operate independently, remain in Canada and keep the same staff, it's likely that Amazon will drive more traffic to their new acquisition by integrating the AbeBooks database into their own. If that happens it will be interesting to see what will become of Amazon's already existing marketplace for booksellers (Amazon Marketplace) as many of those booksellers also list their book inventories in the AbeBooks database.

Is having one company own the central database for books a good thing? Google, for instance, has grown so big and is so synonymous with the web that many internet users enter a website address into the Google search engine bypassing the URL locator bar of their browser. Could this also happen with Amazon and books?

At photo-eye, we offer an Amazon choice as requested by many of our customers. Many of you love our site but simply can't justify the price difference (we can't stay in business offering free freight and huge discounts on new books). With the Amazon choice our customers can still support photo-eye (we get a small slice of the pie) and save money too.

The bottom line is that Amazon just keeps getting bigger. Whether or not that's a good thing for the book business and book community as a whole continues to be a fiercely debated topic by publishers, booksellers and the book loving public.

Let me know your thoughts on this one by posting a comment below.

Read the Vancouver Sun news report.

Related Categories: AbeBooks,

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I am never too happy when the monster swallows the little guys but I suppose it is inevitable. I hope above all that they do not change the interface and make it like Bibliofind or Amazon, both of which I detest. Give me a nice clean list of books any day. I don't care what anyone else bought. I am also opposed to the dumbing down of the world by having to go beyond the first page to "Advanced Search" in order to have the basics of 'title', 'author', 'keyword', etc. I find it shocking that even many university libraries now have oversimplified online catalogues.

Posted By Stuart Alexander | 8/21/08 5:45 AM

For years I used Bibliofind and then Amazon took it over and wrecked it. My searches didn't work and the interface was awful. I never went back there. So I have been using ABE ever since and enjoyed the experience. However, ABE has been getting worse and worse for collectors as it, like ebay, is swamped with new and remaindered booksellers. Most interesting markets for collectors - boot fairs, antique markets, Portobello Road - eventually get swamped when their traffic levels attract the cheap tat merchants. I give up!

Posted By Robert Ashby | 8/21/08 1:55 PM

I've always used http://www.addall.com/Used/ for searching what comprises a huge swath of the internet's used book offerings. And there are still aggregate sites of independent booksellers like Biblio and Tomfolio. But in general, until it becomes unprofitable, the big guys are going to gobble up the little guys on the net.

Posted By Don Besom | 8/22/08 10:58 AM

I agree with all of the above comments, and likewise shifted from Bibliofind to ABE after its purchase by Amazon, and have continued to find Abe offering a better variety and better prices than Amazon’s used listings. Frankly the only thing that surprises me is how in the last two decades, rather than the fine photo book becoming a dinosaur of the pre-electronic past as was often predicted, the quality of production, size of press run (and number of purchasers) has hugely increased, and prices of even some of the highest quality titles has gotten better (although not necessarily the quality of the contents).

The awkward reality of Amazon creating a more efficient and more economical and more direct conduit to the purchaser (compared to chain Brick store, B&N, Walden, even Boarders, etc. must be considered a major factor in thriving, rather than shrinking photo book publishing market.

The used book market which obviously more directly relates to the ABE purchase is of course is fueled by many different factors and has gotten both bigger and hugely more expensive. It is amazing that after more than a decade of active internet selling it is still common to be able to any single title in a specified condition listed as hugely different prices (even on Amazon’s used listings, but even more so on ABE). We certainly can expect the centralization of the used market into Amazon’s structure will homogenize prices, and reduce the bargains still so easy to find on ABE.

A positive plus for Amazon’s contribution to the used market is that friends have told me it is remarkably easy for an individual (occasional sellers, not just big dealers and stores) to list and sell books over Amazon compared to registering with e-bay other internet services.

Thanks to Rick and everyone at Photo-Eye for their ongoing great work in the face of this tsunami, and for your newsletters keeping us informed.

Posted By Tom Southall | 8/22/08 6:22 PM

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