Online bookseller Amazon.com is going to be more up front about books that get prime placement on its highly trafficked Web pages.
Following news Monday that book publishers paid up to US$10,000 for key placement on the site's Web pages, Amazon.com (AMZN) said Tuesday it would begin indicating which placements are paid and which are not. The company also said it will not list any book its editors deem unworthy.
"We have the largest staff of book editors online or off, and for a book that doesn't meet our standards, there is no amount of money that would cause us to feature it," said CEO Jeff Bezos, in a statement.
The new policy will go into effect beginning 1 March.
Bezos considers the move beyond the call of the industry norm. "As a Web-based store with a real community of book lovers, we're being held to a higher standard than physical stores. And you know what? That's the way it should be."
The new list will indicate every paid-for placement, breaking with standard industry practice, he said. "We believe we're the first retailer to list this information for customers, and we hope it will start a trend."
Seeking more mileage from the news, the company expanded its book-return policy to allow the return of any Amazon-recommended book, no matter how worn. Previously, the returns policy required books to be in unread and new condition.
"Even if you ripped out the pages because you thought the book was so bad, you can still return the pieces to us for a full refund."
