Ever thought about opening your own storefront? Hanging the ol' bookshoppe shingle above your door? This episode is for you! We talk through what to think about when considering opening a brick and mortar store, crack some jokes, and hopefully entertain and inform.

Produced by Murray Sampson, with music by Stefan Kartenberg, "The Vendetta" (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/58628 Ft: Apoxode

Sponsored in part by Bookselling Technologies, LLC, a full-service technology consultancy for the book trade.

You can find Mike at Stock and Trade and Murray at Sunflower Books.

We discuss our favorite listing tool The Art of Books, talk a bit about Basil, and of course ramble down a few side roads along the way.

Produced by Murray Sampson, with music by Stefan Kartenberg, "The Vendetta" (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/58628 Ft: Apoxode

Mike and Murray discuss what to look for in your books as you prepare to list them, using a handy metaphor: The Five Senses of Bookselling.

Produced by Murray Sampson, with music by Stefan Kartenberg, "The Vendetta" (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/58628 Ft: Apoxode

Murray and Mike talk about scouting. Where to look, what to look for, who you’ll run into, some tools you might like, and some tips for buying large collections and lots.

ScoutPal

The Art of Books

Our music this week was "The Vendetta" by Stefan Kartenberg (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/JeffSpeed68/58628 Ft: Apoxode

From the benign buyer just turning a deal into a sale, to the abusive buyers who steal your merchandise, and everything in between, this episode is all about "Flippers" (and we don't mean of the adorable Bottlenose variety). Murray and Mike discuss some of the sometimes strange-seeming orders that pop up in your e-commerce queue, to help you be better prepared to filter through the chaff and fill the good orders and ditch the bad buyers.

We also include our first "What we're reading" segment! Please visit us at https://bookselling.show/ for more information, resources, and to send us a note with your questions, comments, critiques, or just to say hi!

And as always, here are some relevant links:

Bad Buyer List - online fraud buyer and ebay blacklist sharing

Stores we love, May 2nd, 2021 edition!

Books With Pictures, Portland, OR

For our first few episodes we're going to focus on e-commerce. Many stores had to make a rather abrupt shift last year as their doors closed to the public for unknown amounts of time. Since online sales look to be a big part of 21st century bookselling, we want to help you be prepared! This first episode is about one of the biggest challenges to new and veteran online sellers alike: shipping.

Here are a few relevant links to supplement the podcast:

Pirate Ship

We also have some good info on our own website:

Murray's blog post about e-commerce sourcing and shipping.

Send us your tips, tricks, questions, comments, stories, and so on over at bookselling.show

And don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast service!