New €3 charge aims to restore equilibrium between e-commerce firms that offer virtually free delivery
France plans to impose a minimum delivery fee of €3 for online book orders of less than €35 to level the playing field for independent bookstores struggling to compete against e-commerce companies, the government has said.
A 2014 French law prohibits free book deliveries but Amazon and other vendors, such as Fnac, have circumvented this by charging only 1¢. Local bookstores typically charge up to €7 for shipping.
