Selling Books

Barnes & Noble retracts weekend coupon

2010-03-02T19:29:00.001-05:00

Any Barnes & Noble affiliates out there? Just got this notice that they're retracting this "extra 15 percent off one item" offer issued today. Actually I got notice it was canceled a few minutes before I even received the coupon.

Barnes & Noble Coupon

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS COMMUNICATION WAS SENT IN ERROR ON 3/2/2010. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS PROMOTION AS IT HAS EXPIRED. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

Limited Time Extra Savings!! This weekend only, we're offering our customers an additional 15% off one eligible item online when they use our latest coupon code at checkout. This on top our already low prices and great promotions! Hurry, this coupon offer is only good for three days: 2/26/10 - 2/28/10. See below for details.
Save an additional 15% on one eligible item online! Click here for details.
Dates: 2/26 - 2/28
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/tplclick?lid=41000000030412096&pubid=21000000000117476

Online Coupon Details:
*Online Coupon Details:
For each customer, this coupon can be redeemed once online at BN.com. This coupon is valid from February 26, 2010 to March 1, 2010 at 2:59 a.m. Eastern Time. The 15% discount will be applied to the most expensive eligible item in the order - not the entire purchase - and will be deducted after all other eligible discounts, including (if applicable) the standard Member discount, are applied.
Additional Rules Governing Use of this Coupon: This coupon is (i) not redeemable for cash or cash equivalents (including Gift Cards and online Gift Certificates); (ii) not valid on past purchases; (iii) not eligible for purchases of the following products and services: Barnes & Noble Memberships, Gift Cards, Gift Certificates, gift-wrapping, textbooks, digital content (including but not limited to digital books, magazines, and periodicals), nook™ and related accessories, other hardware and electronics, software, products available for pre-order, products from the Rosetta Stone Series, shipping or handling expenses, or products marked as not eligible for "coupons or promotional discounts;" (iv) not valid on purchases made from third parties accessible from the BN.com website (e.g., used books, PC and video games, etc.); (v) may not be combined with any other coupon; and (vi) may not be combined with the Educator program discount. This coupon is not valid at Barnes & Noble or Barnes & Noble College retail bookstore. Void where prohibited by law.

Barnes & Noble enables sellers to relist on Textbooks.com

2010-03-01T18:26:00.000-05:00

Here's an e-mail just in from Barnes & Noble:

Barnes & Noble.com is pleased to announce a new partnership with Textbooks.com.

Textbooks.com is a leading provider of new and used textbooks. As a result of this new arrangement, we will make your inventory available to Textbooks.com customers along with all the same information you provide to us – including seller name, feedback, condition and comments. However, all of your inventory management and order processing activities for orders on Textbooks.com can continue to be handled using our services. You will receive additional exposure for your inventory without any additional work or fees. Your commission structure remains exactly the same.

If you prefer to opt out of this affiliation, please contact Seller Relations at sellerrelations@bookquest.com or 866.897.1763.

Not sure how many sales this will generate for the average seller, but there doesn't seem to be much downside, if the inventory and order processing is handled by B&N. Textbooks.com's ranking with Alexa is about 45,000 but I'm sure it spikes up in January and August.

Q&A: Is it illegal to sell textbook Instructor's Editions on Amazon?

2010-02-24T15:25:00.002-05:00

QUESTION: I recently purchased a used version of 'The Informed Argument', 7th edition, by Robert K. Miller, ISBN 1413022898. It is clearly marked as an 'Instructor's Edition' on the front cover, but in a small white box on the back cover, there is the following statement:

'Not For Sale'--This textbook has been provided free for an instructor to consider for classroom use. Selling free examination copies contributes to higher prices of textbooks for students.

So am I allowed to sell this copy on Amazon? Amazon and other dealers are clearly selling this textbook. Alibris is also. Now, I don't know if the textbook they are advertising has the 'small white box' on the back cover but I am assuming so.

ANSWER: When I first started selling on Amazon Marketplace 8 or 9 years ago, it was fairly common to sell Instructors Editions being sold under the ISBN of the regular student edition. I sold about 100 of them myself, along with "solution editions" and other versions of the book that weren't normally available at retail. Of course, I noted any discrepancies with Amazon's catalog listing in my description, and gave a discount off the going price. The people who bought them were thrilled to be getting such bargain.

But a few years ago, Amazon publicized its policy of "No Instructors Editions" with the implication being that you could get banned from Marketplace with the first infraction. So I would advise against selling any textbooks with "Instructors Edition" or any other non-removable marketing indicating it was a complimentary copy. These days, Amazon has about a dozen different ways to nail sellers for selling non-kosher textbooks.

On the other hand, Alibris and ABE.com, as far as I know, actually encourage the sale of Instructor's Editions and even International Editions (which are often the same book as the U.S. edition, but sold at a lower price). Perhaps this is a way for them to differentiate themselves from Amazon, both for buyers and sellers.

Now, just because Amazon has a policy against selling Instructors Editions doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with it. The publisher isn't going to like it, and some of them even go so far as to say it's "illegal", which is absurd. Same thing goes for "promotional copies" of CDs and DVDs, videotapes -- as well as "advanced review copies" (ARCs) or uncorrected proofs) of books that are still in print.

Does Amazon enforce these policies because they don't want to make publishers mad? I doubt it. My guess is the real reason for these policies is that Amazon doesn't want to hear gripes from buyers who didn't read the item description.

Here's one way around it for you Pro-Merchants: Create a new detail page explicitly for the Instructor's edition!

Bookseller busted for selling forgeries on eBay

2010-02-23T14:44:00.003-05:00

Boy, this is starting to sound familiar. An eBay bookseller was busted for selling signed books -- with the signatures forged. Forrest R. Smith III, 48, of Exeter Pa., got 33 months in prison and will pay $120,000 in restitution by auctioning books with fake signatures of Truman Capote, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, Kurt Vonnengut, Anne Rice, and selling them on eBay.

Here's a picture of some Capote signatures. Click on it for a larger view:

The picture above was posted here at Boing Boing courtesy of Tomfolio.

Another bookseller discovered the scam after noticing that someone was buying up First Editions, then quickly selling the same books as "signed" copies. The signatures couldn't have been real, since the authors were dead.

According to posts on the eBay Booksellers Board, the seller's nickname was Big Daddy, who had more than 3,000 feedback ratings, mostly positive. Until, of course, he began his life of crime selling fake collectible books. Could he have done this on Amazon Marketplace? I doubt it -- my collectible listings generate very few sales. Then again, I don't have any First Editions signed by Capote, Crichton, Clancy, etc.

Earlier this month, a seller was caught selling counterfeit stamps on eBay. The bogus stamps were apparently printed in China -- the same place were most of our books are printed these days!

Amazon will herd Marketplace sellers into new "Selling on Amazon" program

2009-11-11T00:33:00.007-05:00

News from Auctionbytes about a change in Amazon's third-party selling program. In nutshell, Amazon is ending restrictions for its various types of selling programs -- such as media sellers and Merchant@ vendors. Everyone will be herded into a program called "Selling on Amazon" and will have more freedom to sell in different categories.

Here's the scoop at Auctionbytes:

Instead of classifying merchants into Marketplace sellers who could sell Books, Music, Video and DVD (BMVD), and Merchants@, who could sell in non-media categories, it is putting all sellers into its "Selling on Amazon" program, and differentiating based on sales volume.

An Amazon.com spokesperson confirmed this, and stated in an email, "Previously, when a seller signed up for a media category (BMVD) they were limited by these categories. Sellers no longer have to make a choice between media and non-media to sign up and sell on Amazon.com."

However, the terms for media and non-media sellers will be different. Get the details here at Auctionbytes.

Another case of Amazon making major changes to its selling programs with no apparent discussion among sellers, or even much notification. I'm guessing it took Auctionbytes editor Ina Steiner about a week to pull enough teeth at Amazon to find out exactly what was going on. Kudos, Ina!

Michael Jackson tops Amazon's 'Top Out-Of-Stock Products Report'

2009-07-29T19:44:00.006-04:00

Michael Jackson is topping the charts again -- this time, a new list of the most sought-after (but unavailable) books on Amazon.com.

Did anyone else receive the below e-mail Wednesday night from Amazon, at amazonservices-emailer@amazon.com?

The subject was "Amazon.com Top Out-Of-Stock Products Report," something I've never seen or heard of before. I am guessing that Amazon Pro-Merchants are receiving it, but it seemed to have come out of the blue. Looks like something eBay would have done in its prime. It's a list of out-of-print books, mostly technical tomes.

Another mystery: For the first three books on this list, I walked through listing the ASIN in "New" condition but didn't see a "Buyer's Waiting" flag. Has Amazon disabled this feature? If these are the books in the most demand, where are the waiting buyers? And the prices?

As usual, I was able to download a 90-day Buyers Waiting report here. However, when I tried to list one of the ASINs in the report (0126272603), Amazon's page reported "no current offers." Hmm.

Here's the entire text, I've added hyperlinks and the picture:

We regularly review the products our customers look for on our website. The products listed below are some of the top products in the Books category that customers were interested in during the last month, but are currently unable to purchase because there was no available inventory on our website as of 07-29-2009. Although inventory levels can change quickly from the many sellers on our website, we wanted to let you know about this customer interest.

ASIN, Title
1. 0312923503 , My Family, the Jacksons

2. 0976889196 , Thriller 25th Anniversary: The Book, Celebrating the Biggest Selling Album of All Time

3. 0716700298 , Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment

4. 0020063105 , Of Blood and Hope

5. 072169358X , Anatomy in Diagnostic Imaging

6. 0768907039 , Master Court Officer Exam 9e (Arco Civil Service Test Tutor)

7. 1579479006 , AMA Physician ICD-9-CM 2008, Volumes 1 and 2 - Compact Edition

8. 1570035172 , Understanding David Foster Wallace (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)

9. B000J0NAYY , Cop Without a Badge the Extraordinary Undercover Life of Kevin Maher

10. 0007230133 , Leviathan

11. 0615263836 , Eat For Health Mind and Body Makeover With Eat Right America Food Scoring Guide (Three Book Set)

12. 1932613137 , PE Sample Questions and Solutions: Mechanical Engineering (Book)

13. 1599716283 , Complete Exercises

14. 0323006582 , Nuclear Medicine Case Review

15. B001IVY2CC , Dutch 3: The Finale By: Kwame Teague (Teri Woods) (Dutch III: The Finale By: Kwame Teague (Teri Woods), Dutch I, II, III)

16. 1557997802 , Paper Tube Zoo

17. 0982080700 , Get Better Sound

18. 1440414831 , Millionaire REO Real Estate Agent: The Secret of REO's, BPO's, and Short Sales

19. 0966835239 , The Handbook of Rife Frequency Healing: Holistic technology for cancer and other diseases

20. 0131732889 , World Civilizations: The Global Experience, Ap Edition

21. 1593953518 , 3845 - Puppy in Squares Lock and Key Diary

22. B0018TVEAW , Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One

23. 0789317605 , Lunar: A Glow-in-the-Dark Calendar for the 2009 Lunar Year

24. 0910608709 , Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index

25. 1552977536 , The Flooring Handbook: The Complete Guide to Choosing and Installing Floors

26. 0898867614 , 75 Scrambles in Washington: Classic Routes to the Summits

27. B001ESQSTO , Human

28. 0899576877 , Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible: New American Standard Bible : Unlocking the Riches of God's Word

29. 0618916296 , The Americans

30. 0147503205 , The Complete Greeks and Romans (Penguin Classics Complete Collections)

31. 088685203X , TOEFL Test Preparation Kit (Book, CD-ROM, and 4 Audio CDs)

32. B001SASEDG , Sports Illustrated Superbowl XLIII Commemorative Pittsburgh Steelers, 2009

33. 1589944631 , Talisman: The Magical Quest Game; Upgrade Pack

34. 1886433100 , Vitamins and Minerals from A to Z With Ethno-Consciousness

35. 0375426051 , Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Deluxe Edition (Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (Deluxe))

36. 1596871172 , The UV Advantage: The Medical Breakthrough That Shows How to Harness the Power of the Sun for Your Health

37. 0935702962 , Quantitative Seismology

38. 0721604838 , Sabiston Textbook of Surgery Board Review

39. B000QRYCTW , 101 Razor-Sharp Blues Guitar Fill-In Licks (Book and CD) (Red Dog Music Books Razor-Sharp Blues Guitar Series)

40. 1550223151 , The Hellmouths of Bewdley

41. 0794505635 , German (Flashcards) (German Edition)

42. B001RAXE8W , Fallout 3: Vault Dweller's Survival Guide

43. 0545127254 , Geronimo Stilton Set, Books 1-32 (Lost Treasure of the Emerald Isle; The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid; Cat and Mouse in a Haunted House; I'm Too Fond of My Fur!; Four Mice Deep in the Jungle; Paws Off,

44. B002CQYMR2 , The Sims 3 Collector's Edition (Game Guide) (Includes Mouse Pad, Poster and In-Game Pattern)

45. 0439867789 , A to Z Mysteries Complete 26-Book Set (The Absent Author, The Bald Bandit, The Canary Caper, The Deadly Dungeon, The Empty Envelope, The Falcon's Feathers, The Goose's Gold, The Haunted Hotel, The Inv

46. 1933492155 , Lift Off: Air Vehicle Sketches and Renderings from the Drawthrough Collection

47. 0313284245 , 100 Key Documents in American Democracy

48. B002673JXU , Fast Track to Free Money Cd! Debt Cures

49. 1846169550 , Dark Fire (David Rain)

50. 0967279704 , Lemegeton - The Complete Lesser Key of Solomon

If you need assistance listing your products, please visit our Help Guide:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=1161236

Thank you for selling with Amazon.com

Sincerely,
Amazon Services

Online bookselling roundup for Saturday

2009-07-17T12:44:00.007-04:00

Believe it or not, the textbook selling season is just two weeks away! News from Amazon Seller Support:

Find out more about selling textbooks during Textbook Season by attending our July 29th Webinar on Selling Textbooks on Amazon.com (10:00 am PDT). We’ll cover lots of topics that will help you sell textbooks. The webinar is only 30 minutes and includes a question-and-answer period at the end.

In addition, we’ll extend the Q&A to the Ask Amazon Forum for two hours immediately after the webinar. This is an opportunity for you to ask questions about selling textbooks and get responses in real-time from a member of our Textbook Selling Team. No need to sign up to join the Ask Amazon Forum. Just come on by, learn about selling textbooks and perhaps ask a question or two.

In the same vein, Amazon has launched an official Textbook selling blog with news and tips for sellers.

Recession isn't painful enough for you? eBay, Amazon and Internet Sellers: Get Ready to Collect and Pay Sales Tax in all 50 States.

High Value Orders and Security on AbeBooks. Interesting tidbit I stumbled onto. Check out the summaries of high-value sales on Abe.

A seller's thoughts on the (many) eBay misteps.

More changes coming to eBay item pages.

Amazon sellers: Product ads now accept 30 data fields.

----------------

Steve Weber is author of The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site

and Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

Bookselling roundup for Monday

2009-07-12T09:47:00.005-04:00

Amazon hosts Second Life job fair. I've had two cups of coffee this morning and I'm still not sure I understand this, or how it's related to selling. More information the Amazon Web services blog.

Amazon adds two order-management features: Concessions and Seller Memos.

Amazon tweaks feedback-management tool.

eBay traffic takes nosedive.

College bookstores decry online selling.

The Netflix of textbooks.

Retro, recycling and secondhand are cool.

Bookseller finds original copy of U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Bookseller of Kabul now bookseller in UK.

Making good with used books.

----------------
Steve Weber is author of The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site

and Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

Barnes & Noble red dot sale: 50 percent off & more

2009-06-26T09:51:00.005-04:00

Barnes & Noble offers "thousands" of titles at 50 percent off and more. Sales is on now in the brick-and-mortar stores (look for books with the red dot) and online at bn.com. Just got the e-mail from B&N advertising this. Looks like B&N needs to raise more cash by the end of the month. Have seen some recent stories about B&N cancelling some new bookstore openings. In many cases, those plans have been cancelled simply because the new shopping center project where the store was to be located has been killed, due to the problems in real estate.

How to track down sources for used books.

Julie & Julia bookseller display contest.

Glitch at Amazon Adantage sends bogus order cancellations to book vendors.

The small town bookstore path.

Utah bookselling legend dies at 88.

Barnes & Noble hires away eBay's search guru.

New or used, there's a lot of options.

Connecticut bookstore adds home consignment.

Amazon 'Charge When Ship' becomes mandatory this summer

2009-06-18T10:53:00.005-04:00

Amazon is encouraging its Marketplace sellers to opt into a program it calls "Charge When Ship" requiring sellers to confirm shipment before buyers pay for purchases.

In an announcement, Amazon is encouraging sellers to opt into the program now. According to Amazon's list of Frequently Asked Questions, the program becomes mandatory sometime this summer. No date was given.

In Charge When Ship, if the seller doesn't confirm an order's shipment within two business days, Amazon automatically sends "late shipment" e-mail notifications to the seller and the buyer. Then, if the seller doesn't confirm shipment within 30 days, the order is automatically cancelled, and the buyer is refunded.

When sellers confirm a shipment, they'll be able to indicate the shipping service and tracking or delivery-confirmation number -- although tracking numbers aren't mandatory. Pro-Merchants will be able to upload a text file to confirm multiple shipments at the same time.

My take on the program: Overall, it should be positive because it provides buyers with an experience more consistent with orders filled by Amazon. For example, I currently receive e-mails from buyers who are confused that they can't look up the shipping status or tracking number through Amazon's Web site, even though I provide this information in a shipment-confirmation e-mail. Presumably, "Charge When Ship" allows buyers to view the shipment status in the same way they view orders fulfilled by Amazon -- and if that's true, it should result in fewer inquiries from buyers regarding shipping status.

For sellers who aren't already signed up for the program, my personal advice would be to wait a few weeks. This will allow Amazon to work out any possible kinks in the program, and for third-party software providers to transition to begun supporting the program.

One remaining concern I've seen on Amazon's seller boards: What happens if a buyer's credit card is declined after the seller ships? Amazon doesn't really address this in the FAQ. Hopefully, a pre-authorization is obtained at the time of the order, confirming that the funds are available, and the card number and expiration date are in order.

Another observation: Charge When Ship puts additional pressure on drop-shippers, because the FAQ further emphasizes that sellers shouldn't list items they are unable to ship within two business days.

Bookselling roundup for Wednesday

2009-06-09T09:58:00.005-04:00

Remember this little guy? The pictured pup was the longtime pet of Amazon's chief engineer, who brought him to the office each workday. For years, Rufus' picture was displayed on Amazon's "not found" page. That was in the days of Web 1.0, when other sites would reply cryptically, "Error 404" (not found). Instead, the pooch appeared, asking, "Looking for Something?" It was a little touch that made Amazon seem so ... human. Now Rufus has passed on.

A great tutorial: How to determine the edition number and printing of a book.

Optimize your listings for Amazon searching and browsing.

Berkeley bookstore says it can't afford retail space.

Toronto bookshop survives without computers.

Amazon launches used item buyback service

2009-06-04T09:42:00.006-04:00

As if the competition among sellers of used items on Amazon wasn't fierce enough, Amazon is getting into the game itself. They've launched a trade-in store for DVDs.

It's the same type of setup you see at many textbook buyback sites -- you get credit for about half of what the item usually sells for used. For example, if you wanted to trade in Heroes, Season One, Amazon credits you $6.75 (This DVD retails for $59.98, and Amazon sells new copies for $45.99. Used copies go for about $12.)

Here's how Amazon publicizes the buyback program: There's an expanded buy box with a trade-in here button (see the picture below). When you "trade in" an item, Amazon gives you a prepaid shipping label, and when they receive it via the Postal Service, your account is credited in the form of an Amazon gift card. So you don't get any cash, just credit toward buying stuff at Amazon.

Amazon has also started a video game buyback program.

Wow. Assuming Amazon likes the results of this program, it's only a matter of time before they expand into used books. One more problem for third-party sellers to deal with. In addition to the sputtering economy and Amazon's proliferation of free shipping offers, this could be the most troublesome. Not only will sellers be competing directly with Amazon for sales of used items, but Amazon will be diverting the supply of used items to itself, driving prices down.

Here are more gory details.

Bookselling roundup for Wednesday

2009-05-26T19:20:00.003-04:00

Borders on 12% sales drop: "We've got to become better booksellers."

Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie: Random thoughts from a passionate bookplate collector.

Sales of used books "booming."

Bummer at Book Expo: No booksellers, no booze.

New business favors used books.

How to ship your used books.

Alibris consignment program will compete with Fulfillment by Amazon

2009-05-22T20:14:00.002-04:00

Coming next week from Albris:

Alibris Introduces Complete Cataloging and Fulfillment Program for Independent Sellers of New and Used Books

Book, music, and movie marketplace offers new service to help online booksellers to list and sell excess book inventory

Alibris has launched a new book-fulfillment solution that provides sellers of new and used books with affordable cataloging and fulfillment services. Known as Alibris Distribution Services (ADS), the Alibris program helps booksellers turn inventory into cash. In its first year, ADS has succeeded among participating sellers, who have sent more than one million books through the program.

ADS is a service for independent sellers in the United States who exceed their operations capacity, have more inventory than they’ll ever catalog, or want to liquidate large amounts of new and used books. ADS includes:

· Broadest possible sales exposure. ADS books are listed on Alibris, Alibris U.K.,Alibris for Libraries, and business-partner sites such as Amazon sites, Barnes & Noble, Borders, eBay, and Half.com.

· Consignment convenience. Books are shipped to the Alibris distribution center, where they are cataloged and warehoused until they are sold on behalf of participating sellers.

· Affordable fees. As a consignment-based program, Alibris only charges $0.99 for accepted items and pays sellers 70% of the sales price when they are sold.

· No hidden charges. There are no additional processing, fulfillment, storage, or seasonal fees. ADS also covers up to the full shipping cost of moving books from the seller to the Alibris distribution center, depending on shipment size and distance.

· Market-based repricing. Alibris daily reprices books, according to current market conditions, keeping them competitively priced for sellers and appealing to customers.

· Complete customer service. At no additional charge, ADS services all book buyers and process all returned items.

“We think Alibris Distribution Services is a best-of-class solution for sellers with excess inventory,” said Brian Elliott, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alibris. “A wide variety of sellers have tried and incorporated the ADS program into their businesses.” Elliott also summarized the fulfillment service’s assets. “ADS is attractive to sellers because of its operational simplicity, affordable economics, and proven success in turning backlogged inventory into cash.”

About Alibris
Alibris is the premier online marketplace for independent sellers of new and used books, music, and movies, as well as rare and out-of-print titles. Read more about us.

Amazon adds new attributes for collectible books

2009-05-22T13:47:00.003-04:00

Here's a nice feature they've just added to Amazon Marketplace for collectible listings: Attributes for Signed By, Collectible Edition, and Dust Jacket Condition. This should prevent a few misunderstandings with buyers, and help differentiate your listings. See more details in the announcement.

Here's how it appears (see the bottom listing):

Bookselling roundup for Friday

2009-05-21T08:54:00.002-04:00

With foot traffic down at its bookstores, Barnes & Noble plans online expansion.

Books A Million resurfaces in Daytona Beach after 16-month hiatus.

Long goodbye for the bookstore?

Another reason to be an antiquarian bookseller.

You've got to see this TV commercial for the Amazon Kindle ;-)

More details on eBay collectible book fraud

2009-05-20T21:59:00.003-04:00

More details here about the eBay first edition forgeries, courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer. I can't figure out if this guy was brilliant, or one of the world's dumbest criminals:

"He'd take that signature to a stamp-making store," he said. "They'd take his money and make [the signature] into stamp."

Smith would then stamp the books with the "signatures" of such renowned authors as Truman Capote, Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, Norman Mailer, Anne Rice, John Grisham, John Irving and Tom Wolfe, prosecutors said.

The article also indicates that the guy sold some of the books using his wife's account (without her knowledge) using the eBay name bev103162smith. He also used the name BigDaddy_Books. I found a Web site for BigDaddy books (don't know if there is any connection at all) but nothing on eBay for either names.

More tidbits are in the indictment from the Department of Justice.

Bookselling roundup for Wednesday

2009-05-19T13:37:00.003-04:00

eBay bookseller pleads guilty to forging author signatures.

Bookstore Survival Strategies from Rainy Day Books.

Bookstores fight to survive latest plot twists.

Unbelievable: Amazon upgrades Kindle again! Kindle 9XXXD.

Do you listen to bookstore shelf-talkers?

Amazon lists top-selling textbooks

2009-05-19T13:08:00.002-04:00

Amazon published a list of the top 50 bestselling textbooks. Why now? Well, the August back-to-school rush will be here before you know it, so it's time to stock up on textbooks:

To help you decide which used and new textbooks to include for sale on Amazon Marketplace, we are providing the following list of bestselling textbook titles.

These textbook ASINS were top sellers during the peak weeks of the January 2009 textbook season. Due to seasonality, books that are big sellers for the spring term (January) may not be indicative of the books that will sell in the fall term (August). Also, historical sales on Amazon Marketplace may not be indicative of future sales, as used textbooks have a limited lifespan.

We hope that providing information about top-selling textbook titles will help sellers be more successful in the upcoming fall textbook season. If you have feedback about this effort, feel free to write to textbook-selling@amazon.com.

The list of 50 bestselling texts is based on this past winter's textbook season, and is based on Marketplace new/used sales, not Amazon's retail sales.

Alibris launches textbook buyback service, bookselling roundup

2009-05-17T15:35:00.003-04:00

Alibris launched a Book Buyback Service, which pays for new and used textbooks, study guides and other educational books. Here are the benefits being advertised:

Free shipping. The shipping charges for purchased books are prepaid.

Free, quick, and easy use. There’s no sign-up required, and the service is fast and free to use.
Competitive pay-outs. The service pays top dollar for new and used textbooks.
Fast payments.

Follow the link above and you'll see a search box that tells you if they're buying a particular ISBN and for how much. If you've ever used a book buyback service like this, I'll be curious to hear how competitive this one is.

Bookplates, bookplates, & more bookplates: Here's an amazing collection of photographs of 19th- and 20th century bookplates from private and institutional libraries. They're outstanding examples of period book art and typography.

In the digital age, booksellers adapt to stay afloat.

A mention from the president can boost book sales.

It's War: Strategy for independent booksellers.

Rare books broker says collectibles can be recession-proof.

Bookstore sales dip 4 percent in first quarter

On the closing of a bookshop.

eBay popping up on Amazon and Google searches

2009-05-14T18:12:00.002-04:00

I could not believe my eyes when I saw this story on AuctionBytes about eBay's Browser Highlighter download software. As the article indicates, it "allows integration of listings within product and search pages on competing websites, including Amazon and Google."

Amazon is going to have these guys in court within weeks, that's my prediction (for what it's worth). I've seen lots of software like this that does comparison shopping, but it's always with an affiliate arrangement. If I'm understanding this one correctly, it seems like eBay is trying to intercept customers -- or at least, it looks dangerously close to that.

When you look at the official Web site, though, it only mentions Web real estate owned by eBay -- Skype, PayPal and StumbleUpon.

Anyone heard of this before? It's supposedly in beta, although it was mentioned on TechCrunch last fall.

Highest-priced collectible book on Amazon?

2009-05-14T17:52:00.003-04:00

They must have lifted the ceiling on the maximum price on Amazon Marketplace, which used to be about $2,400. Just found this "collectible" priced at a cool billion.

Yeah, billion with a B. Can you imagine paying a commission to Amazon for $150,000?

And then you'd have to eat the insurance!

Bookselling roundup for Thursday

2009-05-13T20:45:00.002-04:00

Alibris adds Google Checkout

How to start a book shop in Switzerland

Charge Amazon Kindle users a fee to read your blog

Amazon program for new authors & self publishers could bring major exposure, sales & bookstore shelf space

How much do Examiner.com writers earn? Only about $2 per article

Vintage pulp fiction collectors, you'll want this new, superb guide

Booksellers behaving badly? Libraries get tough

2009-05-11T18:28:00.002-04:00

Interesting article in the Minneapolis paper about aggressive book scouts, online pricing checking, and hoarding at library sales. Not many facts, but it makes the point that sale volunteers are getting irritated with sellers, but most sales haven't got so far as to ban price-checking.

Don't miss the comments at the bottom. The first one makes several brief, valid points.

The article portrays book resellers as the rude villains. What is the purpose of a library sale, anyway? Is it to provide a pleasurable community event? Or is it to raise money for the library in the most efficient way possible.

They should have included some comments from booksellers, collectors, and people from The Friends of the Library.

Q&A: How much should I pay for used books?

2009-05-07T17:45:00.003-04:00

How much should you pay for your inventory of used books? If I'm buying a book purely for the resale value, I try to pay no more than $1 apiece for books. I'll buy a box of books for $5 or $10 without looking up the prices. It’s hard to get into serious trouble when you’re spending only a few dollars per book. As long as you're observing some basic ground rules, like:

No dog-eared Oprah paperbacks
No 50-lb. cartons of Time-Life books
No yellowed book club editions

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. But a good rule of thumb is to try to triple your money when acquiring stock. If you can do this, you've got a great business. Remember that commissions, shipping costs, and items that don’t sell will cut into that margin. But like every rule, there are exceptions. If you find a book you know you’ll be able to sell quickly at $100, do not hesitate to pay $60 to get it. It’s a lot easier to make $40 on one sale than making $5 on eight separate transactions.

Nobody bets right all the time, and no matter how good you are at picking books you will inevitably accumulate some losers and pass up winners, if you’re just working with hunches. However, now it’s possible to research book prices even while you’re at a sale if you have a Web-enabled cellphone. You can even hook up a scanner to some of these phones so you don’t need to type in the ISBNs. This type of tool can take some of the pure joy out of finding a great books through serendipity, but it can also help your bottom line.

If you can check prices online, then this opens up lots more possibilities. For example, if a book sells pretty well on Amazon for $150 (and the sales rank is less than 200,000) then I've got no qualms about paying $50 cash for it.

I've gotten a lot pickier over the years because I've learned what a chore it can be to weed out the losers from your stock. Once you run out of storage space, then you've got to figure out which of your books are worth less than X dollars, which haven't sold within X months, then gather them up and get rid of them. It's much less fun getting rid of books than it is getting fresh ones to sell.

Of course, if most people start buying e-books, all bets are off. Readers and sellers will have a whole new decision-making process.

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