The NYT looks at how software drives the low-margin business of selling used books online in quantity: “The state of the art in used-book selling these days seems to be less about connoisseurship than about database management. With the help of software tools, so-called megalisters stock millions of books and sell tens of thousands a week through Amazon, AbeBooks and other online marketplaces. Some sellers don’t even own their wares….” Thrift Books–with 180 employees and about 3 million books for sale–“acquires its stock literally by the ton, usually from libraries, secondhand stores and charities.” They log the ISBNs and post […]
