Tuesday, April 22, 2008

more book stuff

Went through the second library buy.

Paid fifty five bucks for six boxes of books.
Listed roughly one box for $250, brought the rest to the store for trade.

So the two buys cost $130 and have so far generated 12 sales for $270 on listings of $950.

This is a microcosm of the used book business, illustrating the saying "you make your money when you buy the book, not when you sell it".

This is also the reason so many used book stores are closing up shop.
The internet gives everyone an equal selling platform. If you know how to buy books (or have a mobile ISBN scanner and a lot of patience) there are many opportunities to scoop up good cheap stock & sell it online without the expense and headaches of running an open shop.

I sell books out of my living room. I know a guy who works out of his garage, and another one who works out of a storage unit.

There are still some advantages to running a store, chief among them the fact that a lot of books fall in your lap without having to go out looking for them.
But the advantages have been shrinking the past few years, and the forward looking types have already mostly folded up their tents and left behind the shrinking retail oasis.

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