1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,440
Welcome back to another episode of the Resellers Mindset Podcast.

2
00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,120
My name is Mike, also known as the used book guy on YouTube,

3
00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,080
along with my friend and fellow full time reseller, Johnny B.

4
00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,680
We help people start and grow their reselling businesses from the ground up.

5
00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:16,560
We also have a weekly Zoom call and private Discord for all YouTube members.

6
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,800
Head on over to youtube.com backslash used book guy to join the channel

7
00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:25,400
and gain access to the full length podcast, Zoom call and private Discord today.

8
00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,760
Let's get into this week's episode.

9
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:28,320
What is up, everybody?

10
00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,160
Welcome into another episode of Resellers Mindset Podcast.

11
00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:32,560
Mike here alongside Johnny.

12
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,440
And last week, we kind of picked on eBay a little bit.

13
00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,720
So this week we're going to pick on Amazon a little bit, right?

14
00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,280
Because as a reseller, you hear selling on Amazon.

15
00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:47,040
The first thing that comes to your mind is it's so expensive to sell on Amazon.

16
00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:48,880
The fees are astronomical.

17
00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:51,480
So we're going to give kind of both sides to the story here.

18
00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:54,840
And do we think the fees are worth it or the fees too high?

19
00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,960
In our opinion, what kind of comes with the fees to kind of justify it?

20
00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:02,520
So I guess I'll start off here since I'm kind of sort of still the main Amazon guy

21
00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:03,520
of both of us here.

22
00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:10,080
So for me, the big benefit for Amazon over eBay is the convenience of not storing,

23
00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,920
packing and shipping and the customer service of all of the items you sell.

24
00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,880
So you don't know, I live in an apartment currently.

25
00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:17,720
I'm looking for a house.

26
00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,480
Even when I have a house, I still don't want to have a garage full.

27
00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:21,960
Not that there's anything wrong.

28
00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:24,440
You know, there's inventory systems that work great from home.

29
00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:29,280
But I kind of enjoy the pleasure of being able to get some of my time back,

30
00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,000
even if that costs more money.

31
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:36,080
I think this is all a money for time kind of trade off when it comes to selling on

32
00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:37,960
Amazon versus other platforms.

33
00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:42,480
So for me, being in my little penthouse apartment here and I used to be the guy

34
00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:43,840
straight up, I'll tell everybody here.

35
00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,640
I had like four of those big plastic totes, not the nice ones.

36
00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,160
Like if you're watching on YouTube that Johnny's got behind them.

37
00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:52,520
I had the ones you couldn't really even see into.

38
00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:54,600
I had the worst inventory system, right?

39
00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,600
I'd sell a pair of shoes and they're like buried in the bottom of the bin.

40
00:01:57,600 --> 00:01:58,520
They're not bagged.

41
00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,520
I find one shoe and I got to keep digging for the other one.

42
00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,760
And I remember Dev just like, this is such a chaotic mess.

43
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:07,840
It was just, it was just chaos.

44
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,920
And when I, when I first like heard of Amazon, I'm like, whoa, wait a minute.

45
00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:13,480
I don't have to keep nothing here.

46
00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:13,720
Right.

47
00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,640
I send it all to them and they put it wherever they put it and they ship it.

48
00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:21,400
And, you know, cause at the time I was also working full time at CVS.

49
00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,960
So this is another thing I can't get out, you know, and ship as often as a full timer.

50
00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,800
You know, if there's a stretch where I'm working 10 days in a row and the

51
00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:35,000
post office doesn't open what I used to do, fun fact, when UPS would come into CVS every day.

52
00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,000
So USPS comes in, there goes my packages, right?

53
00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:40,280
I would do the same thing with Dev.

54
00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:45,760
So that when the post office came in to pick up CVS as mail and packages, I would have

55
00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,160
my reselling packages because I didn't have time to get to the post office.

56
00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:54,320
So the appeal of not having to store ship customer service, my own items.

57
00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,400
At the time, I didn't care what the price was.

58
00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,040
You want to charge me 50, 60, 70% of the sale.

59
00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,800
I'm perfectly fine with that because right now time is what I have the least of.

60
00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:11,560
And it kind of just developed into a thing where I value my time a lot higher than I used to.

61
00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:16,080
So that's kind of why I enjoy selling on Amazon today, even though the fees are high.

62
00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:22,840
So give me your initial take, maybe when you started on Amazon, because you were eBay

63
00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:25,840
first and the fees on Amazon are like 3X what they are on eBay.

64
00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:35,040
I mean, to me, there was a lot less upfront work in my opinion than Amazon.

65
00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:40,840
It's like I already had books and it's like scan, boot, pack, send, scan, boot, pack, send.

66
00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:47,640
I mean, it doesn't get really any easier, I think, than that unless you don't have to scan, I guess.

67
00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:49,680
You just send whatever in, but you do.

68
00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,400
So I think as far as the fees go, it didn't really bother me.

69
00:03:54,400 --> 00:04:01,080
It was really more solving a problem with excess inventory than me worrying about fees.

70
00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,560
You're going to get fees no matter what kind of aspect of business you do.

71
00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:12,480
And tacking on, I don't know, $4 on something that I'm going to sell for 12, I clear maybe eight,

72
00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:14,640
get to keep half or something like that.

73
00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:16,080
It just was like, OK, fine.

74
00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,200
I still clear money, solves a problem, get my space back.

75
00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:20,760
This is great. I love this.

76
00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:27,320
Because even when I was doing eBay and still doing eBay, by the way, I just accumulated so much.

77
00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,680
And yes, for eBay, I don't know what to do with you yet.

78
00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:31,280
So you're going to go in this pile over here.

79
00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:32,360
I'll figure it out later.

80
00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:37,960
And then stumbled across Amazon after I went through the YouTube rabbit hole found you.

81
00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:39,560
And I was like, oh, this is an honest guy.

82
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:44,760
He actually talks about numbers and learned how to do it honestly through your YouTube.

83
00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,880
And then you started weekly calls sometime after.

84
00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:49,640
Or one-on-ones. Yeah, I remember that.

85
00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:51,400
I did a one-on-one with you once.

86
00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:52,840
A long, long time ago.

87
00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:58,600
Do you think that the sell-through rate should affect how much you pay in fees, right?

88
00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:04,840
So like if we compare two items, eBay to Amazon and Amazon has a higher sell-through rate,

89
00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:08,680
there's more eyes on products, there's more people shopping on Amazon than eBay.

90
00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:16,760
Do you think that could justify Amazon charging more in fees because they know they're getting more eyes on your products?

91
00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,520
I think that is a healthy trade, honestly.

92
00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:22,200
I'm OK with that.

93
00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:23,240
If it sells, it sells.

94
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:24,680
It's got to be, man.

95
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:25,480
Just think about it.

96
00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,680
We sell used items, like secondhand items.

97
00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,200
Imagine if you were a brand.

98
00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:31,880
Sell-through is all you care about, right?

99
00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,560
You're trying to build your brand, build your brand awareness, new products.

100
00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:40,920
So like it might, because I know a lot of resellers are like, well, sell-through, they kind of are an offense about it.

101
00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,360
But I just think about it in the terms of the overall platform.

102
00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:47,160
Sell-through and eyes on your products.

103
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:55,400
If you're a brand or if you're doing some kind of wholesale product, that is way more important than the price.

104
00:05:55,400 --> 00:06:04,360
I think it goes back to the old, well, you are going to hang on to something and try to get every penny or you're going to turn it fast and get some pennies, right?

105
00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,640
And I think it kind of goes the same way with the sell-through aspect.

106
00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:17,160
Yeah, I mean, even in the other group, they talk about that you could wait it out for all the money or you can get part of the money now.

107
00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,560
I'd rather have part of the money now than wait two years.

108
00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:27,160
I mean, two years is about right for a book on eBay that that's the potential turnaround time.

109
00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:33,400
That's not to say when you list something, you won't sell same day or within 30 days or anything like that.

110
00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:41,080
But if you're listing in bulk, you could be sitting with a book for two years before it sells, maybe even longer, maybe three years.

111
00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:49,480
So accumulating that, you're always going to have to be space conscious of, okay, I have X space now.

112
00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:54,440
How much is, I don't know, one cubic feet of my space worth?

113
00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:56,680
And then compound that for a two-year window.

114
00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:01,320
I mean, there's a lot of little math logistics in there, maybe a little too complicated for some folks.

115
00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:08,600
But you got to value A, your time, B, your storage space, and three, your cash flow.

116
00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:10,520
I mean, we talked about cash flow before.

117
00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:15,240
So how fast can I get my cash to flow back to me kind of deal?

118
00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,920
With Amazon, I think it provides a much quicker turnaround.

119
00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:25,720
Even the stuff you have to liquidate, because again, books can't sit, even though we send it in, that it's not 100% guarantee it's going to sell.

120
00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,640
All of us have to liquidate six months down the road on most of the stuff.

121
00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:35,240
Some stuff will roll the dice for another six months and eat the long-term storage fee, sure.

122
00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:43,640
But if I can sell the vast majority of it, 80, 85% of it, and got my money back, and even with the race to the bottom,

123
00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,640
and I still get my money back because we're in control of where that bottom is, right?

124
00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:52,920
So I can sell my cash flow back to me, and that just—cash flow is king.

125
00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,760
You can do all kinds of things with your business with the money that comes back to you.

126
00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:00,600
Okay, well, maybe I get into OA now I've generated enough cash flow,

127
00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:06,600
or hey, maybe I can pay up for more expensive books to then send in again instead of the lower margin things.

128
00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,960
It just gives you options with cash flow. I love options.

129
00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:17,240
Do you think people would be more attracted to maybe give Amazon a try if there was just one fee, right?

130
00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:22,520
I mean, I think the difference here, Johnny, you got your storage fees, you got your long-term storage fees,

131
00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:28,120
you got your removal fees, your disposal fees, your liquidation fees. Pick one and figure it out, right?

132
00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:33,000
I don't think—I think the problem is a lot of people see that for the fees for Amazon,

133
00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,120
it's like a 12-thing line item, right? There's 12 different line items.

134
00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:41,640
So people are like, oh my God, like the fees are just astronomical.

135
00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:50,040
It makes sense. And maybe if it was just one, like, hey, 50%, and maybe more people wouldn't be kind of pushed away

136
00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:53,160
because they see all the different fees, even though they're minimal, right?

137
00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,880
Because we all know storing your stuff at Amazon, like you were just talking about it,

138
00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:02,920
it's like a thousand books for a hundred bucks a month, basically.

139
00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:08,360
And I think to myself, like, that's super cheap. I mean, go buy, go run a storage unit.

140
00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:13,240
Storage units are expensive nowadays. I mean, my 10 by 10s over a hundred bucks now,

141
00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:20,200
I'm paying close to $120 a month. So I think to myself, well, I could store a thousand books

142
00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:25,720
at somebody else who's going to pick and pack for less money. Like, the storage fees are nothing,

143
00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:29,480
but I don't think people realize that because they never really tried Amazon.

144
00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,720
They just see here, oh, there's a storage fee, and they think it's just some crazy number.

145
00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:39,880
Okay. So let's break it. To answer the question, yes, I think more people would do it,

146
00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:44,440
but I don't want that because I think people should know their numbers. All numbers are important.

147
00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:48,600
You got to know every single fee, not just, okay, here's an $80 bill. Well, what for?

148
00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:53,640
You got to know what that $80 adds up to. But where I was going with it, let's break it down.

149
00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:58,120
Okay. So we get special shipping rates to send in 30 to 200 books.

150
00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:06,200
Dude, it's basically, ooh, man, it's them shipping rate. I shipped 246 in a 48 pound box through UPS,

151
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:11,640
and they were both under 10 bucks. And these are 16 by 12 by 12 bucks. I mean, their rates are insane.

152
00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:18,040
Oh, so expensive. So expensive. Yeah, not really. But that's fee number one. Well, no, fee number

153
00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:23,080
one is about to play this game. Well, you got to pay your subscription of, oh, $40 a month.

154
00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:27,720
Okay. Now we're spending, let's just call it 10 bucks for simple math here. 10 bucks a box.

155
00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:32,600
How many boxes are you sending in? Let's say you send in 10 boxes. So there's a hundred bucks. So

156
00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:39,160
you're at 140. You got to reprice your tool. I mean, that'll run you 15 bucks. Okay. We're at 165.

157
00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:44,360
If you have, I don't know, we'll go with the fancy, easy, cool UI one of inventory lab. That's

158
00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:50,760
another 70. So we're at 200 something dollars operational cost. We haven't even factored in

159
00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:56,440
your cost of goods. Let's say another hundred. Okay. Cost you about three, 400 bucks to run a

160
00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:01,800
Amazon operation. You got your labels, you got your packaging supplies. So let's just call it 350,

161
00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:09,640
350 to play Amazon on a casual basis. I mean, I think that's another thing that kind of scares

162
00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:16,680
people off. In addition to Amazon fees is the overhead costs of software, but there are cheaper

163
00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:22,840
options when it comes to software. So like, people, people always run to the newest, shiniest,

164
00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:26,840
most expensive one. I'm the opposite dude. I'd rather have the stuff that I know works. The

165
00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:32,360
programs have been around forever. They're clean cut and you know, yeah, sure. Like you're talking

166
00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:36,280
about inventory labs. Yeah. It's the best one out there, but I'm too cheap for it. I step in my

167
00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:41,960
plane, Jane, you know, windows 97 listing software. It works, but when it comes back to like,

168
00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:47,160
here over at Johnny B land, we'd like to fly first class and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, like the,

169
00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:52,040
the fees. So when you scan something, I think this was one thing that people kind of get lost

170
00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:57,480
when they're so scared to start Amazon because of the fees, everything that we do, especially in

171
00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:03,720
media and arguably anything, all you need is the Amazon seller app on your phone. And when you scan

172
00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:07,560
that item, it's going to tell you exactly what you're going to make. You can put in your buy

173
00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:12,600
calls right through the seller app and you'll see how much you would make if you sold it at that

174
00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:17,800
price after all fees. So my argument is when people get caught up about feeds, and so I would

175
00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:24,360
try to get eBay people to try Amazon is you have all of the data right in front of you. Yes. Items

176
00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:30,120
are going to tank. Yes. You're not going to win every single one, but eight out of 10 times,

177
00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:34,520
you're going to win. And that's how you, that's how you win an Amazon. So I don't want people,

178
00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:39,400
you know, it's tough for me because a lot of my people on YouTube and listening to this,

179
00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:44,600
they're heavily into eBay and it's like, uh, it's like pulling teeth to get an eBay person to try

180
00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:50,600
Amazon. And usually the ones that do, and they actually like give it a real shot. They're like,

181
00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:57,480
Whoa, this is crazy. Right? Like the, do you think the fees on Amazon are justified not only

182
00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:03,400
by sell through, but are you fine with paying the higher fees because the ease of listing

183
00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:09,560
and sending your stuff to Amazon is worth the time you save? Like it, does that just,

184
00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:17,960
is that some justification for higher fees? Um, I would say my input output ratio justifies

185
00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:23,560
that. Absolutely. Now, as far as you saying time saved, I just see, Oh, I can, I, again,

186
00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:28,760
with cashflow from Amazon, that gives me more opportunity to spend more time elsewhere in other

187
00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:33,880
avenues of my business or improve the Amazon business. Again, like doing stuff like OA or,

188
00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:38,840
Hey, we're going to save up for that. I don't know, bookstore closeout, and we're going to buy it all

189
00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:45,160
on pennies on the dollar, but you need a, need a little bit of change to even play that. And to me

190
00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:50,760
that I don't really see time saved. I see time more reinvested, if that makes sense to other

191
00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:56,040
finer aspects of business, because we're all business owners. Now, if speaking to the person

192
00:13:56,040 --> 00:14:01,000
who's just doing this on a hobby level or part-time level, or may not have such aspirations,

193
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,840
that's fine. If you're just looking for a steady paycheck and nothing wrong with that by any means,

194
00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,360
you're going to save so much time. You can go home to the kids every night. If you want,

195
00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:14,440
you just did a box a day. Come on a box a day, 30, 40 books. You could do that a day, honestly,

196
00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:20,600
or even if you want weekends off, okay. Do two boxes, two days a week, do one box, three days

197
00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:26,600
a week. There's your seven boxes a week. You will be fine. I promise you. I will say this. It's,

198
00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:33,560
when it comes to like, you know, hobbyist, I don't think you can be a hobbyist seller on Amazon.

199
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:39,720
Just the way, you know, they're taking the buy box from people. It takes a while to get the buy box

200
00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:44,120
if you're not sending a lot of inventory in. I don't think you can be that hobbyist seller

201
00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:48,520
that just comes on and sends one box a month because you're going to need a professional

202
00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:54,040
account to even be buy box eligible until you have the buy box. You're not getting 90% of the sales.

203
00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:58,520
I think the people that win in Amazon are part-timers that treat it like a business.

204
00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:03,560
And kind of like Johnny said, said, okay, I have two days a week. Here's exactly what I'm going to

205
00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:08,760
do. I'm going to get in one box every week, one box every two weeks. I don't think you can play

206
00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:13,880
the game of just falling away for kind of like how I do with eBay, right? I'll list, you know,

207
00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:19,640
10 days every three months, and I can come back and I can just get back into the swing of things,

208
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:25,480
start listing again. Amazon, I think now punishes sellers for that by taking the buy box away if

209
00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:30,280
you had it, or if you don't have it and you're not sending in inventory constantly, you're never

210
00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:34,840
going to get the buy box. And without that, your Amazon business is basically dead, honestly.

211
00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:42,840
That is a very fair point. And my logic was, I don't know, a guy goes to an estate sale,

212
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:47,880
buys the whole bookcase once a month, and then processes that. When he's done, he's done and

213
00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:53,640
does it again the next month. But your buy box point puts my whole idea to shame. It doesn't

214
00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:59,320
work. You're right. I mean, you would, like, I would almost say if you're that person that goes

215
00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:03,000
towards it once a month and wants to have an Amazon business, you know, if you're scooping up

216
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:08,840
500 books, I'd probably do one box every single week, just to keep the flow going to Amazon so

217
00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,280
they see on your account you're actually sending. So I mean, there are things you can do, but I

218
00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:17,240
don't think you can kind of just show up and sell on Amazon for a month, go away for the next season,

219
00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:22,200
come back and, you know, expect things to kind of be the same. I don't think that works on Amazon.

220
00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:26,200
And just so you're talking about with the fees, right, because you're going to need the professional

221
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:31,720
kit. What does 40 bucks a month get you on eBay as like a store, like say I want to get a store on

222
00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,240
eBay and I got 40 bucks, you know, off the top of your head what that what that'll get you?

223
00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:39,960
It's the store above mine because mine costs 50 at the premium, whatever that store is.

224
00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:46,280
You couldn't go to anchor with that because that's 200 bucks. I don't even remember what the store,

225
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:52,440
below mine is, eBay stores. I got the cheap store. I got the $5 store.

226
00:16:54,600 --> 00:17:02,120
Yes, I think it's the $25 one. Let's see here, subscriptions and fees. There we go.

227
00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:11,000
$21.95 a month is what you'd be able to do. It's called a basic store, gets you a thousand a month

228
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:20,280
of free fixed price listings, 25 cent insertions, 250 free auctions a month and 25 cents insertions

229
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:30,520
above that. Mine is 10,000 a month and 500 month free auctions and 15 cent insertion fees. So for

230
00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:36,280
about double the money, I get a nickel cheaper on extra insertions and 10 times the amount of

231
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:42,040
free fixed price listings. So yeah, I mean, that's kind of the comparison when you look at the,

232
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:47,800
there's always going to be costs with everything too. And you jump into this one, you know, if

233
00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:52,280
anybody selling on Amazon got the email last week about their fee increases, but they also did

234
00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:57,880
decrease some things. I try not to, you know, the fees are always going to go up. Everything's going

235
00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:02,280
up. I know this is like being a dead horse. Everything's going up. The price of eggs is

236
00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:09,480
the price of eggs is $30 a dozen and a gallon of gases, you know, it's, but I think with platforms,

237
00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:14,200
even, you know, the ones that haven't announced fee increases, you can expect it. I think it's

238
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,960
almost like a line item every year you have in your budget that, all right, well, I'm expecting

239
00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:25,800
Amazon fees to go up 2% next year, eBay fees to go up 2%, whatever it is, however they bake it into

240
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:32,440
it. And the Amazon one was a low inventory fee where you have to pay a certain amount based on

241
00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:37,960
how quick the item sells. If you don't carry enough inventory, well, most resellers don't carry enough

242
00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:43,080
inventory to avoid this fee. So you're basically tacking on anywhere between 90 and like,

243
00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:48,840
basically between a dollar and a quarter per item you sell. And a lot of people are just like,

244
00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:54,360
so bent out of shape about it. I think that myself, yet again, with Amazon, when you're

245
00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:58,840
sourcing an item, you can see exactly how much you're going to make, right? Whether that's

246
00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:06,200
using the seller app, seller and scoutly, scout IQ, you see all the data it's presented to you

247
00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:12,760
before you even ship the item. I can't do that on eBay. I mean, I got an eyeball and look at sales

248
00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:18,440
and I can look at Terapeak, sure, but I don't have a streamlined piece of software like Scout IQ that

249
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:24,600
just does all that for me. I got to do all the mental math myself and then make a judgment call.

250
00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:30,760
I got a tough question for you here just to kind of justify Amazon fees over other platforms. How

251
00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:37,480
many items could you list on Amazon in an hour versus eBay in an hour, you think? Because you

252
00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:43,560
do some of the best listings out there on eBay. So if you had to just put it, you don't got to be

253
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:49,080
exact, but how many listings on eBay in an hour? How many listings on Amazon? Are we talking like

254
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:56,840
packing a box or doing merchant or what on Amazon? Pack in a box. I want to do FBA because that's

255
00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:05,640
where the fees are. Fees are all FBA. Hour, we could do about 40, depending on what we're putting in

256
00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:10,520
there. Let's just say average size books. So you could do about 40 books in a box in an hour,

257
00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:20,360
pack it, do all the labeling and all that. On eBay, for me, it'd be about 12. So almost quadruple.

258
00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:28,520
Do you think that would, in your mind, you think that justifies you willing to pay more and fees?

259
00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:34,280
Yeah. 100%. There's no question there. Four times the amount of stuff in the same amount of time,

260
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:39,320
profit per hour. And that's not even, and we're not even factoring in the time you have to

261
00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:44,280
put that eBay book on the shelf, deal with the customer service for that eBay book,

262
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:50,040
and then pack and ship that eBay book on itself. Well, kind of. I mean, you still got to drive,

263
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:56,120
unless you're having a UPS pick up your boxes, you still got to drop off your box somewhere.

264
00:20:56,120 --> 00:21:05,560
That's true. But I would say even on that, Amazon wins because you got to pack all the individual

265
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:11,080
items. And Amazon, it's one item, one box. Well, lots of items in one box.

266
00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:16,040
All right. So enough of me defending Amazon with their high fees. I do think

267
00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:23,080
every year the margins are going to get thinner. How you combat your margins going down is you find

268
00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:30,040
better items. The fees, I agree, they're super high compared to any other platform. As much as I sit

269
00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:36,200
here and try to justify it because, you know, he sells on Amazon, of course, he's going to say the

270
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:43,480
fees are worth it. I just understand the time value, how much my time's worth. But I will say

271
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,840
this, you know, the fees going up every year, it's frustrating. I ain't going to lie. But I mean,

272
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:52,360
Deb said it the other day, because I put out the YouTube video talking about the fees,

273
00:21:52,360 --> 00:21:57,080
you can't control what the platforms do. If you don't like what the platform does, then

274
00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:02,600
you can go somewhere else. And she's 100% correct. If you don't like it, then start a Shopify,

275
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:07,720
selling a different site that's got less fees. But just be prepared that any platform you are

276
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:13,880
a part of, they always control the fees on their platform. And I mean, I don't even know if the

277
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:19,960
fees have ever gone down on any platform in the history of reselling. So the fees are, yeah,

278
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:25,400
they're, you know, it's a lot. You sell a book for 10 bucks on Amazon. You're lucky if you make a

279
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:29,720
dollar after fees, that's not including your buy costs. Well, you sell a $10 book on eBay,

280
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:34,520
at least you put, you know, two, three, four bucks in your pocket. So yeah, you know, the fees are

281
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:40,280
a lot higher on Amazon. And it does get frustrating every year when you get nickel and dime. And I

282
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:44,520
kind of, you know, think about it this way. Everywhere you go now, Johnny, they want a tip.

283
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:50,760
You can go order takeout, you know, you just go in and pick up your pizza. They want a tip, right.

284
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:56,520
So I think it's like, kind of translate that into the reselling world every year. They want

285
00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:00,040
a little bit more, you know, they want that 60 cents. Hey, Johnny, you want to round up that

286
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:05,400
sale on Amazon and donate the proceeds? You know, I think that's kind of what I equate it to. And

287
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:09,240
it's frustrating for me, right. Because everywhere you go now, they want to, oh, you donate to this,

288
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,920
donate to that, donate to this tip here, tip there, tip here, tip there. It's like,

289
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,840
and if, and the platforms are just the same way, and Amazon does it a little bit

290
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:21,800
more sneakily, right, because they have all these line fees. It's not just, hey, we're raising the

291
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:28,120
final value fee, or the promoted listing. So like, well, we're going to tweak the square root of pi

292
00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:33,160
fee, and then we're going to tweak the per per agri and theorem fee. And then, you know, like,

293
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:38,840
it's stuff that it's like, what the heck is going on? And I think they make it complicated on purpose.

294
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:44,040
So like the average person doesn't really understand what's actually going on in the fee

295
00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:49,960
structure. Like, you got to sit down for a full day, and have a notepad and click through all the

296
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:55,080
links on the email that actually understand what's going on versus other platform. It's like, hey,

297
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,080
final value fees going up a half percent, or this is going up 1%. And you're like, okay.

298
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:05,320
So let's just do some quick math of what I said. So 12 books on eBay. Okay. Let's say they're all

299
00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:13,240
$30 books. Okay, so that's $360. Wait, fees divide by half. All right, 180 bucks. Same thing with

300
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:27,320
Amazon here. So we said about 40 books, 40 times $30, divided by, so $1,200 divided by two is $600.

301
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:37,240
$180 opposed to $600. Six times amount of money, but the same amount of time worked. There's where

302
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,720
it works out. But Johnny, you're the eBay guy. You do eBay. Yes, I do. Because some things

303
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:51,720
only fit on eBay that will not fit on Amazon. So I allocate time to do eBay as well. But if you were

304
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:59,000
just to do Amazon, okay, $600 an hour. How many hours can you work? I mean, but you got to have

305
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:03,320
the material. It doesn't count for the going out and sourcing and getting it and finding it and

306
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,640
scanning it, bringing it back, prepping it, highlighting, underlining, stickering if you're

307
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:12,360
into stickering or heat gunning if you're into heat gunning, then you get to do your box per hour

308
00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:18,920
kind of deal. I think about it this way. If I spent the same amount of time on an eBay business

309
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:26,360
that I do on my Amazon business, I probably wouldn't make 25% of what I do. That's just the

310
00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:32,680
reality of it. There's a lot more, right? The photos. You never got to take a photo with Amazon,

311
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:39,400
right? If I went to any eBay seller right now and said, how much of your profit are you willing to

312
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:44,680
give up to never take another product photo again? What do you think the range would be? I think some

313
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:50,200
people would go up to a third. I think people will give up a third of their profit to never take a

314
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:54,760
photo again as an eBay seller. That's about right. I agree with that. Yeah. I mean,

315
00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:01,880
here's the thing though. People are afraid of change. You got the old timers that have done

316
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:07,720
eBay since the dawn of time. I've been selling on eBay for 40 years. Yeah. You've got the same

317
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:12,600
stuff you listed 40 years ago in your store. That's exactly right. They were sold it.

318
00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:18,680
I thought it would sell. There was a sale on there, proven sale, so I can sell it, right?

319
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,920
That doesn't mean it's true. It's never going to sell, so you got to burn that item somehow someway.

320
00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:32,200
Anyway, if you had a person do eBay for one year and then have them do Amazon for one year,

321
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:37,560
give it a fair shot for two years on both platforms. Kind of like what I've done, honestly.

322
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:45,320
Amazon just wins as far as the money goes. Now, after you've done this intensive experiment,

323
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:50,600
two years is a long time, you'll find that some things just fit on eBay better than they will

324
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:56,280
ever fit on Amazon. Amazon may even want that particular product. I got a lot of foreign stuff

325
00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,920
and foreign language things that there's not even a product listing for. Where does it go? Do I throw

326
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:06,840
it away? Do I pump more time into Amazon if I do throw it away? You could do that. Or if you're

327
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:12,120
like me, I've just, well, that's an eBay only item. It goes to eBay. I can make some money on it.

328
00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:17,880
Now, should I allocate my whole business toward eBay and just focus on those things? That's really

329
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:23,160
a judgment call, to be honest. You can make money on eBay. You can make money on Amazon.

330
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:29,480
But if you're time-conscious and want flexibility with your life, Amazon wins. If you want rigid

331
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:35,400
scheduling and you're going to work really hard, you're going to earn, literally earn, every dollar

332
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:40,120
that comes in, eBay is your game. Now, if you choose to do both, I think that's the sweet spot,

333
00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:45,160
honestly. But again, it's a lot of time. I don't want to earn none of my money,

334
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:52,120
Johnny, on eBay. But I do think, I said earlier in this podcast, I keep a little five-dollar

335
00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:57,080
mud hut store that's somewhere down the road. Every once in a while, somebody will stop and buy

336
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:02,520
something, but I have no expectations. But there are things, right? Signed books, we all know you

337
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:07,880
can't get any kind of extra price on Amazon. Book sets, things like that. Some of those go a lot

338
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:14,280
better on eBay, depending on the topic and the set. Or Japanese wrestling magazines. I'm still

339
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:19,720
selling those things like candy. Amazon has very little of them and nor will take a listing from me.

340
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:26,520
Antique books, pre-ISBM books. I mean, you got to be knee-deep in eBay. And I think it all boils down

341
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:33,240
to, don't let the large, it's like sticker shock. Don't let the sticker shock of the fees scare you

342
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:38,600
away. Because if I told you, if you pay double the fees and you're going to make six times the money,

343
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:43,720
I mean, you'd be stupid not to do it. And I think when you really start analyzing

344
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:50,440
the items you're sending and you understand the fees of the Amazon platform, you quickly realize,

345
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:55,960
okay, I'm not losing money, right? Everything we send in, it's nowhere close to breakeven.

346
00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:01,320
We have wiggle room for it to go down in price and we have all of the data in front of us.

347
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:07,080
We know the exact sell through, how many times an item sells in a six month period. On eBay, sure,

348
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:10,520
you can go look at the comps, but then you're going to have to pull out your calculator and

349
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:15,480
do how many sold versus how many listed. And why did these sell and other ones didn't sell?

350
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:20,440
Best offers taken, how much did it really sell for? But think of the fees, honestly, at the end

351
00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:25,240
of the day, as much as I don't want to sound like an Amazon homer, I work 20 hours a week,

352
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:30,200
maybe on Amazon and I make a full-time income doing this. If I did 20 hours a week on eBay,

353
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:35,080
I'd be back at CVS working again. That's just the reality of it. Because the time

354
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:42,760
I can spend in my Amazon business, sourcing, prepping, packing is astronomical. Especially

355
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:47,960
for me, who's somebody who sucks at eBay, right? I list everything through my phone. I do the

356
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:55,480
photos. You got to store the items and you got to go get... For me, my speed when it comes to Amazon,

357
00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:01,960
if I'm looking at an hourly rate, I'd probably be the same as you around, maybe I'd probably do a

358
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:06,280
little bit more listings than you because mine's are, they're half-assed listings. I'm not filling

359
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:12,520
everything out, right? Get more listings up an hour than I can. Maybe I'm at like 20, 25 listings

360
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:19,880
an hour on eBay. But if I sat down and did boxes for Amazon, I'm probably getting out three boxes.

361
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:27,080
And regardless of how many items are in that box, I probably say I'm doing close to 200 items per

362
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:32,760
hour on Amazon. And that's literally just Bluetooth scanner, listing software, boom, boom, boom, boom,

363
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,680
boom. Because all you're doing is slapping a sticker on it, throwing it in the box. That's it.

364
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:44,040
It's crazy to me how much more productivity I can have just because of the tools the platform has.

365
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,840
Now, maybe down the road, eBay has some kind of listing software. And there are services out there

366
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:52,920
now. I see that. Yeah, there's cross-listing things where you can hit them all. Sure. Yeah. I still

367
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:59,160
think the cross-listing thing compared to just Amazon overall, I still think it's a lose-lose.

368
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:05,000
I would take Amazon. If I had to choose Amazon or every other reselling platform, dude, I'm not even

369
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,400
thinking twice. I'm going straight to the Amazon line every single time. Now, this may change if

370
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:14,760
we have the same conversation next year, two years from now. Things are always changing. But today,

371
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:22,200
dude, I'm running away from every other reselling platform right to the Amazon line,

372
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:29,800
regardless of the fees. Fees could have went up 10% this year. And I could care less. I know

373
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:34,280
that's where the items are going to sell. The most eyes on media items are going to be on Amazon.

374
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:40,600
Sure, eBay has its things for collectibles. But the overall 98% of the media, you're going to get

375
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:44,680
a higher bang for your buck. So that would be another justification that comes to fees is,

376
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:51,160
yeah, you pay more in fees, but you also can command a higher price on Amazon compared to eBay.

377
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:55,880
Look how many people have these businesses where they source stuff from eBay to sell on Amazon,

378
00:31:55,880 --> 00:32:01,320
and they still make 20% profit margins. And they're paying full price, somebody that's

379
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:05,080
selling it on eBay at full price, and they're still selling it on Amazon and still making a

380
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:15,240
whole bunch of money. Yeah. I mean, so let's see here. I welcome fees, honestly, because here's

381
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:19,720
what happens. I have less competition because of fees now, because people aren't going to do it,

382
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:25,400
or the people that are doing it, some of them are going to bow out. And the people that are remaining,

383
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:29,720
now they're going to make the money that those other people are going to bring in. Now you're

384
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:36,200
going to make that and probably more because we don't have to play as stringent a race to the

385
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:41,640
bottom game. That's how I like to look at it. I'm like, all right, fees. Well, how many people that

386
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:46,360
I was selling against are going to get knocked off so I can command more of a premium dollar.

387
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:50,360
I'll take fees all day every day because I'm going to continue to do this. I'm just going to

388
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:57,320
change the way I do things because of fees. Margin's need to go up. Great. What I mean by that is,

389
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:03,240
okay, I was doing $5 send in, now I'm profit. Now I'm going to do $10 send in because of all the

390
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:09,720
fee changes. Okay, I've adjusted. I'm still playing Amazon or I'm still playing eBay. Fees are great.

391
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:14,520
Love them. Oh my God. You're going to get quoted on this and that's going to be the end of you.

392
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:21,400
I hope so. I hope all the flames and where I can buy a Gaylord come to you. Oh my God. I'll be in

393
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:27,480
the comments section. This guy said he loves fees. He's an idiot. He don't know what he's doing. Yeah,

394
00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:32,840
I can hear it now. But I think I'm going to wrap it up here with my final Jerry Springer style

395
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:39,720
thought on Amazon fees is they seem high from the outside. If you walk up to the store and it says,

396
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:44,440
everything's marked up 50%, you're probably not going in. But those that go in, all of a sudden

397
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:50,440
they realize even though you're losing that 50%, in theory, you're making more money. This is crazy.

398
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:55,160
I know it's like, boom, like your head's exploded right now. I'm telling you the fees are,

399
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:59,400
are two or three X on other platforms, but you're still going to make more money because you can

400
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:04,760
command a higher price. Think about it that way. Don't be scared to start Amazon because the fees,

401
00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:08,680
yes, they're high, but we understand what we're looking at when we're outsourcing. We know exactly

402
00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:12,760
what the fees are, how much we're going to pay, how much we expect to pay. And you just figure it

403
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:16,840
out from there. So as always, we appreciate you watching or listening out there and we'll talk to

404
00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:22,360
you in next week's episode. Thanks for listening to another episode of the resellers mindset podcast.

405
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:27,320
Today's full episode and all previous episodes are available to all YouTube members, along with

406
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:32,920
the weekly zoom call and private discord. Head on over to youtube.com backslash to use book guy and

407
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:46,760
consider joining for as little as 2 99 a month.