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We've discussed some of the selling services available for online booksellers over the past weeks and we will explore more in the weeks ahead. But this week I'd like to branch off a bit and write about sites that provide help to sellers other than as a sales venues. This issue we are introduced to Americana Exchange http://www.americanaexchange.com, a Web site dedicated to research and information for booksellers and collectors. This article is about American Booksellers, an efulfillment and storage warehouse for online booksellers. To be clear right from the start, I own a portion of this company, but I include it because it does fit within our guidelines and I will, hopefully, provide the information objectively.
American Booksellers http://www.americanbooksellers.com is a company that provides inventory storage and efulfillment services for online booksellers in central Connecticut and was the brainchild of bookseller Dan Gaeta, his brother Michael Gaeta, and myself.
The service grew from a need to house Dan's increasing online inventory (now past 50,000 books) in a way that was reliable and easy to use. At first we never thought beyond our own need, but during the development stage, two things happened that convinced us that this kind of service might benefit other sellers. One bookseller we knew grew ill and was unable to keep up with the physical labor involved with his Internet sales. Another friend lost a lease after decades in business. Both of these sellers lost money having to liquidate inventories that took a career to build.
Since affordable, traditional warehouse programs could not handle the large number of individual items being managed, it was decided to develop something new and unique to the used-book industry. Unlike the new books market, or any other market, used books are individual items even if the title and edition are the same, simply because wear varies.
We learned it was less expensive to develop a new database rather than adapt one currently on the market, and it was at this juncture that the global aspect of the Internet market met up with Main St. USA (in this case, Bank St. in Waterbury, CT.)
Waterbury, like many other cities, tried to find a way to jumpstart its downtown. For this community the development of an Internet Technology Zone was a way of attracting software developers into the empty office spaces. One such company, IMS-SYS.com, saw an easy transfer from a database they used to track machine parts for oil companies across the globe.
With a database AB calls "Book Clerk" in place, it was time to set up a warehouse and here, again, downtown Waterbury offered incentives. A friend who owned a former department store had thousands of square feet available and a willingness to incubate a new company. Long rows of steel shelves were constructed, a shipping station was set up and loaded with a manifest mailing program, and the beta test began using Dan's books to work out the bugs.
AB's procedure is simple. Books arrive at the warehouse and are checked against the database provided by each seller. Each book is then binned in a cardboard box and relocated onto a shelf. Once the inventory is in place, sellers begin sending orders via the Web site, stipulating book, customer, and shipping method. Sellers also can select the kind of packaging they prefer, but default packaging is bubble wrap with padded envelopes.
Books are shipped through a manifest mailing system that tracks the packages to the customer and tallies the weekly billing. Costs are determined by size of inventory and number of shipments provided.
Costs vary. For inventories under 2000 in number, storage is free. After that number is exceeded, the charge is a penny a book each week. Aside from the actual postage, the seller pays a handling fee that includes tracking and packaging. This cost also varies by the size of inventory, ranging from 99 cents to $1.95 per fulfillment (up to two books a package. Each book added to the first two is charged fifty cents). AB strives to meet each seller's shipping needs. UPS, FEDEX, USPS, DHL service is available; Alibris warehouse packages are sent in bulk postpaid by Alibris, and affordable M-Bag service for international orders is an option.
The ultimate goal, according to warehouse manager and IT director Terry Scully, is to offer booksellers an affordable service that allows them more time to spend buying books, increasing their online inventory, or enjoying their families.
One customer exemplifies the advantage of the service. Situated in NYC, this aggressive seller filled his home, garage, and nearby storage with boxes of books. Each book was carefully marked to make book retrieval easier but despite his best intentions, a large volume of sales proved to be a mixed blessing. Finding books meant traveling between locations and lifting heavy boxes. Plus, as a post 9/11 NYC resident, USPS restrictions meant that the number of packages he could mail at any postal location couldn't exceed 4. This meant having to schlep from one site to another only to go home to begin the routine all over again.
Mike Gaeta, a podiatrist who holds an MBA, sees the service as one that can be transplanted regionally across the country and beyond now that the process is in place. For now, he said, "Our goal is to provide the best service we can."
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