E-commerce

This week, BookSense.com announced that it will be providing MyHound.com, a new service that gives users customized entertainment alerts on demand, with an events feed from all BookSense.com participating stores. The events will be listed on MyHound.com and will have links back to bookstores' websites.

As booksellers in New York, Texas, and other states work to advance e-fairness and the equitable collection of sales tax, the issue is gaining national prominence. Here is a recent column from the Wall Street Journal's Lee Gomes, who questions why "Internet moguls should continue to benefit from a tax loophole that hurts parks and schools, and makes it harder for your neighborhood bookstore to keep open for business."

Over the past two months, there have been significant strides in the campaign for e-fairness that have thrust the issue into the media spotlight. To keep the issue on the minds of legislators, the American Booksellers Association is urging booksellers to write, fax, or e-mail their governors about this important issue.

The State of Texas Comptroller's Office is currently investigating whether the presence of an Amazon.com-run distribution facility in the Dallas suburb of Irving means the online retailing giant has a physical presence in the state. If the Comptroller's Office determines that Amazon.com does have nexus, the retailer would be responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax for purchases made by Texas residents and potentially would be liable for back taxes.

Associations call on non-New York State businesses to contact their governors

This week, BookSense.com announced that it will be providing LibraryThing, the popular cataloguing and social networking website for bibliophiles, with an events feed from all BookSense.com member stores. The events will be listed on LibraryThing Local, the place where LibraryThing members go to add their favorite bookstores, connect with friends, and keep track of interesting book-related events.

On May 2, Amazon.com, LLC, and Amazon Services, LLC, announced that as of June 1 they would begin collecting sales tax on sales to New York State residents. This decision comes even as Amazon.com pursues its legal action against New York State over its Internet Sales Tax provision. As reported yesterday in Bookselling This Week, on April 25, Amazon filed a complaint in the Supreme Court of the State of New York that challenges as unconstitutional the provision in the state's budget.

On April 15, Gov. David Paterson signed into law the Internet Sales Tax provision, as reported by Multichannel Merchant. The Internet Sales Tax provision requires out-of-state retailers such as Amazon.com to comply with New York State sales tax laws and to collect and remit sales tax on sales to state residents.

Last week, independent retailers in New York State scored a huge victory when the legislature passed a final budget that includes the Internet Sales Tax provision. While Gov. David Paterson is expected to sign the budget bill into law without any line-item vetoes, as of press time, he had yet to do so. Meanwhile, though experts expect there to be a legal challenge to the provision from the likes of Amazon.com or the Direct Marketing Association, no suit has been filed in court.

In what was a significant victory for independent retailers, on Wednesday, April 9, the New York State Legislature passed a final budget that includes the Internet Sales Tax provision. This means that out-of-state retailers such as Amazon.com now will be required to comply with New York State sales tax laws and collect and remit sales tax on sales to state residents. Gov. David Paterson has 10 days to sign the budget.

BookSense.com was recently added as an online book purchasing option on both the National Public Radio and The New York Times websites. Now, when NPR or NYTimes.com readers are interested in a featured book or bestseller, they are offered an option to buy from local, independent bookstores, as well as from Amazon.com.

In this first On the Move of the New Year, BookSense.com presents a report on website sales during the holiday season, improvements to inventory upload features, ISBN-13 compatibility, digital content, a new content management system, and more.

Holiday Sales

BookSense.com announced that participants saw a double-digit increase in orders placed during the 2006 holiday selling season and that aggregate sales are up once again.

On Friday, September 8, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) held its Annual Meeting of Members at the McGraw-Hill Auditorium in New York City. At the meeting, six Board members and committee Chairs presented both highlights from the past 12 months and goals for the coming year. Among the topics discussed, the most notable was the book industry's transition to ISBN-13.

This week, BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos announced that the first phase of work to make BookSense.com websites ISBN-13 compatible has been completed. "Booksellers and consumers can now search for and find books with both 10- and 13-digit ISBNs," Vlahos said.

BookSense.com has scheduled down time on Monday, August 14, from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. EST to enable staff to push new code that will make the database compliant with the 13-digit ISBN standard, which goes into effect on January 1, 2007.

During the down time, store websites and administrative pages will be replaced by a "Down for Maintenance" holding page that directs users to return later in the day.