I am not a shill for BWB, just another independent bookseller.

I have bought books from BWB, and always been pleased with the books and the customer service. I consider them an ethical business.

IMO, the sentiments expressed here are the usual resentment by some booksellers of BWB for having found a workable business model in an evolving business, since it would be laughable to imagine that an individual bookseller could not compete against BWB's boilerplate descriptions on a book-by-book basis. It is access to inventory that fans the flames.

I see a lot of booksellers with a sense of entitlement. The level of invective in this thread reminds me of others directed at Goodwill and thrifts selling online.

For years, these booksellers have been able to buy their inventory for pennies on the dollar from unwitting FOLs and thrift stores, and now that these sources have learned the value of what they have to offer, these same booksellers are upset that the FOLs have found a more profitable way of selling, whether through their own online sales, or through partnering with businesses like BWB.

The irony is that, if they had been willing to offer a fair deal to their local FOL in the first place, the FOL would probably not have turned to BWB, but would have preferred a local alternative. And don't underestimate the value to an organization of having someone else (i.e. BWB) take over book sales - it is a huge volunteer effort, and volunteers are aging.

To speak only of FOLs - they have a duty to their donors to make sure that maximum value is extracted from their donations. Ideally, this would not only be the cash value of the books, but also the value to the community of an annual book sale, with books available to the community at reasonable prices. There is still plenty of room for individual booksellers to partner with FOLs who do not want to sell online themselves to sell their more valuable inventory for them, still leaving lots of books for the annual sale. Just be prepared to pay a fair price for the privilege. Traditionally, booksellers expected their business costs to break into thirds: 1/3 to acquire inventory; 1/3 to overhead; 1/3 to profit.

And you know what, none of it will matter for long - the growth of digital media and print-on-demand will radically change the landscape of used bookselling - considering how to adapt to that is what a bookseller should be devoting energy to.

Karin