E-commerce

To encourage bookstores not currently using the IndieCommerce platform to give it a try, ABA is offering a special six-month promotion as well as a chance to win an entire free year.

At last week’s Winter Institute, Civic Economics and ABA released a groundbreaking new study, “Amazon and Empty Storefronts,” which details the overall negative impact that Amazon has had on Main Street retailers and jobs, and the communities in which they are located, across the country.

A recently updated study by Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business drives home the point that the competitive advantage Amazon gained from not charging sales tax was as significant as Main Street retailers claimed — if not more so.

Groups representing booksellers and authors joined in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, December 2, to urge the court to review a lower court decision that found Apple violated antitrust law by conspiring to influence e-book pricing.

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On Tuesday, October 27, ABA launched a test designed to increase traffic to member stores — and to their e-commerce websites — by improving the online shopping experience for an initial purchase on IndieBound.org.

The September 9 edition of IndieCommunication provides details about new staff training options; features recently added to the Drupal platform; Authorize.net security updates; and maintenance to the IndieCommerce platform.

The August 24 edition of the IndieCommunication newsletter provides information on recent work to stabilize the IndieCommerce platform, the launch of new features, upcoming training videos and webinars, and changes to the store location display and to security.

Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the Authors Guild, discusses the organization’s support for the Authors United appeal to the Department of Justice to investigate Amazon’s “abuse of its dominance in the world of books.”

This August, TJ Rayhill, a 19-year-old college student, will open Dog-Eared Books in Campbellsville, Kentucky. The used bookstore also sells new books online and offers an online college textbook rental service.

On Monday, June 15, Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Steve Womack (R-AR) joined with a bipartisan group of legislators to introduce the Remote Transactions Parity Act, a bill that gives states the authority to require remote sellers doing $10 million or more in gross annual receipts to collect and remit sales tax to the states.

On June 8, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, a bill that would both permanently prohibit states from taxing access to the Internet and prohibit taxes on bandwidth and e-mail, according to media reports. 

Amazon began collecting sales tax on purchases made by Ohio residents on Monday, June 1; however, the decision to collect is part of deal to build data centers in the state that includes millions in tax subsidies, as well as land and tax deals.

Award winners: Firecracker Awards, Horn Book Awards; BISG names new executive director; Amazon changes revenue reporting in several EU countries; WNDB partners with YA Runs a 5K

ABA is urging booksellers to follow up a letter sent by B&N CEO Michael P. Huseby and ABA CEO Oren Teicher to Ohio Gov. John Kasich with their own letters calling for an e-fairness solution in the state.