What with so many people in Lockdown and ordering a lot of books online these days, I thought that as a Public Service I'd remind readers to Beware the Bookjacker (also known as a 'dropshipper' ).
These are people who actually do not have any books in their inventory. When you place an order for a book with them, they go and order it from another seller at amazon, or Abebooks (which is owned by amazon), or alibris, or Powells, etc., etc. and arrange to have it shipped to your address.
Bookjackers hope to make money on these transactions by buying the book themselves at a lower price than the price at which they hope to sell it to you.
For example, they list a book for sale on amazon for $50 (including shipping), which is the lowest, or one of the lowest, prices. When you place an order with them, they look to find the book from a seller for an even lower price (for example, $30, including shipping), purchase it, then arrange to have that book mailed to you. Their net profit is $20.
Needless to say, this business model comes with problems. After the Bookjacker receives your order (one of many orders they may get per day) they may not be able to find the book for any price under $50, so they may delay fulfilling the order while they scan the web hoping for a cheap copy to come onto the market. Or they may simply ignore fulfilling the order, and when you complain several weeks later that the book never arrived (despite having a US Postal Service Tracking Number) they belatedly provide a refund in order to stay on the good side of amazon, or Abebooks, or alibris, etc.
As well, they may state in their description that the book is in Very Good condition, but the copy they purchase for $30 only may be in Acceptable condition........but they'll ship it to you anyways, hoping that when you get a torn, beat-up copy, you won't angrily return the book and ask for a refund.
How can you tell if a seller on amazon or Abebooks is a Bookjacker ? Well, they often use 'generic' product descriptions, like the one I've posted at the head of this article. They also tend to have low (i.e., under 93%) seller ratings, tens or hundreds (as opposed to thousands) of ratings, and have been in business only for months, as opposed to years.
An informative article on Bookjackers is available here......and another article is here......the first article provides a list of suspected Bookjackers, so it's worth checking out !
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