The online marketplaces established by Half.com and Amazon Marketplace for new and used books in the past few years have provided the perfect stepping stone for new business operators. Selling books on these established marketplace means there are no advertising or promotion costs -– in fact, no costs at all until you have a successful sale. You can begin on a part-time basis while gaining experience.
A mere decade ago it would have been impossible to establish a viable used bookselling business without several months of preparation, the capital required to obtain a suitable store location, the commitment to keep the doors open for long hours each week, and at least 10,000 to 25,000 salable books. Today, the part-timer can begin selling with a few discarded books while having a worldwide market of registered, ready buyers.
On a highly populated marketplace like Amazon, the micro-bookseller can instantly participate in the largest bookstore ever assembled, and one that benefits from the addition of several thousand new customers each day. How successful you become and how much money you earn depends only on how much effort you put into the enter-prise and how seriously you take it.
There are all sorts of other good and noble reasons for getting into bookselling. But here we are primarily concerned with building a thriving, efficient business. Everybody will come away a winner if you understand you are providing a service that your customers want.
I started selling books on the Internet in early 2000 after hearing about the Web site Half.com. Having never sold anything on the Internet, I began my business as a small experiment, selling books off my shelf that I no longer wanted. I was amazed at how quickly and efficiently the sales rolled in. With each e-mail notifying me of a new sale, I got an a rush of excitement and sense of accomplishment.
I plunged ahead further, taking $80 from my meager checking account, using it to buy four boxes of books from a local used bookstore. Within a few days, I had already turned a profit and was off looking for more inventory. Within a few months, I realized that I was making more money selling used books part-time than I was making at my “day job.”
Just five years later, I’ve sold more than $1 million of books to more than 80,000 customers around the world. With the money I’ve earned from selling used books online, I’ve moved from a cramped apartment to a big house in the suburbs. All this from that initial investment of $80, and without having any employees. And all the while, it’s been the most rewarding experience, like a daily treasure hunt.
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Watch out when selling on Half.com. Because they handle the transaction you cannot directly confirm payment.
I sold a book and the seller accidently bought it twice. He said he had been charged twice and wanted only one book and requested arefund for the second purchase. Because both orders appeared as confirmed, I believed that he had paid half.com as is the custom, even though they don’t transfer until I tell them that I had shipped the item.
I authorized a refund, but it turned out the seller had not paid for either order. I shipped the book, as required by Half.com before being notified by half.com of non-payment. Half.com then, with about 7 hours notice, deducted the refund amount from my bank account and failed to even pay me for the book that I shipped on their assurance that the transaction was confirmed.
I am now out the book, the refund and, because of the unauthorized and short notice deduction, I had two small checks bounce and now I owe overdraft fees at my bank.
To add insult to injury I have email Half.com twice and while I recieve confirmation that my emails were recieved I have never received the promised reply (it has been over 9 days since my first email and they promise a reply within 72 at most).