In the past, we have only
had our cell phones, an Internet connection, and a third-party lookup
service to determine the value of a book before we purchase a book. Now,
there are new services available that require no Internet connection,
and some online booksellers, particularly new booksellers, are in a
quandary with respect to which type of service to use.
There are advantages to both systems. An Internet connection and cell
phone will assure you of having the latest and greatest information
available for a specific title, but you have that cell phone connection
leash to deal with. If you plan to attend a large book sale and do not
have the experience to be comfortable with choosing the gems to buy, you
probably want some sort of service to help you. However, if you intend
to use a cell phone service you will be left in the dust by others that
use a database service to look book values up at a rate of ten or more
times faster than you.
The database services require a PDA (or possibly a radically enhanced
cell phone) with sufficient memory to store a database of book values,
usually on the order of 200MB or less. With one of these devices, you
can enter an ISBN (either via a keyboard or laser scanner) and get an
almost immediate display of the book's value and its sales rank. Some of
the services even have other features that allow you to set threshold
values for the books you are scouting so that you can wear an earphone
to hear a cash register ring for the books you want to buy and some
other not so cheerful tone for the firewood you want to pass on. The
biggest disadvantage to the PDA and database system is convenience. Book
values change dynamically and this means you must regularly update your
database by downloading a new database from the service provider. There
is also the issue with respect to books that do not have an ISBN because
this is the means of lookup for the PDA and database system. This means
you have to pass on all books without an ISBN, take your chances and buy
some, or have an Internet lookup service too.
The cell phone lookup system, using a third-party lookup service is much
slower, but if you have the Internet service on your cell phone, you can
go to multitudes of other websites to look up books that do not have an
ISBN.
From my perspective, if you are looking to get into online bookselling
as a prime source of income or just to remain competitive and make
efficient use of your scouting time, it is probably best to have both.
On the other hand, if you just want to be an online bookseller for a
supplemental income, or if you just want to try online bookselling
without making the investment in a PDA/scanner combination, the Internet
enabled cellular phone lookup service will suffice for most book
scouting adventures. To date, I have only used my Sidekick III
cell phone and T-Mobile for looking books up, but when I attend a book
sale I do not use any lookup service, I rely on experience and instinct.
If you are new to
online bookselling you should not feel compelled to initially have
either. There are ways to test the waters and see if online
bookselling is for you without having to make any investment in anything
but a cell phone.
The questions you really need to ask yourself as an online bookseller
are:
Do I want this business to grow into a full-time source of income?
Do I have the time to spend scouting and waiting for an Internet enabled
cellular phone lookup service?
Can my online bookselling business justify the expense of a PDA and
possibly a scanner, as well as a database lookup service?
Do I really want to jump in with both feet and make an investment in the
best tools for my online bookselling business, or should I start on a
shoestring until I know whether this business is for me.
There is a lot to be said for having all the right tools for success,
but you do not need to own a hospital to dress a scraped knee.
