Comparing Behemoths in the Used Book Business (Amazon, E-Bay's Half.com, Barnes & Noble)

Before the beginning of the Internet Revolution in book-selling, Barnes and Noble was an expanding chain of bookstores, less aggressive in driving out locally owned bookstore than Walden Books and B. Dalton by opening stores as close as possible to existing stand-alone ones.

The Seattle-based discounter Amazon.com launched in 1994 and became the epitome of the dot-com boom--and one than did not collapse when the dot-com bubble burst, although it did not turn a profit until 2003. Meanwhile, E-Bay emerged as another powerhouse Internet seller (actually, intermediary). It began in San José, California in 1995. Very successful in the auction line, E-Bay purchased Half.com in 2000, integrating its user management system, buyer/seller feedback, and account information into E-Bay. Like E-Bay, Half.com does not have any physical inventory, but connects buyers and sellers (for a fee). Amazon has warehouses for books (and other products), Barnes & Noble has brick-and-mortar stores.

Book Availability

Amazon has not competed very well with E-Bay for auctions, but for sales of books for a price set by sellers, Amazon predominates. One reason is that a buyer is more likely to find a used book for sale by one of Amazon's sellers than those mediated by Half.com (or E-Bay) or by Barnes & Noble.

Product Evaluations

Although E-Bay has purchased Deal Time, which earlier acquired Epinions.com, a prospective buyer is more likely to find reviews of a book on Amazon.com than on BarnesandNoble.com or access to one at Half.com. The quality of the reviews on all three vary greatly, and it is significantly more difficult to find the review of a product by someone whose other reviews have made me trust his or her judgment on Amazon or B&N than on Epinions. On the other hand, it is frequently difficult to find the title of interest at all on Epinions.com, even if there are reviews of it (due to garbled titles and a fifth-rate search engine).

Price

In my quite extensive experience, prices are frequently lower on Half.Com than on Amazon.com and prices of used books are always lower on Amazon.com than on BarnesandNoble.com.