Online sales have increased the number of used book transactions by an average of 12.5 percent, even though some books cost more online than the same editions sold in a store. The study found that 34 percent of the booksellers polled charge higher prices to their Internet customers than to patrons of their conventional stores. And while online sales have stabilized or decreased the price of common, plentiful used book titles, the price of rare books has climbed. Rare or collectible books are finite goods, and the Internet reaches a much wider audience of potential buyers than a physical shop could, says Phyllis Bernt, a professor of communication systems management and co-author of the study. Bernt and her husband, Joseph Bernt, associate professor of journalism, polled affiliates of the Advanced Book Exchange, a Web search engine that accesses some 5,200 book dealers.
Higher prices haven t deterred consumers from buying online.
The problem with an antique store, a swap meet or a pawn shop is that buyers have to go to them and find things by happenstance, says Joseph Bernt, adding that the ease and convenience of finding a unique work online may mitigate the higher cost for buyers.