The Book Scout - An Old Skill That Has Not Died
In the days before the internet when bookstores were very common a book scout could make a very good living if he or she was hard working and willing to do a little research. Those who own book stores usually do not have time to search for new inventory. However without keeping current inventory the book store as any other business would soon go out of business. One way bookstore owners solved this problem was to develop a relationship with people who spent their time scouting or searching for books.
These scouts would spend time at book auctions, estate sales, library book sales and othervenues where they would search out books that would potentially be wanted bybookstores. The scout would more than likely have several bookstores that he did business with each with a specialty niche. The scout could make a profit in several ways. First he would search for books he knew a particular seller wanted. He would then sell those books to the bookstore for about 25% of the books worth leaving a good margin for the seller to make a profit.
If the scout was sharp he would make sure to know the demands of a number of specialty shops. He could then trade a number of books to a certain shop and instead of taking a cash payment would accept his payment in trade which could give him 50% of the books worth. By taking trade he would receive more for his books then he would if he took cash. In this way he built up a trade balance with this store. He could then, using his trade balance, buy a book from this seller that he knew would bring a profit when he sold it to a second store. This was bartering at a very refined level.
Since the advent of the internet many of these book scouts have become sellers themselves. Because the internet allows them to sell books on line without the overhead of a store location it is usually much more profitable to sell their own stock. Also because they are not tied down with a store location they can use their scouting skills to find new inventory.
Although there may not be as many scouts as there were in the past many of them still tradewith bookstores using the leverage of trading for store credit rather than cash.When he builds enough credit he can buy more expensive books at this store and sell them at a good profit.
In addition there are still a number of buyers who will buy books from book scouts. A Googlesearch will bring up a number of these buyers that you could sell books to if you wanted to spend your time on the road and did not want to run your own retail online business. These buyers will only buy books in good condition and they usually pay a very small amount of the books value. Even so if you love to travel you could do book searches while doing so and every so often box them up and send them off to one of these sellers. This could be one way for retirees or others to pay for their travels.
These scouts would spend time at book auctions, estate sales, library book sales and othervenues where they would search out books that would potentially be wanted bybookstores. The scout would more than likely have several bookstores that he did business with each with a specialty niche. The scout could make a profit in several ways. First he would search for books he knew a particular seller wanted. He would then sell those books to the bookstore for about 25% of the books worth leaving a good margin for the seller to make a profit.
If the scout was sharp he would make sure to know the demands of a number of specialty shops. He could then trade a number of books to a certain shop and instead of taking a cash payment would accept his payment in trade which could give him 50% of the books worth. By taking trade he would receive more for his books then he would if he took cash. In this way he built up a trade balance with this store. He could then, using his trade balance, buy a book from this seller that he knew would bring a profit when he sold it to a second store. This was bartering at a very refined level.
Since the advent of the internet many of these book scouts have become sellers themselves. Because the internet allows them to sell books on line without the overhead of a store location it is usually much more profitable to sell their own stock. Also because they are not tied down with a store location they can use their scouting skills to find new inventory.
Although there may not be as many scouts as there were in the past many of them still tradewith bookstores using the leverage of trading for store credit rather than cash.When he builds enough credit he can buy more expensive books at this store and sell them at a good profit.
In addition there are still a number of buyers who will buy books from book scouts. A Googlesearch will bring up a number of these buyers that you could sell books to if you wanted to spend your time on the road and did not want to run your own retail online business. These buyers will only buy books in good condition and they usually pay a very small amount of the books value. Even so if you love to travel you could do book searches while doing so and every so often box them up and send them off to one of these sellers. This could be one way for retirees or others to pay for their travels.