AbeBooks (formerly the Advanced Book Exchange) is an online marketplace for books. Most books listed are used books, many are rare or out-of-print, and a growing number are new books. The company is based in Victoria, Canada with offices in Düsseldorf, Germany and Oviedo, Spain and the US. It was incorporated in 1995 and launched their website in 1996.
At present, they list more than 100 million books on sale from 13,500 booksellers in 57 countries. Sellers pay a monthly subscription fee to list their books on the site, ranging from $25 to $300, depending on how many books they list. In addition, sellers pay a percentage fee for each book sold via the website. AbeBooks offers five regional websites: for North America, France, Germany, the UK and Spain (Iberlibro.com). AbeBooks purchased IberLibro.com in October 2004 and its inventory was integrated into the AbeBooks' database in December 2006. In November 2005, AbeBooks acquired BookFinder.com, an American book price comparison "metasearch" shopping service site. In February 2006, AbeBooks acquired book-inventory and order-management company FillZ. In May 2006, AbeBooks purchased a 40 per cent stake in LibraryThing.com - a social networking and book cataloging website for bibliophiles.
AbeBooks allows users to search across the listings of many independent bookstores, thereby allowing small, independent players to compete with bookselling superstores. Some of the member bookstores offer their books online only while others also maintain a regular storefront.
Booksellers upload their inventory data to the AbeBooks database, specifying information about each book including condition and price. Prices are fixed (with US$1 being the minimum) and there are no auctions. Items available range from the extremely common, where there might be hundreds of copies listed, to truly unique manuscript material worth thousands of dollars. In addition to books; magazines, audio books, journals, illustration art, vintage photographs, and paper ephemera are offered. Sellers can, within limits, set their own standard postage rates to various countries or by different carriers. Booksellers can upload their inventory using their own spreadsheet software or via the site's interface. Items that sell are mailed directly from the individual bookseller's location. Some booksellers have new books directly mailed from wholesalers or publishers.
Listings originating on any of AbeBooks' sites are combined with all, except the Iberlibro site, which retains a separate inventory. While AbeBooks is arguably the largest such site, some booksellers who list on AbeBooks also list their books on multiple competing marketplaces such as Alibris, Biblio.com, and Amazon.com.
AbeBooks initially offered its services for a flat listings fee, based on the number of titles listed for sale. The model was changed in the early 2000s , to include a commission on successful sales. In April 2006, AbeBooks started mandatory processing of Mastercard and Visa credit card transactions on behalf of its sellers, this had been an optional service previously.
AbeBooks was founded in 1995 by Rick and Vivian Pura and Keith and Cathy Waters. The site was launched in 1996, initially including listings for only four bookstores. AbeBooks acquired Germany's JustBooks GmbH online book marketplace in 2001, which helped the company expand into the German, French and British online bookselling markets. In 2004 AbeBooks expanded its model to include new books, and acquired the Spanish company IberLibro, to better serve Spanish markets.
From the late 1990s through 2005, AbeBooks had reseller agreements with eBay, Half.com, Barnes & Noble.com, BibliOZ.com, and Amazon.com, allowing AbeBooks to market and sell booksellers' books through those channels; these agreements were dissolved in 2005. Also in 2005, AbeBooks acquired BookFinder.com, an online search engine used by book buyers and sellers. In 2006, AbeBooks acquired FillZ, an inventory management service provider that supports booksellers who sell their books on multiple marketplaces.
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