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What makes iBookX - The Internet Book Exchange
better for locating used, rare and out of print books?
Do I have to join before I can search for or buy
books?
What's so special about iBookX SmartSearch?
I can't find any books by __________. Is
SmartSearch really working?
Why am I getting an incomplete or scrambled
display?
If you don't sell books, don't charge commissions,
and membership is free, how do you make money?
How can I list books on iBookX - The Internet
Book Exchange?
Why doesn't everyone use iBookX to find books?
See also:
Sellers' Frequently Asked Questions
What makes iBookX - The Internet Book Exchange
better for locating used, rare and out of print books?
This site was designed and developed in the 21st Century utilizing
state-of-the-art technology to take full advantage of 21st Century Internet
capabilities. When you search for a book on iBookX - The Internet Book
Exchange, you are not simply generating a "dumb" listing of individual
items offered for sale; you are employing the only book search engine powered
by the ever-expanding iBookX Knowledge Base.
This proprietary knowledge base "knows" about authors, their books, and the
various editions of those books. It "understands" that a single author
may be known by different name variations and pseudonyms, and that a book can
have alternate titles. Best of all, the iBookX Knowledge Base gets
even "smarter" every time a book listing is added to the site. And
thousands of listings are being added every day.
For a discussion of the structure of the iBookX Knowledge Base, and
what makes it "smart",
click here.
Do I have to join before I can search for or buy
books?
Absolutely not! A requirement like that would drive many visitors away,
and that's the last thing we want to do.
Joining is entirely optional. It simply provides the member with the
convenience of having their contact and shipping information automatically
filled in on order and inquiry forms.
What's so special about iBookX SmartSearch?
Since sorting and organizing are what computers do best, we think that job is
best left to computers! So iBookX SmartSearch does the sorting
and organizing that other less advanced book exchange sites expect you to do in
your head.
On other sites, if you know the exact title of the book you're looking for and
you know the author's name—and you spell them both correctly—you will be
rewarded with a potentially massive listing of all copies of all editions of
that book where the booksellers also spelled the title and the author
correctly. Perhaps, you will be able to filter those listings by price,
binding, ISBN, and publisher (if you know the ISBN and the publisher) in order
to try to zero in on what you're really after. You are expected to know
too much, and the search results are still often less than satisfactory!
With SmartSearch, you simply select titles and authors from lists and
therefore you don't need to know exact titles and names and spellings.
When you select an author in SmartSearch, you are presented with a
selection list of all titles by that author. (This can be especially
helpful when you're looking for titles you've never heard of before by a
particular author.) And if you ask for books by Michael Anthony, you not
then offered books by Anthony Michael.
When you select a title in SmartSearch, you are presented
with the publication information and summary totals of the quantity of
each separate edition currently offered, along with the range of prices being
asked for each edition. You can then choose to see all of the listings
for the title, or just the listings for specific editions. SmartSearch
really helps you zero in on the book you want to buy.
Once you've experienced the ease and power of iBookX SmartSearch,
you'll never again be satisfied by the clumsy, old-fashioned search engines on
other book exchange sites.
I can't find any books by __________. Is
SmartSearch really working?
Our SmartSearch functionality—just one of the capabilities that will
distinguish us in the minds of book buyers—does indeed work. However,
since the iBookX Knowledge Base is still young, it’s not always easy
to recognize that fact.
A seller must have listed a book on our site in order for that book’s title,
author(s) and other publication information to be added to the iBookX Knowledge
Base. Once that book has been listed, it will always remain in
the knowledge base—and thus will show up in searches—even after any or all
listed copies have been sold. Conversely, until it’s been listed, it will
not show up in a search.
The good news is that thousands of books are being added to the knowledge base
every day, and we expect to reach “critical mass” in mid-summer.
Rather than further attempting to describe how SmartSearch can help a
buyer target the exact used or out of print book that they seek, we offer a
simple demonstration:
This comparison will reveal the usefulness and value of our SmartSearch
technology better than thousands of words ever could.
Why am I getting an incomplete or scrambled
display?
It has been discovered that some older browsers have trouble displaying some of
our pages, especially the input form for establishing a free membership.
Netscape version 4.xx seems to be the most problematic. (Netscape is
currently distributing their version 7.xx.)
We would like our pages to display correctly on whatever browser any of our
visitors might employ, and we will try to modify our program to make it work
around those browser problems. However, work-arounds may not prove
possible.
We are not aware of any display problems with more current browsers. The
most recent releases of the two most popular browsers may be downloaded from
these linked pages:
Microsoft Internet Explorer Download Page
Netscape Download Page
If you don't sell books, don't charge commissions,
and membership is free, how do you make money?
Booksellers pay a monthly fee to list their books on iBookX - The Internet Book
Exchange. (Those fees range from US$10 to US$300, depending on
the number of books listed.) It's our job to direct customers to those
booksellers so that they will continue to list their books with us. We
accomplish that by providing the book seeker with the best book search engine
on the Web—a search engine powered by the ever-expanding iBookX Knowledge Base—and
then putting them in contact with the bookseller when they find the
book they want.
How can I list books on iBookX - The Internet
Book Exchange?
Anyone can become an iBookX Bookseller. iBookX Booksellers
pay a monthly fee based on the average number of items that they listed on the
site the previous month. That fee ranges from US$10 for 1 - 100 items to
US$300 for over 150,000 items. We charge no commissions.
(We think it's justifiable to charge a listing fee or a
commission, but not both.)
For additional information and the opportunity to sign up as an iBookX
Bookseller,
click here.
Why doesn't everyone use iBookX to find books?
They will!
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