Dealing With Impatient Customers

Occasionally you will get an email or number of emails from customers who

want their book order YESTERDAY! What follows is an actual email notification that came to me earlier this week from a Half.com buyer.

This email was sent by a Half.com member via Half.com's email forwarding

system. If you reply to this email, your response will go directly to the member and not through Half.com.

You have received a question/comment from member Shane Johnson

concerning the Half.com transaction #: 43245545101.

Item: Electricity & Basic Electronics : Harper Lee (Hardcover, 2004) Reason: Other

Comment/ Question: Can you please let me know when this item is going to ship?  I have a class that starts on Wednesday, and I would like to have it by then.  Is there any way you can expedite this order?

The following information has been added to the sender's original email by Half.com:

TRANSACTION DETAILS . . .

This customers email arrived one day before he needed to have the book for his class. I have a standard response for these types of emails. It will make your business run much smoother if you adapt this response or one like it to your own textbook business. Here it is:

All orders are shipped within three business days of being received. All orders are shipped in the order that they are received. Would you like a refund for your order?

Customers will almost never want a refund. Unless you ship them the wrong book.

You must respond to each and every email from your customers that you  find in your email box.  You will be excluded from selling on Amazon.com or Half.com if you do not respond to customer emails.  But you do not have to do anything above and beyond what is agreed to when you signed on as a seller on the websites.  Respond to all emails and ship all orders in a timely manner and everything will go well in your textbook business.  If you begin to cater to customer special needs you will soon regret it.  Often by losing money.

Preparing Individual Textbooks For Shipping

How you prepare your individual textbooks for shipping will become an individual matter based on your own tastes. I know of one book seller who places each book in a padded envelope and ships the book off that way. Using a padded envelope is a very fast way to get books ready for shipping. But the price of an individual padded envelope can cut into your overall profit considerably. I personally have only used padded envelopes once. I had fallen far behind on getting my orders out during peak selling season and was attempting to catch up. The padded envelopes saved me lots of shipping preparation time and caught me up on my shipping obligations very quickly.

Another book seller that I have encountered wraps his books in heavy brown paper. The paper that he uses for his books comes from Home Depot. It is the same paper used by painters in lieu of drop cloth. The paper comes in roll form and is very thick. His books are wrapped in the paper and taped closed in the same manner that you might wrap and tape a Christmas package. I only use paper from a roll to wrap my books when the book is over-sized dimensionally, or is thick and heavy. Art and Biology books are examples which sometimes require paper from a roll to prepare.

Under normal circumstances I use 10’ X 13’ (25.4X33.0 cm) Heavy Duty, Brown Kraft, Gummed Seal envelopes for shipping. I buy my envelopes in boxes. 250 envelopes come in a single box. My technique is to I lay an envelope flat on my desk and pull apart the back and bottom glued seams of the envelope. I lay the book to be shipped in the center of the opened envelope and then wrap the book like a Christmas present. Finished examples of what my books look like can be seen in my You Tube video. If the method that I use to wrap textbooks for mailing appeals to your style and taste you can buy the 10’ X 13’ envelopes from: http://www.buyonlinenow.com/ 

A box of 250 envelopes costs about $30 plus $8.00 shipping.

Remember to secure your packaging well regardless of the method you choose for shipping. Books take a brutal beating as they move through the mail toward their destination. Make certain your packaging will be strong enough to survive the trip.

Things You Should Know About Media Mail Rate Shipping

Media Mail service is a cost efficient way to mail books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music, and recorded computer-readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes). Media Mail can not contain advertising except for incidental announcements of books.

The maximum weight for Media Mail is 70 lbs. (this bit of information will be helpful whenever you have to ship a box or boxes of textbooks to fill an order)

There are presorted rates available for bulk quantities of Media Mail (minimum quantity is 300 pieces).

A barcode discount is available for Media Mail.

Rates are based on weight and size

Each piece of Media Mail must include complete delivery and return addresses with correct ZIP Code or ZIP+4 code.

Media Mail usually travels by train to its destination.

Items sent by Media Mail are allowed up to 14 days to reach their destination by the U.S. Postal Service. In my experience, in nearly all cases,

my textbook orders have arrived in approximately the same amount of time that it takes first class mail to travel the same distance. There have been some cases when it took a textbook a full 14 days to reach the customer. But those instances have been extremely rare.

Listing The Condition Of Your Books

After you acquire your textbooks and begin listing them on Amazon and Half.com you will have to select a condition category for the books. Your options will be New condition, Like New condition, Very Good condition, Good condition and Acceptable condition. List each book as appropriately as possible.

The price range of the book will be determined by the demand for and condition of the book. Do not try to place a book in a higher category in an attempt to get a better sales price for it. For instance, do not list a book that is in Acceptable Condition  in the Good or Very Good Condition categories. Your customers will complain. Too many customer complaints will unravel your business and ultimately drive you out of business. So be as honest and objective as possible when listing the condition of your inventory.  Your books will eventually sell regardless of their condition.

After you place the book titles in their condition categories report any flaws that the books may have. There will be a comment box where you can list any flaws associated with the books you are selling. Here is a quick example of what I mean. Lets say I list a used copy of a Coordinated Science book as being in Good condition. When I open the book I might see a barcode sticker adhering to the inside cover.

Additionally some ex-student’s nick name is written in pink highlighter on the inside cover sheet. These defects will be what I will make note of in the comments box when I list the book for sale. Reporting these flaws will allow the potential customer to know in advance what they will be getting. With this information the potential customer can make an informed decision about buying the book. The potential customer will be buying the book unseen over the internet. Your description of the book and its price is all they will have to base their buying decision on. They are depending on you, the seller, not to surprise them

Here is a list of some of the flaws I have come across and have listed with my inventory.with a less a less than expected product. You don’t want to be the reason for any buyers remorse.

1. Barcode sticker on inside cover of book
2. Barcode sticker on the spine of the book
3. Number written on inside cover of the book
4. Book number written on the bottom edge of the pages of the book
5.  Edges of cover slightly frayed 
6. Slightly frayed corners 
7. School stamp on inside cover 
8. Writing on inside coversheet of book 
9. Library card pocket glued to inside cover bookplate

There will be times when a single book will have two or three or even four of the imperfections mentioned above. Report all of the flaws no matter how many there may be.

Your Business Will Be Rated By Customer Feedback

Once your customers receive your product they will be afforded the opportunity to rate their buying experience with you. As with any business you want to establish and maintain a good reputation for being dependable, honest, efficient and professional. Below is a copied and pasted explanation from one of my accounts which explains how feedback percentage and ratings are calculated.
The positive Feedback percentage is calculated based on the total number of positive and negative Feedback ratings for transactions that ended in the last 12 months, excluding repeat Feedback from the same member in the same week.
Note: This could mean that the number of ratings used for this calculation is different from the  number shown in the Recent Monthly Statement.

Positives_____________________________ 4580

Positives + Negatives ____________________ 4534

This member's 12 Month Feedback ratings ______ 616

Positives: 4580 Negatives: 46

This member's Positive Feedback percentage ____ 98 %

4580 =  98 %

The 98 % figure above and to the right represents the overall rating of my online textbook business.

A potential customer will be able to see your rating before they make a textbook purchasing decision. With a 98 % rating like the one above a customer can tell that they will be dealing with an A rated seller. A rating between 80% to 90% will be a B rated seller. A rating between 70% to 80% will be a C rated seller and so on. There is a direct correlation between your rating and your potential income. It will work in your best interest if you do all you can to keep feedback rating high.

Why Not Sell Collage Textbooks?

Collage textbooks are updated every two years. Not only are collage textbooks more difficult to get but they have a short shelf life. A collage textbook which has value during one year may be absolutely worthless the next year. The collage textbook market is also saturated with sellers. High School and intermediate textbooks on the other hand will provide you with a much wider time window to sell the books at a profit. High School textbooks can still be in popular demand 8 or more years after their original printing.

Elementary School Books

In the early days of the textbook business I made many costly mistakes. One of those mistakes was when I traveled 125 miles from my home to secure  a load of elementary school books. Though the books were in practically new condition I was only able to sell a few of them. The small amount of the books that I was eventually able to sell went mostly to home-schooled children. In addition, the books which sold went for almost nothing. I lost money on the venture in every way. The only bright side was that I was ultimately able to sell the remaining books to a paper recycling company. This allowed me to recover a tiny fraction of the money I lost in truck rental, fuel and time. Avoid going after elementary school books. They just don’t pay.

Book Adoptions - what they are

In most states a Curriculum Commission is appointed by the Governors office to evaluate and determine which textbook materials best suit the needs of their students for the upcoming school year. Once the Commission reaches an agreement on the needs of their students specific textbooks can be “adopted”.

Upon adoption of materials, contracts are sent to the submitting textbook publishers and are in effect for five years with no escalation of prices. Materials adopted in 2010 will go on contract in 2011 and will be introduced into the schools in the same year.

Each year a state adopts (replaces) a curriculum subject. To explain this simply, one year a state my adopt (replace) all math books. The following year the said state may adopt (replace) science books. The year after that, all new English and literature books. Every year a new book subject is replaced (adopted) throughout the schools of the state.

As you get familiarized with the textbook business you will discover that you will need to know which books are up for adoption in the upcoming year. In the beginning this will not be so important. After you have established a relationship with the book room suppliers of your textbook inventory you will want to make plans to secure the old books that are to be replaced by an upcoming adoption. The books that are to be replaced will be in the greatest demand over the internet following the new adoption. Large corporate companies will be going after these replaced books aggressively in an effort to fulfill their commitments to book rebinding companies.

Book Room Take-alls

Take-all is a commonly used word in the textbook business. It is used by large corporations as well as by mom and pop operations like mine. You should incorporate the word into your vocabulary. You will without  a doubt have to use it or at least know what it means when you hear it. A Take-all is when you go to a school book room and take all of their overstocked and unwanted textbooks away. Take-alls will be the cornerstone of your home based internet textbook business.

Paper Recycling Companies

You will need to locate the paper recycling companies in your area. You will have to find these companies yourself. I cannot help you with this. The white and yellow pages are the first places to search for such businesses.


Paper recycling companies often pay for scrap paper. They usually pay for scrap paper products by the ton.
After you pick up a load of books you will have to separate the books you intend to keep from those that are too damaged, too old, or have no market value. There will be days when three-quarters of the books you pick up will end up with a recycler.

The process of separating books with value from worthless books in your load can be likened to sifting through mud for gold nuggets. In time you will develop an eye for which books you should keep and which books are candidates for paper recycling. Take the books with value home and list them on line. Don’t be afraid to trash the rest.

The money received from paper recyclers for your non-sellable books can significantly offset your overhead for truck rental and/or fuel costs. If you find a paper recycler willing to take the books you have designated for scrap but are unwilling to pay for what the books weigh, go ahead and give them to the recycler for free. Another option is to unload them at your local refuse dump. There will be occasions when it is smarter to unload your non-sellable books with a non- paying paper recycler than to get stuck with them. Or to transport them back to your base of operation for disposal at a later date.

Where To Get Your Book Inventory At Zero Cost

Your book inventory will come from high school book rooms. Most people will be able to remember what their high school book room looked like before they graduated. The room would often be overflowing to the point that textbooks were stacked on the floor, on carts, in boxes and on any other available flat surface. In most instances this jam-packed and bursting at the seams condition hasn’t changed since you left school.

The person in charge of the average high school book room is usually overwhelmed by their duties. The tendency of the book room person to be weighed down is a result of not being able to get rid of aged or extra book inventory. New books arrive regularly but old books are not removed on a systematic schedule.

The person in charge of the book room is not allowed to just toss the old books into the trash. Book room people endeavor to establish agreements with the corporate book companies to pick up their old textbooks. But these agreements are frequently just lip service agreements on the parts of the corporate book companies. The large book companies assure the book room person that they will remove their old books in exchange for being able to have first choice at the books that will be replaced by a new adoption.

The problem is large textbook company representatives will usually  only make an appearance at a book room to get the books they are specifically interested in - those books with market value. The company rep will delay, procrastinate and arrange for partial take-alls.  They do only enough to appease the book room person and get out with the books. During the period in-between visits from the representative the book room person drowns in unwanted textbooks. Each day the book room person grows more anxious over the question of what to do with the excess inventory. The book room person can sometimes wait for eight months or a year before a representative from a book company decides to make an appearance. In the meantime the book room person needs help and space in their book rooms immediately! They need the book company representative to make arrangements for a take-all ASAP! To make matters worse book room personnel are frequently under intense pressure from their administration office to get rid of the excess inventory. From the perspective of the administration having excess books all over the place make the entire operation look disorganized and incompetent. But they can’t just trash the books! Trashing the books is prohibited.

This is where people like me, and now you, insert ourselves into the scenario. We make contact with the person in charge with the book room and offer to do what the corporate representative merely said they would do. And we will do it now!  This will work to your advantage. Because the floundering book room person doesn’t need the help now,  they needed it yesterday. When you announce that you are willing to bail them out of their dilemma you start to look like a modern day Knight in shinning armor.

The book room person really needs your help but may not have the authority to just allow you to come and get the textbooks.  The textbooks are State Property.  There is a bureaucracy at every school and the book room person will have to get approval from someone above her before she can give you State Property.

Locating Schools And Contacting Book Room Staff - part 1

There are numerous ways to locate high school and intermediate school bookrooms. Using the white pages is one method. If you live in a thinly populated town or small city you may already know where all of the eligible schools are to be found. If you live in a large metropolitan area like I do, locating bookrooms can be more problematic. In my county there seems to be a school tucked away every couple of miles. Schools of every grade level and type. I encounter schools all of the time that I previously never knew existed. In a situation similar to mine it will helpful if you use a school locator.

There is a very useful website that I came across right after I started my textbook business which locates kindergarten though 12^th grade schools across the country. The web address of the site is:

http://www.k12guides.com/school-locator.html  

The name of the site is appropriately, K12Guides. The K12Guides has been a real Godsend to my business. It provides me with nearly all of the information I need to locate potential bookrooms with just a few mouse clicks and keystrokes.

When you go to the K12Guides website the first thing you will see is a map of the United States. Place your cursor on the area of the map where you would like to locate a school and left click your mouse. The map will reformat with a zoomed in view of the area. From this magnified view you will see red, green, blue and purple marker flags on the map. Each flag represents the location of a particular type of school. Elementary schools are represented by red flags. Middle schools are represented by blue flags. High schools are represented by green flags and other types of schools like vocational and alternative schools are represented by purple flags. You can drag the map left, right, up and down by left clicking your mouse and holding down on the button. From here you can position the map on the screen wherever you like.

On the upper right side of the map page you will see three vertically aligned boxes accompanied by drop down menus. These boxes can be used to help you hone in on the exact type of school you are looking for.
Under the three vertical boxes you will see a larger grey toned rectangular box with a list of schools inside. This list correlates and corresponds to the flagged schools on the map in the center of your browser screen. The list in the rectangular box will change and update as you drag the map.

Beneath the map you will see two magnifying glass icons. Clicking on them will expand or reduce the view of the map. You can expand your map view to help isolate the green or blue flags on your screen. After you have magnified your view of the mapped area to your liking place your cursor on one of the green or blue flags and click. A popup will appear.

Below is a cut and pasted example for the type of information that will appear in the popup.

Locating Schools And Contacting Book Room Staff - part 2

Mulvane Academy
Grade 9 - Grade 12
430 E. Main
Mulvane, KS 67110
(316) 253-4106
School District:
 Mulvane

Locating Schools And Contacting Book Room Staff - part 3

Mulvane Academy (Mulvane, KS) - contact info, student demographics

High School at 430 E. Main Mulvane, KS (Mulvane) (316) 253-4106 (phone). The grades at Mulvane Academy range from 9th - 12th Grade. ... See also: current job listings & postings in and near Mulvane, KS ... 20 students attended Mulvane Academy in the 2006-2007 school year

www.muninetguide.com/schools/KS/Mulvane/Mulvane-Academy

Locating Schools And Contacting Book Room Staff - part 4

Click the link above for the school and you will be redirected to Mulvane Academy’s homepage. When you reach the homepage you will look for any link or button which provides faculty contact information. All school homepages are formatted differently so you will have scan over the

You can follow the afore mentioned Google search method for finding any school home page. Faculty email addresses are publicly available on the school's official webpage's table of contents to help you find what you are searching for. The email address you are seeking can be listed in various ways. It could be listed as Textbook Room. If there is not a listing for the Textbook Room to forward your email to look for the Purchasing Agent or Finance Secretary. If there is not a Purchasing Agent or Finance Secretary send your email to the Librarian or to the Assistant Principle. As a last resort you can send out a mass emailing to any and every address listed for the school. I have done this more than once. One or more of the email recipients will direct your inquiry where it can be properly address. In due course you will get the response you were searching for.

What To Say When You Contact The Schools

You should paraphrase something similar to what follows when you contact your selected school. This script will work regardless of if the contact is made by telephone, in person or by email.

“Hello. My name is (your first and last name here) . I’m a book recycler calling to see if you currently have any surplus book inventory that you may need to clear from your book room”.

Because almost all textbooks rooms have loose agreement with larger corporate book company representatives your inquest may be met with a response like this:  “No. We have someone to handle our books.”

Keep in mind that in almost all cases the book room person only believe  that they have someone to handle their books. What they most likely have is a disingenuous corporate rep who stops by periodically for what equates to a book booty-call. The rep drops in for their visit when they want to get particular books with value and is missing in action at all other times.

 

If the book room person says no a second time it does not mean no forever. The book room person does not have the authority to just give you the books or throw them away. She has to get approval from school administrators before doing anything with the inventory entrusted to her.

Your next step will be to allow a week to go by. Then go to the school in person and introduce yourself to the book room staff.  In the seven days that you allow to pass between your initial contact and when you actually show up to introduce yourself the book room person will have had time to think over your offer. They will have thought it over a lot.  Dependent upon how disorganized and overstocked their book room is. The book room person can and will get approval from whomever necessary to do whatever they see fit with the book inventory if they are properly motivated.

When you actually meet the book room person I recommend you say something like this: “I was in the area and thought I would stop by and put a face to the voice on the phone” (or put a face to the email, whichever is the case).  Then you should remind the book room person that you can come in and cart off their problem inventory at their convenience.

By presenting yourself in person you are in a better position to get your hands on the books. In addition it will give the book room person needed familiarity with you. They will gather that you are serious about providing

So if you get a response like the one above you will follow up and say something like this: “Yes, I felt you might. But I guarantee that I able to serve and assist you better. I can make your job as a book room manager a lot easier. For instance, if you need to clean up and organize your cluttered book room I can come out, at no cost, and take away most if not all of your unwanted material. I’m available to do this whenever you need me. You tell me when and I will be there.”

prompt and enthusiastic service when required. Your intention is to impress upon her that you are different from the corporate textbook representative. You will be there when she needs you. On her schedule. Your willingness to cater to her needs will be important to her success as a book room manager. If the book room person feels excessive loyalty to the corporate textbook representative you can suggest that she allow you to only take away a portion of her overstocked inventory. There are enough books in the school book room for everyone. You just have to help her come to this realization.  Be persistent with the book room person but don’t become a nuisance. If she does not make arrangements for you to carry away books after you have made your personal appearance leave your business card. You should also remind her that she can reach you by telephone, email or text message at anytime. Touch bases with her by telephone or in person again a month or so later. Don’t allow her to forget you. She might if forget her. It will only be a matter of time before she calls in need of your services. Once she does your foot most likely will be in the door forever.

If you secure a take-all appointment while you are there, during your in-person visit, make an effort to get a list of ISBN numbers from the books to be carried off.  If you can get ISBN numbers then and there you can look the value of those books up on Amazon.com, Half.com or Bigwords.com before you are due back to execute the take-all. If you know in advance which books have value you can go directly from the school to the paper recycler. You can then be fully aware of which books are okay to discard. Whatever is left can go home with you to be sold.

What Do You Do With The Books?

The one question you are guaranteed to hear when doing a take-all is, “What do you do with the books?” Worst of all, you will hear it first from the one person that you don’t want to hear it from - the book room person. It is not going to sit well if you tell her that you are taking the books home to list on the internet and make a huge profit. So you had better tell her a more expanded truth. This is what I say:  “After the books are inspected they are given a destination. Some of the books will be shipped to needy school districts. Some can be donated to schools in third world countries like South America and Africa. Some of the books are too old or damaged and will be recycled. Others will be sold.”  This explanation always settles the mind of the inquirer. To put your mind at rest as well I will dissect each sentence in the paragraph to show you how your explanation is actually the truth. I don’t want you to lie or feel as though you have bent the truth to the point of breaking.

After the books are inspected they are given a destination.   You will have to inspect the books from every take-all in order to decide which ones to keep and which ones to do something else with.

Some of the books will be shipped to needy school districts. Schools in other districts from around the country often run low on or out of particular book titles and will often order the needed book(s) from you. You will have to fill the textbook needs or these districts.

Some can be donated to schools in third world countries like South America and Africa. With every take-all you will come across books that are new or are in like new condition. Nevertheless the books will have no online market value. Instead of leaving these books with a recycler I donate them.  www.betterworldbooks.com   In turn, Betterworld books distributes the copies to organizations like Room to Read, Books for Africa, Worldfund, National Center for world Literacy, and Invisible Children. Betterworld books provides printable shipping labels for your donations. Your cost will be nothing beyond finding the time to locate a shipping box and getting the books to the postal service.

Some of the books are too old or damaged and will be recycled. Others will be sold. These statements require no explanation.

Business Cards

Business cards may not seem like a necessary topic to cover. Anyone can tell you that every business operator should have personalized cards printed to hand out to clients, customers and associates. When starting a business you will want to keep all of your expenses at a minimum.  Business cards can get costly, as I discovered first hand.  To offset the expense I built  (designed from templates)  and ordered my own business cards online. When I received the cards I was amazed at their quality and appearance. The cards arrived quickly and there were plenty of them. I designed and purchased my cards at  http://www.overnightprints.com/  . I ordered 100 Premium Cards. The cost of the cards was less than $20. After shipping was added the total cost for the glossy front cards was less than $30. I have reordered from the company many times since receiving my first box of cards.

I am not affiliated with Overnight prints in anyway. I do not reap any financial benefit from steering readers to the company. I have made specific mention of Overnight prints for the sole purpose of providing you - the future textbook business owner - with an economically sound option for  acquiring a valuable tool you will need for success.

Truck Rental

When I started in the book business I naively thought that I could, at times, use my tiny sports car for a take-all. Boy, was I under the wrong impression!  You will need a truck to haul books.   Even if you own a pickup truck it will make your work much more difficult if you try to use it. You need a big truck. Not only do you need a big truck but you need a big truck with a ramp.  I recommend using a Uhaul moving truck. The smallest Uhaul truck you can rent with a ramp is a 14 footer.  Uhaul trucks that are shorter than 14 feet in length do not have ramps.  If the truck does not have a ramp you will have to lift your take-all books into the back of the truck.  Then you will have to climb into the truck and arrange the books in an orderly fashion. This amounts to double working yourself.  If this does not make sense now, as you are reading these words, it will when you get out and do your first take-all.

Handtrucks and Dollies

When you rent your Uhaul truck for a Take-all do not use the dolly which is mounted in the back of the truck. If at all possible use a handtruck with air inflated tires. The hard solid tires of the handtruck located in the back of the Uhaul will tire you out quickly and makes any load you are carrying heavier. Dollies with air inflated tires roll smoothly and work better on steps and on the truck ramp. A dolly or handtruck with air inflated tires is easier to use in every way.

In Closing

There isn’t much more that I can add to help you get up and running in the home based textbook business. I have outlined all of the steps that I  followed to build my own business.

All you have to do now is make it happen.

Best wishes,

Dinjin1963