Their free shipping on $25 and up is deceptive. It only applies to orders sent to a store, not mailed directly to you. The only way to get the shipping charge to equal zero was to change to ship to store.

I like the virtual shelf I can set up on Borders.com.

Did you notice the Personal Publishing link? Looks like they’re partnering with Lulu.

addendum: Crap, I’m so going to be spending so much more money now! Pre-Order heaven.

The article over on Yahoo’s business page characterizes this shift as desperate and futile, and seems to imply that this is a sudden decision. I haven’t looked into Borders’ historical performance, but I know that this division is at least a year in the making. Sudden? Not so much. Futile? That remains to be seen.

I’m also surprised that previous Borders Rewards data isn’t being used for recommendations. I would have thought they’d use our Rewards numbers to keep track of our purchases, but based on today’s recommendations, they aren’t using that customer specific information and are basing recommendations on generic genre only.

Also, if you notice, they are showing list price only, not in-store price. For example, LKH’s Blood Noir released today and, as a new release, it will be discounted either 30 or 40% in-store yet the site only shows list price.

Which brings up the question of Amazon prices– unless Borders increases the member rewards AND increases the amount of coupons available, I don’t see any advantage for a customer to order (for shipping) from Borders instead of Amazon. In fact, when you add in sales tax, shipping from Borders is a definite DISADVANTAGE.

But in any case, I admit that I’m glad that the site is out of beta now. The preorder and pick-up feature is the most attractive to me. I have never, ever received a new release preordered from Amazon. Why? Because when they don’t ship the object of my booklust by the day AFTER release, I end up cancelling and heading to Borders/Waldens to buy it. Every single time.

Conversely, my Borders/Waldens doesn’t always shelve or even RECEIVE all the new releases in a timely manner. So I may get SOME of the books I set out to buy, but then I’m heading to the Help Desk to send them searching for the rest.

But now, with Borders on-line, I can pre-order ALL the upcoming releases a week or so ahead of time and, theoretically at least, I should be able to zip down the road to get them in a timely manner, but without all the the frustrations. Let me repeat… theoretically.

Hey… wait a minute! If I’m not spending time trying to hunt down the books on my list, I might use the extra time to browse and buy even MORE books. I’m conflicted whether that’s a good thing or not. ;-p

And I must indulge in a giddy squeal… one of the books listed on the main page for UPCOMING ROMANCE RELEASES is Through the Veil

Okay. I’m easy. Seeing my book there on the first page for upcoming definitely won my vote. Yes, it’s probably because it’s just releasing sooner than some of the others. Still, like I said, I’m easy. ;)