Last month AbeBooks, an online book retailer founded in 1995 (acquired by Amazon in 2008), announced its intention to close bookseller accounts in Czechia, Hungary, South Korea and Russia, starting from Nov. 30.
Activities in these countries are “no longer viable to operate due to increasing costs and complexities,” AbeBooks stated.
AbeBooks’ service will continue in 18 other countries, including Australia, Brazil, Japan, the United States and a number of Western European states.
As reported by Russian media, the issue is related to payment operations, with a service provider covering the four concerned countries stopping its operations.
AbeBooks’ decision sparked a movement of solidarity among booksellers across the world. Firsts, one of the major international rare book fairs, announced on Oct. 31 that they will not sign a pending sponsorship deal with AbeBooks for the 2019 fair, reported the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB).
A British bookseller, Simon Beattie, demonstrated his solidarity by putting stock “on vacation.”
“I have decided to put my books on (permanent) vacation on ABE in solidarity with fellow booksellers in the Czech Republic, Hungary, South Korea and Russia. I hope you might like to follow suit,” the ILAB quoted Beattie as saying.
As of Nov. 5, over 300 booksellers had joined this form of protest, the ILAB reported.
