Half.com Now Default Marketplace in Verba Compete

Today we’re announcing Half.com as the default marketplace for online sourcing through Verba Compete. We’re doing so ahead of Amazon’s removal of quantity information from their public data feed, which makes it difficult (ok, pretty much impossible) for users to see how many copies each online seller has available for purchase.

There are a couple of trade-offs here. Since Amazon has a broad business-to-business infrastructure built out, they’re able to offer invoicing features and, in some cases, even lines of credit to campus retailers.

However, we feel these features are mere luxuries compared to having quantity information available when purchasing from the online marketplace. Without quantity data, stores can’t control the number of boxes flooding Receiving, and the number of credit card line items Accounts Payable must reconcile. Online sourcing without quantity data is a logistical crap shoot.

As our friends at BookVolume point out in their post on the topic, “Most ‘Power Sellers’ who list books in quantity on Amazon typically sell on the other marketplaces too.” We expect Half.com to be every bit as useful for stores looking to supplement their long-term wholesaler partnerships with targeted online sourcing.

UPDATE

Wyatt Waterman at Wheaton College Bookstore gave us the following heads up:

Let me add this to your email:  paperback shipping through Half is actually $3.49 for the first copy and $1.89 for each subsequent copy from the same seller.  Also, Half will give you one “invoice” for all the books you purchase on one transaction, while Amazon gives you a separate invoice for each seller—a ton more paperwork is generated through Amazon.