Welcome back to another episode of the Reseller's
Mindset Podcast. My name is Mike, also known
as the Used Book Guy on YouTube, along with my
friend and fellow full -time reseller, Johnny
B. We help people start and grow their reselling
businesses from the ground up. We also have a
weekly Zoom call and private Discord for all
YouTube members. Head on over to youtube .com
backslash usebookguy to join the channel and
gain access to the full -length podcast, Zoom
call, and private Discord today. Let's get into
this week's episode. What is up, everybody? Welcome
to another episode of Reseller's Mindset Podcast.
Mike, next to this guy, Johnny, as always. Why
do... public or the majority of public hate resellers
is the topic and i'm going to start off because
i recently have had a real in -life irl experience
that can pertain to this topic today that's why
it was on my head so yesterday did you get egged
no i went to a book sale right so i go to a book
sale and gotta wait in line you gotta get there
a little bit ahead of time to get your spot in
line and uh first people first group of people
in line They go to all the book sales, right?
It's like 10 of them. Second people in line were
a bookstore owner, a bookstore in my area, their
owner. I'm third, I'm tied for third with some
old guy we met, like we were walking up like
next to each other and we were joking with each
other like, oh, maybe we should run to get ahead
of the other. So I was tied for third in line,
right? So the way this kind of panned out was.
The first group goes to all the book sales. There's
10 of them. They're completely rude. They're
completely ignorant. They throw their boxes all
over the floors. They got their bags all over
the floors. The sales up on their phone to 10
,000. So believe it or not, the second person,
the store owner in line owns a bookstore and
just got to talking. And they're like, yeah,
we don't allow scanners in our bookstore. oh
my god right you're just like sorry well listen
i'm a scanner so i don't care i'll have a conversation
i'll strike up a conversation with anybody i'm
like all right fill me in here like a democrat
and republican get together like fill me in here
right like i scan like you mean i can't come
in your store and scan and the answer was well
most people that come in and scan leave the place
a mess true and they had real life experiences
in the store where people groups of people would
come in and scan like the people that were first
in line at this book sale i don't give a shit
if they're listening to this because they have
no common courtesy or decency um and they're
at all the book sales i've gone to this year
so far they're there and i don't there's no other
way to describe it besides just idiot idiocracy
at its finest like there's no common courtesy
there's no self -respect or respect for others
around you. And I 100 % get why people don't
like resellers. And this is just in the book
space. We're not talking, listen, go to a Goodwill
Benz. You want to see chaos? You want to see
people fighting over the dumbest, nastiest stuff
out there? Resellers are it. Like that, I 100%,
and we're not even, we haven't even gotten into
the idea of scalping and overcharging for items
that you can't get in other places. I'm talking
about the, Common core decencies of being a human
being. Where in the world have we gone wrong
as resellers that we no longer can treat others
with respect or the items we're trying to look
through with respect? We just don't care because
this is the last sale on the planet earth. And
if we don't get what we can get here, we're going
to be living under the underpass. So I hate to
break it to you. Most people that act like this
make no type of damn money, right? Then you're
not making no money. So from my bookstore days,
I had a family of three. Actually, it was more
than three at times. She would bring in for fun
to my bookstore family members and they would
shop. However, after the third time of this family,
I had to have words with them. Like, I love you
guys buying boxes. I would love for you to come
every day. I love it. But the mess you leave
afterwards is like a hurricane. And it takes
me about an hour to fix because you go to every
single bookshelf. And you pull out and you reverse
books and you leave them on the floor, this,
that, and the other. You're already getting a
good deal. And I love you guys for buying books.
But if you could just put them back the way you
found them after you're done, I would appreciate
and save me more time. And hell, I'll even give
you a little bit of a discount, more so than
I've already been giving you. Please and thank
you. Because they would. They would come in,
three or four of them at a time. Her aunt would
come in. Her cousin would come in. They'd come
to my store for fun. They'd do this every Saturday.
But after the third time of me fixing their little
mess, I had it. If they were doing it again,
I would say, you're banned from my store. It's
not worth the $20 you spent. You're just banned.
Go away. Never come back again. So I get how
that bookstore woman feels. I really do. Because
it is exasperating. making your bookstore nice
and tidy, and then having a hurricane person
come in. Now, my children's area, I planned on
this. That could be a mess all day. It was supposed
to look like a mess. It didn't matter what the
kids did to it because they're kids, right? They're
going to make a mess no matter what. So that
was fine. But outside of that, the rest of my
bookstore, everything was nice and neat. Everything
was aligned. And it was, I could see their point
about scanners, but that goes beyond scanners.
That's just humans. Yeah, I mean, think about
all the, I'm in thrift stores. four or five days
a week and you can tell these yeah the employees
don't put things out nicely but how many of this
stuff is just flipped upside down the barcodes
are showing doesn't matter whether it's books
board games there's stuff everywhere board games
are open it's it is complete chaos and it's tough
because i i treat people and things the way i
would like to be treated and i know that's not
a character trait and a lot of people maybe i
was just raised differently and i kind of like
it's funny i said to the the lady i said you
know well i'm trying to make scanners great again
right like i want i want us to be seen in a different
light um msga because it is a you know it's a
negative connotation because johnny if i walk
into that place right and i'm gonna leave everything
my my thing is i'll leave it nicer than when
i came in And I go in and I'm just like, hey,
I'm here scanning. And I get thrown out because
some other idiotic resellers just come in and
destroy the place. They're all the same. They're
all the same. All these scanners are the same.
I'm changing categories. What category has the
nicest, cleanest, respectable resellers? That's
the category I'm in. Because they're heavy. You're
not going to move it. Yeah, Jameson, I'm going
to be reaching out so I can start flipping furniture
from the curb. Dude, it pisses me off. You know,
I'm angry for the libraries and the thrift stores
because they have to deal with, like you said,
cleaning up the mess. Yeah. And we shouldn't
treat things that way. And I'd be pissed off
too. I'd be like, get out of here. It's the same
to me as you taking your candy wrappers to the
movie theater and on the floor. What's up, Amazon
tellers? We wanted to take a second to talk about
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to list and manage our inventory and grow our
businesses. With the fastest listing speeds out
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.com backslash Mike or using the link in the
description below. chewing the seeds and just
i paid to be able to drop it on the floor you
did did you really now there's a trash can right
outside could you not do the decency and just
carry it with you and throw it away on your way
out yeah asshole oh man and then then we get
into the the conversation of every holiday season
there's these hot toys right and or there's this
hot concert ticket right and everybody wants
it and what happens here the scalpers right us
resellers We got the automated bots. So like
once they're in stock, they're bought by somebody
who's going to sell them for five X, you know,
the price of what they are. And I mean, that's
just supply and demand, but that would piss me
off. Like I think about things like if I really
wanted something and it was coming out and I
couldn't get it because Johnny bought. a thousand
of them, the second they went live, because that's
what the automated bots do. You literally have
your credit card information. It buys all of
them once they're available. You don't have to
do anything. Then there's no shopper, normal
person like me to ever get ahold of one of these
things. So I would be pissed off, right? Especially
if I had a kid and they really wanted this toy
and it's a hot toy. And unfortunately, like that's
kind of become the reality of these hot items
every season is it's all bought by resellers
and sold at a crazy markup. But people pay the
crazy markup. So the resellers are always going
to continue to do this. But I agree. I mean,
that's a frustrating part of it. Now, here's
where we get into this gray area and an ethical
area, like during the chlorine and the COVID
times, people are buying the sanitizers and the
mask and doing the huge markup like you're talking
about. They are doing the act of reselling, but
should they? It's supply and demand, but it's
also like shady tactics to get your hands on
the stuff to begin with, right? So it's like,
well, Johnny will tell me, well, Mike, they're
willing to pay $3 ,000 for the PlayStation 6
and I can get them endlessly at $500. Like, why
am I doing something wrong if somebody's willing
to pay this price? And you're right. It's like,
it's not 100 % like out of bounds because at
the end of the day. country runs on a free market.
Yeah. If somebody wants to pay whatever the price
is, then so be it. But the general public in
the most case can't pay that price. So they feel
like they're getting short change, which in turn
makes all of us scumbags. And at the end of the
day, I mean, I can't really, I can say what I
do in my business practices, right? Like I, I
told the bookstore owner, like, Hey, you know,
not all of us are like that. Unfortunately, what's
the saying? Like a few bad apples spoil the bunch.
I think, in reselling it's more than a few because
i've seen them in all walks of life in all thrift
stores um it just it gives everybody a bad name
i try not to ever be that person and i try to
treat others and the stores i'm in as if it were
my own right like if i had this store and i was
you know doing the books like i would want it
to look a certain way i can't tell you how many
times i go in the store and for her i didn't
alphabetize or categorize my thing mine was by
type for her her hour of labor would have been
two yes every one of mine yeah so i her her gripe
is legit it is i mean and most gripes are legit
because it's just uh spending an extra second
i think dude we reset this stuff is everywhere
so why do we have to go in and just be like the
tasmanian devil dude like everything is just
chaos i go into these i mean we say in and out
but there's in and out tasmanian devil then there's
in and out decent human being Yeah, I mean, if
you're watching on YouTube, some of the shelves
look like the book piles that are behind me.
There's books all over the place. And you know,
when they put them out, Johnny, they were stacked,
at least standing up with the spine showing out.
So you can tell instantly whether some scumbag
reseller has been in there already because you're
like, well, here we go. Look at the look at the
shelf. You can see for sure, especially for some
reason, booksellers are some of the slobbiest
sourcers out there. And slobbiest is not even
a word, but I just made it up. yeah i mean there's
an unwritten etiquette you should do for for
you as a business owner and as a reseller and
the decency to put stuff at least back on the
same shelf and at least mostly in the same way
you found it because you're you would have maybe
taken some stuff from the shelf so it's not going
to look exactly the same um but you got to think
about the $10 hour employee back there or the
store owner themselves. They're a business owner
too. So would you do this to another business
owner? Apparently some of you do, but let's not
step on the business owners or the poor little
$10 employee an hour person. They don't need
to be stepped on. They work really hard as well.
And as do you. So let's just show them the common
decency of treat others how you would like to
be treated. Really? It's never going to happen,
man. And I'm a firm believer in karma. What goes
around comes around. But I think just the category
of reselling overall, I mean, it's rough out
there in the streets. It is rough in the streets.
It's rough in the streets. It's tough in the
streets. I mean, we're clawing and scratching
to make any type of money. But we just get this
endless rat race of we never have any money.
even though we have the highest ROI of any business
model in the history of the universe. And we
can't take two seconds to just treat things,
treat ourselves, treat other people with the
respect. And if you don't believe me, go to your
next local library sale. Now, I don't care if
you don't even sell books, go to your next local
library sale. You get there, I'll say, get there
15 minutes ahead of time, all right? So you're
not there super early, you're not there super
late. And watch the chaos in Zoom that comes
with these crazy, stupid booksellers that probably
aren't making any real money. Because I'll tell
you right now, if you got 10 people in there
scanning with you and their family and friends,
you are not making 10 times the income that you
can afford to support 10 people. So I don't know,
man. I hate it. I really hate it. I got one for
you. So it's the same library sale I'm going
to in a couple weeks because they're doing their
once every six months sale. But I forget which
one it was, but I think it was the second time
I went to this one. And I'm very friendly with
the librarians. One of their patrons, we'll call
them that, was complaining about me because I
was scanning books. And they're like, we don't
care. And he was like, what do you mean you don't
care? He's scanning books. And he's taking all
the books from us readers. look at the amount
of books in your hand. Look at the amount of
books in his cart. I was so proud of the little
librarians defending me. She told me this afterwards
and is like, he spends more money than all of
you others combined. And our goal is to raise
money for the sale. If you were to buy more,
maybe we'd be more concerned. I was like, damn,
wow. That's better than I could have put it.
But see the difference here, Johnny, is if that
person would have came up to you. and said, hey,
what are you doing? You're going to have an open
conversation, right? The kind of people we're
talking about, they don't talk to nobody else.
They just accept the fact, hey, I'm just an ignorant
person and everybody with me is ignorant. So
we don't care. Don't talk to us. Don't bother
us. We're here to get our stuff and get out and
leave everything a mess. Like that's just the
facts of it. These people don't, they're not
even willing to have open dialogue about what
they do because at the end of the day, they are
embarrassed about themselves, their shitty business
model and their shitty. human etiquette model,
because it all sucks. When you act like that,
you're going to, it's going to come back to you
one way or another. And it's not just that aspect
of your life. It's not like when I go out reselling,
I'm just a total D bag. And then I come home
and I'm just this bubbly, lovely guy that does
YouTube and podcasts, right? No, that is an actual
reflection of everything you do every single
day. You're a scumbag throughout every, I don't
even care, dude. I'm going off the deep end here
because I'm so frustrated, right? I don't know
why I chose to sell books and get involved with
this ragtag group of people who don't treat things
properly when all you have to do is stack the
damn book back on top. Funny part is, we go into
the book sale. It's down in the basement. They
all run down, 30 boxes all over the place. And
I go, I scan my stuff. I go over and look at
the shelves. Ah, yeah, dude. I mean, you couldn't.
If you were a betting man, you bet your whole
life savings that these shelves were an absolute
mess. that quick probably within 15 minutes of
the hours set it up and within two minutes destroyed
every single person that now lives in the neighborhood
the library that goes to the library on a weekly
monthly basis with their kids decides hey it's
our local library sale let's go support our local
library they go in they're not getting there
when it opens to get there sometime later in
the day the place is a mess well of course everybody
hates us I mean, come on. I would hate us too.
And I think the general public perception of
us is every 80s movie, guy in a trench coat in
an alley, hey, you want to buy some watches?
Or the guy in prison, I got what you need. You
just need to ask. I think that's how they view
us. There's these shady, slimy greaseball in
an alley or in the prison kind of people. And
to be fair, that's all they've been exposed to.
Thanks, 80s movies. You've ruined it for all
of us. But I do. I think they think of us as
slimy or these creatures that are nefarious or
not as bad as like a mafia type people, but just
untrustworthy people. We come off as untrustworthy.
And I don't know how to change their mind other
than lead by example. I do business with you.
I'm a trustworthy guy. I don't lie to you. That's
the other thing, lie. I don't want people to
lie, but they do. If you're trustworthy and you
lead by your actions and your word, because your
word should be your bond in this business, I
think you will slowly not change the world, but
at least change the people you associate with's
viewpoint of you and resellers as a whole. So
lead by example here. I agree. I think another
thing we run into as resellers is we'll go to
somebody's yard sale or garage sale and we're
always trying to haggle for something, even though
we can make our money. I'm not saying don't haggle.
I'm just saying you're looking stuff up on your
phone right in front of the person and they're
like, well, this person's reselling it. You don't
even have a conversation. You just literally,
I always think whenever anybody has asked me
exactly what I do and why I do it. If you give
them an honest answer, I straight up tell people,
this is what I do full time. This is literally
the income that supports me, my wife, and my
cats, right? Nobody's ever going to give me shit
after I say that. Because, hey, all right, this
dude, this is his business, right? That changes
the script as somebody like Johnny who rolls
up with his backwards cap on. He's got his volume
on 10 ,000. He's probably listening to some type
of, I don't know, Texas country line step song.
He's looking stuff up on eBay. And then he wants
to give you a dollar for your PlayStation 5 that
you got at the yard sale for $500. And then that
just sours them forever for resellers. Why would
I spend a dollar? I want it for 50 cents. See,
that's what I'm saying. sticking it under your
shirt to get it for nothing. I think we can do
better as an overall group of reselling, but
at the end of the day, we're never going to reach
the people that act this type of way. Those people
don't care. No, they're a lost cause. And unfortunately,
we get lumped in with them. And that's how people
will associate us until we ourselves prove otherwise
to them, the people that have had this exposure.
And is it fair? Absolutely not. We're not all
the same, but it's... You know how people analyze
a neighborhood and they say that's a bad neighborhood?
Is everyone in that bad neighborhood actually
bad? Absolutely not. There's great people there.
But the whole neighborhood is deemed as a bad
neighborhood by everybody else. It's exactly
what this is. It is. It's like that one gang
of 10 kids that just completely destroyed the
place, right? I will say this. On the flip side
of this is see it as an opportunity. Because
if you do things the right way, you treat people
with respect. opportunities will open, relationships
will happen that you otherwise never would have
had if you went in and you were just that person
that did not care. And I'll tell you right now,
I don't even care. Like I said, I don't care
if that group of people is listening to this
podcast. I was probably in there for 20 minutes
and I didn't go for things they went for. And
I guarantee I probably made enough profit to
cover five of those people. And I was in there
for 20 minutes versus probably the three hours
they were in there for. And I see it as a chance
to, Say, OK, I'm doing things the right way and
this is me. So maybe I open another door or the
person working a library sale says, hey, you
know, this guy actually is reasonable, right?
You know, he treats things with respect. He's
not trying to haggle me on anything. And you
could say the same for walking up to a garage
sale. Hey, good morning. You know, how's it going?
You buy a few things. You got any more of this
stuff, right? Like you kind of you have a chance
to open that extra door versus just being the
person that walks in is like, I'll give you three
dollars for this. And then you just take it and
go. You go and you have a little, hey, how's
it going? Chat it up, whatever it's about, small
talk. Then that kind of gives you a chance to
maybe they got more of this stuff inside the
house. If you just walk up to any garage sale
and say, hey, you got video games in the house?
They're going to tell you to beat it. You just
walked up and the first words out of your mouth
are that. Nothing works like that. Right. I'm
especially nice to librarians, I will say this,
because, God, those ladies work very hard and
they get very, very little. It is a labor of
love for those people. It is not the paycheck,
I promise you that. They love what they do, though.
But that notwithstanding, they tend to be older
and they're dealing in books. And books, if you
haven't guessed by now, are pretty heavy. So,
yeah, I'll help them with even when I'm doing
like a... backroom access or coming in after
the sale to clean them out, I'll help them out
a little bit, like clean up and stuff. And that
goes a long way. You know what I get out of this?
Cookies, man. Lots of cookies. I love cookies
and they love to bake and it's a good deal. And
if you love cookies too, you'll help out the
librarians. That's my story and I'm sticking
to it. I got a better story for you. If they
actually had the picture of the old lady that
owned the thrift store, these people wouldn't
care. These people we're talking about. They're
a lost cause. There's no saving. What is the
world coming to, Mike? Johnny, we can't save
them all. And that's a harsh reality when it
comes to reselling and trying to help people
and trying to be just a good human being in the
space, right? Like we can't, there's always going
to be bad apples. And unfortunately it only takes
one or two to spoil it for the bunch. In our
case, you can even go on like book sale finder.
Now it's like the big website shows you all those.
Some of these sales will have them big, bold
letters, no scanners allowed. Even if me and
Johnny show up and say, Hey, we are willing to,
we're going to scan and we're going to spend
$2 ,000. They, like Johnny said, they don't want
to deal with the potential chaos. that we are
going to leave behind because a few idiots came
along somewhere along the road and just completely
destroyed it for everybody see on those i go
in like terminator 2 and just scan with my eyes
like ebay ebay ebay ebay but anyway um i want
to talk about on this note the language we use
when we talk to people um i think just as important
as the visual and touching stuff how we engage
with librarians, store owners, even the store
workers goes a long way in our business. And
I've seen some people treat these people like
garbage in and out of reselling, just people
shopping in general. Why? Why? Most of the time,
95 % of the cases, that person's just doing their
job and you're coming over there with an attitude,
first of all, or you're mad about something you
didn't like. And you need to exasperate in loud
words and language to these people your concerns.
Why are we loud? First of all. And two, I think
it's because we're in a rush. And the only way
we feel we can get a point across quickly is
to be loud. And get our way. To me, that's the
same as a child throwing a tantrum and crossing
their arms and holding their breath until they
turn blue, right? I see this all the time. And
I kind of am guilty of this, like when I have
to call in customer service and complain. I'm
not in the best frame of mind when that person
finally answers after me spending 30 minutes
listening to the same repetitive music and our
robots. You're number 92 in line. I'm not in
a good place when, I don't know. Sally from Timbuktu
answers the phone. Hello, how can I help you?
You're going to help me right now because I want
to get my way and I need my money now. Everybody's
that way. It's even me. And I should take a pause.
Remember, this is another human being across
the phone or in front of me if you're doing this
in person or wherever. And we can speak calm
and resolute without being loud and rude, honestly.
It's right, too. And I think about this with
the libraries I work with. And listen, I am not
articulate by any stretch of the imagination.
I can't pronounce a lot of these weird books.
I say things because I was born and raised in
Philly, like use, right? Use. I don't say John
anymore. You know, I don't say those types of
things, but I do say use all the time. And I
have so many deficiencies in my vocabulary. And,
you know, when I have conversations with some
of these people, like some of these librarians,
like, dude, books are their life, right? And
here I am. I know nothing about nothing, right?
So I approach every situation, not taxfully,
but just like, this is who I am, right? So I
don't have to put on like any type of show and
explaining things and having that conversation
with somebody that's a potential relationship
like that for your business. It's all out there,
right? Everybody knows I say use. Everybody at
my library knows exactly what I do. I've literally
shown them exactly what I do. And it's no longer
a point of deflection. And I would hope that
when they have their library sales and they see
other scanners, that I give them a peace of mind
that hopefully... Hey, we know exactly what that
person's doing and why they're doing it, even
though they'll never have a conversation with
that scanner that comes in and completely destroys
the place. I at least give them the mindset of,
hey, you know, there's nice people out there
scanning that are, you know, trying to make some
money for them and their family. Yeah, I mean,
I do think that goes a long way and it may not
change the perception of all resellers, but it
will certainly change the perception of you,
the reseller. And. There's no monetary value
though. And I find that they treat me like a
businessman and they actually sometimes use those
words. He's a businessman. They don't call me
a reseller. They don't call me a bookseller.
They call me a businessman because they realize
after you've had a couple of conversations that
that's what I am. It's just, I choose the business
of reselling books or CDs or DVDs or whatever
the case may be. There's one big problem with
this, Johnny. We talk about the only reason we
resell is to make money and everything we're
talking about here. really doesn't have a monetary
value to it right like us leaving the store in
better condition or the same condition we went
into it actually cost us time because if we spend
an extra five seconds a minute to straighten
the shelf we just wreck we are actually losing
money but i do think that good people win and
bad people eventually get bit in the ass one
way or another to me that is opportunity investment
And I will get the call when they get that extraordinary
drop off that is too large for their library's
back room that they don't want to take on versus
the guy who didn't, who didn't provide any good
karma, left the shelf in a mess, treated the
library as disrespectful. You both shop there,
right? Who's going to get the phone call? It's
going to be me, not that guy. You're right, dude.
So it's not a, again, it's not a monetary investment,
but it is because it leads to an opportunity
investment. But most people can't wrap their
head around that. Right. They don't believe in
magical fairy tales. What's behind door number
two? But I'm telling you, it does exist. There
are other resellers that go to my library sales,
but who gets the call? I do. Oh, yeah, for sure.
I mean, there's other people go to my library
sales and good luck finding anything. But that's
just the nature of, I don't know, being a nice
human being and, you know, just being a respectful
person and treating others the way you want to
be treated. But at the end of the day. Most of
us fail this on a daily basis. And it sucks that
we get lumped in sometimes. But if there's ever
an opportunity where I can be like, hey, you
know how many people ask me, are you a book dealer?
I'm like, no. And I don't, book dealer, I don't
want no parts of it. Yeah, I got cocaine in these
books. You're right. I'll piss off all the people
that are like, I'm a book dealer, dude. Oh yeah,
I'm a book dealer. I could care less. I'm living
in new times here. You're all about collecting
books. I'm about making damn money. So I'm not
a book dealer. I get asked this all the time,
especially when I go to somebody's library. It's
a fair question because there are book dealers
and they have their own little trade shows and
stuff. I get why they ask this, but. I think
about it like, who's coming to this small town
besides resellers, not book dealers? I mean,
think about it though. You got options here.
Are you a book dealer? They ask me, am I a book
dealer? I say yes. Or I go the no route. No,
I do this full time to support my wife and my
cats. What answer you think is going to get you
a little bit more compassion at the end of the
day? The yes to you're a book dealer or the yes
or no, you're not a book dealer. And you give
a little bit of backstory because that's the
chance to kind of plug yourself. Come on, dude,
this is a no brainer every single time. And how
many relationships have we built off of avoiding
the stereotypes? That's all this comes down to.
Right. And it's kind of the idea of shop big
business or shop local. What sounds more appealing?
The shop local obvious does because you get the
sense of a human being versus a nebulous boardroom
director. Big gigantic table. How can we get
more dollars? Fire a hundred employees. Let's
do it. I'll give you a perfect example of the
book dealer topic, right? I go to this one place
and they're like, every time I go, are you a
book dealer? Now I've been there enough that
they kind of have given up on it. But like, oh
man, you spend a lot of money here. And if you
are registered as a book dealer, Johnny, I can
save you five or 10%, whatever it may be. My
example, well, my response, not my example, my
response was, listen, the money goes to a good
cause. The prices are good enough. I'm perfectly
fine with paying the full price. Even if I was
a book dealer, I probably wouldn't tell you anyway,
because I know you're all here volunteers for
the most part. And believe it or not, for all
you suckers out there who think I'm running my
mouth and just talking out my ass, I've literally
gotten voided into the back room of that said
source, probably because of the conversations
leading up to that. Yep. Absolutely. I mean,
book dealer, 10%, I'm paying a dollar, $2. Like
I have the chance to possibly open a whole new
ongoing relationship for my business. Is it worth
the $3 I save every time I go? The answer is
no, every single damn time. You know what I've
seen before? And my mind melted when I saw this.
Guy pulled out his reseller license at a library
sale. To get the tax exempt and like, here's
my card. Um, dude, you're paying like, I don't
know, $30 max. You really in the library and
didn't know what to do. She's like, I don't know
what this is. This is a book sale, sir. Like
she was not prepared for somebody whipping out
the reseller license to get the tax stuff. And
he held up the line for 15 minutes to get his
discount because he was right. I'll give him
that. But it was like $30. Like, come on, dude.
And once you saw that she was struggling to figure
out what the hell to do, you should have dropped
it. You really should have. But no, he held strong.
And I'm just like, I'm just thinking in my mind,
what an asshole. And I'm a reseller, right? Yeah,
yeah, yeah. I mean, come on. Let's get with it.
But Johnny, we're all dead broke as resellers.
So it all just comes full circle at the end of
the day, man. It's maybe I should get like a,
I don't know, like if I register to be a book
dealer, do I get like a monthly newsletter? Do
I get some type of - No, you gotta pay union
dues and go to meetings. Yeah, yeah. Like maybe
I get like an ID and I'll have like, I'll have
a separate wallet. And they're like, are you
a book dealer? And it'll be one of those walls
that just keeps unfolding. And my ID is all the
way at the bottom, right? Like, oh, I'm surprised
you ask. And I just let it just roll all the
way. I mean, come on, dude. Let's get with the
universe here, man. Let's just do it. Oh, that's
terrible. It can't be terrible. It is. No, it
is terrible. I mean, you really haven't been
out in the wild as much as me lately. And I'll
tell you what, it is. It is a grind and it is,
it is a mess. It is, it's, it's literally chaos.
I did go to a Goodwill first time in a couple
of years. I want to say last month and I was
sticker shocked because the paperbacks were a
dollar and the hardbacks were two. And I've been
used to half of that and still that way in my
area, but I hadn't been to a bonafide Goodwill.
a hell of a long time and i was just shy like
people pay this on a regular basis really me
i was just going in for an experiment to see
what was up because i admitted in one while i
was like you know what i'm in the area might
as well drop in i bought stuff but it was i don't
know i didn't like it i don't know how to describe
it it felt uncomfortable i think of all the opportunities
that have come my way because i was a decent
human being right like i get the senior discount
at goodwill Why does that happen? Because many,
many years ago when I first started reselling
and I was an everything seller on eBay, I talked
to the people that work there. You know, me and
Debbie out there have conversations. Oh, it's
senior day. Oh, you're not a senior. All right,
let me change this in the system. And I'm like
permanently a senior discount at Goodwill every
single Monday when they run that special. Like
those are the opportunities that are going to
get you ahead in this game. Being the person
who's just nasty. about how you go in and how
you source and, you know, not having conversations
or, you know, like Johnny said, that maybe you're
having a shitty day. Like this person at the
store has nothing to deal with why you're having
a shitty day, right? You're sitting there for
30 minutes, get what you're getting. You're making
money on this stuff. Like you should go in with
a damn smile on your face that this business
is even possible because. Not many things you
can go spend a dollar and turn it into 10, turn
it into five on repeat. And this is what we have.
And we still kind of squandered away with our
shitty attitudes and our bad business practices.
Just because you yourself are miserable for whatever
reason doesn't mean you need to afflict your
misery around everybody that is literally around
you. Don't be that person. That makes you, I'm
going to say, it makes you less than human. It
makes you vile. And I frown upon that. The people
that act the way we're talking about are aware
of how they act. Yes, and they laugh it off and
shrug because they don't care. That's what I
thought too. I was just hoping maybe you were
like a glimmering hope out there. No, I've talked
to a couple people like that, that I squint at
them because I do not like them. And that's how
they conduct business. They literally don't care.
They've said they don't care. They're there to
just conduct business how they see fit. As we
say, everybody is free to run their business
how they see fit. That guy's just an asshole.
And I think they will die alone and miserable
and get reseller herpes. This stuff is everywhere.
That's the big thing I struggle with, Johnny,
is why do we have to be so tenacious and so caveman
-like at some of these spots when if we just
go to the next town over, there's... a whole
nother pile of it to be bought and sold that's
what i that's what my big problem is and i had
a buddy of ours i was telling us about how he
has a hog farmer that comes in and sources one
of his bins and if you have no inclination these
guys need to bathe after they're done with their
work this gentleman does not and he reeks of
every foulness you can imagine and he doesn't
care he thinks it's funny It gets everybody away
from him because of the foul odor, and he can
shop how he wants. So he's using it as a strategy
to be speedier, but it's kind of like knocking
somebody's cart over, right? Or taking their
books out of their cart. It's the same kind of
thing to me. Why do you feel compelled to do
that? And here's the other thing. There are no
repercussions, right? Nobody's going to ask him
to leave because he's going to get money. Same
for the person that doesn't disorganize the shelves.
Except in some cases, they may say, like you
said, no scanners allowed to shop anymore. There
is a repercussion there. Or the loud person.
Are they really not going to take the loud person's
money? Or not take their money, rather? I think
they will. And I think money lets a lot of bullshit
get skirt by. And that is unfortunate. And I
kind of respect the lady who said no scanners.
It is. You're right. Money does let a lot of
it skirt by. just in business in general you
can get away with a lot if you got money to back
it up and yep it's it's it's a tough line to
walk and maybe i should do a youtube video i
didn't i haven't showered for three months did
i find more items did more people stay away from
me at the thrift stores right i i create this
gigantic bubble and the seas part of people and
everybody's out of my way Well, you can't bring
like your grandparents or your parents into thrift
stores because I've literally seen booksellers
rip books out of old people's hands at the Goodwill
bins, like literally bump into people, a lady,
she had to be at least 65 years old and these
people don't care. And guess what happened? That
Goodwill bins closed and I laughed myself to
sleep that night because I know for a fact they're
there every single day. Now you no longer have
a business, keep it moving. That's what I talk
about, right? Johnny said there's no real consequences.
I just sit here and tell you all that eventually,
lightning's going to strike you, right? Like
the karma catches up to you, but like that's
not tangible to these people. They just see it
as this person's taking food off my family's
plate and I'm ready to fight you to the death
over these junky books. And if I just went somewhere
else, I would be by myself and it would be an
endless supply. If you're that nickel to nickel
or paycheck to paycheck, your business is wrong
to begin with. You're doing something fundamentally
wrong. Yeah, it's all a balancing act. And at
the end of the day, I just, I... I try to be
the best human I can be. And does it cost me
money sometimes? Sure. Right. Like I give people
a fair shake. You know, if I have backroom access
to a place and they say, hey, you can I literally
had to pay us what you want for the stuff. Right.
Like, well, am I going to go in and just give
them a quarter for everything? Well, I mean,
if it's a 10, 15, 20, 100 dollar item. I'm not
just going to give them a quarter for the item,
right? Like there has to be some type of morals
in business. Like, oh, you got it, dude. It's
just, I understand. I could, sure. Could I get
it all for a quarter? I just feel like I deserve
to be fair with other people. And in business,
it does not exist. And in the reselling space,
it does not exist. People only care about themselves.
And at the end of the day, you're not going to
get anywhere doing that. I'm going to blow the
whistle on something, and I'm going to make a
lot of people who are in the auction industry
mad. Okay, so if you're unaware on online auctions,
they can see the amount you bid on an item, and
if they don't like it for their consigner, they'll
do one of two things. They'll bid it up to buy
for themselves because your price is too low,
or they'll tell the consigner person to do the
same thing. And there's no other bidders because
they have behind the scenes access to what's
going on. They can see your max bid and all that
kind of stuff. Now, do they price check everything?
No. But it's mainly the things that are like
$1 or $2. And you're the only bidder. And this
thing's really a $50 item. They may do it on
some of that stuff. So just be aware of that.
And I used to get infuriated at this. But I kind
of understood. They're resellers. They're trying
to raise money for their consignor person, all
that. So to all the people that are in auctions
listening to this, I'm not sorry. I blew the
whistle because you guys outbid me on a few things
and I was mad about it. It's the same. You see
it every once in a while. There's big controversies
about like shill bidding on eBay, right? It's
the same exact thing. You just got to do your
best to be the best person you can be. And I
promise you, you'll get rewarded. And those of
you out there, if you are listening, and you
are one of these scumbag resellers, it might
not be today. It might not be tomorrow. Not this
year. Maybe next year. It will all come back
to you. That's going to do it for this week's
episode. We challenge you all to be better. resellers,
better human beings. Although, listen, we know
a lot of you listen. You all keep it above grade
here, right? We're all truthful and honest with
each other. We're not leaving places a mess.
Keep doing what we're doing and make reselling
great again. We'll talk to you all next week's
episode. Thanks for listening to another episode
of the Reseller's Mindset Podcast. Today's full
episode and all previous episodes are available
to all YouTube members along with the weekly
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