Going to the Dark Side

I, I feel a great disturbance in The Force. It is as if thousands cried out in terror, and then were suddenly silenced...

Reading the bookseller email lists this morning, you'd think that we are entering The End of Time. The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse has shown up, riding over the hill on a fiery steed.

But he's blowing bubbles.

Mein Gott, what a furor over nuttin'. Advanced Book Exchange has announced that in future it will be processing all MC and VISA charges for books sold through their website itself, rather than passing the numbers on to individual booksellers to process. They will charge the bookseller 5.5% to do this, which is about 2.5% higher than the discount rate many booksellers get from their own credit card processors. So it will cost your average ABE bookseller an additional 2.5%. In benefit, it will certainly result in increased sales on the site, as folks are more comfortable using their credit cards to purchase books when they know the numbers will not be sent out to someone they do not know.

But to read the lists, you'd think that that 2.5% or so is evidently going to put all the internet booksellers right outta business. uh...

sorry, I'm all verklempt.

But seriously, anytime you guys want some real things to worry about, I can make a list. ABE processing credit card orders ain't gonna be on it though.