1Neil_Luvs_Books
I had never heard of this phenomenon until I read this post on the Zubal Books website: https://www.zubalbooks.com/article-bookjacking.jsp
Have any of you ever come across this? I appreciate the lengthy list of bookjacker vendors that Zubal supplies in the article.
Have any of you ever come across this? I appreciate the lengthy list of bookjacker vendors that Zubal supplies in the article.
2treereader
It's definitely been a problem for a while. Their explanation is a little muddy when the additional bookjackers are brought in, though. If the algorithms are all programmed to look for single-instance copies, then once the initial bookjacker posts its inflated copy, the others should back off. I suspect that either a single bookjacker ends up being responsible for multiple new instances (self-competition, all inflated), or that the algorithms don't limit their scope to single-instance copies. Given how long the problem has existed, I can only presume that the algorithms are much more advanced now and single-instance bookjacking is old-hat.
Knowing your market and understanding your true need versus the book's real value helps a lot. Avoiding books without images knocks most of them out right away. I suspect that the reason why legitimate sellers place codes or their seller name in their images is to minimize bookjacking image copying. Despite the advice against generic naming and descriptions, I have definitely bought books with such naming that turned out alright in terms of condition and pricing. Though, I'll admit, that list is heavier on the math/engineering/science reference book side of things than the EP side of things.
Zubal is a cool little shop. I think its proximity to a research-focused university and several research-engaged hospitals allowed it specialize in the same, amassing a lot of math, science, and engineering books. I was always surprised to find them offering the odd assortment of EP and similar books.
Knowing your market and understanding your true need versus the book's real value helps a lot. Avoiding books without images knocks most of them out right away. I suspect that the reason why legitimate sellers place codes or their seller name in their images is to minimize bookjacking image copying. Despite the advice against generic naming and descriptions, I have definitely bought books with such naming that turned out alright in terms of condition and pricing. Though, I'll admit, that list is heavier on the math/engineering/science reference book side of things than the EP side of things.
Zubal is a cool little shop. I think its proximity to a research-focused university and several research-engaged hospitals allowed it specialize in the same, amassing a lot of math, science, and engineering books. I was always surprised to find them offering the odd assortment of EP and similar books.
3astropi
Yes, there was a discussion on bookjacking a year or so ago, I believe on the fine press forum. Possibly Folio forum... it's basically scalping but arguably more sophisticated, or at any rate, more modern.
4Neil_Luvs_Books
Thanks for the responses!
5EPsonNY
>2 treereader: >3 astropi: Scalping or "charging prices far in excess of the original issue prices" still involves physically having the items in stock or in hand whereas bookjacking does not.
Bookjacking, term that Zubal brothers invented, is nothing more than sophisticated algorithm-driven drop shipping. There are countless bookjackers on Amazon and they keep changing their monikers, so avoiding them is difficult. Their fancy software seems to feed content from different selling platforms so an Amazon bookjacker may be selling at inflated prices items from eBay, AbeBooks or Biblio or vice versa. Great example of a bookjacker is Zuber on eBay who does not stock any items, but simply drop ships them from sellers on other platforms. Zuber is is no way associated with Zubal and should be avoided at all cost! Zuber's items can be found on other selling platforms, mostly Amazon or AbeBooks, for 50%-75% less!
I believe there are no limitations on how many bookjackers can feed off one genuine listing. What makes matters worse on Amazon is Amazon's own pricing or auto-pricing algorithm, which may automatically lower new kid's on the block price by a few pennies to undercut the first bookjacker's price. It would seem to be a reason why when one genuine listing actually sells several of the bookjackers under the same posting/link separated by few cent price difference disappear from Amazon all at once.
Recent proliferation of drop shippers on various selling platforms makes me check every item on Amazon. Some less intelligent drop shippers actually display item/product numbers or Amazon photos, which makes the items easier to find on Amazon. Amazon is clearly not interested in stamping out the drop shippers as in extreme cases when both the genuine item and drop-shipped item originate on Amazon, they get paid in fees on both occasions...
Bookjacking, term that Zubal brothers invented, is nothing more than sophisticated algorithm-driven drop shipping. There are countless bookjackers on Amazon and they keep changing their monikers, so avoiding them is difficult. Their fancy software seems to feed content from different selling platforms so an Amazon bookjacker may be selling at inflated prices items from eBay, AbeBooks or Biblio or vice versa. Great example of a bookjacker is Zuber on eBay who does not stock any items, but simply drop ships them from sellers on other platforms. Zuber is is no way associated with Zubal and should be avoided at all cost! Zuber's items can be found on other selling platforms, mostly Amazon or AbeBooks, for 50%-75% less!
I believe there are no limitations on how many bookjackers can feed off one genuine listing. What makes matters worse on Amazon is Amazon's own pricing or auto-pricing algorithm, which may automatically lower new kid's on the block price by a few pennies to undercut the first bookjacker's price. It would seem to be a reason why when one genuine listing actually sells several of the bookjackers under the same posting/link separated by few cent price difference disappear from Amazon all at once.
Recent proliferation of drop shippers on various selling platforms makes me check every item on Amazon. Some less intelligent drop shippers actually display item/product numbers or Amazon photos, which makes the items easier to find on Amazon. Amazon is clearly not interested in stamping out the drop shippers as in extreme cases when both the genuine item and drop-shipped item originate on Amazon, they get paid in fees on both occasions...
6treereader
>5 EPsonNY:
Good point on dropshipping. There's nothing inherently illegal about dropshipping - for a lot of businesses, it's the only way to get product from a warehouse or distribution center to their customer, so it's both legitimate and expected (think large/heavy items).
I think you're right about Amazon not putting much effort into mitigating the problem. If it's easy enough to write bookjacking algorithms and automate dropshipping, it should be pretty darn easy for a company with that many resources and with that much expertise in the relevant technology to virtually eliminate the behavior. The same automatically applies to Amazon's sub-companies, like Abe, as well as other large companies like eBay. Perhaps the issue is one of motivation. Are any of these marketplaces losing business or risking lawsuits by ignoring the issue?
Good point on dropshipping. There's nothing inherently illegal about dropshipping - for a lot of businesses, it's the only way to get product from a warehouse or distribution center to their customer, so it's both legitimate and expected (think large/heavy items).
I think you're right about Amazon not putting much effort into mitigating the problem. If it's easy enough to write bookjacking algorithms and automate dropshipping, it should be pretty darn easy for a company with that many resources and with that much expertise in the relevant technology to virtually eliminate the behavior. The same automatically applies to Amazon's sub-companies, like Abe, as well as other large companies like eBay. Perhaps the issue is one of motivation. Are any of these marketplaces losing business or risking lawsuits by ignoring the issue?
7jroger1
How is this different from a detergent-maker (analogous to the original book owner) selling his product to a wholesaler (the book shop owner) who then distributes it to various retailers (the bookjackers), who then slap widely divergent prices on the product? Such a practice isn’t really unethical, is it? The detergent-maker (original owner) gets his money, the wholesaler (the original used book dealer) gets his money, and so do the retailers (the bookjackers). In both cases it is the customer who is responsible for doing some comparison shopping.
8treereader
>7 jroger1:
I think the difference there is that the detergent maker has established business relationships with the various wholesalers. Such a producer, in the modern age, would also likely stipulate that the wholesaler could not further modify the formulation, branding, or packaging without consent. Moreover, if the detergent maker caught wind of any breach of contract by a wholesaler, they would be able to cut the wholesaler off.
In bookjacking, the original seller often has no idea that their book has been relisted and some might even misidentify their relisted book as a unique competitor and change their pricing strategy. If a seller figured out they were being bookjacked, the best they could do is completely change their listing (a temporary solution) or contact each of the marketplaces in which they found the copy and report (with little proof) that certain listings are fake.
I think the difference there is that the detergent maker has established business relationships with the various wholesalers. Such a producer, in the modern age, would also likely stipulate that the wholesaler could not further modify the formulation, branding, or packaging without consent. Moreover, if the detergent maker caught wind of any breach of contract by a wholesaler, they would be able to cut the wholesaler off.
In bookjacking, the original seller often has no idea that their book has been relisted and some might even misidentify their relisted book as a unique competitor and change their pricing strategy. If a seller figured out they were being bookjacked, the best they could do is completely change their listing (a temporary solution) or contact each of the marketplaces in which they found the copy and report (with little proof) that certain listings are fake.
9EPsonNY
>7 jroger1: Detergent may not be the best example as it is a mass produced, pretty much identical item. 92 oz. bottle of Tide sold at Walmart is the same as the one at Target or one sold on Amazon whereas out-of-print rare and collectible books are pretty much never identical. They vary in condition to the extent that small differences in the shape of the dust jacket, binding, pages etc. may make a huge difference in price be it to a collector or an institution like a museum.
As treereader noted, in case of bookjacking original owner has no clue to what extent his/her listing has been misidentified by the bookjacker. There is also most likely no way to figure it out as the only connection that exists is in the bookjacker's software. Asking for additional photos may also not be as conclusive as bookjackers can lift these from the original listings. If the photos come in an unusual format or size; however, I would consider it suspicious.
As treereader noted, in case of bookjacking original owner has no clue to what extent his/her listing has been misidentified by the bookjacker. There is also most likely no way to figure it out as the only connection that exists is in the bookjacker's software. Asking for additional photos may also not be as conclusive as bookjackers can lift these from the original listings. If the photos come in an unusual format or size; however, I would consider it suspicious.
10jroger1
>8 treereader: “Some might even misidentify their relisted book as a unique competitor.”
Such a practice would constitute false advertising and would certainly be unethical as well as illegal.
>8 treereader: “If a seller figured out they were being bookjacked, the best they could do is completely change their listing (a temporary solution) or contact each of the marketplaces in which they found the copy and report (with little proof) that certain listings are fake.”
Unless the bookjackers are doing something like lying as described above, why would the original listers object? The listers have their money and might even owe a debt of gratitude to the bookjackers for helping to sell their books.
Such a practice would constitute false advertising and would certainly be unethical as well as illegal.
>8 treereader: “If a seller figured out they were being bookjacked, the best they could do is completely change their listing (a temporary solution) or contact each of the marketplaces in which they found the copy and report (with little proof) that certain listings are fake.”
Unless the bookjackers are doing something like lying as described above, why would the original listers object? The listers have their money and might even owe a debt of gratitude to the bookjackers for helping to sell their books.
11abysswalker
>8 treereader: "the best they could do is completely change their listing"
Probably better would be to maintain listings on all the major platforms. The only reason bookjacking works as a business strategy is arbitrage: taking advantage of pricing differences between markets (platforms, in this case). If a seller sets the same price for the item on all platforms, there is no information asymmetry to exploit.
Probably better would be to maintain listings on all the major platforms. The only reason bookjacking works as a business strategy is arbitrage: taking advantage of pricing differences between markets (platforms, in this case). If a seller sets the same price for the item on all platforms, there is no information asymmetry to exploit.
12EPsonNY
>11 abysswalker: On Amazon it is a bit more complicated. New master listing requests often get approved for books without ISBNs with bookjackers misrepresenting facts about the books. This leads to multiple master listings for the same title where the only difference may be the cover material or illustrator's name in the title.
If Amazon manipulates search findings to promote more expensive listings or if a buyer looking for something particular simply finds the bookjacker's listing first, the existence of a less expensive but genuine listing may never even register on the buyer's radar...
On eBay, one particular seller stands out by making every single Easton Press title 1st Edition 1st Printing in his opinion worth up to several times more than other identical copies available for sale on the same platform. Based on the sheer number of listings he has for sale, it is very likely that he also is a bookjacker... Despite multitude of information from other sellers including pictures of copyright pages, he still manages to sell EP's 1st/1st of To Kill a Mockingbird or The Brothers Karamazov for $300+...
If Amazon manipulates search findings to promote more expensive listings or if a buyer looking for something particular simply finds the bookjacker's listing first, the existence of a less expensive but genuine listing may never even register on the buyer's radar...
On eBay, one particular seller stands out by making every single Easton Press title 1st Edition 1st Printing in his opinion worth up to several times more than other identical copies available for sale on the same platform. Based on the sheer number of listings he has for sale, it is very likely that he also is a bookjacker... Despite multitude of information from other sellers including pictures of copyright pages, he still manages to sell EP's 1st/1st of To Kill a Mockingbird or The Brothers Karamazov for $300+...
13Neil_Luvs_Books
So the thing to do is to keep track of reputable book resellers such Zubal Books, Books From California, or Xochi’s Bookstore & Gallery. Of course there are many others. Those are just the three that came to my mind…
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