There Is More Than One Way To Skin a Cat!

by David Morris
(Wyoming)

Original Comment:

November 28, 2014

Just to add to Joe's excellent rebuttal to Anonymous' overly simplified post, just because a thrift store scans and lists books online for sale doesn't mean that there aren't valuable books to be found.

Remember, the people who are scanning these books are doing them in bulk, and they typically are people who have no training or education in what constitutes a valuable book. They scan and look at the computer to tell them whether to throw the book in the "to be sold online" bin or the "to the shelves" bin.

They don't do the decision making themselves, a computer does.

If you are 100% reliant on a scanner to tell you whether or not a book is valuable, you need to step your game up to the next level and start to learn what makes a book valuable.

Here's a hint, the most valuable books on the planet don't have barcodes or ISBN's. Books with values well in the high 3 figures and sometimes 4 figures are found on a regular basis by many sellers across the country in those same stores that have "no good books left".

If you don't want to put in the effort to learn about books, you are correct..... for you used bookselling is indeed a dead end street.

David

Response:

November 28, 2014

Hi David;

You're so right. There's more than one way to skin a cat. But since I love cats, I don't skin them. However, I do sell a lot of books! Just today (November 28, 2014), I went scouting in thrift stores and found 183 of them with an average listing price of $12.

The proof is in the thrifts—and so is the inventory. All you have to do is get out there and do it!

For more tips, tricks, and insider help with your business, you can get unlimited answers to your questions in my bookseller's forum by going to the Forum Guidelines page and signing up for a FREE MEMBERSHIP.

You'll get useful advice from me and other experienced booksellers to help you grow your business and make it more profitable. Make sure you sign up today and introduce yourself to everyone!

Joe Waynick
Bookseller, Author, Mentor

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