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World of Books Group Limited, trading under the names Wob, Ziffit, and Shopiago, is an online second-hand book retailer. As of 2018 it was the United Kingdom's largest. The company buys unsold used books, mostly from UK charity shops. The books are resold either to consumers through Wob's website and online, or wholesale to recyclers, with about 80% of the books going to recycling. It was certified as a B Corporation in 2019.


Overview

The company purchases books in bulk, paying by tonnage rather than for individual titles. Using custom-designed software, they evaluate each title for saleability and set selling prices accordingly. The company buys used books through shops and recycling merchants, in addition to purchasing books directly from consumers through its proprietary Ziffit, which has a 'scan and send' app. In 2010 alone, the business recycled 26 million books. Wob belongs to the World of Books Group, which also includes Ziffit and Shopiago, both re-commerce companies. The group describes itself as a "
circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity or CE) is a model of resource Production (economics), production and Resource consumption, consumption in any economy that involves sharing, leasing, Reuse, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and ...
, for-profit company". Wob was founded in 2002 by Simon Downes, Ben Maxfield and Michael Laundon, who had bought their first books at
car boot sale Car boot sales or boot fairs are a form of market in which private individuals come together to sell household and garden goods. They are popular in the United Kingdom, where they are often referred to simply as 'car boots'. Some scientific ...
s and auctioned them on
eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
. Annualised turnover in 2009 was £5 million, with a projected turnover for that year of £8.5 million. The business was receiving 140 tonnes per week (about 300,000 books) at their depot, purchased from charities at £75 per tonne. In 2009, World of Books won the
Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...
Business Award for New Business of the Year. In December 2012, World of Books was ranked in 22nd place in the
Sunday Times Fast Track 100 The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 was an annual league table published in association with ''The Sunday Times'' newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain's 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over the last three years. It is published ...
. In 2018, it was number 197 in the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200. In November 2016, it was sold to a fund by Bridges Fund Management, which bought a majority stake for £13 million. At the time, the company reported collecting more than 25,000 tonnes of books per year from 3,700 charity shops across the UK, out of an estimated 50,000 total tonnes in the market.


AuthorShare

In June 2021, World of Books and Bookbarn International introduced AuthorSHARE, a partnership program which would pay authors royalties on second-hand sales of their books on the World of Books website.


Royalties


2021

In July 2021, Bridges sold a majority stake in World of Books to
Livingbridge Livingbridge is a mid-market private equity firm launched in 1995. Headquartered in London, the firm also has offices in, Melbourne, Australia and Boston, US. Livingbridge was known until November 2014 as Isis Equity Partners, but rebranded a ...
, a British private equity firm. They rebranded from World of Books to Wob in November 2021.


See also

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musicMagpie MusicMagpie Plc (styled as musicMagpie) is a British online shopping, online retailer buying and selling Refurbishment (electronics), refurbished electronics and second-hand computer games, Video game console, consoles, books, films and music. ...
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Better World Books Better World Books (also known as Qumpus, Inc.) is an American online bookseller of used and new books, founded in 2002 by students of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Better World Books' used book inventory comes primarily from regular bo ...
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AbeBooks AbeBooks ( ) is an e-commerce global online marketplace with seven websites that offer books, fine art, and collectables from sellers in over 50 countries. Launched in 1996, it specialises in used, rare and out-of-print books. AbeBooks has been a ...
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Alibris Alibris is an online store that sells new books, used books, out-of-print books, rare books, and other media through an online network of independent booksellers. History Martin Manley founded Alibris in 1997 with the team behind early ...
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Momox momox SE is a Berlin-based recommerce site for used books and media founded by Christian Wegner in 2004. Wegner has said that "momox" stands for "Moderner Medien Online Express-Ankauf" ("Modern Media Online Express Purchase"). Wegner started s ...
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List of online booksellers A list of booksellers who predominantly sell new or used books online, although some may sell other items as well; some may also sell through brick and mortar stores. Incorporated is a list of online marketplaces to which numerous small independen ...


Notes


References

{{coord, 50, 49, 1.8, N, 0, 25, 18.9, W, type:landmark, display=title Bookshops of the United Kingdom Companies based in West Sussex Bookstores established in the 20th century Book selling websites B Lab-certified corporations EBay stores