Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

As ASINs can be assigned to physical books now, I wonder if that is the case for books published before 1970 (with no ISBN - e.g.: The Man From Limbo).

While I'm not 100% familiar with how Amazon works, I noticed that sometimes there are more than one page for the same edition (all under different ASIN) on that site, e.g.:

https://www.amazon.com/James-Kennaway...
https://www.amazon.com/James-Kennaway...
https://www.amazon.com/James-Kennaway...
https://www.amazon.com/James-Kennaway...

So I was thinking adding an ASIN in these cases may be a bad idea?
🤔

(Personally, I would not add ASINs to print editions ever. If Amazon/GR wants to run a script adding them, that is their prerogative.)

The books you link to are all offered by third-party vendors (second-hand copies being resold). Every ASIN is unique to the single copy they sell (but of course cannot be found in the book itself). It would be crazy to add each and every one of them to the database.

lethe wrote: "Every ASIN is unique to the single copy they sell (but of course cannot be found in the book itself). It would be crazy to add each and every one of them to the database."

So should the ASIN be removed in this case?
I guess I can turn a blind eye but it annoys me a bit 😠

Javier wrote: "So should the ASIN be removed in this case?
I guess I can turn a blind eye but it annoys me a bit 😠"

Yes, if only because it was added way before the new rules. But since we cannot remove or edit ISBNs and ASINs anymore, you can report it to staff and see what they do.

I contacted support, here's their reply:

Thanks for your email. Upon further investigation, it appears that the ASIN in question has been correctly attributed to the book record as the book has previously been published with the affiliated ASIN on Amazon.com.

Oh, well, I'll just look the other way then 🤷‍♂️

*headdesk* *facepalm* 😑 😭 😱

(I didn't know that print editions were published on Amazon...)

lethe wrote: "*headdesk* *facepalm* 😑 😭 😱

(I didn't know that print editions were published on Amazon...)"


I know Montlake is an amazon imprint for romance print books.

Sandra wrote: "lethe wrote: "*headdesk* *facepalm* 😑 😭 😱

(I didn't know that print editions were published on Amazon...)"


I know Montlake is an amazon imprint for romance print books."

OK, but the edition Javier was talking about is a book from 1930. I don't think Amazon was around then ;)

Oh, totally agree lethe :)

Several years ago a lot of second hand books were imported due to them each having a different ASIN. For some popular books it resulted in dozens of extra editions and the import was stopped.
If Amazon hasn't changed their way they use ASINs for second hand items, we could possibly end up with a similar situation.