On-line Book Sales An Untapped Fundraising Stream
How It Works Select special interest books with limited local market Monitor book selling websites to learn the market and prices Determine the best site for listing the book Signing up to sell is easy Monitor daily Package and ship with a day or two
The Costs Selling on-line is time consuming Researching the metasearch sites is time consuming Packing supplies will be necessary Some sites charge up front or a monthly fee Shipping and returns
Going It Alone Resources: amazon.com (library shop on main) + abebooks.com+ bibliofind.com + e.how.com +bookfinder.com + campusl.com + thecheapestbook.com + eBay.com + upperbid.com + IOffer.com Verifying author signatures – historyforsale.com + galleryofhistory.com Selling books at auction sites ARC sites Local book stores as jobbers Good reads - Stephen Windwalker books, blog and articles
Mississauga Library System New books – sold at City of Mississauga e store – billing, logistics, marketing handled by e store staff Friends of the Library – used book sales listed on web site and work through local book store Turtlecreek Books Better World Books
Better World Book offers a no cost program to help libraries manage their excess donations and withdrawn books. BWB sells on 23 online marketplaces and then shares the proceeds with the Library. BWB is a socially responsible company sharing finds and books with literacy groups around the world.
Betterworldbooks.com Take excess discards and generate revenue Cover all shipping costs No contracts or service agreements Prescreen tool (RUFIS) allows libraries to maximize returns (other language materials big hit) Antiquarian, rare and collectibles team Quarterly commission for directing customers Committed to the environment
C is for Collaboration In 2002, Amazon announced at year end that 50% of the orders it received were for used products coming from 100,000 different online sellers In 3 months increased to 150,000 different sellers and online sellers increasing exponentially
Issues Online book selling is at a saturation point for mass market paper backs and best sellers Price competition of third party sellers Increasing number of corporate sellers (publishers, distributors, book stores) Universal catalogs Low balling Library and charity competitors
HR Issues Volunteer power – limited Staying up to date with message boards and researching is time consuming Subscriptions to publishers material is expensive Registering online Establishing an identity for your online book store Suppliers, shipping and handling returns and credits Lack of expertise especially ARC items