As we continue to tweak shipping support on the site, we've enjoyed getting both constructive criticism and kudos on our decision to sort all results by postpaid price (or our best approximation of it):
Lucas Ames, Bookselling Online Blog, "Changes at Bookfinder":
"I'd like to applaud Anirvan and BookFinder...The new site is a huge improvement...The other change integrates shipping prices into the search results to allow users to be aware of exorbitant shipping fees on the front-end, a great consumer-driven change that will undoubtedly serve to increase sales through the site."
Michael Stillman, Americana Exchange Monthly, "Truth in Pricing: BookFinder Attempts to Display What Books Really Cost":
"Congratulations are in order to the multi-site book search engine BookFinder for attempting to present real prices, that is, ones that include shipping costs...BookFinder has recognized that a one-cent book with a $10 shipping cost is no bargain compared to a $3 book with $2 in shipping. A little truth in pricing should be most helpful for those looking to find the actual lowest price rather than the imaginary one....This option enabled us to do a comparison...the cheapest delivered price is 373 times the cheapest non-delivered price. That's a 37,300% increase in the price once you add shipping! That's what happens when you buy penny books that have to be shipped."
Jeff Sharman, Using Books Weblog, "BookFinder & Shipping Charges":
"This means that some results from other sites are listed with slightly inaccurate prices. The price discrepency often gives those listings different placement in the search results than they're warranted, sometimes better and sometimes worse. Though usually the final price isn't off by much more than 50 cents or a dollar either way, this will likely cause some to scream "bias" since Abebooks is BookFinder's parent company...Shipping rates can be a divisive and confusing issue and it's really good to see BookFinder taking steps to make them more transparent."
We've made several significant changes in the way our shipping functionality works over the past few weeks, and will obviously continue to do so.
I'd appreciate more feedback. Is the new consolidated postpaid pricing useful? What can we do to make it work better?
And for those who'd prefer seeing the older sort order, have you had problems opting out? We've helped a few users enable preference cookies on their web browsers, and can lend a hand if you're utterly flummoxed.
Posted by Anirvan
