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My big complaint with abebooks is that the sellers are all lowballing the actual prices of books ($1, say) and then padding their shipping costs to make up the difference. I think abebooks should institute some standard shipping costs so the listed prices for books are all working from the same baseline.

--eric

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My big complaint with abebooks is that the sellers are all lowballing the actual prices of books ($1, say) and then padding their shipping costs to make up the difference. I think abebooks should institute some standard shipping costs so the listed prices for books are all working from the same baseline.

--eric

Very few professions have been more dramatically altered by the WWW than the used book trade. In the not-so-distant past it was slow, inefficient, and required dedication, a broad if not necessarily deep knowledge of history and culture, and a real love of books; dealer wannabes normally served apprenticeships at established bookstores, or were collectors who became dealers to feed an insatiable book habit.

Today it is fast, efficient, and requires very little of its practitioners other than an urge to turn thrift store finds into cash. There are plenty of real book dealers on ABE and related sites, but there are plenty of imposters as well. They're the ones selling dollar books and gouging on shipping. :o

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My big complaint with abebooks is that the sellers are all lowballing the actual prices of books ($1, say) and then padding their shipping costs to make up the difference. I think abebooks should institute some standard shipping costs so the listed prices for books are all working from the same baseline.

--eric

Very few professions have been more dramatically altered by the WWW than the used book trade. In the not-so-distant past it was slow, inefficient, and required dedication, a broad if not necessarily deep knowledge of history and culture, and a real love of books; dealer wannabes normally served apprenticeships at established bookstores, or were collectors who became dealers to feed an insatiable book habit.

Today it is fast, efficient, and requires very little of its practitioners other than an urge to turn thrift store finds into cash. There are plenty of real book dealers on ABE and related sites, but there are plenty of imposters as well. They're the ones selling dollar books and gouging on shipping. :o

Yeah, I actually know someone in the business slightly. It's depressing when I talk to her about the books she actually makes money on.

She actually sold a Reader's Digest condensed book for some increadibly high price a few weeks back.

--eric

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