Amazon Takes the Cake

Years ago online used booksellers like bibliofind.com pooled the listings of lots of bookstores and helped buyers get used books at low prices with small shipping and handling costs. Only a couple of years ago it seems Amazon bought one or more of these online booksellers and/or offered space to advertise and sell items with a higher fee. For example, the other day I ordered from Amazon a three dollar book and paid an additional $3.49 to ship it to my door. Notice anything odd about this? The handling fee is greater at Amazon than the price of the item. I'm glad to have the book, but there's no question that earlier handling fees are gone forever. Let it be said that many of these centralized used-book listing services still operate at fees closer to the old ones. Go ahead and check out Amazon if you want to know about the market, but then check folks like Alibris.com who may give you a better break, with lower used book prices, a greater variety of editions, and lower handling fees. The bargains are still out there, and certainly not all are at Amazon.