SMH - Booktopia enters voluntary administration
Like many here, I've been a Booktopia customer since their early days. This news makes me sad and mad, but at least I didn't buy their shares.
Is there any hope or are they booked?
Booktopia Enters Voluntary Administration
Cheap Gamer on 03/07/2024 - 11:18
Last edited 03/07/2024 - 11:24
Last edited 03/07/2024 - 11:24
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if this was america then we could do a gamestop scenerio
The end of a chapter.
… or the turning of a new page.
Are you a glass half empty or half full type of person?
Administration could mean fire sale at warehouse. E.g. when they last moved their warehouse.
I think it's a bit more serious than that.
They have $82m of accumulated losses and about $41m worth of future lease commitments for warehouses.
I think it's a bit more serious than that.
Debtors don't want to be repaid in books, so someone will have to clear the books for some cash.
PS:
$82m of accumulated losses
Doesn't matter - that's what equity is for.
Presumably the brand alone isn't worth $143 million to Amazon then?
I don’t think they sell fires.
If you have a book on order that hasn't been delivered are you screwed?
I'd still buy from them. I think they'll continue as normal, at least for the short term. They might even find a buyer.
Well, there are no contact options right now. Phoning either contact number just gets you the outside business hours response. Nobody on chat either. So much for my $100 book ordered early May :(.
Generally speaking yes as that book was purchased under previous owners & administrators are under no obligation to honour it. In saying that, it will be up to the administrators to decide. Give it a few days and they will let you know
Well that really annoys me. When I ordered the ETA was 2-3 weeks. It's now 8 weeks. So they were taking peoples money, but not ordering the books. Using customer funds to try to cover their cash flow. Dishonest.
The company is not dead yet, just under the control of administrators.
That said, it will probably be dead soon.
If you don't receive a book within two to three weeks of ordering it, you should initiate a CC charge-back ASAP.
If you didn't pay via Credit Card you might be screwed.@zathras: Thanks for the suggestion. I paid with PayPal so have just opened a dispute. Fingers crossed 🤞
No surprise if the support teams are being stood down. They're always the first to go.
If Booktopia is to close, there should be an orderly process of shutting the website and processing remaining orders. Just look at the recent collapse of Godfreys. Their stores were still open three months after entering voluntary administration.
I had an 8 book order from start of May. One of the books was delivered, but the rest was originally due for delivery early June. Then mid June. Then last week I contacted them and they said
“ we've been experiencing a delay in getting the stocks for your outstanding items. At this stage, we expect the new stocks by late July. Kindly note this is a tentative time frame. We sincerely apologise for the delay.”
I don’t think I’ll receive the books at all now
I'm in a very similar position, one book delivered early May, the rest still pending.
Paid by credit card, but as I have never done a chargeback before, is it possible to do a partial chargeback?
And how long do we have to do it?
Amazon are just too cheap for others to compete with. Also Amazon offers free shipping, but Booktopia would always charge you.
Except for mass printed stuff sold in store such as at Kmart, BigW, Target.
im surprised my local bigws still manage to have a decent range and stock of books.
the kmarts in my area always got the most sad-ass looking book sections one of them just does kids books now.@thangcuoi: I've read Amazon was the biggest until booktopia toppled em but they scopped up Angus and Robertson I think and some others. In reality everytime I read an article it's hard to believe anything without verifying - people just don't do fact checking anymore :(
Haha. Really!? I've gone to bigw regularly and it just doesn't compare to a dedicated store or online presence. Their books are limited to latest fiction, biographies, cooking, teens/kids, limited self help, few gardening. I've bought gardening/cooking only. The local qbd/dymocks smashes em out of the park.
Hopefully my memory was right - the hack back then was to search via booko to get free shipping with booktopia but it was still too hard to compete against amazon
Wow with books like Starting & Running A Business for Dummies, they should have read some
At least they made a go of it!
Part of the reason why Amazon survived is because they diversified into other things other than only selling books online. It’s a hard business to run, see Book Depository. RIP.
I mean, sure.. you are aware Amazon owned Book Depository, right?
Didn't know that, thanks.
Wow, so Amazon owned Book Depository for longer than the original (ex-Amazon) owner did.. so much for "competition"
Looks like it has been coming for a while.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/book-dystopia-how-…
Do you remember 20 years ago when a kilo of rice cost $1, but a paperback novel cost $25, and a hardback cost $35-$50?
Meanwhile the same books in USA cost about $7.99-$12.99.
I always thought it was this ridiculous book pricing in Australia that tanked all the bookshops back then. Obviously it's a different market nowadays, and you rarely see physical book shops other than random 2nd hand bookshops.
Same as pretty much every retail group that doesn't have strong control over their market nor a reason for people to walk into the store, it then just becomes a logistics problem. Competing with Amazon on their home turf was always going to fail.
Books used to be a luxury and Amazon commoditised it, happens to all markets eventually. It's always astonished me that shoe companies have survived this long selling $200 sneakers through expensive retail stores. Someone will come up with foot scanning technology that'll change that, one day.
More people are into sneakers than books?
Book prices got me into book piracy. And then social media meme pages got me off books altogether…
Yes, wasn't there something that changed that allowed grey imports of books? Then it was open slather.
A great discussion on the economics of book writing and some discussions on book shops
Hopefully Amazon buys it out…
Obviously Amazon would be the biggest reason for this. But surely also the rise in popularity of e-readers and audiobooks as well.
The few physical books I've purchased in the last 5yrs were only because I was already a fan of the series and wanted a nice looking hard-cover to display
Other than that, 99% of the time I will buy a new series on my Kindle because it's so convenient.
Obviously Amazon would be the biggest reason for this
Kmart, Target, BigW might be even a bigger reason.
I'm getting flashbacks to Book Depository all over again.
I wish Amazon expands their physical bookstores to Australia. Their interior design is way better than every physical book retailer here.
I invested $250 in Booktopia at $1 a share through Equitise back in 2018. But they were unsuccessful in getting enough subscriptions and I got my money back in June 2019. Didn't invest in the IPO - once bitten…
Booktopia will not fill outstanding orders and may not issue refunds :( https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/10/boo…
Not happy Jan! Had an order partially fulfilled… item in limbo since late April (under 25$) - completely forgot, and a very small amount of credit, and all purchased with a GC. I'm lucky I didn't also invest when they offered, when they listed back on the ASX few years ago.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booktopia for a short history. IMHO they over committed finances far too quickly to their lofty ambitions - reminds of when AMD bought ATI, and that almost destroyed them.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-19/booktopia-sold-to-onl…
Back in action. Looks like it’s been bought out by DigiDirect
Great that they're offering the staff their jobs back. Sure they're be happy to go back under new management.
Godspeed