Buying books on the Internet: shipping costs will increase from October

Shipping costs on book orders will increase from October, with the entry into force of a minimum rate intended to protect booksellers.

Price increase for shipping costs

A stop published in the Official Journal today has set the regulatory threshold for shipping costs at €3 for orders under €35. Beyond this amount, the threshold will remain at 1 cent, the one in force since a law of 2014. The measure will be applicable six months after the publication of the decree, namely on October 7.

The decree signed by the Ministers of Culture and the Economy will be the application of the law of December 30, 2021 on the “book economy”, proposed by a senator and voted with the approval of the government, with the aim of goal “strengthening fairness and trust between its actors”. The objective of the legislator and the executive was to put an end to almost free postage for the majority of deliveries in order to encourage consumers to go to bookstores rather than order online.

Online commerce platforms, led by Amazon, demanded a status quo, denouncing the inflationary nature of this reform. Booksellers pleaded, on the contrary, for even higher thresholds. The government chose a middle way and in February obtained the approval of the European Commission for this unique device in the world.

On the book market, France stands out by having been the first country in the world, in 1981, to pass a law imposing a single price on new books, among other measures to ensure the sustainability of bookstores. This law has been copied in other countries. According to the Syndicat de la Librairie Française, this has made it possible to maintain one of the densest networks of independent bookstores in the world, with 3,500 of them selling nearly one in two books.