Top 10 out-of-print list includes rare fiction, nonfiction

A novel about competitive running heads BookFinder's list of top 10 U.S. out of print books for 2007.

The list of the most sought-after out of print books in America is headed by:

1. Once a Runner (1978) by John L. Parker, Jr.
The cult classic distance running novel; the long-awaited sequel, Again to Carthage, was released in November

2. Football Scouting Methods (1962) by Steve Belichick
Legendary college football scout’s playbook, used by coaches and players to develop winning game plans

3. Sex (1992) by Madonna
The pop icon’s controversial book of erotic photos

4. Promise Me Tomorrow (1984) by Nora Roberts
An early novel that the bestselling romance novelist refuses to reprint, describing it as “mediocre”

5. The Lion’s Paw (1946) by Robb White
A children’s adventure story about two orphans who travel around Florida in a boat

See the rest of the top 10 here at the BookFinder blog.

Should Amazon buy eBay? Ho ho ho!!!

Here's an interesting but hilariously misinformed item on the New York Times' Bits blog raising the possibility of Amazon buying eBay.

The author and the dozens of commenting readers argue that either Amazon should buy eBay's auction technology or build its own. That's brilliant, Einstein. Except that Amazon buried its auctions section about seven years ago.

For most of the Internet age, eBay has been a Wall Street darling, while Amazon's stock has been in the cellar. That's turned around dramatically in the past year, with Amazon's stock price tripling.

I don't see anything Amazon has to gain by buying eBay, do you? Amazon already has all the sellers they want. The only thing they'd do is inherit eBay's problems.

I think Amazon has enough to worry about. I have a hunch that their Marketplace business is down over the past year. Once that becomes common knowledge they're going to have a tough time explaining why. And there are enough distractions with this Fulfillment by Amazon boondoggle.

Got a Web bookstore? Here's a new way to collect payments

If you have a Web site to sell books directly to customers, you might want to check out the "Pay Now" widget Amazon has introduced for its new payment system.

Amazon is still beta-testing this new payment system, which it calls the Flexible Payment Service (FPS). I think it could evolve into quite a competitor to PayPal.

It sure beats sending customers to Marketplace, where you pay the 15 percent commission or (even worse) the customer decides to buy from a competing seller.

You receive an e-mail each time someone pays using FPS, and you can also retrieve your orders by logging into your account. If you want to use this, you'll still need to sign up for a business Amazon Payments account. Believe it or not, an Amazon Pro-Merchant account doesn't automatically get you in the door.

Fees for FPS depend on the transaction amount and the payment method:

For Transactions >= $10:

• 1.5% + $0.01 for Amazon Payments balance transfers
• 2.0% + $0.05 for bank account debits
• 2.9% + $0.30 for credit card

For Transactions < $10:

• 1.5% + $0.01 for Amazon Payments balance transfers
• 2.0% + $0.05 for bank account debits
• 5.0% + $0.05 for credit card

Here's more information on the Amazon Web Services blog.

Beware of numbers in your Amazon seller comments

I just got this valuable tip from a reader. Amazon closed her listing because she included the ISBN in the description:

I woke up this morning to an email from Amazon saying I had violated their listing rules and they had dropped one of my listings. Since I had never had that happen in over four years, and I was confused. Here is the listing:

Condition: Used - Very Good
Comments: No dj. 039 953 2382. Shelf wear.

When the seller called and spoke to a customer-service rep, the mystery was solved. Amazon, in its infinite wisdom, determined that the ISBN was actually a telephone number, beckoning customers to phone in their order and circumvent the Marketplace commission. Maybe Amazon should have tried calling that number before judging the seller guilty and imposing the sentence ...

Q&A: Is it ethical to buy books for resale from charity shops?

I read this column in the paper a few months ago, and with the holidays near, it's quite fitting. It poses an ethical question for those of us who buy books for resale from charity shops like Goodwill, Salvation Army, and others:

Dear Amy: I have a friend, "Mandy," who is a stay-at-home mom with two small children. Her husband is well-paid, and they have a very comfortable lifestyle.

Mandy sells clothes and shoes on eBay to make extra cash. What bothers me is the way she does it. She goes to Salvation Army stores and buys shoes and clothes by "armloads" (her words) and sells them for about five times the purchase price.

She does work hard to earn that money, but aren't these shops for the economically needy?

For the columnist's answer, click here. In a nutshell, there's nothing wrong with it. The Salvation Army is glad for every penny in sales, which funds their programs. They don't care who buys the stuff -- needy people or the general public.

But I don't suppose this issue will ever be totally put to rest. Some people just get outraged whenever someone else makes money.

What about library sales? I'm usually the biggest buyer at most library sales I go to. That's the whole point of the sale, unloading the books. But it never fails: When I check out, I get dirty looks from the sale volunteers and others ... because I'm buying lots of books. I guess they can't stand the fact that I'm going to make money by selling those books to people who want to read them.

Amazon posts FAQ on ASIN merge

Amazon is going ahead with its merging of duplicate ASINs and posted a Frequently Asked Questions guide:

1. Why are you doing this during the holiday time?

When we reduce the number duplicates in the catalog, customers will be more likely to find, and buy, the item they are seeking. This takes on added importance during the holidays.

2. Will you merge books that have same title but different binding, edition, etc?

No. We will merge books only when they have the same title, contributors, binding, publisher, publication date, edition and volume.

3. How does Amazon determine that the page with the most listings is the one that has the correct info, or if there isn't a need for other listings due to differences in dates, formats, editions, etc?

When two ASINs are merged, we use product information from both ASINs. Though only one ASIN will remain, it will contain information that was derived from both ASINs. This is no different from when a Pro Merchant's contribution matches an existing ASIN. We will always use the additional data to improve our catalog quality.

For many more fun details from the FAQ, see Amazon's seller announcement board.

Amazon markets FBA to casual sellers

Did you get this e-mail too? When I opened it yesterday, I was absolutely sure it was a phish, for two big reasons. I'd never heard of anything called Amazon EasySell, and it had a bunch of long, scary-looking links.

But I was curious. I didn't click the links in the e-mail, but I Googled EasySell, and by golly there really is such a program. It's just another name for FBA, Fulfillment by Amazon. That's the program where you mail in your books, tapes and DVDs, and Amazon handles the shipping to your buyers.

I guess the average Amazon customer's eyes would glaze over immediately upon seeing the words "Fulfilled by Amazon" but EasySell is pretty obvious.

What does this mean? Is Amazon trying to get rid of third-party sellers? Or is this a sign that FBA is struggling to attract customers?

They're offering a $15 gift certificate if you sign up. But of course you'll be paying fees for handling and storage once you sign up.

The discussion boards at Amazon are already rife with messages from FBA users who complain that Amazon's warehouse sometimes loses shipments or fails to process them promptly or accurately. It seems that Amazon should try ironing out these kinks before recruiting lots more FBA users at the height of the holiday shopping season.