I get questions all the time from beginning book sellers asking me about specific products, programs, and automation tools for their online bookselling businesses. A lot of these beginners have not even sold a SINGLE book online yet, but they are already purchasing expensive products for book selling!
My advice for everyone, especially beginners is SLOW down. Start selling a few books, build some cash flow, get some experience, and then decide if you need some products to help build your business. The beauty of selling books online to me is that you can start with virtually no investment. Selling books isn’t going to be fun and you are not going to stick with it long term if you are not making money quickly.
Here are some low-cost products I do recommend if you are starting out:
USB Scanner – Search on eBay for “USB Scanner”. You should be able to find a decent one for around $30. This is simply a scanner that you plug into the usb port on your computer and you are able to scan barcodes into Amazon rather than typing the 10 or 13 digit isbn numbers. This can really save you a lot of time if you are listing several books at a time. For most scanners, no special software is required.
Thermal/Laser Printer – If you are going to sell on Amazon FBA, this is one expense you may want to incur. A thermal printer is nice if you want an exclusive printer just for FBA, you can print clear labels in a roll format. Search Amazon for “thermal printer”, you should be able to find a decent new one for around $80. If you don’t want to invest in an exclusive printer for FBA, a laser printer will work. When I first started using FBA, I used an inkjet printer to print my labels but received several nasty emails from Amazon because many times the barcode was not clear enough for their scanners.
Android and Iphone apps – If you do not want to invest in an expensive laser scanner when starting out, there are various free and low-cost apps for Android/Iphone that use your phone’s camera to scan barcodes. One is the “Amazon” app. Another one that I use frequently is “Pic2Shop”. Both of these apps are free and work surprisingly well (please check out my blog post/video for Pic2Shop HERE).
Repriceit.com – Once you get to the point of having several hundred or thousands of books in your inventory, a repricing program is a big time-saver. I use Repriceit.com; it is fairly inexpensive ($10-$75/mo depending on the size of your inventory). You can set up templates for your inventory based on the time you have had them listed and other factors and have your books repriced automatically.
PDA laser scanner – If you are serious about selling books you will probably find that you need a scanner of some sort. There are many kinds, but to keep costs down I use a basic PDA laser scanner and a subscription to Scoutpal for $10/mo. If you are interested in a low-cost pda scanner, I usually sell them for about $300. Just send me an email or post a comment here if you are interested in buying one.
There are many great programs and systems you can invest in to help your book selling business including FBA Power, FBA Scout, Proven Amazon Course, etc. I prefer to keep my costs low and only invest in products I find that I need when I need them. Hope this helps you get started!
I have been trying to expand my Amazon FBA inventory into other product areas besides books. One of the free apps I have been using with my Android phone is called “Pic2Shop”. It’s marketed as a Comparison Shopping app but it can be used nicely to help with your FBA business. There would be 4 main reasons to use the app:
If you don’t have a book scanner or already subscribe to a scanning service.
If your current subscription service doesn’t cover some types of merchandise (as is the case with my subscription to Scoutpal)
If you don’t have your scanner with you but do have your smart phone.
If you need more in-depth info on a product that your scanning service doesn’t provide – such as product description or FBA listings.
If you have an Android or Iphone you can download “Pic2Shop” for free. Some nice features include comparisons of prices of many shopping sites (not just Amazon). Another nice feature is that the cell phone barcode scanner works surprisingly well and fast (and I don’t even have auto focus or a flash on my cam).
The way I have been using it is to scan products that my Scoutpal subscription doesn’t list (products aside from books, media, toys, and tools). I can then see the lowest prices on Amazon, click on the listings to check for FBA competitors and then decide if the product will be a good resale item for me.
I have posted a Youtube video demonstrating the app below. Special thanks to Steve Weber and his great new book “Barcode Booty: How I found and sold $2 million worth of junk on eBay & Amazon, and you can too, using your Phone”. I highly recommend reading the book if you are interested in selling products besides books on Amazon.
I have had numerous questions about where to find book scanners, so I have decided to sell them myself. With average prices at $500-$700, I am going to sell quality used laser scanners at $325 (price could change periodically depending on pieces available).
I will guarantee them for 14 days after purchase and give you 1 year Free support via email.
If you are interested in purchasing a scanner, please email me at mike.ambooked@gmail.com
There are a handful of books/ebooks/blogs about online bookselling that I recommend to other people. My #1 recommended resource (and the first product that I ever promoted on my blog) is now being offered at an amazing price – FREE!!!
2 years ago or so, I read Nathan Holmquist’s “Selling on Amazon’s FBA Program” and it totally changed my business! I went from being a rare/antique book seller to being a high volume book seller. You would think this would be a lot more work but it really isn’t. In fact, it’s easier because books suitable for FBA are easier and cheaper to find than rare books. What about storage space? I was living in a townhouse at the time I started, but I didn’t need more space for higher inventory – in fact, I needed far less!
Nathan’s ebook shows in a simple way the tremendous advantages of selling using Amazon’s FBA program versus traditional methods. Some of the highlights include:
The ability to PROFIT by selling penny books! (This is no longer advised – but books priced 2 cents and higher can be extremely profitable)
How to get listed higher on Amazon against similar or even lower priced listings of the same book
How to target Amazon Prime customers – these customers are willing to pay you higher prices for a book that will be selling for a lower cost by your competitors!
Advanced tools and techniques to streamline your FBA business once you get rolling
I thought this ebook was priced too low at $17 but now it is free for a limited time! Just click HERE to get your free copy or on the first banner on the right side of my blog! Let me know what you think of the book or if you have any questions and I will be happy to help you.
