TomFolio: independent used bookshops

Archive: Online bookselling

When you order a used book through ABE, Antiqbook, Bibliophile and the other listing services you are buying directly from the bookdealer. There's no markup (other than a tiny one if you ABE processes your credit card rather than paying the dealer directly).

When buy a used book from Alibris, Amazon's Marketplace, Barnes & Noble BookQuest you are still buying the book from a bookdealer but paying an intermediary an unnecessary markup. Amazon doesn't add to the book's cost but collects extra shipping charges that it pockets. Alibris and ABE list some of their member sites books on Amazon. They jack up the price a tad, fair enough they have to make a profit. Then you are paying extra for both the book and shipping.

Alibris, Amazon, BookQuest keep used booksellers like myself from having direct communication with the buyer. I'm not able to clarify points of condition, edition and shipping that might let them know they don't want the book or that they need to pay for faster shipping to get the book in time for a class or reading group.

It is nice to think that people sell used books because they are a cultured lot. Some are, many read merely bestsellers if at all. I sell used books, music, and comics because they have provided some of the most pleasurable and interesting experiences of my life. More importantly owning a small used bookshop has given me independence.

The corporate used bookselling sites diminish that freedom. They meddle in small ways. Some truncate the descriptions so you can't see the important words underlining and highlighting.

ABE has come to leverage its dominance of the used book listing business to find excuses to take extra pennies from some sales even though we pay them a healthy listings fee each month.

Desiring less interference and dependence a group of used booksellers got together and founded TomFolio.

Welcome to TomFolio.com, a website for buying and selling used, rare and collectible books, ephemera, and periodicals.

This website is owned and operated by ABookCoOp, which is legally incorporated in the state of Wisconsin. As a cooperative, our site is jointly owned by independent member booksellers. Owner-membership is open to all independent booksellers who purchase member stock.

ABookCoOp began in 1999 as a small discussion group of independent booksellers. We wanted to develop a bookselling site that would not be vulnerable to the kind of corporate interference that can dictate selling terms or reap undue profit from our efforts. We wanted a Code of Ethics that requires professional standards of our sellers. We wanted to be able to guarantee the highest quality service to our customers, and to be able to deal with our customers directly. We wanted a database that would, in short, be bookseller and bookbuyer friendly.

Books Do Furnish A Room hasn't seen a huge return from our TomFolio membership. But it does seem prudent to be part of an effort to keep the used book trade an egalitarian endeavor.