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What's New? |
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July 26, 2011 New Members |
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June 12, 2011 A New IOBA Membership Benefit Today I am pleased to offer a new benefit to all IOBA members. As always, we encourage our members to evaluate and utilize the offers by suppliers who participate in the IOBA Partnership, but this IOBA benefit is not a suggestion to members to not evaluate or utilize other suppliers.
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IOBA members will receive a 20% discount on the initial purchase of BookTrakker and any applications purchased at the same time. There will be no discount on any future purchases. When you order BookTrakker after downloading and trying out the Trial installation please include the code BTIOBA20DIS in the comments field on the order form, or contact us directly at support@booktrakker.com With a strong foundation, understanding of bookselling through multiple channels and a passionate support to make a bookseller successful, BookTrakker stands out for those who want to take a step in the right direction. BookTrakker simplifies many of the dreary tasks associated with online bookselling and has the dynamo time-saving feature of uploading all book updates to various websites such as ABE, Alibris, Amazon and other sites with one click of a button. Amazon is usually the best selling used book site and this helps in any economic climate. Being able to get 95% or more of your records onto Amazon can make the difference between making it and making money. BookTrakker comes with GrabIt for rapid data entry or repricing, as well as other apps designed to help you keep your Amazon listings up-to-date and accurate. BookTrakker is the one of the few professional bookseller software solutions available today that is still under continuous development, with new versions and new features released on a regular basis as part of an evolving ecosystem. Combine this with unparalleled Amazon support and you have one of the best solutions available for Booksellers on the web.
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Thanks to Finance Chair Joachim Koch for coordinating this
offer and to IOBA member Andy Gutterman for offering it.
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June 9, 2011 A New IOBA Membership Benefit DeWitt Stern in partnership with The Independent Online Booksellers' Association (IOBA) is proud to offer an exclusive web-based insurance program specifically for dealers and collectors of rare books. Originally offered only to members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association, the program is now open to all IOBA members located in the United States and their collectors. The program provides competitive pricing and superior coverage from Berkley Asset Protection, an insurance company with the highest financial strength rating and expertise in working with clients involved in the rare book industry. The website (http://books.dewittstern.com) launched in February 2011 and is the only product of its kind that offers the ability to apply for quote, purchase a policy and receive policy documents in less than ten minutes if the necessary information is provided. Further information can be found on the website or by contacting a representative via email at books@dewittstern.com or by calling 1-888-374-1899. DeWitt Stern is a family owned insurance brokerage that has been involved in the insuring of fine arts, rare books and rare/valuable items for over 100 years. Our offices in New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California enable us to provide comprehensive insurance solutions and risk management advice to client across the United States and around the world. |
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June 2, 2011 A New IOBA Membership Benefit Foreseeing Solutions is happy to offer the following benefits to members of the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA): New Clients will receive a 10% discount on the cost of any new website developed with us and their first four months of hosting/support absolutely FREE. Existing clients are eligible for a $10/month discount on ongoing hosting and support. Just send an email to ioba@foreseeing.com to start receiving your discount today. |
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May 21, 2011 New Members |
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April 19, 2011 Annual IOBA Scholarship Contest The Independent Online Booksellers Association is offering two scholarships this year. IOBA awards these scholarships to support the professional development of member booksellers, and to strengthen the greater book trade community. We believe that a well-educated, well-informed, and ethical bookseller is a credit to the trade and to IOBA. One scholarship is restricted to the 2011 Colorado Antiquarian
Book Seminar, to be held in Colorado Springs USA from August
7-12, 2011 (http://www.bookseminars.com/).
The second scholarship may be used for CABS 2011, or for one
of these other opportunities: In order to allow time for the LRBS, RBS and CALRBS admissions process, a scholarship awarded to one of these schools is valid until December 31st 2012. Each IOBA Scholarship is for tuition plus up to $400 for expenses. Non-North American winners will receive an additional $500 travel stipend, unless they elect to attend the LRBS. Contest Rules Only open to current IOBA members in good standing, excluding members of the Scholarship Committee and current Officers. Questionnaire: Write an essay of up to two pages about why you wish to attend and how this might aid your professional development. Since IOBA is a virtual organization, and few of us have met in person, this is your chance to introduce yourself to the Committee. Who are you? Why are you a bookseller? Are you involved in volunteer work in the community or the trade? What are your accomplishments? Your shortcomings? Your dreams? Why should we send you? A letter of recommendation is required; this can be written by any bookseller except IOBA officers and members of the scholarship committee. Email entries must be received no later than June 1, 2011. The email address for applications is: scholarshipcontest@ioba.org The winner or winners will be chosen by the IOBA Scholarship Committee and will be notified by telephone and by email no later than June 15, 2011. |
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April 4, 2011 IOBA appears in the Bookman's Log I was lucky enough to meet Greg Gibson of Ten Pound Island Books at the recent Washington Antiquarian Book Fair. Here is an excerpt from his blog: "Karin is also the head of IOBA, the Independent Online Booksellers Association. This is an association whose mission is to educate booksellers about the ethics and standards of the trade, and to provide bibliographic information, networking, and a sales venue for Internet booksellers. You join IOBA and you get the benefit of their mentoring and other resources. In return, you agree to abide by their Code of Ethics which presents a succinct summary of how honest booksellers should ply their trade. "Karin told me that Ken Karmiole had told her to look me up and educate me about IOBA. Karmiole is the dean of our trade, and a very successful bookseller. It seemed surprising at first that this purveyor of six-figure tomes should have an interest in an organization whose members sell used text books and other volumes in the two and three figure price range. But then the light went on. "My wise old friend Karmiole didn't get where he is by taking the short view. He grasped immediately that IOBA and ancillary resources like Bookthink are training grounds for booksellers of the future. In the old days, book stores performed that function. Now that the influence of book stores is diminishing, we need IOBA more than ever. The more educated booksellers become, the better they'll be at representing their product and their trade. The better they and their products look, the more their customers – the end buyers of the product – will trust them. The more trust there is, the more comfortable they'll be transacting business over the Internet. "This is vitally important for all of us, at the high end or the low end. Every time I hear someone ask if I provide a "Certificate of Authenticity," or balk at proving credit card info, I cringe. There's another potential customer some bookseller has failed to educate. To be able to provide this education, the bookseller must be educated as well. "Touching on this point Karin later wrote in an email to me, "Our mission is to ensure that the traditions and standards of the trade are maintained in the virtual world of today's online booksellers. Joining IOBA is often a first step for dealers who are working up to ABAA, and so we especially like to have established ABAA members, like you, join us... I'm also of course writing to say that I hope you will look into joining IOBA, the Independent Online Booksellers Association." "Think I'll do that right now. If IOBA is good enough for Karmiole, it's good enough for me." Thank you, Greg and Ken! |
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March 3, 2011 New Lists Administrator David Prendergast of Stick Figure Books (http://www.stickfigurebooks.com) has taken over the responsibilities of IOBA Lists Administrator. We welcome him to the role, and thank Phil Keener of Keener Books (http://www.keenerbooks.com) for his years of service in this often unnoticed but essential role. As always, any concerns about IOBA the IOBA email lists may be addressed to listadministator@ioba.org |
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March 3, 2011 IOBA has a new Facebook page! Thanks to Kristian Strom of Lowest Cost Books (http://www.lowestcostbooks.com ) for accepting responsibility for launching this effort - now use it! Come "Like" your association. |
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January 31, 2011 New Members |
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October 7, 2010 Click here to view the IOBA new ad in the October 2010 issue of Fine Books & Collections magazine. Click the 'Back Button' to return to What's New? page. |
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October 7, 2010 Click here to view the IOBA Bylaws, Proposed Revisions 10.06.2010. |
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1st August 2010 2010-2011 IOBA membership year begins on August 1, so it is time for our annual renewal process. members will receive an electronic invoice within the next few days for the $50 membership dues. These emails will be generated and sent to you via PayPal, complete with a handy link to facilitate payment. Please note that you do not need to set up a PayPal account if you don't have one already, as PayPal can securely process your payment by credit card as well. Although we prefer receiving dues through PayPal, payment by mail is acceptable if that is your preference. Just send the check or money order (made out to IOBA) to the following address as soon as possible after receiving the email invoice. Be sure to indicate the name of your bookselling business on the check and include a paper copy printout of the invoice. Mail to: Caite Stevens, IOBA Treasurer; 17813 Old Baltimore Road; Olney, Maryland 20832 Please make your payment within one week of receiving the email invoice. The entire renewal effort is being conducted by volunteers, and your timely cooperation is greatly appreciated. If you do not receive an email invoice by August 5, please contact membershipinfo@ioba.org right away. For those very recent new members who have already paid their 8/2010-7/2011 dues, you should not be receiving an invoice. Our strong hope is that all current members will renew and remain with IOBA. If you are planning on leaving, however, please send us an email with notice of same to membershipinfo@ioba.org, as that will save time and effort as we go through the renewal process. Lastly, all members are encouraged to double-check their IOBA Member Directory entry for accuracy and current information (found at http://www.ioba.org/php/members.php). Any corrections or updates should be sent by email to membershipinfo@ioba.org. (And for our internal records, please provide us with your Business Registration Number such as Tax Resale Number, EIN, local business license, VAT, UTR, GST, etc. if we do not have that on file already.) If you are not currently displaying your Preferred Primary bookselling website, please provide the URL web address for your Member Directory entry, for all to see (and shop). Thanks for your continuing support. We look forward to another great year for our growing trade association. Phil Keener and Shawn Purcell, Membership Co-chairs |
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1st June 2010 On behalf of IOBA, today I sent the following letter of concern re: Amazon.uk’s Price Parity Policy to these government offices and representatives:
Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to you on behalf of the Independent Online Booksellers’ Association (IOBA) to express our concern about recent moves by Amazon to force independent booksellers to set prices on Amazon’s UK, French and German websites equal to or lower than on any other sites which sellers use to sell their books. The IOBA believes Amazon’s demands for ‘price parity’ to be an anti-competitive measure by the dominant online marketplace for new and used books designed to undermine smaller competitor websites and even independent booksellers’ own websites. The IOBA is an organization which represents more than 250 independent online booksellers around the world. While the majority of our members are based in the US, we currently have about 20 members based in the UK, France and Germany who are directly affected by Amazon’s latest policy change. The IOBA also runs IOBAbooks – one of the small aggregator websites which are likely to be adversely affected by this move. By way of background, Amazon’s Marketplace is an aggregator website through which thousands of independent businesses (including booksellers) can offer their goods for sale to the general public. In this latest policy change, Amazon have contacted independent sellers using their UK, French and German websites and said that any items they have for sale on Amazon must be sold at the same price or cheaper on Amazon than they are sold on any other website including booksellers’ own websites. This policy change has been backed up with a threat to ban any seller who fails to comply from selling on Amazon’s sites. Most independent online booksellers sell their books on several different websites to generate sufficient sales. These often include aggregator sites like Amazon, Alibris, Biblio etc and, in many cases, their own independent websites. However, for many sellers, Amazon – as the largest and best known marketplace of its kind – generates a significant proportion of their income. Aggregator sites usually generate income by charging booksellers commission on any sales generated through their sites and, in some cases, from monthly subscriptions. A typical ‘Pro-Merchant’ subscription to use Amazon’s UK website for instance costs £25 per month plus commission on any sales made. This means that the costs faced by many booksellers to sell books via Amazon are often higher than on many other websites and often substantially higher than selling books through their own independent websites. However, under Amazon’s new policy, booksellers are forbidden from reflecting those differences in costs by pricing items cheaper on websites on which they are charged less to list their books. In addition, under this policy, booksellers would be forbidden from, for instance, having a 25% off sale on books on their own independent website as this would breach Amazon’s price parity ruling and risk the seller being thrown off Amazon and hence losing a substantial proportion of their income. It seems to us here at the IOBA that Amazon’s policy of forcing sellers to reflect the higher costs involved in listing items for sale on Amazon across all websites is likely to be bad for book-buyers by generally increasing the cost of books, and is likely to be particularly damaging to smaller, cheaper aggregator site competitors to Amazon’s market dominance. This policy also removes the freedom from independent booksellers to set the prices that they want for books on their own independent websites and, as highlighted above, to offer sales and other special offers to their own customers on their own websites. As a result, the IOBA believes that this latest move by Amazon is dangerously anti-competitive, designed to use its market dominance to undermine smaller competitors and independent booksellers and will inevitably lead to a worse deal for book buyers. Hence the IOBA would like to call on the relevant authorities in the UK, France, Germany and the European Union to examine this latest move by Amazon with a view to ruling on the legitimacy of the site to use its market dominance in this way. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to read this letter. If you have any further questions then please feel free to contact me at this email address. Yours faithfully, |
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05/27/10 The IOBA Tagline Contest results are in!We have a winner: "The books you want...from booksellers you can trust" The Grand Prize-$250 gift certificate goes to Eric Mayer, http://www.bluebirdbooks.com/ Other creative entrants won the following: 2nd Prize - $100 gift certificate goes to Catherine Petruccione, http://www.oldscrolls.com/ 3rd Prize - $50 gift certificate goes to Leigh Holleschau http://www.highcastlebooks.com/ 3 Honorable Mention winners will each receive an IOBA mug: Harvey Bridgers, http://www.rarebargainreaders.com/ Joan White, http://www.whiteunicornbooks.com/ Larry Ewing, http://www.barbarossabooks.com/ The Board wishes to recognize our Contest Czarina, Jan Roulstone of Quibble Books, for organizing a fun and well run event. Thanks also to her colleagues on the PR Committee for their contributions. And to all of you who participated by entering the contest, thank you. We appreciate your continuing support for IOBA. |
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05/11/10 Welcome to New Members – First Quarter 2010Book Hunter's HolidayChris Lowenstein 3182 Campus Drive #205 San Mateo, California 94403 USA Telephone: 415-307-1046 Email: chris@bookhuntersholiday.com Website: http://www.bookhuntersholiday.com Specialties: Dante Alighieri; Western Americana bookbomb.com James W. Kay PO Box 22913 Sacramento, California 95822 USA Telephone: 916-849-9248 Email: bookbomb@att.net Website: http://bookbomb.com Specialties: Children's Illustrated and Series Books; Western Americana; Military; Photographs and Ephemera Carefully Selected Books Teresa Rollings 3755 Avocado Boulevard, No. 235 La Mesa, California 91941 USA Telephone: 619-564-4045 Email: teresa@carefullyselectedbooks.com Website: http://www.carefullyselectedbooks.com Specialties: Contemporary Novels; First Editions; Children's; History Hang Fire Books William E. Smith 385 Argyle Road, Apt 6D Brooklyn, New York 11218 USA Telephone: 646-450-6537 Email: hangfirebooks@gmail.com Website: http://hangfirebooks.blogspot.com Specialties: Pulp Fiction / Vintage Paperbacks; Mystery; Fantasy / SF; Comics / Graphic Novels John Howell for Books John Howell 5205 1/2 Village Green Los Angeles, California 90016 USA Telephone: 310-367-9720 Email: kjrhowell@mac.com Website: http://www.abebooks.com/50713969/sf Specialties: Academic/Scholarly Books; California History; Fine Press Stick Figure Books, LLC David Prendergast 624 Stone Canyon Circle Inverness, Illinois 60010 USA Telephone: 847-713-2496 Email: info@stickfigurebooks.com Website: http://www.stickfigurebooks.com Specialties: General Stock The Book Faerie Jo Ann Hakola 4225 Harrison St Las Cruces, New Mexico 88005 USA Telephone: 575-647-9091 Email: bkfae@q.com Website: http://www.bookfaerie.com Specialties: Americana - Western History; Crafts; Children's Books The Paperback Exchange Elaine McFarland 3015 Susan Circle Oceanside, California 92056 USA Telephone: 760-310-4982 Email: mcfarfam2003@yahoo.com Website: http://www.alibris.com/stores/mcfarfam Specialties: Romance/Romantic Suspense/Paranormal; Mystery/Suspense/Science Fiction; Harlequin/Silhouette Series; Self-Help/Political Rhetoric |
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04/08/10 IOBAbooks.com Joins Marelibri.comBooklovers and collectors across Europe and throughout the world will have a greater choice of high quality used and antiquarian books than ever before after a historic link-up between the world’s only dedicated online booksellers’ association and the European-based Marelibri.com association. The Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA) has joined forces with Marelibri.com to promote the importance of high quality, professional independent online bookselling. Most importantly, the link-up means that all the books listed by IOBA members on IOBAbooks.com will now be available through the Marelibri.com portal. This will be facilitated by IOBAbooks.com’s website host, Biblio.com. The IOBA, founded in 1999, is the only booksellers’ trade association focused solely on independent online sellers of modern, used and antiquarian books. The organisation, which now has over 250 professional bookseller members from North America, Europe, Africa and Australasia, is dedicated to promoting the highest ethical standards of online bookselling among its members. Marelibri.com was born in 2007 and has quickly become one of the largest European sites for used, antiquarian and modern books with more than 80 million books available from thousands of international independent booksellers. IOBAbooks.com Committee Chairman Phil Keener said: “This link-up between the IOBA and Marelibri.com gives bookbuyers and collectors, particularly those in Europe, access to a greater choice of high quality used and antiquarian books than ever before. “Both organisations are totally dedicated to ensuring that the online bookbuying experience is as safe and fulfilling as possible for customers throughout Europe and the rest of the world by promoting trust between customers and booksellers by providing a safe online environment for the sale and purchase of books.†Marelibri.com President Dr. Sergio Malavasi said: “We are proud to announce that another web site, IOBAbooks.com, has joined the Marelibri platform. IOBA is an independent association that, like our other partners, only offers books from professional booksellers. It is now possible to browse through more than 80 million books from 10 web sites on Marelibri.†|
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03/29/10 Annual IOBA Scholarship ContestThe Independent Online Booksellers Association is offering two scholarships this year. IOBA awards these scholarships to support the professional development of member booksellers, and to strengthen the greater book trade community. We believe that a well-educated, well-informed, and ethical bookseller is a credit to the trade and to IOBA. One scholarship is restricted to the 2010 Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar, to be held in Colorado Springs USA from August 8-13, 2010 (http://www.bookseminars.com/). The second scholarship may be used for CABS 2010, or for one of these other opportunities: Rare Book School: http://www.rarebookschool.org California Rare Book School: http://calrbs.org/index.html In order to allow time for the RBS and CALRBS admissions process, a scholarship awarded to one of these schools is valid until December 31st 2011. Each IOBA Scholarship is for tuition plus up to $400 for expenses. Non-North American winners will receive an additional $500 travel stipend. Contest Rules
Submission by email to scholarshipcontest@ioba.org |
03/01/10 Introducing IOBA's 11th Anniversary Membership Contest - the biggest contest membership contest we've ever had (also the first....)! A bit of background: Back in the old days (1999), when IOBA was first founded, almost all of the members "knew" other IOBA members, many from participating in the various listservs, and IOBA grew by word-of-mouth, as one member recommended IOBA to another bookseller. However, as the years went by, and IOBA grew in total numbers, the procedures for handling membership didn't keep pace. We had members who never received renewal notices, others who applied and their applications got lost, and more. In the past couple of years, these administrative problems have been dramatically improved. The membership committee is a well oiled machine and ready for more applications! The bottom line is that if IOBA is truly going to be an influential voice for online booksellers, it needs to grow. We currently have fewer than 250 members: with just 500 (that is, if each existing member just referred ONE new member) we would really be able to be a factor in online selling. Right now the majority of our new applications are coming from newer booksellers who have "heard" about IOBA. But they don't always meet IOBA's standards. Often they need mentoring before being accepted, or they rely too much on automated listing and pricing, or they don't even qualify at all. ALL of us in IOBA, I am sure, know some "good to great" booksellers whom we would be proud to have as fellow members. So this contest has been devised as a fun and rewarding way to encourage our members to go back to old-fashioned personal recommendations as a recruiting tool for IOBA. Rules are simple:
All accepted new applicants will get FREE MEMBERSHIP for the balance of this year, so the dues of $50 will cover the rest of this year and the entire 2010-2011 year (that is, through July 31, 2011.) Please be sure to review the Standards for New Members at http://ioba.org/app.html in order to understand what the Membership Committee looks for in accepting new applicants. Officers of IOBA are not eligible for any prizes (although we will still participate). Other Board members and members of the Membership Committee are eligible to earn free dues, but not the Grand Prize or other prizes. Contest starts immediately and ends June 30, 2010 (that is, only applications received by that date will count). This will allow for an additional two weeks to complete processing the applications. The awards will be announced on or about July 15. The full rules will be posted on line at http://ioba.org/new.html, and as questions are asked, we can add a list of FAQs as necessary - I will also start a thread on the discuss list for questions, sharing ideas and more. Chris VolkVice-President and Membership Contest Chair |
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