When folks think about the Internet, many see a world-wide bazaar with million of buyers shopping in a marketplace where everything imaginable is available. It is just that.
But when selling books on the well known and established Internet Sites such as amazon and half.com. it is a bit less chaotic. Your potential customer are "pre qualified" in that they are looking for books, or more likely a certain book. They have the money. You generally are not bothered by them until they make a buying decision, and have given their credit-card number. The book selling sites look a bit more like the picture below.
But the customer has the advantage in being able to surf/cruise where each shop has only the book he wants, sorted by the lease expensive first. So the potential customer starts down the canal. All of the items on this canal are exactly alike, only the price is different. If you want to sell the item, you need to be one of the first shops he sees.
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Lets be frank. If you are not the cheapest seller for a given item, your chances of selling that book is very, very slim. Unless the customer already knows and likes your service, he is going to first consider the lowest seller. |
Ok, the buyer is considering a given book from you.
Done deal.... Not yet!! The astute buyer has a bit more leverage. Your shop lists every customer to whom you have ever sold a book posted on your front door, and his impression of how well you served him. This is your feedback. Unless it is in the high 90s percent range (99+), up goes a red flag. Remember, this person is sending you him money on pure faith that you will indeed send him the correct book, in a timely manner, and that it will arrive undamaged. This is how the Internet polices itself. The bandits and pirates are soon sorted out by the new, unexperienced buyers. Once being burned, they will quickly learn how to use the feedback sores, and just how important they are.
So the final transaction looks something like the picture below.
Not only do you need best price, you need best quality of goods and services to effectively sell. Rather than the buyer being able to cut open the fruit to see if it is rotten, your reputation is laid on the table for all to see.
Got the picture? You have to be the most reliable seller with the high quality item and offer the item for the cheapest price. That's all there is to it, period. You will sell thousands of books every day. Sounds easy.
So this is my definition of the Booksellers' Internet:
It is a world-wide bazaar having millions of buyers and sellers. There are also millions of well marked entrances to this market place, with one item for sale per entrance. Each vendor can have millions of booths, with one for each item offered for sale. As the buyers enter the marketplace (through these well-marked entrances), they will immediately run into the cheapest priced booth first... and (all factors being equal) likely buy that item.
Oh yeah, by the way, unless you have lot of "free" time to spend, or lots money to loose at this game, you need to turn a profit at the end of the day. That, my friend, is the hard part.
The good news is that there are just a hand full of very big sellers (Over $1 million/year) on Amazon and Half. The bad news is that they (at least one of them per item) are the cheapest sellers for 98 percent of the books listed. On the items where this is not true (they are not the lowest), the items are being sold at far less that market value. They don't play in games when they know they can't turn a profit. Have you ever heard the term "market share"? It doesn't apply to this marketplace. This is a fair, open marketplace. Supply and demand are the rules, and the most efficient sellers dominate.
Are you a hobbyist or a professional? It is quite easy to beat the big sellers when you have just one or two or even a hundred items to sell. If you want to supplement your income, or start a profitable Internet business you will need to manage tens or hundreds of thousands of listed items. Are you prepared to ship five hundred books per day? A thousand each Monday? This is a business were you can't cover-up your inefficiencies with volume. Are you efficient enough to actually show a profit at the end of the Christmas Season?
On Efficiency:
What is you real cost of buying the item?
Have you negotiated the best discount with your supplier?
Do other seller buy this same book for half the price?
Do these books have huge, black remainder marks on them?
Are there going to be holes punched in the covers (as remainder marks)?
Can you read the bar-codes with your computer?
Have you negotiated good credit terms? (Are you going to sell these books before you need to pay for them?)
How do you know these are the right books to buy? Are you buying books that nobody on earth will even think about buying?
How are these books going to be packaged for shipment to you? Are you going to be surprised when the freight truck shows up?
Did you choose the most effective carrier to deliver your books?
What is your cost of storing the item?
How are you going to get the books off the truck and into your building?
Where are you going to keep the books until they sell.
Will you be able to "pick" your book within 1 minute of starting to look for it?
What is your cost in listing the item?
Are you going to sit down and key each onto into the Internet?
Are you listing the same book on multiple sites?
Is there a per listing charge?
What is your cost in maintaining the listing?
Are you going to go back frequently and adjust your pricing?
What is your cost in maintaining accurate inventory counts/control?
If your books are listed on multiple sites, what do you do when one sells?
What do you do when a book sells, in any case?
Do you know what a large book inventory is going to do to your income tax status?
You better find our before you invest in a large inventory. See Inventory and the I.R.S You might not be prepared for the real answer.
What is the cost of your accounting procedures?
You are going to need a bean counter at tax time. Better get him on board long before that so that he can advise you, and you can train him.
There are certain state sales tax laws that you better master. The pain of not doing you sales tax forms correctly is enormous.
What are the commissions paid when you sell?
I've seen sellers come and I've seen them go. Because of the prices that they listed their books, I think that they didn't buy a calculator.
What is you cost in finding, packaging and mailing the item?
What is you system like? You do have one, Right?? A customer just ordered a book on half.com. Start your stop watch. How many minutes does it take (on average, per book) to get correct book with the correct address to the post office? Multiply that by your per minute employee cost.
Are you going to reorder or replenish the book that you just sold? Add those minutes in too.
You must have the answer to the above questions. Be truthful with yourself! You can't grow your sales without knowing this parameter (unless you have a lot of "free" time).
You are just NOT going to get away with cheap packaging. Your books need to go in a box or some type of padded packaging. This is a very important factor in determining your final cost.
Neg Feed Back "The postman left my package out in the rain. It should have been sent in a waterproof container I marked "Return to Sender"
Does your system deal with "Delivery Confirmation". It is just plain stupid not to purchase this option from the Post Office. That adds a few pennies to your shipping cost.
Only the money you receive for shipping is fixed. Your costs are not.
What is your cost of customer service after you ship the item?
"The shipping information on the Internet site plainly says that the seller will ship in three business days. I ordered this book on Friday. It is now Monday, and the Postman doesn't have my book. Where is it?"
I meant to order a paperback yesterday, but I ordered a hardback. Can you substitute before you ship, or should I just decline delivery?"
"I put my old address on the package. I forgot that I moved last week? Will you send it to my new address, or is this why I haven't received the book yet?"
"I just got my credit card statement. There is a $200.00 charge for books. I didn't order any books. You better resolve this today!"
You are not going to be able to maintain a 100% feedback rating and do business at a profit. That is impossible.
Customer Service can eat your lunch. This is going to cost time and money. The customers feel as though the book will be delivered the day after they order it. The Post Office has other ideas about your Media Mail. Be prepared to get bombarded with customer e-mails and phone calls.
If you decide not to deal with customer service, be sure that the problem will go away by itself after a few months. You just won't sell any more books as you negative feedback goes off the chart.
Many of your future customers are morons. Unfortunately there isn't a box to fill in their IQ when leaving negative feedback.
Some customers take joy in leaving negative feedback. That is all they leave.
How about refunds?
"It has been three days since I ordered your book, and I haven't seen it yet. I needed it for a class that started today, so I bought it at the college book store. I am going to refuse the package. I hate you for this! Go look at your negative feedback (in addition to filing a claim with the Internet Site)." You can eat the negative feedback, but you are going to eat the book, and shipping (both ways) unless you know how to handle this (This book weights 9 pounds, you got $1.94 to ship it). Take heart, you can always sell it next year.
Dear Sir: I really wanted "She moans with glee", NOT "She moans with joy." PLEASE SEND THE RIGHT BOOK! .. Regards, Tina
What is your cost of lost and damaged items?
I really think to Post Office hates media mail. Not only don't you get enough form the customer to provide reasonable packaging and service, neither does the USPS. If you trace some packages, you won't believe the route it takes from you to the customer.
Here are the facts:
The USPS does indeed loose one or two percent of the media mail packages.
They deliver the mail to the wrong address.
Some packages are stolen along the route.
Media mail can take 30 days to be delivered.
Some percentage of the Media Mail is damaged.
All of these problem will ultimately become your problems.
He who answers the above questions most efficiently will dominate.
