Website Book Selling Comparison

Website Book Selling Comparison

Many commercial websites today offer a multitude of books for any reader to absorb in their lifetime. Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com are two of the largest websites on the internet. Between these two websites there are a few million books sold worldwide every year. I have chosen ten books from the New York Times bestseller list. I chose the top five for fiction and the top five for nonfiction hardcover books.

Title Author Amazon.com BarnesandNoble.com

THE DA VINCI CODE Dan Brown $14.97 $14.97

MURDER LIST Julie Garwood $17.65 $18.16

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN Mitch Albom $11.97 $11.97

WHITE HOT Sandra Brown $17.65 $18.16

ANGELS & DEMONS Dan Brown $5.59 $5.59

UNFIT FOR COMMAND John E. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi $16.77 $16.77

AMERICAN SOLDIER Tommy Franks with Malcolm McConnell $16.77 $16.77

MY LIFE Bill Clinton $21.00 $21.00

BUSHWORLD Maureen Dowd $15.57 $15.57

SKYWRITING Jane Pauley $15.57 $15.57

Total Cost $153.51 $154.53

As you can see in the chart above, the two websites are very close in pricing. The larger website Amazon.com edges the other website by only $1.02. The majority of books on both websites are offered at forty percent off the list price. Amazon.com is affiliated with Borders bookstore in the Maryland area. If you prefer to pick your book up in the store it will increase the price substantially. BarnesandNoble.com has stores nationwide but the discounts are not as deep in the store. Shipping on both sites is free when the order goes over twenty-five dollars, but is limited to standard delivery time. The standard delivery time for BarnesandNoble.com is three to eight business days. Amazon.com calls their standard delivery super saver shipping which takes five to nine business days. I think that Amazon has a small edge in price but BarnesandNoble.com has the edge as far as faster free shipping. Using the free shipping saved me $12.90 on both websites.

Navigating the websites was