On Monday, the New York Times ran an op-ed by Richard Russo, who, along with several other bestselling authors, criticized Amazon’s new price check app.

This week, the American Booksellers Association announced the launch of a beta version wish list for IndieCommerce sites.

ABA CEO Oren Teicher has written an open letter to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos that highlights the glaring discrepancy between the company’s recent statements in support of sales tax fairness and Amazon’s latest exploitation of an inequitable strategic advantage.

On Wednesday, November 30, the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing to discuss the authority of states to collect sales tax on online purchases.

At press time, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue issued a regulatory bulletin stipulating that, under current sales tax law, remote retailers that have warehouse facilities or online affiliates in Pennsylvania have nexus in the state.

Big or small, three years old or 100-plus, many independent bookstores reported robust sales for Black Friday weekend, ranging from five to 250 percent over the same period last year.

With the completion last week of IndieCommerce’s pre-holiday upgrades, booksellers have a new set of tools to drive sales between their bricks-and-mortar and online stores and customers have an easier shopping experience.

Both the U.S. Senate’s Marketplace Fairness Act and the House’s Marketplace Equity Act, which would provide states with the authority to require remote sellers to collect and remit sales tax in the state, include small-seller exemptions.

Next week, just in time for Halloween, Sourcebooks’ promo on paranormal romances and Unbridled’s sale on Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius kick in.

ABA announced this week that it is inviting independent association executives and independent business advocacy groups and their members to Washington, D.C., to advocate on behalf of a national sales tax fairness solution.