In Farmington, Book Scanners Are New Way To Hunt For A Deal. (Hartford Courant, 4/13/2012)
Excerpt: Year after year, book lovers and bargain hunters alike gather on the first floor of the Farmington Public Library to dig through boxes of books, waiting to snap up $3 hard covers and 75-cent paperbacks, as well as DVDs, CDs and other items donated by members of the community.
But in recent years, this tried-and-true approach to book sales has morphed into a sport over who can get the best bargain.
As the demand for low-priced, easy-access items continues to increase, book scanners — electronic hand-held devices one can use to estimate the value of a used book and compare it to competitors' prices — are the weapons of choice for book dealers and amateur sellers looking to make a profit.
In Farmington, the library plays host to dealers from all over New England as well as New York.
Like miners digging for gold, book dealers using electronic scanners are able to comb through a massive collection of titles in a fraction of the time. Before scanners, book dealers would check prices by cell phone, look them up on the Internet, or arbitrarily guess at what books would sell, said Sergei Chirkov, a dealer for the Cambriodge Bookstore in Massachusetts.
Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman. (Slate, 10/6/2010)
Excerpt: I make a living buying and selling used books. I browse the racks of thrift stores and library book sales using an electronic bar-code scanner. I push the button, a red laser hops about, and an LCD screen lights up with the resale values. It feels like being God in his own tiny recreational casino; my judgments are sure and simple, and I always win because I have foreknowledge of all bad bets. The software I use tells me the going price, on Amazon Marketplace, of the title I just scanned, along with the all-important sales rank, so I know the book's prospects immediately. I turn a profit every time.
Reselling Profitability, Scanners in Hand. (EnzymePDX, 7/29/2010)
Excerpt: Goodwill workers say two to six of these book-trollers can be seen at the Portland Outlet at any time. Other thrift store workers interviewed for this story call them simply “beepers,” so named for the melody of their scanners, which wafts around the stacks like so many lost crickets. But the sound is more than just symphony. For resellers, it’s the din of money. Clipped to cell phones or sold as PDAs or hand-held devices, the scanners connect to online databases and provide quick information about current pricing and the availability of books. Pioneered by ScoutPal for Amazon.com, the fare has broadened to include other tools for big online retailers like eBay, Alibris and beyond.
