Abebooks buys FillZ

Abebooks.com, the online listing service for used booksellers, bought FillZ, a provider of bookseller software. ABE plans to offer FillZ software to help its members manage their inventory and process orders.

FillZ said it will "remain marketplace neutral. This means that all marketplaces will enjoy equal opportunity to integrate with FillZ," the company said in an e-mail to subscribers.

Just a few years ago, ABE was the biggest online used-book marketplace. But it's lost ground as Amazon Marketplace signed up thousands of dealers, and eBay could take another bite when it launches its new Express fixed-price marketplace.

"Sites like Amazon, eBay, and Abebooks have different requirements for sellers," Hannes Blum, Abebooks's president and chief executive said in a company statement. "FillZ makes it extremely simple for booksellers to overcome the fragmented nature of the market. We’re aware of their international potential and what they can offer to booksellers around the world."

Abebooks has about 13,000 members, while Amazon has an estimated 85,000 third-party booksellers. In November ABE bought BookFinder, an online comparison shopping site for book buyers.

Q&A: Can I resell remainder and overstock books profitably online?

QUESTION: As a new seller, should I try selling remainder books online? Should I contact publishers directly for remainders, or try a wholesaler?

ANSWER: Remainders can be a great sideline to your used-book business, and boost your sales volume. Buying books in quantity is much easier than hand-picking used books -- if you know what you're doing.

I've sold remainders profitably, and I talk about it in detail in my book. Just as with used books, you'll have winners and losers. But it's much easier to make bad mistakes with remainders and get stuck with tons of worthless books.

So this is something I don't recommend for new sellers. Dealing in remainders, hurts and overstock books is much more dangerous than selling unique used books. If you make a long series of disastrous mistakes you can lose a fortune with remainders. By contrast, with secondhand books, you can probably earn a decent profit even if you pick your books while blindfolded.

I've never gone through bookstores to get remainders, I buy them online at places like Book Depot and Kudzu Book Traders. I've listed the top remainder wholesalers at the bottom of this post.

With remainders, it takes a lot of work to find the few available titles that still sell relatively well (check the Amazon Sales Rank) and still command half their retail price. Through wholesalers, you can usually get them for about 20 percent of their original retail price.

In particular, I warn new sellers to avoid purchasing "skids" of remainder assortments. If you don't know the titles you'll be receiving, you'll probably be disappointed when you receive them. Your skid will probably contain fiction bestsellers from a few years ago that are practically worthless for online sellers. Think about it -- if a wholesaler is offering a great deal, they will advertise exactly what they're selling.

Here are the major remainder dealers who sell books in quantity through their Web sites. In cases where I've received shoddy service from a dealer, I've left them off this list -- I won't recommend companies that don't provide good service. Most of these dealers require you to have a state sales tax certificate before you open an account.

A1 Overstock
info@a1overstock.com

American Book Company
bburtner@americanbookco.com

Bargain Books Wholesale
Debbiesmith@bargainbookswholesale.com

Book Depot
rick@bookdepot.com

Book Sales, Inc.
sales@booksalesusa.com

BooksNSave
vasantabhyanker@hotmail.com

Bradley'’s Book Clearance
sales@bradleysbooks.net

Daedalus Books
pnuhn@daedalusbooks.com

East Tennessee Trade Group
larry@rhinosales.com

Fairmount Books, Inc.
psnow@fairmountbooks.com

Great Jones Books
sales@greatjonesbooks.com

J R Trading Company
deb@jrtradingco.com

Kudzu Book Traders
books@kudzubooktraders.com

LRA Books
customerservice@lrabooks.com

Marketing Resource
mavedis@mribargains.com

Maximus Books, LLC
sforsell@maximusbooks.com

Reader's World USA, Ltd.
inquiry@readersworldusa.com

S & L Sales Company, Inc.
jim@slsales.com
wcbbooks.com

Q&A: How can I sell books on eBay?

QUESTION: I want to open an eBay Store to sell books at fixed prices. How can I add book cover photos and descriptions to my listings? I've tried TurboLister, but it's so difficult. What about paid listers like Andale?

ANSWER: eBay has made some improvements to its Stores. Your books are visible in regular search results now, so eBay Stores are becoming an option for booksellers who want their own store without building a site from scratch.

You can enter ISBNs for most books while you're listing on eBay's Web form. This will add the book's cover image and synopsis to your listing. Here's eBay's video tutorial on listing through their Web interface.

Unfortunately, eBay's free TurboLister software is a nightmare. I recently downloaded it again and found the same bugs it had two years ago (preventing sellers from listing with certain payment/shipping terms.) eBay's neglect of TurboLister is just nutty. They offer it to encourage more listing, but if it doesn't work, it defeats the purpose.

You can enter ISBNs using TurboLister also, provided you're able to work around its many bugs.

I've never used Andale, but my hunch is their service works fine. They've been in business several years, so users must be getting their money's worth. I've listed the most popular eBay seller tools at the bottom of this post.

eBay Stores offer a bit more flexibility than marketplaces such as Amazon. You can sell with auctions or at fixed prices. You can experiment with different words in your listings, allowing a bit of flair and salesmanship. And your Store inventory is automatically exported to Shopping.com and Froogle, giving your books some added exposure on the Web.

I agree with your strategy on selling most books at fixed prices. It is possible to get a higher price at auction for a truly unusual book -- perhaps one out of 10,000 books you'll sell.

One cautionary note: eBay will launch a new fixed-price marketplace in a few weeks. Express will compete for Amazon's used-book business, and could prompt a phaseout of eBay's Half.com site. Before going whole-hog on an eBay store, I'd wait until the dust settles from the Express debut. You might decide Express is a better option than Stores -- or you may want to cross-list there.

Here are some of the most popular listing services for eBay sellers. A few are free, and some offer a trial period.
Andale
Zoovy
AuctionWagon
Auction Zealot
Auctiva
eBay Sellers Assistant
GarageSale
inkFrog
SpoonFeeder

Q&A: What should I do with my penny books?

QUESTION: I've got a bunch of books that are practically worthless on Amazon Marketplace. Should I give them away? Why do sellers even bother listing things worth less than $1? What am I missing?

ANSWER: You're right, it's not worth listing a book for sale unless you can reasonably expect to make a few dollars' profit.

It used to be possible to squeeze about 50 cents of profit from selling "penny books" on Amazon -- assuming the seller got the book free, it weighed less than a pound, and could be mailed in a cheap bubble envelope. Several Marketplace penny sellers with access to cheap paperbacks built businesses around 1-cent books.

But since the Postal Service raised rates a few months ago (and Amazon didn't raise shipping credits for sellers) the days of squeezing profits from shipping fees are over.

Yet some sellers still offer two rationales for selling cheap books:

Building your feedback score.

Sure, it would be great to build a track record as a seller without spending much on stock, but it doesn't work very well. Customers who buy cheap books are notoriously hard to please. You'd think someone buying a book for a penny wouldn't have much to complain about -- but believe me, they find a way. These are the folks who will e-mail you daily when their book doesn't arrive after four days. These are the folks who complain that shipping cost $3.49 but you only spent $2 on postage. And so on. Not all penny-book buyers are a pain, but an unusually large percentage of them are. On the other hand, the folks who pay $75 and up for a book are usually the ones who have nothing but good things to say -- if you hear from them at all.

Retaining e-mail addresses.

Selling books only to mine Amazon e-mail addresses is not a great idea either. Amazon's participation agreement prohibits sellers from contacting buyers except to fulfill orders. In other words, Amazon can (and does) boot sellers from their site for unauthorized contact with buyers or disclosure of customer information.

And with all the recent trouble over e-mail viruses and phishing scams, it's only a matter of time before Amazon eliminates direct e-mail contact between buyers and sellers anyway. They've already rolled out a Web-based contact form for buyers' questions.

The bottom line is, if you have some cheap books on hand, save yourself some headaches and donate them to your local library or charity.

Q&A: Should I offer international shipping on my used books at Amazon Marketplace?

QUESTION: I've been selling used books on Amazon for about a year. I don't offer international shipping, but I'm considering it. What are the pros and cons?

ANSWER: On the plus side, offering international shipping will get you some additional sales and more volume -- perhaps another 7 percent, depending on your stock. Hard-to-find titles attract overseas buyers, so it's smart to check the "international shipping" box when listing your scarce higher-priced books.

But there are so many drawbacks to international shipping, I've eliminated it on all but my most expensive listings in the past year.

Overseas shipping sucks up a lot of your time. You must complete customs forms and deal with the inevitable confused overseas buyers. These customers require lots more hand-holding -- e-mailing back and forth, repeatedly clarifying the shipping terms, etc. Sometimes overseas buyers don't use English well, so communicating is a challenge.

On the other hand, international customers buy a good percentage of higher-end, scarce titles that they're unable to find locally. So on those high-margin sales, I'm willing to put up with the occasional hassle.

If you're still building your feedback record and need the cashflow, international shipping is a good option. To keep your feedback clean, I recommend free upgrades to Global Priority airmail, particularly on standard-sized books that fit into a flat-rate envelope. Amazon's checkout page tells international customers their book will be shipped via "surface mail" and arrive in 4 to 6 weeks, but this doesn't stem the complaints from customers who expect their book promptly.

I never worry about insuring overseas shipments worth less than $75. But if you're sending a super-expensive book, insurance is worth the peace of mind. However, Postal insurance isn't available for Global Priority packages. You'll need to ship the book via regular airmail to insure it, so that will be considerably more expensive.

Also, there are a few countries where the Postal Service doesn't send Global Priority mail, including Italy, Greece, Saudi Arabia and some others. So you'll need to send those via regular airmail, but fortunately Canada and Western Europe will account for most of your international sales.

If you list your books with an automated system, remember to disable international shipping for your larger, heavier books. I still remember the time when I was a new seller, and a buyer from Germany bought a huge, 8-lb. Biology book I'd accidentally offered internationally. The book sold for about $2 and was too large for a Global Priority envelope, so I lost about $15 on this "sale" after paying the airmail fee.

I'd be interested in comments from readers. How has international selling worked for you?

Q&A: I'm fed up with Amazon. Where else can I sell my books?

QUESTION: I'm really upset that Amazon didn't raise its shipping credits to sellers after the recent Postal Service rate hike, like other selling venues did. The cut Amazon takes from sellers is high, but their regard for us is low. So I'm looking for alternatives. Should I list my books on Half.com, and is there a shortcut?

ANSWER: I'm with you. Amazon should raise shipping credits to sellers suffering from the postage increases. Unfortunately, Amazon's standard practice is to ignore input from Marketplace sellers. From first-hand experience, I know Amazon receives tips every day from sellers with ideas on improving its business and fixing the bugs on its site. The advice Amazon gets from its sellers is solid gold, yet it goes straight in the trash folder.

But I digress. Back to your question on alternatives:

Unfortunately, I can't recommend listing on Half.com right now. It used to be the major alternative to Amazon, but I think some big changes are in the works.

First, some background: A few years ago, eBay purchased Half.com. The strategy was to take a bite out of Amazon's share of fixed-price selling of books, CDs and videos. After all, most people buying a cheap book or video just want to buy it, without the hassle of bidding on an auction and checking back a week later to see if they've won.

After a while, eBay decided it no longer wanted to support Half, and tried to merge it into its main site by forcing Half sellers to open eBay stores. Sellers were given a few months' notice to relist all their books in Stores. This sparked a huge outcry, since most Half sellers didn't want to pay the fees for eBay stores. At the last minute, eBay backed down, and kept Half open. But eBay hasn't been promoting the site, and sales volume has withered.

Now, eBay has a better idea, it thinks. Shortly it will launch eBay Express, and this time, they're really going after Amazon's typical customer -- the buyer who just wants stuff, without thinking about auctions or PayPal.

Once Express is up and running in a few weeks, my hunch is eBay will finally kill off Half, although they flatly deny it. Today, I directly asked eBay's headquarters if they might close Half after the Express launch. Their response was:

We continue to value the Half.com marketplace, as do many members of our community, so we have no plans to phase it out.

Time will tell. But given the possibility that Half.com may be shuttered -- or at least continue its slide -- I wouldn't invest much time listing books there. Previously, high-volume Half sellers -- those with more than 5,000 listings -- could upload their inventory using a text file, but Half no longer allows it. To me, that says a lot.

Sure, if you can get a few sales there in the meantime without much effort, go ahead. I know some of the seller tools like Bookrouter can automate uploads to Half. But if you're not already paying a subscription for something like this, I wouldn't start now just to get listed on Half.

In the future, it's possible somebody else could buy the Half.com domain and revive the brand. But until someone with big bucks does it -- and can challenge both eBay and Amazon -- I'd wait until the dust settles.

And it's a shame. Half.com was a good alternative to Amazon until just recently, and I think competition is good. Hopefully, eBay will do a good job on this transition and create new opportunities. Unlike some, eBay does listen to sellers, so perhaps there is hope. Make no mistake, they are deadly serious about making a run on Amazon Marketplace's business, given their recent hiring of a Wal-Mart star to head their program. And that's exactly how Amazon got rolling a decade ago.

So, I'll be keeping my ears to the ground for the next few months, and you should too.

Q&A: Where is the best place to buy book shipping supplies?

QUESTION: I'm a new online bookseller. What's the best place to get mailing supplies to ship books to my buyers? I've searched online to compare prices on bubble mailers, and the cheapest vendor I've found is CentralPack. However, when I called them to ask about the brand name of their mailers, they said it was "Ivex." I noticed that most other vendors sell the "JiffyLites" brand, which are more expensive. Is there a difference in quality or weight? What other shipping supplies do I need?

ANSWER: I buy most of my mailing supplies from Associated Bag Co. They are pretty hard to beat on price, and they always deliver the next day at regular UPS ground rates. Another favorite is Uline, which has some additional items but they're a bit more expensive. Also, Uline's shipping fees are higher, and next-day delivery costs extra.

When I started selling five years ago, I shipped all my books in cardboard bookfolds. But taping up each package by hand is time-consuming. As your selling volume grows, you need to find some time-saving packing techniques, and bubble mailers are a good solution. So after a few years, I switched to bubble mailers, except on expensive books that need maximum protection.

Another advantage of using bubble mailers is that for lightweight paperbacks, you'll be able to send them via First Class mail for about the same cost as Book Rate. Your customers will appreciate the faster delivery time.

I use the Jiffy TuffGard mailers because they're plastic and much less prone to ripping than the ones with paper on the outside. I've used some Ivex mailers, and their quality was good. One thing about inexpensive bubble mailers -- make sure they have a self-adhesive strip. The cheapest ones don't have it, so you're right back where you started with having to hand-tape each package.

I've probably shipped 50,000 books in the past few years using Tuffgard mailers, and had only a few damaged in the mail. (I also had about the same amount damaged in cardboard mailers.) I've never had a single customer complain about Jiffy mailers either.

Here's a link to Associated Bag's Tuffgard mailers. Sizes 1, 2 and 4 will hold most standard-sized books. And here's a link to their bookfolds. The "digest" size will hold a standard-sized book, and they also have really big ones to hold the coffee table books. For expensive books, when you can't take the chance of a corner getting bumped, you'll want document mailers, which can absorb about 200 lbs of pressure.

One time I did order some corrugated bookfolds from CentralPack and they were good (and cheap) but shipping took longer then average. Usually when I need this stuff, I needed it yesterday, so it's nice to know exactly when I'll get it.

I've tried many of the smaller shipping-supply vendors with attractive prices, but I've had bad experiences with several. When an order isn't filled correctly or the merchandise isn't up to snuff, it can be a real pain dealing with a company that doesn't have a full-time telephone staff. Over the years, I've learned not to place a big order with a new vendor -- let them earn your confidence first.

One more consideration: You might be able to find a local shipping supplier by consulting your Yellow Pages. If you can avoid shipping fees, that could add up to a nice chunk of change over time. Let them know you'll be buying often and in quantity, so they'll quote you their best price.

Also, just so you know, I don't have any financial interest in recommending Associated Bag or Uline, they're not giving me a commission to mention them. Through trial and error, I've discovered they offer great selection and service, so that's why I recommend them. If other readers have had good experiences with other vendors, I hope they'll post a "comment" here with their recommendations.

Q&A: Are there legal restrictions for naming my online bookstore?

QUESTION: What legal considerations are there in chosing the seller name I use for online bookselling? I want to be sure my online bookstore isn't using someone else's name or a prohibited name.

ANSWER: Technically, there are some legal requirements for naming your business, but many of these rules are obsolete (and unobserved and unenforced) for online sellers.

In most counties in the United States, you're required to obtain a "fictitious name" permit if you're operating a business using a name other than your full legal name. (In some counties they call it a "doing business as" permit.)

In my county, for instance, the permit costs $20. After you submit the application, a clerk simply searches the county's files to ensure no other business is using the same name. Right off the bat, you can see this practice has limited value today -- as an online seller, you may be transacting worldwide, not just in your home county.

The original rationale for these regulations was to protect consumers from fly-by-night businesses. If someone purchased a product or service that turned out defective, the buyer might need to obtain the real name of the business owner to get a refund or sue.

With today's marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, resolving problems is usually much simpler. If a buyer is unhappy with a purchase, they e-mail the seller. If the seller doesn't respond appropriately, Amazon or Paypal makes the buyer whole. If a seller (or buyer) gets into disputes often enough, their trading privileges are revoked.

Another reason for "fictitious name" permits is to prevent new businesses from accidentally (or purposefully) using the name of an existing company, creating confusion. For example, in the Amazon context, if someone tried opening a seller account with the name "Barnes And Noble," that would be inappropriate -- they'd be taking advantage of an existing business name. On the other hand, somebody could probably open an account using the name "Joe's Place" even though there are probably 5,000 restaurants using that name -- but there's no chance anyone would confuse the online bookseller with the restaurants. And if someone on Amazon is already using the name "Joe's Place," Amazon's system would simply prevent new sellers from using the same name.

If you're selling books part-time, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the choice of a seller name. A Google search on the name within quotation marks will probably show whether it's being used. But it is possible to get into trouble by using someone else's name. Corporations usually get exclusive use of a name in their state. And most larger U.S. businesses obtain federal trademarks, giving them exclusive use of their name nationwide. For example, I would not recommend using the word "Amazon" as part of your seller name.

If you accidentally began using an existing business name, you might receive a "cease and desist" letter from the company's lawyers, threatening to take you to court unless you stopped using the name.

If you come up with a great name and you want to be certain it's kosher, here's more information on trademark law and conducting a name search.

One more consideration: If you think you might want to operate a bookstore on your own Web site someday, you should check now to see if the domain name is available. You can search for available domain names at the Web sites of many host providers, including Register.com. Even if you don't decide to launch a Web site now, you can register the domain and pay a nominal fee to keep the name until you launch your site.

New software tool tracks Amazon Sales Rank

The past two years has seen an explosion of new software tools for online booksellers and publishers. The competition has sparked some useful innovations, but most of this specialized software still requires a hefty subscription fee beyond the reach of hobby sellers and part-time collectors.

Now a startup computer-book publisher in Washington state, Paradoxal Press, is offering a nifty little tool for tracking the Amazon Sales Rank of your favorite books. And best of all, it's free.

The "Amazon Sales Rank Watcher" allows you to search for products on Amazon by ISBN or keyword and quickly add them to your tracking list. You can adjust how often the program polls Amazon for the sales data, and a line is drawn on its chart, just like a stock chart. Unlike stock charts, of course, a downward-sloping line is preferable for Amazon Sales Ranks.

You can use the Rank Watcher to plot sales trends on weekly, monthly or annual time spans, and you can print and save your graphs. The program doesn't collect Amazon Marketplace pricing. Rank Watcher requires .NET Framework 2.0, so if you have an older computer, you may need to download .NET from Microsoft's Web site.

Q&A: Should I pay the Pro-Merchant subscription fee for Amazon Marketplace selling?

QUESTION: I've just started selling used books online. How many books is an "average" inventory for selling on Amazon -- enough to justify the $39.99 monthly fee for a Pro-Merchant subscription?

ANSWER: Every bookseller's situation is so different, it's hard to generalize. But the choice of whether to go Pro-Merchant is a no-brainer after you've been selling a short while. Once you're selling an average of 1.4 books per day, the subscription pays for itself since Amazon waives the 99-cent closing fee nonsubscribers pay on each Marketplace sale. And obviously, as your sales increase, the savings multiply because all those 99-cent fees are history.

Unlike eBay's Powerseller program, Amazon Pro-Merchant status does nothing to impress buyers. But it provides a crucial tool for managing your business: the Inventory Loader. This enables you to upload and download your book listings using a text file or third-party software. You'll need the Inventory Loader after you have more than a few hundred books for sale -- if you want to keep your inventory organized and priced correctly without having to hunt and peck through Amazon's Web pages.

Back when I started selling, switching to Pro-Merchant was a hassle because you had to manually close all your listings and relist after your subscription started. Fortunately, that's no longer necessary.

Since you're just starting, there's no need to decide immediately. You can test the waters, and if you enjoy selling and want to expand, the advantage of going Pro-Merchant will be increasingly apparent.

If you go Pro-Merchant and later decide it was a mistake, you can always cancel the subscription. At that point you'll have the option of keeping your listings open and continuing to sell as a non-subscriber. Or, if you've had enough of bookselling, you can close your listings when you stop your Pro-Merchant subscription.

Q&A: Are Postal Service auctions a good source for used book inventory?

QUESTION: I'm considering attending a Postal Service book auction. I live in Louisiana, and since Hurricane Katrina books have been hard to come by. I'm thinking of attending the next auction in Atlanta, but wonder how much competition there is, and whether the quality of the books is good enough to make this worthwhile.

ANSWER: The Postal Service does auction off a huge amount of new and used books periodically at its Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta. These bulk-lot auctions consist of books that weren't deliverable, sometimes because they came loose in the mail.

I've never attended a USPS auction in person, but I did win several lots when the Postal Service was conducting these auctions on eBay a few years ago. That online program has been discontinued, and now most of the book auctions are done live in Atlanta.

The lots usually consist of a few hundred books separated into broad categories, such as cookbooks, college textbooks, children's books, etc. The books are packed in boxes and you can't examine them before bidding -- it's pot luck.

Compared to the eBay auctions of a few years ago, my hunch is there are far fewer bidders at today's live auctions, since only those who can manage to attend in person may bid. When the auctions were on eBay, anyone in the country could bid, and on certain lots the bidding was furious.

I was pleased with the contents of most of the dozen lots I received. Nearly every single book was in very good condition, and some were still in their factory shrinkwrap.

I paid anywhere from $400 to $1,200 per lot, depending on what type of book category it was and how competitive the bidding was. For example, I won several lots of college textbooks, and the bidding went very high on those, sometimes over $1,000 per lot. (There aren't as many books in textbook lots since the books tend to be larger and heavier than average.) There were many valuable books in those lots, and I suppose that's why bidding went so high -- a sufficient number of bidders had a good idea of the value.

On some of those textbook lots I paid more than $10 per book (including shipping) but still made a good profit because they usually contained several books worth $50, $100 or more.

The bidding did not go as high for fiction book lots. One of the cheapest lots I won was a group of about 500 law books. I thought I'd made out like a bandit when I won the whole lot for $400. It was a rude awakening when I unpacked it and started researching prices. Most of the books were obsolete and had no ISBNs, making the whole lot practically worthless.

These lots are heavy, so don't go to Atlanta without a van or truck. With the eBay auctions, the Postal Service arranged freight delivery, but I doubt they're still going to that trouble.

You might find some additional tips on Postal Service auctions in this article.

Q&A: How do I know if a book is 'out of print' and how much it's worth?

QUESTION: How can I tell if a book is out of print? If Amazon isn't selling new copies, can I sell it for more than the original retail price? With some of my books, I don't know the original price, so how can I determine their value?

ANSWER: Technically, a book is "out of print" when its publisher declares it "out of print," and stops supplying it to wholesalers and bookstores. This can happen a few years after publication if sales have dropped off substantially. If sales remain healthy for a nonfiction book, the publisher may declare it "out of print" and print a second edition. This cuts the value of used copies, except of course in cases where the first edition is collectible.

If Amazon isn't selling new copies, that's a good indication a title is out of print. I suppose you could find a few examples of in-print books that aren't sold by Amazon, but these would likely be titles with virtually no demand -- and probably dead weight for your inventory.

For our purposes, any scarce book is a potential winner, and whether it's technically "out of print" is beside the point.

Setting your price is an art, not a science. The correct price is whatever the buyer is willing to pay, so long as you both believe the deal is fair. Pricing your copy above retail is your only smart option when the title is in demand and copies are scarce.

In the early days of Amazon Marketplace, only "collectible" books could be priced above the original list price, but this has changed. In my inventory today, I have several titles I've managed to find (in quantity) where the Marketplace price is significantly above retail. I'm not referring here to collectible books, but current books that are simply hard to find. This happens with certain titles when, for whatever reason, Amazon doesn't keep it in stock. Instead Amazon may special-order a copy when a customer buys, indicating: "Usually ships in 4 to 6 weeks."

Here's one example: "The Art of Peruvian Cuisine." For a specialized, high-end cookbook, it sells exceptionally well, with an Amazon Sales Rank under 20,000. The retail price is $49.95, and Amazon sells it for $31.47 -– if you're willing to wait several weeks. I sell my copies at $89.98 like clockwork, because buyers understand I'll ship it within two days. I was lucky enough to find a large, odd quantity of this book for about $10 apiece. This book provides a nice lift to my bottom line, and I've never had anyone complain about paying more than retail –- they wanted a hard-to-find book quickly, and I provided the service.

To take one more current example, "The River" is a consistent seller that I've marked up about $80 over my unit cost. I was able to buy a few hundred copies of both the hardcover and softcover editions last year. For some reason, Amazon hasn't stocked it at all recently, so I'm able to charge more than triple retail.

With older books, I've sold tons with a similar markup. Obviously, it has to be a scarce book and there has to be some demand for it. But if you're the only seller with a copy, you only need one customer to sell out.

When I find a scarce book and the retail price isn't apparent, I go directly to the AddAll and BookFinder search engines to see what other sellers are asking. Let's say, for example, six copies are listed on ABE.com, priced from $50 to $75. In this case, my rule of thumb is to price the book at $100 to $150 on Amazon.

These days it's easier than ever to get a feel for a book's value with a quick Internet search, but don't go faster than you're comfortable with. Two good, inexpensive books can give you a foundation in book pricing: "Official Price Guide to Collecting Books" and "Antique Trader Book Collector's Price Guide."

Q&A: Will e-books hurt sales of used books for Internet sellers?

QUESTION: The new Sony e-book reader is getting a lot of publicity, and I'm concerned that it may kill the market for selling used books online. This new reader can hold electronic versions of books, which the owner can read from the screen. Apparently it can hold thousands of book-sized files like an Ipod and uses a revolutionary technology that makes reading from it the same as reading from paper (no eye-blurring glare).

ANSWER: I've always been a skeptic about e-books for a simple reason: Most people hate them, and so do I.

For example, I've looked at some of the most popular e-books available on Amazon for download (and not available as a hard-copy book) and a lot of the reader reviews, even when they are positive reviews, mention something like "I was very hesitant about buying an e-book ..."

That tells me that your average consumer is not interested. Based on my own experience, I've bought a couple of e-books and in each case I've been extremely disappointed with the quality of the writing and content. And what happens then? You're stuck. There's no way to get your money back. Lots of people have already been through this experience, generating even more more hatred of e-books.

Nobody talks about how these Sony readers have already flopped in Japan. And I predict they'll be an even bigger flop in the United States. They'd flop even if Sony gave them away.

People keep saying the paper book is dead, but regular books are more popular than ever. Every year, the number of titles authored, printed, and purchased goes up. Plain old books can't be improved that much because they're already a great deal -- they're cheap, portable, nonfragile, and require no batteries.

Nevertheless, technology could have a big negative impact on used bookselling in the next 10 years, but the scenario I see has nothing to do with e-books. The potential nightmare I see for used booksellers is "print-on-demand."

One reason it's fairly easy to sell used books profitably is the publishing industry (and book retailing) is terribly inefficient. Publishers never print anywhere near the right number of a title. Either they print way too many, or not nearly enough. Either way, it's an opportunity big enough for online sellers to drive a bookmobile through. We create value by organizing and handling the publishers' mistakes, whether it's selling (overprinted) leftover books at low prices, or (underprinted) scarce books at high prices.

Print-on-demand could throw a money wrench into our gravy train by allowing publishers to get a lot more efficient. Printing machines are already available that can print a single paperback for a few dollars. In the past, publishers were locked into printing huge quantities of books on traditional printing presses. If they start using print-on-demand, they can efficiently print a the right number of copies -- even if there's only one buyer for the book.

So my guess is that in a few years you won't see many people reading e-books. But you might see people walking into Barnes & Noble (or going to Amazon.com) and paying $5 for a brand-new copy of any book ever written. Most people, except perhaps collectors of antiquarian books, would prefer this scenario to paying $50 for an old copy of the book from someone they don't know.

Will this nightmare come true in our lifetimes? I'm not losing any sleep yet. The "experts" have been predicting the death of the paper book for more than a decade now, and they've been predicting the "paperless office" for a couple of decades now, and they've been dead wrong on both.

Q&A: Do I owe taxes if I lose money selling books online?

QUESTION: I'm following up on your previous post explaining how to file your taxes if you've earned money selling books on the Internet. Am I supposed to deduct my expenses such as mailers, postage, and Amazon's commission? And what if my expenses were more than my revenue? Would everything be deductible?

ANSWER: You pay tax only on your net profit. Your expenses incurred in selling books will be deductible expenses that you'll list on your Schedule C when you file your taxes, assuming you're an unincorporated sole proprietorship.

For example, let's say you sold $500 of books in 2005. The $500 is your gross self-employed income from bookselling. Meanwhile during 2005 you spent $200 in postage, mailing containers, commissions paid to Amazon, plus other bookselling-related costs you may have. Your net profit is $300; you'll pay tax on that. If you normally pay 18 percent tax on your income, you'll pay about 18 percent tax on that $300.

Certain other expenses are deductible. If you drove to book sales, you'll be able to deduct your mileage (make sure you keep a log of your mileage in case you're ever audited by the IRS). And if you use a specific portion of your home exclusively to store your inventory, you're entitled to a tax deduction for the business use of your home.

If you failed to make a profit for 2005, you could still deduct your bookselling expenses. Let's pick up with the example from above. Let's say you had $500 in
sales during 2005. But your expenses were $750. You had a loss of $250 from your bookselling during 2005. In this case, the loss of $250 would be deductible from other income you may have.

But you can't continue deducting losses year after year. As far as the IRS is concerned, your business must become profitable (and thus paying taxes) within three years or it will be considered a hobby, and from that point forward none of your bookselling-related expenses will be deductible on your tax return.