How to Build a Part-Time Used Book Sales Business Using Amazon.com

This article is mainly geared toward people who are already familiar with Amazon.com selling as a hobby and would like to transition it into a profitable part-time business. This is more about developing the business system side than Amazon.com itself.

1) One of the first steps you need to take from transitioning selling on Amazon from a hobby to a business is to get yourself organized.

From a financial standpoint, I recommend consulting with your tax accountant to get a full list of records you should keep. You may also need to check into business regulations in your local area.

As far as inventory, I recommend keeping using a spare bedroom or office to keep it all in one place. You want enough room to keep an inventory around 100-300 books at any given time with the way I plan to show you. Keep all your shipping and insurance receipts, as well as any other records, all in one place. To make your accounting easier, open up a separate account to hold all your profits and take out all of your expenses.

2) Gathering good inventory is probably one of the hardest problems people have. I personally suggest checking in your local area at used bookstores and thrift shops.
Used book stores are the best place to find textbooks--just because the local college isn't taking them back doesn't mean someone else in the country needs it. Before you spend a lot of money on something you think is worth getting, simply write down the ISBN and check it at home. You can always come back and you don't lose money if it's not worth it. Also, be sure to look at the sales ranking of the item--if it's way down at the bottom, it still may not be worth paying a lot to get. Overall you want inventory that moves fast so you don't get piled up.

I personally do not bother trying to sell something less than $8 unless the price just falls down below that point. Factor shipping into your asking price, as Amazon's commission tends to take up your shipping credit.

3) Be very professional with your customers.
Mail your books out within the next business day if possible. Thank them for your purchase and let them know you're there for them if they have any questions. It is personal service that will give you great feedback and in turn more customers.

With shipping, I would suggest getting insurance on anything more than $20 (or whatever amount is the minimum you'd hate to lose if it gets lost in the mail). Insurance with the U.S. Post Office is tracked on their internal system and is cheaper than delivery confirmation. Plus you're protected if anything does happen.

More Tips:

• If you are a college student, consider checking with your fellow students if they have any textbooks the bookstore didn't take back. Offer to check to see if it's selling online and split the money with them (keep good records on this). Sometimes people will even give them to you for free!

• As a general rule, I've found it's better to grow in quality instead of quantity. You use up less of your time and make roughly the same profits.

• Link your Amazon store to your blog for free advertising. I've gotten a few customers that way.

• Develop a normal routine that fits into your daily life. It makes things easier when you plan everything out as if it were a job.

• Even though it's tempting because of higher profits, don't skip on the insurance on higher end items. I don't think scams are common, but the moment you relax on that is usually when the book doesn't arrive.

• Don't spend all your income from this business immediately. Keep a small emergency buffer in case something unexpected occurs.

How to Copy Mini-DVs to DVDs

In this article, I will explain the most inexpensive and easiest way I know to transfer information stored on Mini DVs to DVDs. To keep this article as on topic as possible, I will have to assume you have some basic knowledge of video editing and DVD computer software (or are willing to take the time to go through your software's manuals.)

Things You Will Need:

Mini DV camera with a firewire (6 pin) or mini-firewire (4 pin)port

Mini DV tapes you want to transfer

A computer with a firewire plug-in slot and a DVD burner

A firewire cable or firewire to mini-firewire cable (based on your camera's port)

Video editing and DVD burner software (I personally use Adobe Premiere and Encore, but will try to explain the process in basic terms).

1) First, you need to get your computer and camera connected using the firewire or firewire to mini-firewire cable.

When you have correctly connected your video camera, the computer will usually make a sound similar to plugging in an external device like a mouse or hard drive. You will also have an indicator pop up in your start bar if you're using Windows.

2) Even if you never intend on editing your footage, video editing software is great for transfer situations like this.

When you first open a video editing program, it will likely ask you if you want to start a new project. Go ahead and do this. At this point, you may need to familiarize yourself with your particular software. What you want to look for are three parts of your project--a timeline, a capture/digitizing window, and a "bin" (used for storing captured videos).

3) The next step is a process either called "capturing" or "digitizing" by most programs.

Find your capturing or digitizing window. You should see something that looks similar to VCR controls--play, pause, stop, record, etc. You may also see "In" and "Out" categories for entering time codes.

If you're wanting to do an entire mini DV tape to DVD, the easiest thing to do would be to rewind your tape to around 5 seconds before the point you want the DVD to start. Press the "Play" button, followed by "Record" immediately after that. The computer should start capturing the video within your 5 second buffer. When you reach your end point, press stop. You should see a movie clip appear in the "bin" section. This contains what was on your tape.

4) You will need to select your movie clip and movie it to a time line window.

If you need to trim either end or even edit what you have, consult your video editing software's manual to do any last minute changes.

5) Once you are finished, you will need to an option in the software that says "Export to DVD." In Adobe Premiere, it's under the "File" menu.

As a general rule, you settings should contain something about "NTSC standard" to play normally on U.S. DVD players. Audio for television is set at 48KHz (broadcast standard) and 44KHz is acceptable for consumer grade products.

6) Test your DVD on a normal DVD player.

If you have any visual or sound issues, you may have selected a wrong setting for the burning process. Every program is a little different, and the guidelines I'm giving are very general. You may have to consult your software manual for more information and troubleshooting.

7) If you would like to create a DVD with a menu, programs such as Encore (or any DVD burning program that takes .avi files) can be used for this.

You can bring up the movie file from where you captured, make any additions, and export it out to DVD similar to the way you did with the video editing software.

More Tips:

• Be sure if you're buying new software and equipment for this project that it is compatible with your computer's abilities.

• If this is a rare or one-time project, it may be financially better to consult video production companies in your area before spending a lot of money and time to do it on your own. This is something that shouldn't cost a lot to do.