Bon Journal

Reactivating analyticalQ booksale

Only a week after I set up my seller account at Amazon.co.uk, I had to change my settings to holiday mode. I couldn't possibly deliver in two days if I wasn't near the books I was selling. The good news is that, the days I spend on holiday gets added to the time my listings stay current.

Now that I'm going back home, I'm reactivating my analyticalQ booksale at Amazon.

Amazon has become more than a bookseller. It sells more than books. And it sells more than what it produces or has in stock. It has become a retail platform, putting third-party sellers like Eddie Bauer and The Gap to Amazon visitors who are credit-enabled. It also allows individuals like myself to do business on its platform.

For a fee, of course.

Since July 2003, Amazon.co.uk started charging its sellers Value Added Tax. The sale of books in the UK doesn't incur VAT like the service industry (the difference between a hot plate of fries served to you versus the frozen kind you get in the supermarket). Yet, the UK government gets a slice of the second-hand book market on Amazon.co.uk.

Meanwhile, Amazon itself gets a commission for allowing buyers and sellers to transact on its platform. I love getting an e-mail telling me that Amazon has found a buyer for me. Then I have to scramble to find the book and package it in one of my used envelopes. I always include one or two issues of Le Bon Journal in hopes that the buyer will visit my bonjournal.com site and comment on its contents.

As a seller, I'm interested in selling my books at the highest price that a buyer is willing to pay. But there's also credit risk - if the buyer doesn't pay. And delivery risk - if the book doesn't get delivered. With Amazon's credit mechanism, I'm protected against credit risk. But delivery risk is something I have to bear and manage.

My goal is to sell all the books I've listed so that I can free up the shelves and move on.

18 October 2003 Saturday

analyticalQ booksale