Auction marketplaces like eBay captured most of the early online bookselling volume during the 1990s. But much of the buying has migrated to fixed-price platforms, and today the real action is on Amazon Marketplace.

Auctions can be fun for higher-priced items. But when it comes down to it, most book buyers would rather just buy the book and be done with it. Some booksellers still prefer auctions for truly unusual, rare books, hoping that a bidding war will erupt. But a growing number of sellers are opting to park nearly all their books on a fixed-price marketplace like Amazon and wait for the buyer to come along at your price.

A well greased marketplace like Amazon works as a reverse auction. Instead of buyers competing to offer the highest price, sellers compete to offer the lowest price.

Amazon Marketplace.

Amazon is the 800-lb. gorilla of online bookselling, with tens of millions of preregistered buyers. In May 2005, the site had 41 million visitors compared to 35.5 million a year earlier. Amazon sellers have access to the world