The most important choice that you will make when starting up your online bookstore is which tools you will use when buying books.
There are options that range from extremely cheap to fairly pricey. The catch, and there is always a catch, is that you will get what you pay for.
When you look at scouting tools, you essentially have two routes you can go. The first is to use a web-enabled cell phone and to create an account with a cell phone scouting service. The second option is to use a PDA with a scanner and the appropriate software. In this lesson, we are going to outline the options that we feel are appropriate for the book-scouter. We will outline the pros and cons of both systems and discuss our experiences while using them.
Buying books using a cell phone and ScoutPal:
To begin with, we will look at the least expensive option that we think has real value to the bookseller. This is the web-enabled cell phone option. To go this route, you will need to have a cell phone that has web access. Many of the “free with plan phones” will not have the capability to access the web, while the higher end phones will usually have this capability. If your plan already has web access then you are set, otherwise you will need to contact your carrier and add this option to your plan. If you don’t own a cell phone, you may choose to sign up for one, but first read this lesson completely because we believe that the PDA option may be the most appropriate option for the serious book-scouter.
The service that works with the cell phone option is called ScoutPal. This service allows you to sign in to your ScoutPal account over your web-enabled cell phone, where you will have the ability to type in the ISBN numbers on any book and retrieve instant pricing data about that title. (If you don’t know what an ISBN number is, don’t worry–we will discuss it in a later lesson.) The perk of this system is that it is incredibly cheap. For around ten dollars a month, you can have an entirely portable scouting tool that provides reliable results.
We have continued to use our ScoutPal account even after upgrading to a PDA scouting tool. The monthly cost is so cheap that we can see no reason not to keep it going. Often we will find that we are out for reasons other than scouting and run into a book sale. Having the ability to flip open the cell phone and start scouting is priceless.
Unfortunately, there are some downsides. You are restricted by your cell phone range. There will be times when you get to a big sale and you won’t get reception because of the density of the walls. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing thousands of dollars in book-stock sell without being able to scout them out yourself. Furthermore, the results are not immediate. After you type in the ISBN, which takes time, you will have to wait while the results are sent back to your phone. This is fine in some circumstances, but as you begin attending library sales and larger book events, you will want a faster and more efficient method.
We strongly recommend that anyone who has a web-enabled cell phone try using ScoutPal’s free trial period. We will be very surprised if anyone cancels service because they feel it’s not worth the price.
Here is a link to the ScoutPal Mainpage.
Buying books using a PDA and scanner with scouting service:
This is the only option for the serious book scouter. There is some upfront cost, but the tool and service will pay for itself in weeks. Here is how it works. You will need a PDA or (personal data assistant), and you will need a small scanner that plugs into a port on your PDA. All put together your system will look something like this:
You will also sign up for a scouting service that will provide you with software to install onto your PDA. This software will allow you to plug your PDA into your computer, sign into your account with the scouting service, and download the current Amazon database for books, CDs, or DVDs. When you are ready to go scouting, you will simply turn on your PDA, activate the software, and start scanning the bar codes on the back of books for instant results. With your PDA you will also be able to look items up by their titles, allowing for much greater flexibility.
The PDA system will allow you to quickly scan through entire bookshelves in a few minutes. You will see your book-stock grow exponentially and, in turn, your profits will explode. We procrastinated for several years before we went ahead and purchased one of these systems. We have never regretted the purchase and wish that we made it sooner.
We have used several different PDA brands and are only recommending that you use the Hewlett-Packard iPAQ line of PDAs. They are far more reliable and durable then PalmPilots or blackberry’s. They come with the standard Windows mobile platform that is required by most scouting services. Overall, they have a better platform. We suggest that you take a look at the HP iPAQ hx2495b Pocket PC (FA674B#ABA)
Our final topic for this lesson is on choosing a scouting service for your PDA scanner tool. There are two services that dominate the PDA scanner service market. They are A Seller Tool, and NeatoScan. We have used them both and feel that both provide a very quality service. Currently we are using NeatoScan because we have found that they respond quickly to questions and issues. We recommend that you visit both of their sites and look at their features.
Next lesson, Print postage online.
