ABEBOOKS.COM CHOSEN FOR FORBES MAGAZINE "BEST OF THE WEB" LIST, THIRD YEAR IN A ROW

3rd February, 2003

(Victoria, BC)- AbeBooks, the Canadian company and online bookseller of used, rare and out-of-print books has been named by Forbes magazine in their annual "Best of the Web" feature article.

The editors of Forbes combed the Web and reviewed over 3,500 sites for their Winter 2002 "Best of the Web" feature. Each site was rated according to five criteria: Content, Design, Speed, Navigation and Customization. Sites were placed into various groups such as Travel, Shopping, or Investing. AbeBooks.com was one of the sites in the "Booksellers on the Web" category.

The size of the AbeBooks database of books impressed Forbes editors. The following is an excerpt from the AbeBooks.com rating:

"Hawks an impressive 40 million rare, used and out-of-print books…the site culls listings from over 10,000 independent booksellers from Scotland to Australia. Descriptions of book condition are ample, and a query is provided for those who have further questions. Other features include a glossary of book terms and the Book Sleuth feature, where you can post book details for others to solve for the title you can't remember.

"BEST: Impressive number of listings. 56 first editions of Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's..."
~ Forbes Magazine, Winter 2002 Issue


Brent James, CEO of AbeBooks acknowledges that AbeBooks' four international websites are great because of the quality of booksellers that list books on Abeboooks. "Our sites exist to sell our booksellers books. We're glad to offer a place for independent booksellers to sell books to the world and we're pleased that the world-and Forbes-likes what we do."

AbeBooks also had reason to applaud the bookseller who won the "Forbes Favorite" rating in the same category: Powells Books of Oregon is one of the ten thousand booksellers who list their used, rare, and out-of-print books on AbeBooks.com. "Powell's Books lists their books on our sites in addition to their own, so we're happy for them too," said James.

About AbeBooks
AbeBooks is the world's largest online marketplace for used, rare, and out-of-print books. AbeBooks connects those who buy books with those who sell books, providing abundant selection at affordable prices.

AbeBooks is a global company based in Victoria, BC Canada, with websites dedicated to bookbuyers in North America (AbeBooks.com), the UK (AbeBooks.co.uk), France (AbeBooks.fr), and Germany (AbeBooks.de). These domestic sites serve specific countries while making unique book inventories available to all. Through strategic partnerships with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and eBay/Half.com, AbeBooks has become the most important virtual supplier of used books while expanding selling avenues for booksellers.

AbeBooks strives to be the world's best book source where book buyers and sellers find books they want at prices they love.

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Contacts:

Richard Davies, PR & Publicity Mgr., AbeBooks.com
Ph: 250-412-3238
rdavies@abebooks.com