I just received an email from Alibris announcing that they are unveiling a Book Rental Program, where sellers can offer books for a 130 day period at a fraction of the listing price- they suggested around 60%. This would only apply on listings over $30.
Now I am all for increasing my sales volume by just about any means necessary, especially when it is through a venue where I am already selling books, but further inspection of this new program leads me to believe this may be much more of a hassle than it is worth. In other words, time is money, and it looks like all the time spent processing whatever rental orders I may get, uploading the tracking info, processing the return, accounting for damage, relisting the item, etc. may be a bit of a hassle. Also, it is worth noting that any rental orders must be fulfilled within 24 hours without being cancelled. I'm always trying to fulfill orders as quickly as possible, but I could see one or two busy weekends resulting in a hit to my order fulfillment percentage.
The early consensus among other booksellers who have already chimed in is that they are less than excited about the prospect of this program as well. Can anyone out there convince me otherwise? Perhaps it is worth a trial run, only because I can't knock it until I've tried it.
Details on the program can be found here.
3 comments:
At 60%, it doesn't make sense to the renter either.
Plus, one presumes this would mostly be for academic books - and since these are always at high risk of being supplanted by later editions, it's best to sell them 9at full price) while they are still hot.
I don't think this one will fly.
60% is indeed a large cut. I think it's best to just sell a book out-right. What troubles me is the condition of the returned book after rental. Some homes may be a smoking home. Some people simply just don't take care of their stuff. It seems like a a lot of work for little income. However, I think it's worth trying. Try everything once.
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