Powell’s, the poster child for independent book stores, has just quietly unveiled a new program where you can now sell them your books online. The story was covered in Publishers Marketplace (a fee site) and appeared in the daily email from Shelf-Awareness
Here is how it works:
-You submit the ISBN numbers for the books you want to sell
-The books that must be in good condition, meaning that there is no underlining or highlighting
-Hardcovers have the original dust jacket,
-No pages are torn, etc.
The site checks the ISBNs and will then either decline the book or make an offer. If the seller agrees to the offer, Powells pays for shipping within the U.S. by providing a link to a prepaid “media mail” Postal Service shipping label.
Unfortunately, you won’t get rich selling them your books since they are only offering trade credit (or Virtual Credit as they are calling it).
This is not a new concept there are a handful of companies that have been offering this service for sometime now. It is unclear how successful they have been. This is a very tricky concept. Though there are clear guidelines it is easy to see how one man’s book in “good condition” is another man’s unsaleable book. Powell’s is very wise to be offering trade credit only, by doing so they are minimizing their risk and potential losses.
Remember that these days the more you ask your potential customer to do the less likely they will become your customer.
Ironically this news leaked the day after the ABA (American Booksellers Association) wrapped up their 2nd annual Winter Institute in Portland. The theme of this years meeting was “how to differentiate independent stores from the competition”. This just reiterates the fact that selling used books is a must for any independent book store that wants to succeed.
Dave Weich, director of marketing and development for Powell’s, says they will be promoting “the program in a “heavier” way in the next three weeks”. I guess how heavy will probably depend on how well this quiet little trickle of the news plays out. He goes on to say “We’ve been thinking about this for a long while…this is what we do so well in the stores, and to offer it online is kind of a no-brainer. We’re thrilled to extend it into the online environment.”
I am not so sure about it being a “no-brainer”, I trust they had a lot of brains behind this initiative, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
I can also see this technology becoming much more widespread in the future, including capabilities for non-ISBN material. Every bookseller will eventually have the option available on their websites for their customers to offer them books for sale.