Wireless Barcode Scanner
Information & Strategies for
Booksellers

By Joe Waynick

A wireless barcode scanner is indispensible for professional Internet booksellers.

But there seems to a great deal of confusion about which type of device to buy.

For example, should you buy a SmartPhone equipped with a scanner, one of the PDA barcode scanners, or a cell phone look-up device?

I’ve done extensive research on bar code scanning devices since I first started using them back in 2006. They're essential for helping me run my profitable online business purchasing used books for resale.

I literally spent over a month researching scanning tools. I looked at all the major brands that were available at the time, and I continue to stay on top of the latest technologies until this day.

I wish there was a good barcode scanner review site I could have consulted before I made my decision because it would have saved me WEEKS of time, and eliminated a great deal of confusion. Fortunately, you don't have to go through all that trouble the way I did.

What Is a Barcode Scanner?

Barcode scanners are electronic devices designed to read the black bars and white spaces printed on consumer packaging and translate the images into meaningful data that's transmitted to a computer.

The most familiar example of bar code scanners are grocery store checkout lines where the cashier waves your items over a scanning device to ring up your purchases.

Owning a reliable wireless barcode scanner will make the difference between profit and loss when you're selling used books online.

The bar code scanner used in a grocery store is a fixed position flatbed scanner that is much too bulky for use by book scouters.

Instead, you'll see full-time and part-time book scouts using a handheld barcode scanner because they're compact, lightweight, and easy to carry around in the field.

How to Make Money with a Wireless Barcode Scanner

If you want to earn the most amount of money possible as a book scout, then you need the ability to scan the bar codes on the back of books. And to do that you need three components:

1. Personal Data Assistant (PDA) such as the Dell Axim v51
2. CompactFlash Socket Scan Card
3. Price look-up software

Without all three of the above technologies, you won't be able to scan bar codes, whether you use a PDA or a Smartphone (we'll discuss scanning with a Smartphone later).

What Is the Best Scanner for Booksellers?

There are various types of barcode scanners available. For booksellers, laser scanners are the most popular because they're highly accurate and targeting the laser is very simple.

This ease of use allows you to snag valuable gems such as buying college textbooks and selling them for a nice profit. In fact, selling a carefully selected used text book online can be very lucrative.

In addition, laser scanners work reasonably well in bright sunlight, which is always a factor when attending outdoor book sale events.

The wireless barcode scanner itself is normally attached to a housing unit, usually a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) device.

However, there are also a number of Bluetooth devices that transmit scanned data wirelessly.

The scanner and PDA combination is ideal because the PDA holds a database of pricing data that can be accessed instantaneously while book scouting. These devices work well even in conditions where reception for real-time pricing isn't possible.

The SmartPhone Barcode Scanner

The most recent innovation in book scouting is attaching a laser scanner to your Android SmartPhone for real-time price checking.

Real-time pricing means you retrieve the most up-to-the-minute pricing from Amazon for each barcode you scan.

That differs from PDA devices that maintain a local database on the device itself that's been updated hours or even days earlier. Some book scouters are obsessed with having to-the-minute pricing. But let me tell you that thinking is nonsense because pricing data changes hourly.

Even though your SmartPhone gives you one price at the sale, that price could be completely different by the time you get home. Having the most current pricing is an advantage for sure, but I just don't think that advantage is greater than the reliability of PDAs.

The main drawback with a SmartPhone solution is that reception is sometimes difficult when book sales are held in basements and/or buildings with thick concrete walls.

One additional advantage the SmartPhone has over a PDA wireless barcode scanner is that if you already have an Android phone, chances are you can use your existing equipment and not have to buy new hardware other than the laser scanner itself.

But keep in mind that if you use your SmartPhone, it's going to be subject to a great deal of wear and tear. Premature damage or failure of your phone is a certainty. That can be a problem if your phone is not insured and/or still has a number of months left on its contract.

That's why I only use my Smartphone as a 2d barcode scanner to backup my PDA database.

Buying PDA Barcode Scanners

You may have surmised that I'm partial to PDAs with an attached laser scanner. You're right. But it's not that I oppose new technology, because I don't.

Click to find inexpensive scanners!

But after six plus years of using one type of wireless barcode scanner or another to pursue this high income business opportunity, I've found the database solution to be the most reliable.

The accuracy of database pricing is more than adequate because I download new pricing data every day.

Unfortunately, good PDAs are getting harder to find. And the sole manufacturer who sells barcode scanners that are still being built is quite expensive.

However, I urge you to click the following link and read my analysis on acquiring inexpensive barcode wireless scanners.

In that article you'll learn how to take advantage of some of the limited opportunities still available to buy a barcode scanner that's reliable and constructed of high quality materials.

You'll also want to click essential barcode scanner parts to read up on what accessories you'll need to get the most from your equipment.

Because with the right equipment, it's quite easy to learn how to develop passive income selling books online and earn your way to financial independence.

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