LibraryThing: 2, Shelfari: 0

On second thought, I'm not quite ready to switch from LibraryThing to Shelfari.  Yes, the latter's interface is slick, but one two key features is are missing.

First up, is the Amazon Associate functionality.  LibraryThing lets you use your own Associate ID, which means you get credit for any sales resulting from your links.  As near as I can tell, Shelfari uses their own ID and there's apparently no way to override it.  Bad idea.

Secondly, although Shelfari does indeed allow you to import your titles from LibraryThing (or any other service that exports to tab-delimited files), it ignores the review link field.  That's one of the things I like best about LibraryThing: they let me point to my review of the book through their service.  Shelfari apparently doesn't handle this through the import process and there's no way I'm going to manually enter all those links again!  (Btw, LibraryThing includes the links in the export file, so they're available if Shelfari should choose to use them.)

So although I liked what I saw initially in this quick look at Shelfari, I'm sticking with LibraryThing for now.

UPDATE: The score now stands: LibraryThing: 2, Shelfari: 1.  Mark Williamson of Shelfari has pointed out that I missed the Advanced tab options during the import phase.  There's an option on that tab that lets you use your Amazon Associate ID, not Shelfari's.  I still miss the review link feature though...

Comments

[Michael A. Banks]

Alas! I still have not received clearance to access Shelfari after signing up.

I note that their internal blog is hosted by typepad.
--Mike
http://wwww.michaelabanks.com

[Joe Wikert]

That's odd. My access was almost immediate. I got an e-mail message with a confirmation link within 2 minutes of signing up. I even added their widget to my blog...for about 10 minutes, till I discovered the limitations noted in this post. I quickly disabled it and will leave it that way until they fix those problems.

[Amber Barth]

I have looked into Shelfari and as far as I can tell, there is no way to incorporate your Amazon Associate ID unless you are a paying member. If you can show me differently, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Joe Wikert]

Hi Amber. Well, having abandoned Shelfari for LibraryThing I have to admit that I don't know that much about the former. At one point though I know Shelfari did support a user's Amazon associate ID without having to be a paying member. It's possible they may have changed their support since I played around with it back in January though.