bookseller?

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 report
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.

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.
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler
* 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.

Allan Adler 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.

Or maybe he/she was trying to find out if the books were worth buying.

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses
are not subject to the regulation of conscience. -Adam Smith

Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

Allan Adler 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.


Or maybe he/she was trying to find out if the books were worth buying.


Yes, the imputation of evil motives is somewhat akin to a violation of Ockham's
Razor.


Francis A. Miniter

"Evelyn C. Leeper" writes:

Allan Adler 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.

Or maybe he/she was trying to find out if the books were worth buying.

Since the shipping costs alone of an Amazon book purchase are typically about
$3.49 and the book itself only costs a maximum of $2 from the library, with
no shipping or handling charges at all, the possibility that he/she was
investing all that effort in finding out whether the library was offering
better deals than Amazon is simply not credible.
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler
* 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.

Allan Adler 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 report
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.

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.

If your theory is correct, that person is not going to be around for
long. Their negatives from cancelling orders will quickly drop them off
the radar, as they won't be able to fulfil orders with any degree of
regularity. It would be much smarter to buy the books and keep them in
your control.

I'd say they were just pricing stuff.

Allan Adler wrote:
"Evelyn C. Leeper" writes:

Allan Adler 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.
Or maybe he/she was trying to find out if the books were worth buying.

Since the shipping costs alone of an Amazon book purchase are typically about
$3.49 and the book itself only costs a maximum of $2 from the library, with
no shipping or handling charges at all, the possibility that he/she was
investing all that effort in finding out whether the library was offering
better deals than Amazon is simply not credible.

Who is postulating that? That's pretty silly. I think what Evelyn is
saying, and I certainly am, is that the most likely explanation is that
the person was a bookseller looking up the resale value of the books on
Amazon in order to buy them and take them home. If you find a $50 book
for $2 at a book sale, you'd buy it and take it home before someone else
got it, wouldn't you? Why list it for sale and leave it there when
someone else can buy it out from under you? That's incredibly stupid.

"Allan Adler" wrote in message
...
"Evelyn C. Leeper" writes:

Allan Adler 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.

Or maybe he/she was trying to find out if the books were worth buying.

Since the shipping costs alone of an Amazon book purchase are typically
about
$3.49 and the book itself only costs a maximum of $2 from the library,
with
no shipping or handling charges at all, the possibility that he/she was
investing all that effort in finding out whether the library was offering
better deals than Amazon is simply not credible.
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler

Evelyn wrote:
Or maybe he/she was trying to find out if the books were worth buying.

Add two words to the end of that sentence: "for resale".

"Kris Baker" writes:

Evelyn wrote:
Or maybe he/she was trying to find out if the books were worth buying.

Add two words to the end of that sentence: "for resale".

Thanks for that clarification.
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler
* 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.

On Sep 12, 7:01 am, Allan Adler 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 report
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
* 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.

Bill wrote:
On Sep 12, 7:01 am, Allan Adler 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 report
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 you read the responses, I think you will see that most of us have concluded
that the person was not listing books for sale but checking out what he could
get selling them retail if he were to buy them and list them.


Francis A. Miniter