A court has ordered Paypal to open up its ledger and share information with the government. The goal of this motion was to obtain information about tax cheats hiding money overseas. It seems likely, that government auditors will eventually be asking for information on domestic tax avoiders as well. Paypal, the leader payment services provider on the internet, processes nearly all eBay transactions and does so for our own Wholesale site as well. (PC World story on the case)
Given all of the complaining to be done about textbook prices, it should be of no surprise that there is a multitude of politicians and organizations seeking to remedy this problem. What most articles on this subject fail to recognize is that the single easiest way to lower costs is to purchase used books online. This can decrease the cost of books as much as 75% for some students, effectively meaning that textbook prices have GONE DOWN over the past ten years. Too often this is given short shrift by only being mentioned as “an alternative.”
In any event, one of the few proposals that does make sense and levels the playing field between online and B&M stores is being debated in Florida currently. It is as simple as dropping the sales tax on these books. Not a bad idea… (Read Sun Sentinel article)
Coremetics, who has worked with Alibris, has been contracted by Abebooks to help measure the success of its site reformatting. According to Abe’s marketing manager, “We rely heavily on Coremetrics analytics to help us understand visitor behavior and identify and implement changes that make it easier for people to find and buy the books they want — whether they’re looking for today’s bestseller, a rare collectible, or a great buy on textbooks.” (Press release)
