Re:Why hard to run something like Amazon as busine (Score 1)

the logistics of inventory managment isn't,

The logistics of inventory management depends upon two things:

• How solid the database that one uses is.
• How accurate the data that is entered in the database is.

Keep the data accurate, and inventory management is trivial.

All the original site had to do was hook the CD-Rom from Ingram up with Anthology, [ Well, maybe not Anthology], or one of the other bookstore POS software programs [ There was one that ran a *Nix clone, whose name I have forgotten], and connect that to the net. It was doable, even in 1994. The hardest part then was convincing the money people that an online bookstore would eventually show a profit.

(especially when they sell other people's stuff and have *zero* inventory to manage, a'la eBay).

They still have to handle customer disputes. Setting up an online bookstore has theoretical zero stored inventory. The only books that are ordered, are the ones that have been sold. They get shipped out the day they are received. This is where location is crucial. A warehouse across the road from Ingram, or Baker & Taylor is much better than a warehouse two states from the Ingram or Baker & Taylor.