On Sep 12, 7:01 am, Allan Adler <a...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Recently, I was at a library and noticed someone sitting by some books
> being sold by the library. This person was using a laptop to connect
> via wifi to Amazon. Apparently he/she was looking up the sale books
> at Amazon, but I couldn't see in greater detail what was being done.
>
> My guess is that he/she is listed at Amazon as a bookseller and was
> listing the library sale books as being available from him/her, setting
> the price at a level that would be competitive with the ones already
> listed. Since the library typically sells the books for no more than
> $2 each, that could be quite profitable if the book is ever sold by
> that bookseller. Furthermore, the bookseller doesn't have to warehouse
> the books: the library does it for him/her. Even the wifi hotspot is
> provided by the library. True, an individual book might be sold by the
> library before it can be ordered online, but these things happen and,
> if the book is subsequently ordered, a bookseller can simply re****t
> that the book is no longer available. That might reflect badly on the
> bookseller, from Amazon's point of view. But a conscientious bookseller
> engaged in this particular enterprise might regularly visit the library
> book sale books and update the inventory to see which ones are still
> available, making the scenario less likely in which a book is ordered
> and found not to be available.
>
> In fact, that might be what this individual was really doing: updating
> the inventory and cancelling his/her listings of books that were no
longer
> available.
>
> I have to admit, that does sound pretty enterprising. And one does often
> find good books on sale at libraries. I can't go to every library to see
> what it has to offer and, in effect, this bookseller is offering the
> service of doing it for me.
Actually, the person sounds rather petty and stupid. In
the first place, the cheap nitwit is listing books that he
does not have in his possession. If those books cost
a couple of dollars and are a genuine bargain, the chances
are someone else will snap them up, resulting in lack
of fulfillment by the listing. I don't know about this
particular library donation store, but with reference to
most of them I have visited, it is very unusual to find
more than a half-dozen books on sale for a dollar or
two which can be listed at an Amazon Low Price of
upwards of $10. The person you describe, then,
is too cheap to invest in a few books for a couple of
dollars each even after the person has learned that
the books can very likely fetch at least four or five
times what he pays for them. Sort of like,with
exteme irony, "Excuse me, you look familiar.
Aren't you Warren Buffet?"
It is a fact that that more people are using hand-helds
at library donation stores, thrifts, etc. Good bargains
with ISBN numbers seem to disappear much faster
than they used to. However, at least in my area,
there are still plenty of bargains to be found on
pre-ISBN books. Most of the people who
have to rely on a hand held to tell them whether a
book priced at one dollar or two is a good buy are
are not savvy enough to price a pre-ISBN booik.
>
> The only thing that does bother me, I guess, is that I would much rather
> see this source or revenue going to the library. Maybe the people who
> run library book sales (volunteers, I think) should take a lesson from
> this entrepreneur.
I think a suggestion I posted a while back is
a good one. Library and donation stores should
price books through Cash4Books or similar
venues. Now, I did not say "sell" to those
places. The point is, if libraries, etc., PRICE
about the same as those venues pay, they will
still be pricing far lower than the used book
stores in their areas -- and they won't have dopey
greedheads buying books from the library or
thrift for $2 and selling them to Cash4Books
(or, for that matter,to neighborhood book
stores) for $4.
[Memo from the upstairs office]
> --
> Ignorantly,
> Allan Adler <a...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> * Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My
actions and
> * comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near
Boston.
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