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Articles - April - 2007 Issue

New Service for Booksellers -- BuyBundle

- by Carl Burnham

BuyBundle offers to promote books on the internet.

BuyBundle offers to promote books on the internet.


By Carl Burnham

Since January 2007, we at SouthpointBooks have been using a new service called BuyBundle. Whether books, audio, software, or videos, listings are free, and items are also listed through the new Google Base. If an Amazon Marketplace seller, inventory is synchronized automatically between Amazon and Google Base. When a book is sold, a 10 percent commission is charged, and payments are made via Paypal.

Recently, I had the opportunity to discuss with Venkatesh Akella, co-founder of BuyBundle, their new service and how it benefits booksellers.

1. Please elaborate on how BuyBundle came into being and the unique aspects of your service.

BuyBundle is the result of technology and ideas that we have been developing and refining over the past many months to create a better marketplace. The unique aspect of BuyBundle is its ability to take advantage of the integration of search engines with product catalogs, as we are seeing with Google base. This changes the traditional marketplace and comparison shopping game. We hope to make it possible for our sellers to easily build a strong relationship with their online customers

2. Do the founders have a background as booksellers?

Founders have sold books occasionally but they do not have a background in bookselling. We know technology and we will work with our sellers to build all the right features to deliver sales to them and value to the customer. We encourage our sellers to share with us what they would like this marketplace to look like.

3. How many sellers are you averaging now?

We are very pleased with our success, support and encouragement that we have had over the last 3 months of launching our service. We have hundreds of sellers that are in the marketplace and giving us their valuable insights to make it a better place.

4. What about allowing for the hosting of book images for older, non-ISBN books?

We are constantly looking to expand the capabilities of our platform. The above would be examples of features that we will introduce over time.

Rare Book Monthly

  • ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections
    Open for Bidding 2-17 April
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.

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