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　　Online booksellers face higher

　　costs for shipping abroad

　　THE Postal Service is taking the “ship” out of shipping, and thousands of small online booksellers are bracing for trouble.

　　The post office said last month that as of mid-May, it would no longer transport goods internationally via cargo ships for individual customers. These so-called surface deliveries have been the crucial method by which booksellers have sold books to foreign markets because the cost is about one-third that of air mail.

　　Analysts said Amazon.com would not be affected by the change; international book shipments represent a small fraction of its business, and because, like other high-volume businesses, it can qualify for discounts on foreign shipments.

　　But many thousands of smaller used-and rare-book merchants say they will suffer, since they rely on foreign demand.

　　“If postage costs as much, if not more, than the book, it’ll be hard to sell books,” said Rob Stuart, owner of FrenchboroBooks.com, a seller of rare and antique books in Frenchboro, Maine.“And maybe 25 percent or more of my books sell internationally.”

　　In announcing the changes last month, the post office said demand for international air-mail delivery was increasing at the expense of sea-borne services, which account for just 2.7 percent of foreign deliveries.“As a result, efficient international surface delivery networks have diminished and costs have dramatically increased,” the Postal Service said.

　　Mr. Stuart called the changes “a brutal reality” that put him in a difficult position, since his entire town may feel the effects. His company has shipped enough rare and antique books to sustain mail deliveries for the 75 residents of Frenchboro, an island about eight miles off Maine’s northeast coast. Now Mr. Stuart, who is also a town selectman, said the island’s mail deliveries could be threatened, and he may also be forced to lay off a part-time worker.

　　Yvonne Yoerger, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said customers aren’t yet aware of other options. She said “customized agreements” for surface mail are being developed for higher-volume shippers that will be enhanced over the next several months to address the needs of small businesses. “The Postal Service has a longstanding commitment to small businesses and is working to accommodate customers�� needs as the international mail changes take effect,” Ms. Yoerger said.

　　Philip Bevis, chief executive of Arundel Books, which sells online and in its Seattle store, said he did not believe such customized agreements would extend to small booksellers like him.

　　“I think the Postal Service dangled that to defuse any pushback,” Mr. Bevis said. “If they were really serious about this, they would’ve pushed back the cancellation of surface mail until they could incorporate these other standards.” Because small booksellers typically list their inventories with multiple Web sites, like Amazon, AbeBooks.com and Alibris.com, the new shipping costs will be felt, to varying degrees, up the industry’s food chain until those customized agreements are final.