kasue
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posted on March 26, 2010 10:55:36 AM new
A friend has been to tag sales and seen someone scanning the ISBN code on the back of books with a little hand held machine before they bought the books. What are they doing? I assume it is to sell books on Amazon somehow, but I can't find out what it is. It isn't a "Kindle". Can you help?
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hwahwa
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posted on March 26, 2010 11:27:04 AM new
Did the scanner return some code ?
and did they buy every book they scanned?
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
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roadsmith
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posted on March 26, 2010 11:32:19 AM new
There are a few of these scanners on the market. Some library book sales have actually started banning their use because it gets in the way of others wanting to look at a book, slows things down. The scanners, I believe, give info on what the particular book is or has been selling for.
If you go to BookThink.com, you might find some information there. There's a message board. I have not, as yet, thought to get one, but maybe someday. . . .
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sthoemke
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posted on March 26, 2010 12:57:00 PM new
I've personally heard of at least one person in my area who walks into used book stores and scans the bar codes to find books they can resale online at a good profit. Sounds like a good way to find good deals.
I'm not sure what book store owners think of that (they may sell more inventory, but selling books for less than they should).
Also, sounds like a good way to get kicked out or banned from bookstores, if the owner doesn't like you scanning their books.
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pmelcher
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posted on March 26, 2010 01:18:10 PM new
There are phone aps now that you can scan any bar code and find out what the item is selling for at stores and where the stores are located. I wonder if Amazon and eBay can be programmed in somehow to show up too?
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hwahwa
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posted on March 26, 2010 01:37:17 PM new
selling books are not as profitable as selling antiques or collectibles,I wonder if it is really worth the investment or efforts.
You can go to AMZN and look up any book by ISBN number and see zillion of sellers selling their books for less,AMZN is not cheap,15% commish and 99 cents transaction fee and postage is barely enough.
Last week someone bought a book from me and paid next day air ,AMZN only gave me 11 dollars while the actual cost with USPS is like 19 dollars,in such case,AMZN expects us to eat the loss.
I dont know where AMZN comes up with 11 dollars when I went to USPS site and all next day air is 18 and up.
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
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shagmidmod
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posted on March 26, 2010 04:32:20 PM new
amazon comes up with that price likely from their own "negotiated" shipping rate. one of the benefits of being the big dog. many large companies get huge discounts for their shipping volume. All of the shipping companies including the private USPS want those contracts, so they get subsidized by what the little guy pays. We pay higher rates so that it evens out what the big shippers get discounts on.
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shagmidmod
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posted on March 26, 2010 04:38:37 PM new
because of the troubles i went through with fed ex last week i saw how much shippers will give in discounts. as a small time shipper i still get 20% off all of fed ex services unless it is light weight ground. that is only 10%. still beats the 5% we get from usps and it includes real tracking and insurance.
i suggest contacting fed ex and getting a volume discount quote. request for a salesperson to contact you and have your rates handy... you can often BS your way through getting much better rates.
one thing i benefit from is the fact eBay doesn't offer Fed Ex shipping options in the checkout process. UPS standard rates are already more expensive than Fed Ex, and with my discount I do quite well. I sold a very large piece of art and was quoted $128 via UPS calculator. The same package through Fed Ex was $85 before my 20% discount. I was able to cover my materials and a small handling fee without the buyer balking at it.
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shagmidmod
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posted on March 26, 2010 04:40:39 PM new
also, you would think eBay would work on behalf of sellers to get UPS to get those rates down much lower. It would benefit eBay's bottom line, as well as make items more attractive with lower rates... our luck however would be that eBay would copy amazon and force us to charge $3.99 to ship everything.
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hwahwa
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posted on March 26, 2010 05:06:34 PM new
USPS comes to my door for large packages and retrieve smaller ones from my mail box,would Fed Exp do the same?
See the closest post office is 30 miles round trip for me.
I emailed AMZN and asked them to review their next day air payment to the sellers,they said they will.
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
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shagmidmod
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posted on March 26, 2010 07:27:08 PM new
Fed Ex does do pick up, though I think they charge $10 a week for the service. My business is located a block from Fed Ex/Kinkos, so I just drop it there. You can also drop off at Office Max, and smaller non-UPS STORE mail service businesses for no charge too.
I really like Fed Ex over UPS. They just seem to be so much more user friendly. I haven't had a claim with them, but have with UPS. UPS is always willing to collect insurance fees, but never willing to part with a claim.
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hwahwa
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posted on March 26, 2010 08:07:10 PM new
see,$10 dollars per week,and I am getting it free with USPS.
Ebay powersellers get a 23% discount using UPS,no??
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
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shagmidmod
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posted on March 27, 2010 02:25:54 PM new
Each has benefits over the other.
USPS is the best choice if you want the convenience of front door pick up, you ship lightweight packages, and/or you are located in or shipping to more rural areas. I use USPS mainly for items under 3 pounds. They are still less expensive than Fed Ex at that point.
However, once it goes above 3 pounds, USPS Priority becomes expensive if the receiver is even halfway across the country. Not to mention that Insurance is $1.75 for $50, whereas the first $100 is included with Fed Ex and only 55 cents for each additional $100. I should also add that my customers like the idea that they know where the package is and what date it will be delivered, even a week in advance of its arrival. With USPS, it is a crap shoot if it gets scanned at all.
At the same time USPS is a bit quicker if you are shipping further distances.
[ edited by shagmidmod on Mar 27, 2010 02:29 PM ]
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glassgrl
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posted on March 27, 2010 04:17:36 PM new
QUOTE: "whereas the first $100 is included with Fed Ex and only 55 cents for each additional $100"
Remember this thread?
http://www.vendio.com/mesg/read.html?num=2&thread=574684
[ edited by glassgrl on Mar 27, 2010 04:18 PM ]
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hwahwa
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posted on March 27, 2010 04:54:23 PM new
Yes,I remember this thread well.
Antique dealers who sent their items to auction house do not use Fed Exp or UPS to insure their package,there is some company which insure antiques and collectibles.
As for USPS,the have a beautiful excuse-the outside box is not damaged !!
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
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hwahwa
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posted on March 28, 2010 06:43:04 PM new
here is one sold on AMZN by AMZN,you can scan AMZN data base for price and ranking-
http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Book-ISBN-Scanner-Scouting/dp/B002DZE40M
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
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shagmidmod
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posted on March 28, 2010 07:27:34 PM new
yes, that is true for antiques/collectibles that are not in production. items that can be replaced in the current market is what they will cover and using an alternative insurance is the way to go.
my impression was that we were talking about general books, and not collectibles.
with regards the the book store owner who gets upset if someone came in with a scanner... i suggest getting out of the stone age of bookselling if they are concerned about undervaluing their product. i can scan isbn codes and upc codes on my phone and easily determine values for amazon and/or powells. this should easily be available for the business computer as well. this is one reason why I don't sell items until I know what they are. Sometimes that means I have a big collection of something waiting for an expert to give me evaluations, but I'd rather not get rid of that big ticket item for the sake of getting rid of it. surprisingly, i'm not a pack rat and keep things moving pretty well.
When I shipped my lamp to Wrights last summer I used Priority Mail with $7500 insurance coverage via Registered Mail. $7500 was the appraised retail value of the lamp. I didn't use Fed Ex for the very reason discussed above.
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shagmidmod
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posted on March 29, 2010 08:24:57 AM new
I was going thru Garage Sale for Mac and noticed something called Delicious Monster that integrates information into your listings as you create it. I didn't know what it was, but then I went to their website. A fantastic idea to manage your personal and or business inventory by either using your webcam camera or even a bluetooth scanner similar to what you are referring to. After reviewing the site, this is something I will likely consider getting down the road. I have over 500 cds, tons of books, and some dvds... plus it appears it can be used on just about everything that has a bar code.
http://www.delicious-monster.com/
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hwahwa
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posted on March 29, 2010 10:21:44 AM new
But if you want to list them on AMZN,you still have to key them in one by one,or is there any interface between AMZN mass up load and the software you will be using?
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
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sthoemke
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posted on March 29, 2010 04:24:24 PM new
Looks like Delicious Monster lets you post to Amazon with just a couple clicks. 1) scan the barcode 2) select the condition 3) click OK.
I'd guess once your items are scanned, it shouldn't be too tough to create a CVS file to bulk upload to ebay.
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hwahwa
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posted on March 29, 2010 04:51:10 PM new
wow,thats delicious,how much does it cost?
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
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sthoemke
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posted on March 29, 2010 05:20:55 PM new
The website says the price is $40 for the software.
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shagmidmod
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posted on March 30, 2010 08:51:51 AM new
Yes, $40 for the software that utilizes your apple webcam or other Quicktime compatible webcam. You can also buy their bluetooth scanner, but I didn't see a price for that. I imagine that is quite expensive.
Still, if you own a mac, this would make listings quite fast. I found it strictly by tinkering with my GarageSale software which lists my auctions and hosts my photos on eBay for free. I clicked on it when I saw, "import from Delicious Monster". I didn't know what it was.
If you sell used, all you have to do is add some text regarding condition.
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hwahwa
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posted on March 30, 2010 11:23:04 AM new
or you can hire a kid to do it manually.
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
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sthoemke
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posted on March 31, 2010 03:03:26 PM new
You can get a Cue Cat barcode reader for about $15 (including shipping). Once the UPC's are scanned, you should be able to easily upload a CSV file with ebay's File Exchange.
I think that is about the cheapest, quickest way to list books/DVD/CD's etc. (although, I haven't done so myself)
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=cuecat&_sacat=See-All-Categories
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