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Last weekend, I was at a used books shop. I saw a guy with some iphone app, checking the price of each and every book in the shop (there were lots of books for

by vijayr 15y ago

Last weekend, I was at a used books shop. I saw a guy with some iphone app, checking the price of each and every book in the shop (there were lots of books for $1). The store people noticed, but didn't say anything, at least I didn't see them say anything. I bet they weren't happy about it. How long before we just place an order, online, in a centralized place, and pick one of these: cheapest fastest delivery highest quality or some combination of these, and the app finds the best place to order (amazon, walmart etc) and automatically places the order?

pyre 15y ago
I'll bet that guy was looking for steals as far as the $1 discount goes. He was checking the Amazon price to see what he could flip them for. There were a couple of stories like this about flea markets and such on HN a while back.
- vijayr 15y ago
  Probably. I wouldn't have noticed at all, except for the beep sound, every single time his phone read the barcode. He looked experienced in this, as he was going through 15-20 books a minute (never reading the title or anything, pick the book, read the barcode, check price, move on).
  - InnocentB 15y ago
    Slate ran an interesting article last year about this aspect of the used book market: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/10/confessions_of_a_usedbook_salesman.single.html http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/10/confes...
droithomme 15y ago
Yeah, that guy was definitely a reseller. Shop didn't mind because he likely ends up buying some books at the price they have set. Logical result is that shopowners buy iphone ISBN scanner and start repricing according to online prices, or open their own online store.
mostlyListening 15y ago
He was probably doing this: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/10/confessions_of_a_usedbook_salesman.html http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/10/confes...

by vijayr 15y ago

pyre 15y ago

I'll bet that guy was looking for steals as far as the $1 discount goes. He was checking the Amazon price to see what he could flip them for. There were a couple of stories like this about flea markets and such on HN a while back.

vijayr 15y ago
Probably. I wouldn't have noticed at all, except for the beep sound, every single time his phone read the barcode. He looked experienced in this, as he was going through 15-20 books a minute (never reading the title or anything, pick the book, read the barcode, check price, move on).
- InnocentB 15y ago
  Slate ran an interesting article last year about this aspect of the used book market: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/10/confessions_of_a_usedbook_salesman.single.html http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/10/confes...

droithomme 15y ago

Yeah, that guy was definitely a reseller. Shop didn't mind because he likely ends up buying some books at the price they have set. Logical result is that shopowners buy iphone ISBN scanner and start repricing according to online prices, or open their own online store.

mostlyListening 15y ago

He was probably doing this: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/10/confessions_of_a_usedbook_salesman.html http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/10/confes...