I, like many other secondhand book shop owning hopefuls, came here by the hobby turning to business route. One of the handicaps of this background is that your love of books can make it difficult to to decide when a book is simply not saleable and it has to go. And then off course, once you make that decision, where does it go?
Every so often I have been asked to donate books to send to exotic locations like Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea and I respond with gusto. Beautiful sets of Britannica, maths and science textbooks that have suffered only from inbuilt obsolescence due to bi-annual updates, time life library books, exlibrary books, childrens’ non fiction, picture books; anything in good condition that I have an excess of that could be put to better use overseas I happily waved bon voyage to.
But I can no longer store books just in case someone contacts me for a similar scheme (though if someone knows of one leaving Melbourne Australia anytime soon let me know and I will accumulate some books for you). Any spare capacity has been long consumed by the endless parade of books that are traded in on a daily basis. Too many days of bring in 10 take out 2 have seen to that.
Just recently I was offered a batch of books at a good price but – take all or no deal. So we took them all, about 200. Obviously or first step was to sort the into A’s and B’s. A’s are 1st Editions, books we know are good, old paperbacks in good condition and others … Read more
Owning a bookstore can be a dream come true, but for some, it’s also been an eye-opening process that has caught them unprepared to keep their dream afloat. Like with any career transition, it makes sense to get the big picture and compare your dream with reality. Here are seven critical areas of operating a … Read more
Selling online is a fairly solitary occupation, this is something I’ve spoken about before. Last time I spoke about making friends but this time I’m talking about being a sole owner enterprise. It’s challenging to maintain the focus on the business, I’ve got no-one around to remind me of where I started, what I’ve achieved … Read more
Acrylic Display Stands When it comes to selling tangible goods, presentation is everything. A cardboard display stand may work for paper backs, but hardback books may need something more. By showcasing the books you want to sell in an acrylic book display, you ensure that potential customers have the best possible shopping experience. They can … Read more
Books are shipped to many places across the globe. Have you ever wondered how they are packed to keep them tamper-proof until they reach the destinations, what are the costs involved etc? There are several methods of book packaging. Some of them may be more cost effective than others. But when they are cost effective … Read more
In a previous post I mentioned a Booksellers’ Boot Camp I’d read about where sellers of antiquarian and secondhand books learnt so much about the antiquarian and secondhand book trade. Some of the topics they learn about are:
How to Handle Books
Mail order/online bookselling, including ethics and traditions
Acquiring stock Wrapping and Shipping
Technology for Booksellers
Database Creation and Management Cataloging
Pricing
from bookthink.com
I read this article with great interest and a lot of envy, I couldn’t help thinking how different the industry in Australia would be if we had a conference of this nature so I did some research online and I found the Australian Booksellers Association have some training and it looks really useful information. They teach things such as Loss Prevention, Helping Your Team to Help You, How to Set Standards For Your Team and Making Money From Kids (no, not stealing from children but learning about children’s literature), as well as having a whole host of networking opportunities, a Trade Exhibition and so much more. I did some more research and found nothing for antiquarian and secondhand booksellers and certainly nothing for online booksellers. All of the information I know about pre-loved books I’ve learnt on-the-job.
When I find a new website the first thing I do after I’ve signed up and had a good look around is to check out the forum and see what people are saying, a busy forum can be a good sign of a good website, or it can be a bad sign if everything is negative. I generally head straight to any part of the forum that has a vague mention of books, I’m sure there’s a reason but it escapes me just now. Anyway, this particular website was eBay, a website that needs no advertising from me so I hope our editor won’t link to them. This is where I got my start with selling books. I’d sold my old electronic diary through there and got a much higher price than I’d expected so I was wasting a bit of time trawling listings when I found some magazines for sale and I just happened to have them on my shelf. I looked at them and thought about the money and the magazines and the money and the magazines, eventually the money won and I listed them. I spent my time selling magazines and reading the forums, eventually finding something I wanted to say.
The books board (as we call it, although it’s supposed to be for books, music and sport, is almost entirely composed of book people) was full of very knowledgable and friendly people who were perfectly happy to share their knowledge and advise about prices and listing tips. They accepted me as one of their own despite my lack of knowledge and experience and they taught me so much, they also accepted me when the Melbourne people decided to meet up for the lunch for the first time. It was a lovely afternoon and we spent the entire time talking about eBay and books, we still meet occasionally and most of the conversation is about books and selling online as most of us now have our own websites.
It’s a little known fact that you don’t always have to be Nostradamus to be able to anticipate demand when selling used books. There are several recurring scenarios that offer the savvy dealer a chance to buy low and sell high… and all it takes is a little extra attention to what is going on … Read more
Every so often I have been asked to donate books to send to exotic locations like Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea and I respond with gusto. Beautiful sets of Britannica, maths and science textbooks that have suffered only from inbuilt obsolescence due to bi-annual updates, time life library books, exlibrary books, childrens’ non fiction, picture books; anything in good condition that I have an excess of that could be put to better use overseas I happily waved bon voyage to.
