Yes (and no).  If you are just starting out in selling books online hold off in buying some expensive package of a PDA with a scanner and a monthly subscription to a service like Scoutpal.  You may get all gung-ho about your new venture of selling books and go out and spend hundreds of dollars on an PDA set-up.  Slow down…. you will eventually want to get a scanner but before doing so make sure you have some of the basics of online bookselling down first.  Get a feel for the process of listing books you already have and dealing with the shipping side of the business before you invest larger sums into your business. 

 The short version of this post would be don’t make larger investments in your business until you are sure it is something you are going to commit to.

The majority of online booksellers will need to eventually get a scanner and a handheld especially if your main inventory sources are places talked about in the previous post.  There are several experienced guys at every sale I go to (always first in line) who do not use scanners and do not deal with the general stock at the sales.  They go straight to the antiquarian books and are very knowledgeable.  They work at brick and mortar stores that specialize in first editions and other niches.  Scanners are of no use to them and they always leave sales with plenty of books.  If you are going to specialize in a specific niche and really know your stuff then you can likely save the expense of a scanner (and the monthly subscription fees).

I have a Dell Axim with a scanner that I no longer use and I cancelled my subscription to my scouting service.  I no longer need them though I am still a full time online bookseller.  I just have different sources of inventory where I no longer need to go to library sales. 

I found having a scanner and scout service were invaluable for the time I used them.  They helped me make thousands of dollars by finding books I had no idea were valuable and they also saved me much money by helping me avoid books I thought were good.  If you are in the market for a PDA and a scanner shop around on eBay first before buying a package from one of the scout services – you will be able to save a bunch of money that way.  I will talk about some of the scout services in a future post.

Textbook Season Ending & Return Season Starting
There is almost never a case when I do not accept returns - most markets require you to accept them (see Amazon's A-Z policy). I keep my return policy simple. The only time I have not accepted a return is when a significant amount of time has passed between the purchase date and the return date or if the books condition is materially different from when I sold it (such as full of highlighting). Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of the customer experience when I run a business from home and do not interact with the customers. Continue reading
Amazon Charge When Shipped (Amazon CWS)
What does CWS mean for us booksellers? Not much. You will not have your account credited until you ship a book. If you use The Art of Books or a similar inventory management system Amazon should be automatically updated when the book is shipped. There are a couple of downsides to Amazon's Charge When Shipped - you do not get to send your own confirmation email to the buyer and the buyer can still leave feedback on a canceled order. Continue reading
Is the Amazon Kindle bad for Online Booksellers
Sales of the Kindle are one thing but it remains to be seen if people are actually going to adapt to using it as their primary way to read - as we have seen with Amazon recenlty deleting Orwell titles there are several issues with the Kindle that will effect its popularity. Continue reading
Tags:book scouting,buying books and thrift stores,make money selling books,scanners and library sales,selling books on amazon,selling books on ebay,Selling books online

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