Someone I know runs a very profitable business that is essentially a rare book finding/agency business.
They provide a 1800 phone number + internet site. People who are looking for an out-of-print book give them the details. They search for the book. When they find it, they add 20% the price, charge the buyer, purchase the book at the list price and have it shipped to the buyer, and keep the 20% without ever touching the book.
Essentially it's an agency business - I've often wondered why people don't find the books themselves, but it's a time/doing business internationally/inexperience type of thing. They would rather pay the extra 20% and have someone else deal with it.
The true value of the business in in the dealers database which allows them to find a book very quickly by drilling down into who is most likely to have a copy, plus they have an exclusive deal with point-of-sale booksellers, whereby anyone who wanders into a bookstore looking for an out-of-print book can be given somewhere to go.
They provide a 1800 phone number + internet site. People who are looking for an out-of-print book give them the details. They search for the book. When they find it, they add 20% the price, charge the buyer, purchase the book at the list price and have it shipped to the buyer, and keep the 20% without ever touching the book.
Essentially it's an agency business - I've often wondered why people don't find the books themselves, but it's a time/doing business internationally/inexperience type of thing. They would rather pay the extra 20% and have someone else deal with it.
The true value of the business in in the dealers database which allows them to find a book very quickly by drilling down into who is most likely to have a copy, plus they have an exclusive deal with point-of-sale booksellers, whereby anyone who wanders into a bookstore looking for an out-of-print book can be given somewhere to go.