8 ms·

Book Depository will be closing on 26 April 2023

68 points by taubek 4y ago

ranguna 4y ago
They didn't answer one of the most important questions. Why?
- vasco 4y ago
  The business is so profitable they can't handle all the cash or have a place to store it.
  - input_sh 4y ago
    It's owned by Amazon, despite it not being mentioned anywhere on the website.
- dalai 4y ago
  Amazon cutbacks according to this: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/04/amazon-to-close-book-depository-online-shop https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/04/amazon-to-clos...
  - kristopolous 4y ago
    It might be a good move for Amazon to roll up retail and just do cloud stuff. That's supposedly where all the money's at. It'd probably improve their balance sheet and public image.
    - urthor 4y ago
      Not at all. Amazon's edge is the cross sell. The Amazon brand is known worldwide because of the retail. The retail business is an extremely valuable behemoth.
max23_ 4y ago
Related discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35439673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35439673
input_sh 4y ago
This is absolutely devastating news in my circle of friends. It was the only remotely affordable place to order physical books from. Amazon proper charges $60+ for delivery regardless of the item's price. It is going to be signifantly harded for me to expand my library in the future.
- haser_au 4y ago
  You know they're owned by Amazon, right? This move will drive more traffic to Amazon, unfortunately. I feel for you and your friends. It truly was disruptive when BD launched, and made such an impact on the book scene. Sad day.
  - input_sh 4y ago
    > This move will drive more traffic to Amazon, unfortunately. No it won't, at least not from my entire country. BD: You pay $20-$40 for a book. It gets delivered to your door (mostly, after a period so long you forget which book you even ordered). You pay a tiny fixed local import tax (around $1). Amazon.com: You pay $20-$40 for a book + $49.95 fixed delivery fee + ~$15 for "taxes and import duties". I have never purchased a physical item from Amazon.com because of those fees. I have ordered dozens of books from BD, aware that it's owned by Amazon, because it was at a price I'm willing to pay for a book. I will continue not buying from Amazon.com because it's way above my price range (or really anyone's) for a physical book.
- EliRivers 4y ago
  I note that Wordery still does free international shipping, although I found that BD often came out cheaper and Wordery's range is lesser. Whenever I buy a book (which happens on the order of about once a week, so a fairly regular check of suppliers) I check a half dozen places, including BD, Wordery, Amazon, abebooks, alibris, booksplease, thriftbooks and booksetc.co.uk and of course ebay; at various times, each of those has been the cheapest option, including shipping (where BD and Wordery, with their free shipping, had a big advantage because of that). BD founded by someone who used to work for amazon; Wordery founded by someone who used to work for BD. Maybe this is Wordery's big chance.
adamquek 4y ago
Oh no. One less place that I can shop my books from. It's one of the rare sellers that doesn't charge for international postage. And I will miss the way the rare books can be found easily from Book depository. Wonder if there are any good alternatives for non-fiction titles and medical technology textbooks.
- xoac 4y ago
  They do charge you but it's included in the price they show you
database_lost 4y ago
What a (terrible) slashing streak for Amazon: first DPReview, now this...
mg 4y ago
What are some good alternatives? I have long thought to add a book search to my semi-popular Gnod literature projects (https://www.gnooks.com https://www.gnooks.com and https://www.literature-map.com https://www.literature-map.com). But I always thought everybody is only buying at Amazon anyhow. Interesting to see the closing of a book shop on the front page of HN. If there is a list of interesting alternatives, I will add them to this new book search page: https://www.gnod.com/search/books https://www.gnod.com/search/books
- agilob 4y ago
  https://booksplea.se/ https://booksplea.se/
  - mg 4y ago
    Added
- tgv 4y ago
  There are second hand book markets online as well. I'm just not sure of their status. https://www.abebooks.com/ https://www.abebooks.com/, https://www.alibris.com/ https://www.alibris.com/
  - mg 4y ago
    Added. What do you mean by "their status"?
    - tgv 4y ago
      How independent they are, or how wide their search goes. As has been pointed out in another reply, abebooks is apparently owned by Amazon.
  - jfk13 4y ago
    Abebooks, at least, was bought by Amazon some years ago.
- 4y ago
nunodonato 4y ago
One more reason to hate Amazon. Thanks
- coolandsmartrr 4y ago
  I hope they don't do the same with Abebooks.
  - jesterson 4y ago
    Just matter of time
    - tablespoon 4y ago
      Amazon continuing to operate Abebooks lets them keep substantial control over the online used book market in the US. I'm not familiar with Book Depository, but if they close Abebooks I think it would open up space for a new competitor in the book space.
      - nunodonato 4y ago
        > Amazon continuing to operate Abebooks lets them keep substantial control over exactly same thing when they acquired Book Depository
crywas 4y ago
[flagged]
liendolucas 4y ago
Does anyone honestly believe the cutback story? My biggest fear is that starting to purchase elsewhere I could get counterfeit copies, it is well known that you can get counterfeit books even ordering from Amazon. I've bought a lot of books from Book Depository, not only for their prices but also because I got genuine book copies delivered to my door. I also appreciate Book Depository's straightforward checkout not forcing you to create an account to buy books. For sure I didn't see this one coming...
- politelemon 4y ago
  Believe it's due to cutbacks? Yes. Believe the motivation behind cutbacks? Never, FAANG is motivated by greed, so it is incentivized to lie regarding the reasoning.
rvz 4y ago
Who? Anyways, I heard a website called Amazon.com sells great books...
- pas 4y ago
  Amazon acquired it years ago.
  - rvz 4y ago
    Exactly. Amazon doesn't need it anymore, and almost no-one knows what this site is. Amazon.com is where the books are.
- EliRivers 4y ago
  I heard that they're often not as cheap as BookDepository, that they don't have free international shipping (which can really push the price up), and that people sometimes receive counterfeit books.
yarinr 4y ago
That's a shame, Book Depository has been godsend with their reasonably-priced international delivery... They will be missed :(
deviantbit 4y ago
I didn't even know about this site. This stinks.
iLoveOncall 4y ago
I checked a few books from the homepage. All more expensive by a few pounds than the competition. Physical book stores where you get at least some value out of speaking to someone can afford to charge a little bit more, but an online store that is more expensive than Amazon is doomed to fail.
cryptos 4y ago
I see a pattern here ... (recent kill of dpreview comes to mind). Maybe entrepreneurs should value freedom and independence more. If the owners of dpreview and Book Depository wouldn't have sold their business to amazon, then maybe both would be still around for a long time. Don't blame Amazon, blame the former owners. Btw.: A topic in DHH's book "Rework" is the actual goal and value of a company. It is a good read.
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > If the owners of dpreview and Book Depository wouldn't have sold their business to amazon, then maybe both would be still around for a long time. Don't blame Amazon, blame the former owners. That's a bizarre and kinda awful sentiment. If we're going to focus on absolving Amazon, we might as well just reach for the standard cop-out of blaming consumers.
freefaler 4y ago
There is a very good search engine for second hand books: https://www.bookfinder.com/ https://www.bookfinder.com/ If you're not from US and you don't need physical books buy a used one, deliver it to a book scanning service like https://1dollarscan.com/ https://1dollarscan.com/ (used them for several books recently) And for 30-40 USD (or even less) you'll get a scanned version.

68 points by taubek 4y ago

ranguna 4y ago

They didn't answer one of the most important questions. Why?

vasco 4y ago
The business is so profitable they can't handle all the cash or have a place to store it.
- input_sh 4y ago
  It's owned by Amazon, despite it not being mentioned anywhere on the website.
dalai 4y ago
Amazon cutbacks according to this: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/04/amazon-to-close-book-depository-online-shop https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/04/amazon-to-clos...
- kristopolous 4y ago
  It might be a good move for Amazon to roll up retail and just do cloud stuff. That's supposedly where all the money's at. It'd probably improve their balance sheet and public image.
  - urthor 4y ago
    Not at all. Amazon's edge is the cross sell. The Amazon brand is known worldwide because of the retail. The retail business is an extremely valuable behemoth.

max23_ 4y ago

Related discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35439673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35439673

input_sh 4y ago

This is absolutely devastating news in my circle of friends. It was the only remotely affordable place to order physical books from. Amazon proper charges $60+ for delivery regardless of the item's price. It is going to be signifantly harded for me to expand my library in the future.

haser_au 4y ago
You know they're owned by Amazon, right? This move will drive more traffic to Amazon, unfortunately. I feel for you and your friends. It truly was disruptive when BD launched, and made such an impact on the book scene. Sad day.
- input_sh 4y ago
  > This move will drive more traffic to Amazon, unfortunately. No it won't, at least not from my entire country. BD: You pay $20-$40 for a book. It gets delivered to your door (mostly, after a period so long you forget which book you even ordered). You pay a tiny fixed local import tax (around $1). Amazon.com: You pay $20-$40 for a book + $49.95 fixed delivery fee + ~$15 for "taxes and import duties". I have never purchased a physical item from Amazon.com because of those fees. I have ordered dozens of books from BD, aware that it's owned by Amazon, because it was at a price I'm willing to pay for a book. I will continue not buying from Amazon.com because it's way above my price range (or really anyone's) for a physical book.
EliRivers 4y ago
I note that Wordery still does free international shipping, although I found that BD often came out cheaper and Wordery's range is lesser. Whenever I buy a book (which happens on the order of about once a week, so a fairly regular check of suppliers) I check a half dozen places, including BD, Wordery, Amazon, abebooks, alibris, booksplease, thriftbooks and booksetc.co.uk and of course ebay; at various times, each of those has been the cheapest option, including shipping (where BD and Wordery, with their free shipping, had a big advantage because of that). BD founded by someone who used to work for amazon; Wordery founded by someone who used to work for BD. Maybe this is Wordery's big chance.

adamquek 4y ago

Oh no. One less place that I can shop my books from. It's one of the rare sellers that doesn't charge for international postage. And I will miss the way the rare books can be found easily from Book depository. Wonder if there are any good alternatives for non-fiction titles and medical technology textbooks.

xoac 4y ago
They do charge you but it's included in the price they show you

database_lost 4y ago

What a (terrible) slashing streak for Amazon: first DPReview, now this...

mg 4y ago

What are some good alternatives? I have long thought to add a book search to my semi-popular Gnod literature projects (https://www.gnooks.com https://www.gnooks.com and https://www.literature-map.com https://www.literature-map.com). But I always thought everybody is only buying at Amazon anyhow. Interesting to see the closing of a book shop on the front page of HN. If there is a list of interesting alternatives, I will add them to this new book search page: https://www.gnod.com/search/books https://www.gnod.com/search/books

agilob 4y ago
https://booksplea.se/ https://booksplea.se/
- mg 4y ago
  Added
tgv 4y ago
There are second hand book markets online as well. I'm just not sure of their status. https://www.abebooks.com/ https://www.abebooks.com/, https://www.alibris.com/ https://www.alibris.com/
- mg 4y ago
  Added. What do you mean by "their status"?
  - tgv 4y ago
    How independent they are, or how wide their search goes. As has been pointed out in another reply, abebooks is apparently owned by Amazon.
- jfk13 4y ago
  Abebooks, at least, was bought by Amazon some years ago.
4y ago

nunodonato 4y ago

One more reason to hate Amazon. Thanks

coolandsmartrr 4y ago
I hope they don't do the same with Abebooks.
- jesterson 4y ago
  Just matter of time
  - tablespoon 4y ago
    Amazon continuing to operate Abebooks lets them keep substantial control over the online used book market in the US. I'm not familiar with Book Depository, but if they close Abebooks I think it would open up space for a new competitor in the book space.
    - nunodonato 4y ago
      > Amazon continuing to operate Abebooks lets them keep substantial control over exactly same thing when they acquired Book Depository

crywas 4y ago

[flagged]

liendolucas 4y ago

Does anyone honestly believe the cutback story? My biggest fear is that starting to purchase elsewhere I could get counterfeit copies, it is well known that you can get counterfeit books even ordering from Amazon. I've bought a lot of books from Book Depository, not only for their prices but also because I got genuine book copies delivered to my door. I also appreciate Book Depository's straightforward checkout not forcing you to create an account to buy books. For sure I didn't see this one coming...

politelemon 4y ago
Believe it's due to cutbacks? Yes. Believe the motivation behind cutbacks? Never, FAANG is motivated by greed, so it is incentivized to lie regarding the reasoning.

rvz 4y ago

Who? Anyways, I heard a website called Amazon.com sells great books...

pas 4y ago
Amazon acquired it years ago.
- rvz 4y ago
  Exactly. Amazon doesn't need it anymore, and almost no-one knows what this site is. Amazon.com is where the books are.
EliRivers 4y ago
I heard that they're often not as cheap as BookDepository, that they don't have free international shipping (which can really push the price up), and that people sometimes receive counterfeit books.

yarinr 4y ago

That's a shame, Book Depository has been godsend with their reasonably-priced international delivery... They will be missed :(

deviantbit 4y ago

I didn't even know about this site. This stinks.

iLoveOncall 4y ago

I checked a few books from the homepage. All more expensive by a few pounds than the competition. Physical book stores where you get at least some value out of speaking to someone can afford to charge a little bit more, but an online store that is more expensive than Amazon is doomed to fail.

cryptos 4y ago

I see a pattern here ... (recent kill of dpreview comes to mind). Maybe entrepreneurs should value freedom and independence more. If the owners of dpreview and Book Depository wouldn't have sold their business to amazon, then maybe both would be still around for a long time. Don't blame Amazon, blame the former owners. Btw.: A topic in DHH's book "Rework" is the actual goal and value of a company. It is a good read.

tablespoon 4y ago
> If the owners of dpreview and Book Depository wouldn't have sold their business to amazon, then maybe both would be still around for a long time. Don't blame Amazon, blame the former owners. That's a bizarre and kinda awful sentiment. If we're going to focus on absolving Amazon, we might as well just reach for the standard cop-out of blaming consumers.

freefaler 4y ago

There is a very good search engine for second hand books: https://www.bookfinder.com/ https://www.bookfinder.com/ If you're not from US and you don't need physical books buy a used one, deliver it to a book scanning service like https://1dollarscan.com/ https://1dollarscan.com/ (used them for several books recently) And for 30-40 USD (or even less) you'll get a scanned version.