Tobias Flückiger* runs a small antiquarian bookstore and sells his books online. He has been receiving strange orders for a month.Image: watson/Hanna Hubacher
At the same time, antiquarian bookshops in Germany are reporting suspicious orders from a Canadian company – AI companies could be behind this. Now it turns out that Swiss antiquarian bookstores are also affected.
June 26, 2026, 06:24June 26, 2026, 08:38
Tobias Flückiger* was on the road when the email with the order arrived. On a Saturday evening in late May, a Canadian company buys eleven books at a time. This is unusual.
The company is called Zoom Books and writes on its website that it is committed to “acquiring, reselling and recycling books” and converting “publications into sustainable resources”. Flückiger, who worked in the publishing industry for decades, has never heard of the company.
Since his retirement, the bookseller has run a small antiquarian bookstore with art, photography, graphics and architecture books. The books are stored in his basement. Flückiger sells them online via the usual sales platforms.
Normally his customers, mostly museums or galleries, buy one book at a time, ideally two at a time. But this order is different. Eleven titles, that’s never happened before.
And something else makes him suspicious: the books he ordered don’t fit together at all. One time it’s about Kreuzplatz in Zurich, another time it’s about Hans Arp, another time it’s about structural changes in the Federal Palace or a sociological study about the relationship between Switzerland and China.
“The selection had no systematic structure at all.”
Tobias Flückiger*
Conspicuous orders are increasing
What Flückiger describes is also experienced by many other booksellers in German-speaking countries at the same time.
When his wife researched the buyer, she found reports in online forums from other antiquarians and dealers who had also received suspicious orders from Zoom Books since the end of April. They report a similar pattern: Zoom Books orders non-fiction books, older titles, some already out of stock, including many slow sellers. And they ask themselves:
What does this Canadian company want with this?
A warehouse for the Canadian company Zoom Books. Image: zoom books
In the days and weeks after the first large order, new, smaller orders from Zoom Books continue to follow. Flückiger obliges and sends the books. The delivery address is a warehouse in Germany, near the Polish and Czech borders. When it comes to ordering, everything goes smoothly: “You always paid in advance,” says the antiquarian. It’s a good business for him: he makes around 800 euros from the sales.
But the question remains: Why does a Canadian company order German-language books that are no longer of great value?
A research of the Baden newspaper from the beginning of June and later also contributions from Taz and SRF see one theory in particular as plausible: the books are bought in order to train AI models.
Scanned and destroyed
Research by the Washington Post at the beginning of the year shows that AI developers use books to feed and train their language models.
The newspaper knows from court documents that the US company Anthropic, which is behind the AI chatbot Claude, scanned millions of books and then disposed of them. “Project Panama” only came to light because of a copyright dispute in which book authors defended themselves against the company.
In its research, the Washington Post was able to show that books play an important role in the competition between tech companies. In order to train their language models, they always need new data. Other tech companies such as Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft and Google are also confronted with copyright lawsuits from book authors.
AI developers use books for their AI training. Does Zoom Books source used books for this purpose?Image: keystone
Based on the court files on Anthropic, the Washington Post was able to show that the tech giant initially used so-called shadow libraries to download digital pirated copies of books. Later, the US newspaper writes with reference to the court documents, Anthropic bought physical books, including from used dealers, and hired a company to scan them. For this reason they were dismantled and thus destroyed.
In the past, Zoom Books denied to the “Badische Zeitung” and “Taz” that it was digitizing and destroying books. When asked whether the company acts as a supplier to another company, Zoom Books did not provide an answer to either newspaper.
Reed Panell, the “Chief Growth Officer” of Zoom Books, responded to a query from Watson:
«For legal and business reasons, we cannot disclose the identity of our customers. However, we want to make it clear that contrary to some recent reports and speculation, Zoom Books does not digitize and destroy books.”
Statement Zoom Books (translated from English)
Panell did not provide any information on further questions, such as what happens to the books that Zoom Books has been ordering from German and Swiss antiquarian bookstores for several months.
It is therefore unclear why Zoom Books actually orders the books and what happens to the goods. But one thing is clear: According to media reports, Zoom Books orders not only in Germany and Switzerland, but worldwide. Antiquarians report that the books were initially ordered to warehouses in the USA.
Later, as was the case with the orders received by Flückiger, the books were sent to a German delivery address, a warehouse in Kodersdorf near the border with Poland and the Czech Republic. Media reports suggest that they could be delivered to the USA from this warehouse.
This is what the Swiss Book Trade and Publishing Association (SBVV) says
At Watson’s request she writes Managing Director of the Swiss Book Trade and Publishing Association (SBVV), Tanja Messerlithat the association has no knowledge of orders placed by Zoom Books from Swiss antiquarian bookshops. The association wants dealers who receive such orders no general recommendations give. If the Zoom Books orders are a procurement method for AI training data, she clearly condemns it: “It is one of many theft methods that have unfortunately increased significantly with AI development.” She also finds clear words for the actions of AI companies: “Unfortunately, AI developers often behave irresponsibly and benefit from the fact that the further development and adaptation of the laws takes longer than the digital transformation.”
Mixed feelings
Flückiger also now knows: Zoom Books is probably not a normal buyer. If he sends the books, they may be scanned and destroyed. “I was already thinking about how I should feel about it.”
Booksellers are also discussing on Reddit and other forums how to deal with orders: cancel, deliver anyway, or block orders completely via the affected sales platforms?
However, resistance to Zoom Books orders could cost used bookstores dearly. Another Swiss bookseller that Watson spoke to says: If he does not deliver the ordered goods or cancels the order, this will be sanctioned by major sales platforms. Antique booksellers with online shops are dependent on these platforms.
“If you reject it, you have a disadvantage on the book market.”
Anonymous bookseller
Back to Flückiger: He sold the books. Did he do that with a bad feeling? The antiquarian says: “I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was happy to be able to sell a few slow-moving items.” The fact that Zoom Books doesn’t declare what happens to the books bothers him:
“I find this game of hide-and-seek very unpleasant.”
Tobias Flückiger*
This is where Tobias Flückiger* packs his orders – such as those to Zoom Books. Image: watson/Hanna Hubacher
From research on Anthropic it is known that the books were thrown away after scanning. “Destruction is unpleasant,” says Flückiger. However, he, who has worked in the publishing sector all his professional life, points out that publishers also throw away unsaleable books. “I would say that at least half of the books produced end up being thrown away.” The reason is the high storage costs and overproduction.
Flückiger is not afraid that the content will disappear in an AI model. “That’s why there are archive libraries that collect. I can’t imagine that they would buy the very last copy of a book and then it would be irretrievably lost.” There were no rarities in the orders he received: “These were books that are still available in hundreds of copies.”
However, he is critical of how the authors are treated: “I think it’s totally wrong that they don’t get paid.”
To protect the books: Flückiger pays close attention to the humidity in the basement storage. Image: watson/Hanna Hubacher
He sees responsibility not with the antiquarians, but with politicians:
“An antiquarian can’t solve this problem.”
Tobias Flückiger*
He therefore advocates clear legal regulations and that authors be compensated if AI developers use their works to train their language models.
Antiquarian Flückiger has not received any orders for Zoom Books for a good week. And he didn’t receive any complaints about his delivery either. Because he did not deliver two titles ordered to Zoom Books. “I thought to myself: Which books do I want to protect?” he says. He did allow himself this little subversion.
(*name changed)