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Want to know the most profitable, lowest-risk idea for your home business? It's selling used books online, which is growing 33 percent annually, according to a November 2005 study by U.S. publishers. Learn how to start your business part-time, then work as little or as much as you want. This step-by-step guide, written by one of the most successful and highly rated sellers on Amazon.com and eBay, includes everything you need to know: -- Where to find books Find books in your own neighborhood to resell profitably to a worldwide pool of ready buyers. Get the best sources for valuable used books at low prices. -- Where to sell Learn how to list your books to sell at the best price on Amazon.com and eBay, and even your own Web store. -- Which books to buy What to look for in fiction, nonfiction, and collectibles to resell at the highest profits. -- Grading and pricing your books How to describe and price your books. Learn what buyers are looking for. -- Handling customers Tips on handling online book buyers. See the author's time-tested scripts for responding to customer issues. Learn how you can get and maintain high feedback ratings. -- Fulfilling orders Easy-to-use ideas for storing, organizing, and shipping your books and handling returns. -- Automation tools Maximize your efficiency with these tips on automating your business. Automatically notify customers about shipments, and print postage to ship your books without leaving home. -- Taxes and legal requirements How to register your business to obtain the proper permits and be exempted from paying sales tax on your inventory. -- Exclusive list of wholesale book distributors Exclusive profiles and contact info for 32 wholesale distributors of used and new books. Order inventory at up to 90 percent off retail, shipped right to your door. About the author: Steve Weber started his home-based bookstore as a hobby in March 2000. Two months later, he quit his day job to sell used books full-time on Amazon.com and eBay, using his one-bedroom apartment in Virginia as warehouse and shipping depot. In the meantime, he has sold more than $1 million of used books to buyers in all 50 states and 31 foreign countries. In this step-by-step guide, Weber tells you how he took $80 in savings to buy his first batch of books, then invested the profits to build a successful business, and how you can too.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is aimed at those people that would like to learn how best to sell books on the internet or for those that would like to increase their online sales. Despite being only 158 pages long, it does cover a lot of topics including: where to find books, what books to buy, where to sell books, grading and pricing, service, fulfilment, collectible books, automation and a few others.
The first thing to note is that this book is American and so much of the specific advice is of little use to anyone based in Britain. Having said that, generally his ideas are useful so long as you are willing to search for British versions of the things he suggests. E.g. he lists the places where you can go to purchase books that have been seized by US customs. While not of much use to British booksellers, it does give you the idea of searching online to find out if HMRC does a similar thing. Unfortunately there are some sections that are just too country-specific to provide much help including the online postage, taxes and legal chapters.
The book covers many topics and doesn't go into great depth on any. While this may be a little bit of an annoyance to some, it does stop the book from becoming too heavy and allows you to follow up on the information/advice that you are particularly interested in without having to read through the bits you are not. Overall the style is easy to read and I felt like I actually retained a lot of the information I was reading!
Another thing to note is that the book was written in 2006 and as a result, some of the information (especially with regards to websites and payable fees) is out of date. However, it does give you an idea of how much you are likely to pay for things (once you've done the necessary conversions!)
Overall, this book would be much more suited to someone selling in America. Having said that, it does give you some useful information and definitely enough to get you started and to get the ball rolling. As a result, I would still recommend this book to new and prospective book-sellers. 3 stars.
The first thing to note is that this book is American and so much of the specific advice is of little use to anyone based in Britain. Having said that, generally his ideas are useful so long as you are willing to search for British versions of the things he suggests. E.g. he lists the places where you can go to purchase books that have been seized by US customs. While not of much use to British booksellers, it does give you the idea of searching online to find out if HMRC does a similar thing. Unfortunately there are some sections that are just too country-specific to provide much help including the online postage, taxes and legal chapters.
The book covers many topics and doesn't go into great depth on any. While this may be a little bit of an annoyance to some, it does stop the book from becoming too heavy and allows you to follow up on the information/advice that you are particularly interested in without having to read through the bits you are not. Overall the style is easy to read and I felt like I actually retained a lot of the information I was reading!
Another thing to note is that the book was written in 2006 and as a result, some of the information (especially with regards to websites and payable fees) is out of date. However, it does give you an idea of how much you are likely to pay for things (once you've done the necessary conversions!)
Overall, this book would be much more suited to someone selling in America. Having said that, it does give you some useful information and definitely enough to get you started and to get the ball rolling. As a result, I would still recommend this book to new and prospective book-sellers. 3 stars.
41 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As someone who's sold a few hundred books on Amazon over the years, I was curious to see what a real expert has to say -- especially as I'm about to embark on liquidating a relative's 3,000-volume collection! Overall, this is a great little introduction for anyone who's thought about selling books online. Weber covers all the bases succinctly, with plenty of URLs and references to more specialist titles for further reference. Lots of handy tips and suggestions throughout. The one quibble I would have is with the pricing discussion on page 51. In the case of a book where there are plenty of copies on the market, Weber advises matching, but not "lowballing" the price. However, the automation software elsewhere makes lowballing so easy, and thus to pervasive, that one is often forced into the practice. My own experience is that if I have a book for sale and there are 10 others just like it for sale at Amazon, the _only_ way to sell it is to give it the lowest price. And since we're talking $8.95 vs. $9.95, I'm not particularly put out. This quibble aside, I found this to be a very practical, level-headed guide, with lots of good resources -- although I would have liked a little more depth and detail on some of the sections.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've been selling books on the Amazon Marketplace as a hobby for about 7 months now. After reading "The Home-Based Bookstore," I could definitely make more money by employing Steve Weber's advice.
His advice includes:
-where to find books
-how to price them
-how to handle inventory
-how to handle shipping
-how to deal with problem customers
-and how to deal with legal details (taxes, etc.)
I made about $400 in two weeks after selling the most sought-after books. The most sought-after books are usually college textbooks.
In one part of the book, he says how college students are sometimes careless when purchasing a book. They occasionally buy the older edition, thinking it's the edition they need. When they receive it, they get angry. But it's usually their fault for not searching with the ISBN or paying attention to the details. There are, however, some sellers who list the wrong edition on Amazon's Marketplace. It may not be intentional, but listing the wrong edition is a violation of the Amazon Marketplace guidelines. I once purchased a textbook from a third-party seller who sent me the older edition. I didn't do anything about it. I was still able to use it.
After a few weeks of selling, I started getting some feedback. The first five were all positive, but I got one neutral feedback. The neutral feedback I got was fair. I sent her the wrong book. It was my fault. I entered the title instead of the ISBN when I searched for it. ALWAYS use the ISBN. To prevent negative feedback from this buyer, I issued a refund immediately and allowed her to keep the book I had sent her. I lost money when I did this, but I couldn't afford negative feedback at the time.
I may never become a full-time bookseller online, but I will continue to do this as a hobby. I also think that college students should get a copy of this book. It will help them tremendously when purchasing their textbooks...and reselling them when they're done with them.
Brandon Simpson
His advice includes:
-where to find books
-how to price them
-how to handle inventory
-how to handle shipping
-how to deal with problem customers
-and how to deal with legal details (taxes, etc.)
I made about $400 in two weeks after selling the most sought-after books. The most sought-after books are usually college textbooks.
In one part of the book, he says how college students are sometimes careless when purchasing a book. They occasionally buy the older edition, thinking it's the edition they need. When they receive it, they get angry. But it's usually their fault for not searching with the ISBN or paying attention to the details. There are, however, some sellers who list the wrong edition on Amazon's Marketplace. It may not be intentional, but listing the wrong edition is a violation of the Amazon Marketplace guidelines. I once purchased a textbook from a third-party seller who sent me the older edition. I didn't do anything about it. I was still able to use it.
After a few weeks of selling, I started getting some feedback. The first five were all positive, but I got one neutral feedback. The neutral feedback I got was fair. I sent her the wrong book. It was my fault. I entered the title instead of the ISBN when I searched for it. ALWAYS use the ISBN. To prevent negative feedback from this buyer, I issued a refund immediately and allowed her to keep the book I had sent her. I lost money when I did this, but I couldn't afford negative feedback at the time.
I may never become a full-time bookseller online, but I will continue to do this as a hobby. I also think that college students should get a copy of this book. It will help them tremendously when purchasing their textbooks...and reselling them when they're done with them.
Brandon Simpson
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