5 ms·

I respect this guy a lot. There's been enough times I wanted to get an obscure out of print book and I can only find copies that cost $60 or even $200+. Taking

I respect this guy a lot. There's been enough times I wanted to get an obscure out of print book and I can only find copies that cost $60 or even $200+. Taking a book off the shelf, paying the used bookseller and freeing up their cash/space, and stocking the inventory in his home for the whole world to be able to buy the book online - man, the guy's almost a saint in my book. Some people are upset he's making a profit. This is crazy to me - the guy's making by his own numbers $4000 per month for 80 hour workweeks and amazing customer service, and he's making 10,000+ titles available online that might otherwise not be. If I ever see someone with the book scanner thing, I'm going to thank them and tell them I think they're doing a great thing for the world.

gjm11 16y ago
> Some people are upset he's making a profit. Is that really what "some people" are upset about? That's not the impression I get either from the article or from comments here. Some people are upset that he, and others like him, are making it harder or less pleasant for them to buy used books. Some people are (something rather less than) upset because what he's doing displeases them aesthetically -- books are meant to be treated with reverence, bought and sold by people who love them, etc. But I don't see anyone saying "He's making a profit, and that's bad". As to whether what he's doing is, on balance, beneficial or harmful, I don't think we have enough information to know for sure. Scenario 1. A small minority of particularly good used-book shops, which would otherwise have had real trouble selling their merchandise, are visited by people like this; the result is that lots of books from their shelves are made available to people who want them, and that the booksellers stay in business. Everyone wins. Scenario 2. All the world's used-book shops are deluged with people like this. As soon as any new books arrive they pounce on them. The result is that all the books anyone wants are sold at higher prices, reducing their availability to people with less money; and that the used-book shops no longer get any "normal" customers because most of the interesting books disappear as soon as they hit the shelves, and that after a while the booksellers give up in disgust. Everyone loses. Presumably the truth is somewhere in between. I'd guess it's much closer to Scenario 1. But fearing Scenario 2 isn't really all that crazy.
- gregable 16y ago
  I doubt this guy visits used book shops. He mentions thrift shops. Used book shops generally are quite savvy to the real value of a book in the same way this guy is. They are profiting from the same arbitrage he is. Used book shops have the added advantage that the original sellers often come straight to the book shop, having never offered their books to any other market, so they can buy without competition.
  - wyclif 16y ago
    Agreed, this guy is a thrift shopper and I feel what he is doing is legit, he's competing at a lower level where the books are sorted to value. Having worked in a high-end, selective used bookshop, there is a lot of arbitrage and upselling and in many cases it is worth it. It costs money to cull the good stock and resell it. You're also correct about market: one of my fave bookshops is a converted barn and the front foyer is often full of books from broken up libraries which were brought direct from an estate and not sold at the auction.
- balding_n_tired 16y ago
  A fellow I know who works for Goodwill remarked on the folks with scanners some time back. My impression was that he thought it an odd way to spend one's time, but was glad to see the books go out the door. As for the fellow at the library, I can understand how a retiree, able to exchange time for lower prices, might be annoyed.
- dedward 16y ago
  I find it highly unlikely, given the sheer number of books printed nowadays, that we'd end up anywhere near scenario number 2. Merchants could seize the opportunity here - if your store is full of resellers rather than the public, it's time to up YOUR game and start charging more for your used books.
  - SHOwnsYou 16y ago
    Nice idea, but ultimately it is impossible to know if the customers in your store are resellers or people buying for consumption. The way to prevent resellers from picking through your inventory for arbitrage is to correctly price your books from the start. With accurate pricing you can still undercut resellers and not make each book a commodity -- Resellers incur a multitude of costs: time, shipping, 15% amazon fee, etc. If you raise your prices to resaleValueOfBook - resellerCharges + $0.01, you cut out the combing by resellers and still offer a sizable discount from Amazon.com
bapadna 16y ago
He deals in non-obscure books with known pricing and demand. Your hard to find, obscure book won't be on his shelf. And on the off-chance it is, he's pricing based on other vendor prices, so it won't be cheaper. So... consider him a saint all you'd like, but he is not helping you in the way you imagine he is. All he's doing is going to thrift shops, and ensuring that poor people don't get any of the popular books at below market prices. Nothing saintly about that, IMO.

gjm11 16y ago

> Some people are upset he's making a profit. Is that really what "some people" are upset about? That's not the impression I get either from the article or from comments here. Some people are upset that he, and others like him, are making it harder or less pleasant for them to buy used books. Some people are (something rather less than) upset because what he's doing displeases them aesthetically -- books are meant to be treated with reverence, bought and sold by people who love them, etc. But I don't see anyone saying "He's making a profit, and that's bad". As to whether what he's doing is, on balance, beneficial or harmful, I don't think we have enough information to know for sure. Scenario 1. A small minority of particularly good used-book shops, which would otherwise have had real trouble selling their merchandise, are visited by people like this; the result is that lots of books from their shelves are made available to people who want them, and that the booksellers stay in business. Everyone wins. Scenario 2. All the world's used-book shops are deluged with people like this. As soon as any new books arrive they pounce on them. The result is that all the books anyone wants are sold at higher prices, reducing their availability to people with less money; and that the used-book shops no longer get any "normal" customers because most of the interesting books disappear as soon as they hit the shelves, and that after a while the booksellers give up in disgust. Everyone loses. Presumably the truth is somewhere in between. I'd guess it's much closer to Scenario 1. But fearing Scenario 2 isn't really all that crazy.

gregable 16y ago
I doubt this guy visits used book shops. He mentions thrift shops. Used book shops generally are quite savvy to the real value of a book in the same way this guy is. They are profiting from the same arbitrage he is. Used book shops have the added advantage that the original sellers often come straight to the book shop, having never offered their books to any other market, so they can buy without competition.
- wyclif 16y ago
  Agreed, this guy is a thrift shopper and I feel what he is doing is legit, he's competing at a lower level where the books are sorted to value. Having worked in a high-end, selective used bookshop, there is a lot of arbitrage and upselling and in many cases it is worth it. It costs money to cull the good stock and resell it. You're also correct about market: one of my fave bookshops is a converted barn and the front foyer is often full of books from broken up libraries which were brought direct from an estate and not sold at the auction.
balding_n_tired 16y ago
A fellow I know who works for Goodwill remarked on the folks with scanners some time back. My impression was that he thought it an odd way to spend one's time, but was glad to see the books go out the door. As for the fellow at the library, I can understand how a retiree, able to exchange time for lower prices, might be annoyed.
dedward 16y ago
I find it highly unlikely, given the sheer number of books printed nowadays, that we'd end up anywhere near scenario number 2. Merchants could seize the opportunity here - if your store is full of resellers rather than the public, it's time to up YOUR game and start charging more for your used books.
- SHOwnsYou 16y ago
  Nice idea, but ultimately it is impossible to know if the customers in your store are resellers or people buying for consumption. The way to prevent resellers from picking through your inventory for arbitrage is to correctly price your books from the start. With accurate pricing you can still undercut resellers and not make each book a commodity -- Resellers incur a multitude of costs: time, shipping, 15% amazon fee, etc. If you raise your prices to resaleValueOfBook - resellerCharges + $0.01, you cut out the combing by resellers and still offer a sizable discount from Amazon.com

bapadna 16y ago

He deals in non-obscure books with known pricing and demand. Your hard to find, obscure book won't be on his shelf. And on the off-chance it is, he's pricing based on other vendor prices, so it won't be cheaper. So... consider him a saint all you'd like, but he is not helping you in the way you imagine he is. All he's doing is going to thrift shops, and ensuring that poor people don't get any of the popular books at below market prices. Nothing saintly about that, IMO.