Tuesday, May 23, 2006

They have your Amazon repricer

As if another Amazon seller tool is needed, SpaceWare releases AMan Pro, a complete set of management tools for Amazon Marketplace Sellers: "AMan Pro provides customizable templates for packing slips, invoices and customer emails for the production of these items in bulk. Postage may be printed in bulk with delivery confirmation and cost data being saved. Items with DC may be tracked from the product. . For international orders, customs forms are printed with all the required data filled in. Prices may be manually or automatically adjusted according to a seller's strategy using the comprehensive built-in rules or advanced scripting facility. Automatic, timed repricing and uploads ensures that a seller is always competitive with other sellers. Inventory may be listing individually or in bulk, with the items being scanned in or read in from a variety of file formats." Download a Free, fully functioning 21 day trial at their site.

Wall Street Journal's Startup Journal has a bit on How Some Bookworms
Turn Pages Into Profits
Many outsiders see selling books as an easy way to make money and I imagine it can be now with all the "how-to" books and seller tools including entire inventory management systems, cell phone scanners and pricing tools. Some of the time saving tools are great, others just allow the clueless to join the masses of people selling books online. I, too, believe knowledge and experience are invaluable. A tool, by definition, is an implement used in the practice of a vocation. It's not supposed to be your whole bag of tricks.

One day while out book buying after many months of avoiding seeking out new inventory, I had my only experience to date with someone using a cell phone scanner-brand unknown. I live near San Diego and know many of the long time booksellers, some personally and others by sight. There is a small group which is friendly- composed of very nice and, more importantly, very knowledgeable people whether a generalist or specialist. I have also observed many, many unfamiliar people (to me) who obviously aren't very knowledgeable in my sojourns. The lone user of the cell phone scanner I saw fell into the clueless category.

On the day I mentioned above, I decided to check a sale near my home that listed books, CDs and videos. Once there, I very quickly eyed all the books and media and chose only one book that I knew would be worth my time. All in all, this took me less than one minute. While the amount of books and media was quite extensive, it was arranged so I could quickly peruse all titles without handling anything. As I was leaving, antique dealers I am friends with arrived. While the husband and wife team looked over the sale, the wife and I spoke. After she was done shopping, we stood back and caught up with each others lives. I noticed a woman arrive at the sale that I had never seen before. She proceeded to pull out a cell phone with a scanner attached and scan each and every book, CD and video. My friend and I stood chatting for a period over 20 minutes before we decided to leave. The book scanning person was still at it and at that point only had 5 books and 1 video in her pile with much more to scan before she was done. That is why I believe a person who wants to be a bookseller needs to know something about books before joining the ranks. Your time is valuable! The more you know, the more money your books and your time can realize. If you feel a cell phone scanner is useful to you fine, but do not completely rely on it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amazon sellers do need a new piece of software. AMan Pro is the first tool that does order fulfillment, listing and pricing and does not charge based on how much you make as seller - it is a flat rate subscription. Also, it has got the most sophisticated tools available for all aspects of selling on Amazon. Try it and you will see what I mean. Download from www.spaceware.com .

Kevin O'Brien - CEO, SpaceWare, Inc.