WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.160 Welcome back to another episode of the Reseller's 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:04.559 Mindset Podcast. My name is Mike, also known 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:06.559 as the Used Book Guy on YouTube, along with my 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:08.599 friend and fellow full -time reseller, Johnny 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:11.150 B. We help people start and grow their reselling 00:00:11.150 --> 00:00:13.589 businesses from the ground up. We also have a 00:00:13.589 --> 00:00:15.570 weekly Zoom call and private Discord for all 00:00:15.570 --> 00:00:18.469 YouTube members. Head on over to youtube .com 00:00:18.469 --> 00:00:20.829 backslash usebookguy to join the channel and 00:00:20.829 --> 00:00:23.469 gain access to the full -length podcast, Zoom 00:00:23.469 --> 00:00:26.129 call, and private Discord today. Let's get into 00:00:26.129 --> 00:00:28.589 this week's episode. What is up, everybody? Welcome 00:00:28.589 --> 00:00:30.550 to another episode of the Reseller's Mindset 00:00:30.550 --> 00:00:33.590 Podcast. Mike is not sitting next to Johnny today 00:00:33.590 --> 00:00:36.170 due to budget cuts, right? Times are tough here 00:00:36.170 --> 00:00:38.549 in Amazon land. The buy box isn't working properly. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:41.240 Johnny's having internet issues. So we got Max 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:43.320 on. We had him on a couple of weeks ago. You 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:45.659 guys liked the episode we recorded with him. 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:48.000 He does a lot of consignment type business in 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:50.659 the Amazon land. So I figured it'd be a good 00:00:50.659 --> 00:00:53.280 episode to talk about. Exactly what's going on 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:55.719 with the buy box. Exactly our thought processes. 00:00:55.859 --> 00:00:58.579 He does a lot more than me and Johnny and a lot 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:00.320 of other people in the group combined with his 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:02.619 consignment business on Amazon. But we do sell 00:01:02.619 --> 00:01:04.599 the same types of things, the books, the CDs, 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:08.680 the DVDs. So, Max, welcome aboard. You can just 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:10.640 jump into whatever you want to jump in. You're 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:12.400 basically the king here, and I'm just going to 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:15.060 tag along for the ride. Okay, well, I have a 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:16.739 very interesting opinion. I haven't talked too 00:01:16.739 --> 00:01:18.599 much about the buy box, and I've skirted away 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:21.159 from discussion about it. But the three best 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:22.620 things that have happened to my book business 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:25.459 goes as follows. Number one, I started consignment. 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:28.540 Number two, the first buy box issue. Number three, 00:01:28.540 --> 00:01:31.180 the second buy box issue. Definitively, they 00:01:31.180 --> 00:01:32.799 were changing to my business and they've had 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:35.120 extreme positive effects on my business in the 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.019 end. And it's not just because the sales went 00:01:37.019 --> 00:01:39.299 down. It's how you treat how it goes down and 00:01:39.299 --> 00:01:42.359 how you manage with it. So give a little bit 00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:46.359 of insight on. Like your your monthly sales and 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:48.579 like your consignment business again for those 00:01:48.579 --> 00:01:51.200 that didn't watch the last episode. Yeah. So 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.359 last month I did about eighty three thousand 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:55.359 dollars in revenue. And when we last talked, 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:57.219 I think I was at sixty something thousand. So 00:01:57.219 --> 00:02:00.459 it's a it's a minor improvement, but it's continuing 00:02:00.459 --> 00:02:03.780 to grow. And I do fairly strong and I currently 00:02:03.780 --> 00:02:05.680 host a consignment program. So if you're gated 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:07.799 in media or you don't even want to do Amazon 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:10.080 and play the game or spend the time getting the 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.550 buy box, I offer consignment. If you use Scoutly 00:02:13.550 --> 00:02:15.530 or you're able to objectively find valuable books, 00:02:15.729 --> 00:02:18.270 you can send it my way or diss or media. Media 00:02:18.270 --> 00:02:20.870 is definitely a big focus and send it my way 00:02:20.870 --> 00:02:22.870 and I'll be able to consign it for you. I'll 00:02:22.870 --> 00:02:25.069 get it shipped out the next day and I'll be able 00:02:25.069 --> 00:02:26.870 to send you a consignment report every week. 00:02:27.030 --> 00:02:30.430 Do you think, see, I think the problem when things 00:02:30.430 --> 00:02:33.090 like this happen, Max, is like, I think the smaller 00:02:33.090 --> 00:02:35.969 sellers like get hit harder, right? There's somebody 00:02:35.969 --> 00:02:38.110 like me or you, right? I'm doing, you know, just 00:02:38.110 --> 00:02:41.370 under 20K a month. You got me 4X, but like. I 00:02:41.370 --> 00:02:43.590 think it's tougher for the smaller part -time 00:02:43.590 --> 00:02:47.430 seller because maybe they need the $200, $300 00:02:47.430 --> 00:02:49.789 a month so they can continue to grow their business. 00:02:49.909 --> 00:02:52.069 So when something like this happens, I think 00:02:52.069 --> 00:02:54.849 it hits them harder. But I think it's what you 00:02:54.849 --> 00:02:57.270 said, right? You see it and there's nothing we 00:02:57.270 --> 00:02:59.110 can do to control it. There's nothing we can 00:02:59.110 --> 00:03:02.810 do to change the current mess that exists on 00:03:02.810 --> 00:03:05.370 Amazon. So you only have two options, right? 00:03:05.449 --> 00:03:08.229 You either continue on. where you quit. But the 00:03:08.229 --> 00:03:10.069 problem is, I think a lot of people fall into 00:03:10.069 --> 00:03:12.449 that middle ground where they're like, I'm not 00:03:12.449 --> 00:03:14.389 going to do nothing while this is happening. 00:03:14.469 --> 00:03:16.770 I'm just going to kind of exist. And like me 00:03:16.770 --> 00:03:19.110 and you, you were outsourcing today. I've been 00:03:19.110 --> 00:03:20.770 to a library sale this past week. Like we're 00:03:20.770 --> 00:03:22.550 still sourcing. We're still sending every single 00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:25.090 week and it's just business as usual. But I think 00:03:25.090 --> 00:03:26.849 for the smaller person, I think it hits home 00:03:26.849 --> 00:03:29.449 a little bit harder. I think, I think one of 00:03:29.449 --> 00:03:31.069 the biggest issues is with part -time people, 00:03:31.150 --> 00:03:33.330 they're limited in one way. They're limited in 00:03:33.330 --> 00:03:36.819 time, most likely. or the ability to do more 00:03:36.819 --> 00:03:40.379 work. And a lot of times, it's hard to subscribe 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:43.199 to a mindset of improvement during a hard time 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:45.319 when you only have so much time to think about 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:48.219 it and you don't see all the nuances of it. And 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:50.419 I can tell you that every time that a buy box 00:03:50.419 --> 00:03:52.819 issue came down for me, I benefited immensely, 00:03:53.139 --> 00:03:55.680 mostly because I changed my mindset and I learned 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:57.599 a lot of things during the buy box issues. If 00:03:57.599 --> 00:03:59.740 you just simply reframe that mindset that you 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:02.560 have that everything is going away and instead 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:05.460 frame it as an idea that you can improve your 00:04:05.460 --> 00:04:07.740 business so it's even more survivable even in 00:04:07.740 --> 00:04:09.620 the worst times. Because if you're surviving 00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:11.560 in the worst of times, then you'll be thriving 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:13.860 in the best of times. I thought about this too, 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:16.980 right? Because my sales are down probably between 00:04:16.980 --> 00:04:20.060 20 % and 30 % on a given day. I do sell lots 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:23.360 of new CDs and DVDs. So it doesn't affect the 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:25.420 new items. It's only affecting the used items 00:04:25.420 --> 00:04:29.079 currently, right? So I thought about if my sales 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:32.160 existed the way they were, would I keep doing 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:35.550 this, right? And I think for sure I would, because 00:04:35.550 --> 00:04:38.170 at the end of the day, even if my sales are down 00:04:38.170 --> 00:04:40.889 20 or 30 percent, there's really no work. There's 00:04:40.889 --> 00:04:43.329 really no type of backbreaking work that goes 00:04:43.329 --> 00:04:46.149 into this business. We just scan stuff, slap 00:04:46.149 --> 00:04:48.810 a sticker on it, throw it in a box and wash our 00:04:48.810 --> 00:04:51.629 hands of it. So I feel like I would have to probably 00:04:51.629 --> 00:04:57.329 be down 50 percent for three to six months. And 00:04:57.329 --> 00:05:00.069 then I would probably pivot. Like, what would 00:05:00.069 --> 00:05:02.009 be your time for, like, give me your numbers. 00:05:02.069 --> 00:05:03.850 I kind of just threw that out there. Okay, well, 00:05:03.850 --> 00:05:06.990 right now I'm probably down maybe 33 % from where 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:11.069 I was. And the thing about it is a majority of 00:05:11.069 --> 00:05:13.550 people, they continue growing and growing. And 00:05:13.550 --> 00:05:16.149 the biggest issue is they lay down the track 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:18.870 work, but they don't really firm it down. So 00:05:18.870 --> 00:05:20.949 they build all the new processes, but they don't 00:05:20.949 --> 00:05:22.589 tighten it. And they don't make their business 00:05:22.589 --> 00:05:26.089 more efficient and more functional. And as a 00:05:26.089 --> 00:05:28.250 result of that, I think what you need to do in 00:05:28.250 --> 00:05:30.750 order to survive, because I'd even continue on 00:05:30.750 --> 00:05:32.490 where I'm at right now because I'm still profitable. 00:05:32.810 --> 00:05:36.610 Yeah. And this is really the best opportunity 00:05:36.610 --> 00:05:38.589 to figure out where you need to tighten your 00:05:38.589 --> 00:05:40.129 processes. Where can you become more efficient? 00:05:40.290 --> 00:05:43.750 Where can you cut costs? And how do you operate 00:05:43.750 --> 00:05:50.060 better? And I can tell you. I'm basically doing 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:52.759 between five and 10 K and profit a month, right? 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:54.839 Like just by myself. So like, I don't work full 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:56.879 -time hours. I'm not out here 40, 50 hours a 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:00.220 week, maybe 20, 25 hours on a busy week. Right. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:02.579 So like, even if I'm pulling in that type of 00:06:02.579 --> 00:06:04.180 money and I'm still working 25 hours a week, 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:06.579 I'm still making way more than if I was working 00:06:06.579 --> 00:06:11.720 my shitty job at CVS. Oh yeah. 100%. And with, 00:06:11.779 --> 00:06:14.839 with this focus on, on improvement, I can tell 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:16.899 you that in the first time around, I, tightened 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:18.759 up my trigger set, and I tightened up everything 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:20.540 that I'd taken, the amount of risk that I take. 00:06:20.939 --> 00:06:24.600 And in the second roundabout, I was cutting costs. 00:06:24.740 --> 00:06:27.879 And I cut probably over $5 ,000 of unnecessary 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:31.180 spending in the time of the buy box alone, all 00:06:31.180 --> 00:06:33.879 of which is sustainable for the future. So these 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:35.699 times, of course, they're going to be rough, 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:38.459 but there's tons of tons of room for improvement 00:06:38.459 --> 00:06:39.720 in your business, whether you like it or not, 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:41.990 unless you've been doing this for... 10 or 15 00:06:41.990 --> 00:06:44.110 years, your business is not perfect by any means. 00:06:44.329 --> 00:06:46.769 And this is the perfect opportunity because if 00:06:46.769 --> 00:06:48.389 you're reducing your sourcing, well, what else 00:06:48.389 --> 00:06:50.230 are you going to spend with that time? Nothing? 00:06:50.629 --> 00:06:52.449 Or are you going to spend time improving that 00:06:52.449 --> 00:06:55.470 business so it's even more profitable and those 00:06:55.470 --> 00:06:57.750 profits carry over even when the times get better? 00:06:58.069 --> 00:07:00.850 I'm just going to watch Unsolved Mysteries all 00:07:00.850 --> 00:07:02.810 day, dude. Forget sourcing. I'm just going to 00:07:02.810 --> 00:07:06.110 become the biggest bum out there. That's a way 00:07:06.110 --> 00:07:09.209 to go about it. It's not the worst way to go 00:07:09.209 --> 00:07:14.670 about it. Getting your mind off of the whole 00:07:14.670 --> 00:07:18.490 buy box issue is a way out. There's two ways 00:07:18.490 --> 00:07:20.870 to go about it. Three ways, actually. You go 00:07:20.870 --> 00:07:23.709 and quit, which, you know, if you're watching 00:07:23.709 --> 00:07:25.870 this right now, it's probably not your avenue 00:07:25.870 --> 00:07:28.490 that you're looking to go down. You can either 00:07:28.490 --> 00:07:31.910 focus on something else, so that'd be diversifying 00:07:31.910 --> 00:07:34.810 your business. As in Amazon or anything else, 00:07:34.829 --> 00:07:36.569 you can start another business in the meantime, 00:07:36.750 --> 00:07:39.620 or... you can focus on this business and see 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:41.759 how you can improve it better. And I chose that 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:43.339 third option, and Mike's choosing the second 00:07:43.339 --> 00:07:46.720 option. How long do you think this lasts? We're 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:48.800 on, what, day 11, I think somebody said in the 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.279 Discord? Yeah, I think it started on the 4th. 00:07:51.379 --> 00:07:53.579 Do you think this is permanent, I guess, is the 00:07:53.579 --> 00:07:55.220 first question. Do you think this is permanent? 00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:59.660 If the API updated on Scoutly to show it, then 00:07:59.660 --> 00:08:03.120 sure. But that's not the case. And we've seen 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:06.459 precedent without any proof of... change it's 00:08:06.459 --> 00:08:08.800 the buy box has happened and had issues for two 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:12.300 times already and it's come back one was i think 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:16.759 12 days and one was 21 days ish and there's no 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:19.399 precedent and there's no i mean this is the precedent 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:22.040 that's been made and there's no variance from 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:23.620 that pattern that we've seen yeah we've seen 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:26.379 people go out and say this is permanent but we 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:27.899 didn't see that last time and the time before 00:08:27.899 --> 00:08:31.180 that as well so What's up, Amazon tellers? We 00:08:31.180 --> 00:08:33.220 wanted to take a second to talk about GoToLister, 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:35.799 the software me and Johnny both use to list and 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:38.080 manage our inventory and grow our businesses. 00:08:38.419 --> 00:08:40.740 With the fastest listing speeds out there and 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:43.379 built -in profit analytics, it's a no -brainer. 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:46.299 Easily and quickly have items available for sale 00:08:46.299 --> 00:08:49.220 using 2D barcodes and get more for your items 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:51.799 with its built -in smart pricing. Make sure to 00:08:51.799 --> 00:08:54.120 check out the 30 -day free trial at gotolister 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:57.039 .com backslash Mike or using the link in the 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:00.860 description below. To diagnose that issue and 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:02.379 saying that this is going to be different from 00:09:02.379 --> 00:09:05.519 the other two times is very difficult to claim 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:08.179 unless you have really substantial evidence showing 00:09:08.179 --> 00:09:10.240 otherwise. And it doesn't exist because I've 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:13.620 seen evidence that's 100 % the opposite. Even 00:09:13.620 --> 00:09:16.759 if you go on Seller Central and you can pull 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:19.440 the featured offer and it says you're the featured 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:21.279 offer, then you go to the product page and you're 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:23.580 not. So what Max is saying here, we can go and 00:09:23.580 --> 00:09:26.200 scan, right? We can still source. We scan the 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:29.720 book. And it's still pulling the data as if it 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:32.879 were or as if as if it was before. So they're 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:35.440 saying, hey, FBA, you're going to use buy boxes 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:38.200 going to the FBA offer at 1799. So you can still 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:40.019 sell this. But when you go to the actual product 00:09:40.019 --> 00:09:42.240 page for this book, it's going to the merchant 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:44.320 for two dollars plus four dollars shipping. So 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:47.139 I'm 100 percent on board that, you know, I'm 00:09:47.139 --> 00:09:49.019 not I don't want to be the person to just be 00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:50.940 like, hey, you know, like deal with it. But. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:53.899 All the analytical data, like you said, we've 00:09:53.899 --> 00:09:56.500 experienced this twice before and we're still 00:09:56.500 --> 00:09:58.639 getting the same. And it's literally just it's 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:00.440 just happened again. The question is, how long 00:10:00.440 --> 00:10:02.720 does it last? Right. Like how long longer do 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:04.480 you think I'm putting this podcast out tonight? 00:10:04.539 --> 00:10:06.360 So as we were recording this right now, this 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:08.799 will be going out two hours. Yeah. So, OK, so 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:12.379 I'm going to put you on the spot. My bet 100 00:10:12.379 --> 00:10:15.000 percent is going to be before Black Friday. I 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:18.440 can't really it's going to my assumption is sometime 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:21.250 in the next week or the week after. is my assumption 00:10:21.250 --> 00:10:25.769 uh i'm hopeful of course but that's really how 00:10:25.769 --> 00:10:27.909 it goes and does it really even matter at this 00:10:27.909 --> 00:10:30.029 point that's the very important question to ask 00:10:30.029 --> 00:10:34.450 and for all the people who sit in the despair 00:10:34.450 --> 00:10:37.669 of it's going to be permanent would you rather 00:10:37.669 --> 00:10:40.090 believe the precedent of what's happened two 00:10:40.090 --> 00:10:43.090 times before or a facebook post facebook post 00:10:43.090 --> 00:10:45.009 dude 100 and if you're following the facebook 00:10:45.009 --> 00:10:47.169 post why haven't you quit already You know, that 00:10:47.169 --> 00:10:48.990 Facebook post looks very credible. If you're, 00:10:48.990 --> 00:10:51.029 if you solely believe that Facebook posts, you 00:10:51.029 --> 00:10:52.490 would not be in this industry right now. You 00:10:52.490 --> 00:10:53.850 would have packed up, you would have left and 00:10:53.850 --> 00:10:55.929 you wouldn't even be in this field. See, it's, 00:10:55.929 --> 00:10:58.570 it's different. We have two different perspectives 00:10:58.570 --> 00:11:01.730 on the ideas of like how people interpret things 00:11:01.730 --> 00:11:04.610 because everybody just heard how much money you're 00:11:04.610 --> 00:11:06.490 doing a month, the relationships, how quickly 00:11:06.490 --> 00:11:08.909 you built this business. And I see a lot, I get 00:11:08.909 --> 00:11:11.779 a lot of. dms from people saying hey like mike 00:11:11.779 --> 00:11:14.039 what's going on like i've even got referenced 00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:17.080 that facebook post reference forum post and it 00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:19.159 just i just try to tell people like don't believe 00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:21.679 you might as well like yell out your window and 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.700 just hope somebody gives you an answer and i 00:11:23.700 --> 00:11:26.059 do think the problem that we have and me and 00:11:26.059 --> 00:11:27.600 johnny have talked about this endlessly like 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:30.639 you're going to find the answer you're looking 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:33.259 for right as sooner or later if you keep looking 00:11:33.259 --> 00:11:34.779 you're going to find the person that's going 00:11:34.779 --> 00:11:37.379 to tell you yes this is permanent you better 00:11:37.379 --> 00:11:40.470 go get a job at McDonald's today, right? Or you're 00:11:40.470 --> 00:11:42.509 going to find somebody like Max who's like, all 00:11:42.509 --> 00:11:44.529 right, well, what are we doing during this downtime 00:11:44.529 --> 00:11:47.629 to make our processes better, to prepare for 00:11:47.629 --> 00:11:49.889 when this does return that we can be making more 00:11:49.889 --> 00:11:51.669 money. And that's why we keep sending stuff because 00:11:51.669 --> 00:11:54.269 guess what? When this does flip back on, if it 00:11:54.269 --> 00:11:56.690 ever does, right, we already have all the inventory 00:11:56.690 --> 00:11:58.570 sitting there. So our sales, we're going to know 00:11:58.570 --> 00:12:01.110 within an hour of this thing kicking back on 00:12:01.110 --> 00:12:03.309 that it's back on just because the sheer amount 00:12:03.309 --> 00:12:05.350 of volume of inventory we have been sending. 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:08.679 I think the best advice that you can take in 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:10.679 a situation like this where there's hard times 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:13.200 is just simply to stay positive. If you subscribe 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.360 to the negativity, then that's going to manifest 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:18.419 itself, and guess what? You'll be out of here. 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:21.379 There's a lot worse of situations you can be 00:12:21.379 --> 00:12:24.940 in, 100%. I mean, just imagine the fact that 00:12:24.940 --> 00:12:26.659 there's arbitrage people in, let's say, video 00:12:26.659 --> 00:12:28.899 games where they're relying on the buy box, and 00:12:28.899 --> 00:12:31.580 they're either overleveraged, there's credit 00:12:31.580 --> 00:12:33.990 card debts that need to be due next month. And 00:12:33.990 --> 00:12:36.070 there are hundreds of thousands of dollars or 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:39.950 tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Or there's 00:12:39.950 --> 00:12:42.370 people who simply have an entire business that's 00:12:42.370 --> 00:12:44.549 collapsing at this point in time just because 00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:47.149 of the operation. This business model, as a result 00:12:47.149 --> 00:12:50.330 of that, is a lot better off. And the thought 00:12:50.330 --> 00:12:53.370 that it could be a lot worse is something that 00:12:53.370 --> 00:12:55.549 takes up a lot of space in my mind. And I think 00:12:55.549 --> 00:12:57.169 that's something very important that you need 00:12:57.169 --> 00:13:00.429 to focus on because in reality, it could be worse. 00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:03.000 Our sales could be down 60%. They could be down 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:07.019 70%. They could be down 95%. And we wouldn't 00:13:07.019 --> 00:13:09.080 be able to control anything, but we're not there 00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:12.179 yet. We're not there yet, or we won't be there. 00:13:13.019 --> 00:13:16.860 And we have the optimism of saying, well, guess 00:13:16.860 --> 00:13:18.779 what? We're not hundreds of thousands of dollars 00:13:18.779 --> 00:13:20.659 in debt, and we're not relying credit card to 00:13:20.659 --> 00:13:23.840 credit card payment to survive. And as a result 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:26.500 of that, we have a lot more wiggle room, and 00:13:26.500 --> 00:13:28.179 we have the benefit of being able to send more 00:13:28.179 --> 00:13:31.120 in, even... In a time like this where it's hard. 00:13:31.860 --> 00:13:33.720 And you know the pipeline continues through. 00:13:33.820 --> 00:13:36.100 And money is still paying out like normal. And 00:13:36.100 --> 00:13:38.740 last time what happened is. That slowed down 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:41.320 right when the buy box fixed itself. I think 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:44.220 it was a little bit worse. The time before that. 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:46.700 But we still have money coming through. And we 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:48.460 can completely bankroll the business. Because 00:13:48.460 --> 00:13:51.399 we make such a great return on investment. On 00:13:51.399 --> 00:13:54.500 these inventory. And it's like. And the very 00:13:54.500 --> 00:13:57.860 important thing to think about. Is let's say 00:13:57.860 --> 00:14:00.200 you didn't have Amazon. you're still able to 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:02.279 liquidate the books if they're inherently valuable 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:05.240 yeah that 40 book on crystals you'll still be 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:07.500 able to sell on ebay for example for 25 or 30 00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:09.460 so it's not like you're losing your investment 00:14:09.460 --> 00:14:11.440 hell you'll make a profit on a lot of these books 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:15.820 yeah even regardless of amazon or not so in the 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:17.860 end you're not really losing much by having a 00:14:17.860 --> 00:14:20.460 dip in sales for the time being i think i think 00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:22.299 one thing that you kind of hinted on there is 00:14:22.299 --> 00:14:26.700 like people will they'll just be like well Amazon's 00:14:26.700 --> 00:14:28.639 not doing it. So I'm going to start up my eBay 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:31.080 store again. And I just like, I, I just want 00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:32.740 to grab them and shake them, dude. I just want 00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:35.600 to be like, no, don't do that. Right? Like if 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:41.399 we can't float 11 days of down 30 % sales, like 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:43.899 what are we doing in our business? Honest, let's 00:14:43.899 --> 00:14:46.940 be real here. We're paying a dollar or less for 00:14:46.940 --> 00:14:49.519 this shit that we're selling. Like if we can't 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:52.159 stay afloat and have no money in the bank for 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:55.049 two weeks. If you're literally living paycheck 00:14:55.049 --> 00:14:58.070 to paycheck with your Amazon money, you have 00:14:58.070 --> 00:15:00.470 a bigger financial problem in your life than 00:15:00.470 --> 00:15:02.629 worrying about Amazon. You need to have a full 00:15:02.629 --> 00:15:05.389 -time job and grow an Amazon business so where 00:15:05.389 --> 00:15:07.850 you don't have to be in that situation. If you're 00:15:07.850 --> 00:15:10.070 like, hey, I need this Amazon money every two 00:15:10.070 --> 00:15:12.070 weeks or I'm out on the streets, I'm going to 00:15:12.070 --> 00:15:14.129 tell you, go get a job because you shouldn't 00:15:14.129 --> 00:15:16.370 be, oh, this is all I got. If I don't get my 00:15:16.370 --> 00:15:19.370 $2 ,000 from Amazon this month, I'm belly up. 00:15:19.470 --> 00:15:21.769 That's no type of way and we never recommend. 00:15:22.379 --> 00:15:25.419 Going into debt for this business or just betting 00:15:25.419 --> 00:15:28.240 it all on black or red and just hoping that you 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:30.919 just stay afloat and you continue to go dollar 00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:33.919 to dollar and dollar to dollar. A very important 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:36.879 thing that you have to see is this is hard times 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.059 in any business, especially this one included, 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:41.700 is really just the definer of who's actually 00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:44.240 staying and who's going. There's a lot of turnover 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:46.860 in the reselling community. And this is definitely 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:48.679 seen in issues like this. Your sales go down 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:51.840 30%. Guess what? 30 % of sellers are going out. 00:15:52.220 --> 00:15:54.080 And as a result of that, there's going to be 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:57.000 the benefit of less competition. And I know that 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:00.779 it's very common to see there's a lot of idiots 00:16:00.779 --> 00:16:03.139 in the Amazon scene where they don't know how 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:05.419 to properly reprice or properly manage. And they 00:16:05.419 --> 00:16:09.379 end up with a sales price of $9, $10. Not unless, 00:16:09.539 --> 00:16:11.120 of course, if their model is bulk, that's different. 00:16:11.220 --> 00:16:14.200 But they go through and they buy with the intention 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:16.460 of this. And then they go and lose all their 00:16:16.460 --> 00:16:19.399 profits through stupid reasons. And it's those 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:20.940 people who are really going to feel crushed. 00:16:21.850 --> 00:16:24.110 Really, if you're in that avenue, you need to 00:16:24.110 --> 00:16:27.210 either get out or figure out how to correct your 00:16:27.210 --> 00:16:29.409 path that you're on. It's a lot easier to quit, 00:16:29.509 --> 00:16:31.990 dude. Listen, we can't have everybody quit because 00:16:31.990 --> 00:16:33.490 then nobody's going to give me their $2 .99. 00:16:33.929 --> 00:16:35.809 Then I'm going to be bankrupt because I have 00:16:35.809 --> 00:16:40.029 no YouTube members. I do love the idea of diversifying 00:16:40.029 --> 00:16:42.090 your income. I made a YouTube video talking about 00:16:42.090 --> 00:16:44.629 that. I don't diversify my business models, but 00:16:44.629 --> 00:16:46.669 I do like having a diversified income stream 00:16:46.669 --> 00:16:48.950 where I have money coming in from other things. 00:16:50.990 --> 00:16:53.110 I seen a post on Facebook. I think it was earlier 00:16:53.110 --> 00:16:55.169 today or maybe it wasn't today. Maybe it was 00:16:55.169 --> 00:16:57.529 yesterday. And somebody posted they were quitting 00:16:57.529 --> 00:16:59.970 because of this. And dude, there was like 20 00:16:59.970 --> 00:17:02.710 replies. Everybody's like, yeah, me too. I'm 00:17:02.710 --> 00:17:04.490 quitting too. And I think to myself, just with 00:17:04.490 --> 00:17:06.869 Max things like anybody can do this. So like 00:17:06.869 --> 00:17:10.470 these people probably only sent 10 books, 20, 00:17:10.549 --> 00:17:13.410 30 books their whole life. Like, honestly, they 00:17:13.410 --> 00:17:15.369 never were going to treat it like a real business 00:17:15.369 --> 00:17:18.069 anyway. And I don't I don't want to sit here 00:17:18.069 --> 00:17:20.730 and just kind of downplay everything like. It 00:17:20.730 --> 00:17:23.069 is shitty that Amazon doesn't say when they're 00:17:23.069 --> 00:17:24.769 doing this, why they're doing it. They kind of 00:17:24.769 --> 00:17:26.670 just leave us in the dark. But none of these 00:17:26.670 --> 00:17:28.710 platforms care about us. So it's just another 00:17:28.710 --> 00:17:31.250 thing where you have to prepare and have some 00:17:31.250 --> 00:17:34.230 money set aside for a rainy day fund. Oh, yeah, 00:17:34.269 --> 00:17:38.250 100%. And in that context, you need to keep a 00:17:38.250 --> 00:17:41.450 contingency plan at all times. Of course, I'm 00:17:41.450 --> 00:17:44.589 talking about a business where we've had good 00:17:44.589 --> 00:17:47.950 sales for 12 months out of the year. some businesses 00:17:47.950 --> 00:17:50.170 get away with maybe two good months of sales 00:17:50.170 --> 00:17:52.269 and that's that's the huge advantage of this 00:17:52.269 --> 00:17:55.829 business model and as a result of that having 00:17:55.829 --> 00:17:57.690 three months off let's say worst case scenario 00:17:57.690 --> 00:18:00.769 that's not terrible in the context of any business 00:18:00.769 --> 00:18:03.029 really no and that's the risk that any business 00:18:03.029 --> 00:18:06.710 brings but if there is permanent risk yep there's 00:18:06.710 --> 00:18:08.490 there should always be a contingency plan in 00:18:08.490 --> 00:18:10.569 your business if anything goes awry yeah now 00:18:11.580 --> 00:18:14.380 It's important to diversify, but that's, of course, 00:18:14.420 --> 00:18:16.000 into some things that are even passive, such 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:20.079 as investing and other avenues that might be 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:22.500 easier to do. Of course, you can focus on other 00:18:22.500 --> 00:18:24.359 business models and diversify, but you still 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:27.160 lose out on specialization and you lose out on 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:30.000 a lot of the returns because a majority of the 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:31.980 returns is made in the final two hours of work 00:18:31.980 --> 00:18:35.000 that you do. So the additional two hours of work 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:37.380 that you do that you wouldn't have done in any 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:39.839 other work. Starting two hours in, let's say, 00:18:39.900 --> 00:18:41.740 online arbitrage or any other venture would cut 00:18:41.740 --> 00:18:43.779 out the most profitable two hours of your work 00:18:43.779 --> 00:18:46.740 as a book cherry picker. And that's the thing 00:18:46.740 --> 00:18:50.640 about it. I think people missed the one huge 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:53.460 thing because they didn't sell on Amazon when 00:18:53.460 --> 00:18:56.519 it happened. Restock limits, right? So you used 00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:00.259 to only be able to have 1 ,000 units from September 00:19:00.259 --> 00:19:04.059 to February or March. That's it, right? So like 00:19:04.059 --> 00:19:07.940 I have roughly like 4 ,500, 5 ,000. You probably 00:19:07.940 --> 00:19:12.660 got what, like 20 ,000? 30 ,000. 30 ,000. So 00:19:12.660 --> 00:19:16.740 from September to February, we were not able 00:19:16.740 --> 00:19:22.440 to send one single item, right? Now that shit 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:25.480 there, that is the stuff where you got to be 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:28.500 like, okay, I got to front load everything. Like 00:19:28.500 --> 00:19:31.690 Max was saying, we get everything sent in. And 00:19:31.690 --> 00:19:34.690 then for those months, we can't do nothing about 00:19:34.690 --> 00:19:37.369 it. That was way worse than what this is. We 00:19:37.369 --> 00:19:39.630 can still make sales. We can still do shipments. 00:19:39.670 --> 00:19:42.250 We can still source new inventory, send it in. 00:19:42.549 --> 00:19:45.250 I think people that are thinking that this is 00:19:45.250 --> 00:19:46.970 the end of the world really haven't experienced 00:19:46.970 --> 00:19:49.269 what it's like to not be able to send a single 00:19:49.269 --> 00:19:51.289 thing for six months, which used to be a reality 00:19:51.289 --> 00:19:54.170 in Amazon two years ago. So maybe I'm kind of 00:19:54.170 --> 00:19:56.309 jaded in the fact that I've been back in those 00:19:56.309 --> 00:19:58.470 times where I couldn't send stuff for five months. 00:19:58.609 --> 00:20:00.880 And now I'm just like. hey, at least I can still 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.619 send my box every single week, right? Or I could 00:20:03.619 --> 00:20:05.420 still send my box every two weeks, whatever that 00:20:05.420 --> 00:20:08.740 is. I think a lot of people really, really haven't 00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:10.539 experienced that. And a lot of new people just 00:20:10.539 --> 00:20:12.660 feel like, well, I think people look, I think 00:20:12.660 --> 00:20:14.740 people always want it to be easier than it actually 00:20:14.740 --> 00:20:17.359 is, right? Like they see me and you, maybe they 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:19.140 watch the videos, they listen to some podcasts 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:21.720 and it sounds so easy. But at the end of the 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:24.059 day, you are outsourcing all day, working with 00:20:24.059 --> 00:20:27.099 some of your co -signees. I'm doing a lot of 00:20:27.099 --> 00:20:30.150 shit behind the scenes, you know, prepping. 500 00:20:30.150 --> 00:20:32.549 units a week by myself. There is work that goes 00:20:32.549 --> 00:20:35.289 into it. I think it does kind of get spun up 00:20:35.289 --> 00:20:37.390 to be one of these get rich quick things. And 00:20:37.390 --> 00:20:39.730 it's the furthest thing from passive income that 00:20:39.730 --> 00:20:43.390 can exist on planet earth. 100%. And I think 00:20:43.390 --> 00:20:45.430 the biggest source of complaint from this whole 00:20:45.430 --> 00:20:47.190 buy box issue is people who've never properly 00:20:47.190 --> 00:20:49.670 run a business before or managed any sort of 00:20:49.670 --> 00:20:52.569 operation, because this is a very important, 00:20:52.710 --> 00:20:54.869 this can either be interpreted as the end of 00:20:54.869 --> 00:20:56.630 your business and you're not meant for business, 00:20:56.730 --> 00:20:59.750 or you take it as a lesson because. In any business, 00:20:59.849 --> 00:21:01.869 there's going to be downtimes, and there's going 00:21:01.869 --> 00:21:03.410 to be these big things that are uncontrollable, 00:21:03.490 --> 00:21:05.789 and whether you like it or not, something is 00:21:05.789 --> 00:21:07.910 going to be out of whack in your business, and 00:21:07.910 --> 00:21:10.670 for the time being, it's Amazon's fault. Is it 00:21:10.670 --> 00:21:14.009 going to be permanent? Probably not. If it is, 00:21:14.069 --> 00:21:17.150 have a contingency plan, and the biggest source 00:21:17.150 --> 00:21:18.829 of backlash is just the people who don't know 00:21:18.829 --> 00:21:22.289 how to properly cope and manage with it. What 00:21:22.289 --> 00:21:24.450 do you... So what's your timeframe? Are you on 00:21:24.450 --> 00:21:26.349 board with me three to six months? Then we can 00:21:26.349 --> 00:21:28.069 start thinking about pivoting out of this if 00:21:28.069 --> 00:21:32.690 it stays the same. Yeah, of course. I have, of 00:21:32.690 --> 00:21:35.250 course, what I would do is I would downscale 00:21:35.250 --> 00:21:37.809 some operation, reduce some overhead, and then 00:21:37.809 --> 00:21:40.630 get to a point where it's relatively cheap for 00:21:40.630 --> 00:21:42.690 me to run the operation. That would probably 00:21:42.690 --> 00:21:44.289 be about three months in, but I'd still keep 00:21:44.289 --> 00:21:46.509 the operation running. That's the interesting 00:21:46.509 --> 00:21:49.369 difference about it because a lot of people will 00:21:49.369 --> 00:21:51.549 just leave and they'll do whatever, but I can. 00:21:51.849 --> 00:21:53.269 I'm going to keep the operation running because 00:21:53.269 --> 00:21:55.450 there's still money to be made. And although 00:21:55.450 --> 00:21:57.230 it's not passive, and yes, it's a lot of work, 00:21:57.369 --> 00:22:01.390 there is value delivered and fulfilled by Amazon. 00:22:02.809 --> 00:22:04.650 Don't tell me otherwise because people want to 00:22:04.650 --> 00:22:06.230 get their books in two days, whether they like 00:22:06.230 --> 00:22:08.609 it or not. That's one of the biggest enticements, 00:22:08.650 --> 00:22:10.990 and that's still there. Just the fact that we 00:22:10.990 --> 00:22:12.950 don't have the same playing ground as a merchant 00:22:12.950 --> 00:22:14.589 -fulfilled offer wouldn't make much of a difference 00:22:14.589 --> 00:22:16.670 because, in fact, that would make buyers more 00:22:16.670 --> 00:22:19.089 aware over time to click towards the bot prime 00:22:19.089 --> 00:22:24.289 offer if it is that desirable. I wouldn't completely 00:22:24.289 --> 00:22:27.190 stop selling media. I would focus more on new 00:22:27.190 --> 00:22:32.049 media. I would still buy used ones. The idea 00:22:32.049 --> 00:22:33.769 you said in the beginning, tighten up the belt 00:22:33.769 --> 00:22:35.470 a little bit, make some changes in the business 00:22:35.470 --> 00:22:38.069 model, focus on higher sell -through items in 00:22:38.069 --> 00:22:41.630 the media land. I think this just exposes people 00:22:41.630 --> 00:22:45.230 that already have shitty businesses. Yeah, and 00:22:45.230 --> 00:22:47.950 something very important is it's going to squeeze 00:22:47.950 --> 00:22:50.140 those people out. And better yet, There's other 00:22:50.140 --> 00:22:52.259 individuals who might be even fraudulent, even. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:54.380 They might post fake numbers. They'll refuse 00:22:54.380 --> 00:22:56.079 to post their last seven, but they'll have one 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:59.380 screenshot that they rely on. And guess what? 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.539 Those are the people that are going to be hurt 00:23:01.539 --> 00:23:04.519 the most in the end because they rely on the 00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:07.380 weak people. And guess what? This entire business 00:23:07.380 --> 00:23:09.779 model is being weeded out. It's weeding out the 00:23:09.779 --> 00:23:12.019 weak people as a result of the uncontrollable. 00:23:12.259 --> 00:23:14.859 And that's what pushes anyone out of any business, 00:23:15.019 --> 00:23:18.099 and especially the people who rely on those weak 00:23:18.099 --> 00:23:25.190 people. It sucks because there's a lot of people, 00:23:25.230 --> 00:23:27.130 we have a lot of people in the group that get 00:23:27.130 --> 00:23:30.549 frustrated with this. And I just try to backtrack 00:23:30.549 --> 00:23:33.170 them in and say, hey, you know, we've seen this 00:23:33.170 --> 00:23:35.230 happen before. We have the proof that it will 00:23:35.230 --> 00:23:38.980 eventually come back. And, uh, I know it's hard 00:23:38.980 --> 00:23:41.400 and I know, you know, I don't have a problem. 00:23:41.500 --> 00:23:43.420 I always tell everybody to be cheap as possible, 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:45.019 right? Like I'm the cheapest person on plant. 00:23:45.079 --> 00:23:46.759 We were talking before I said, I just got a new 00:23:46.759 --> 00:23:49.440 PC and like, you're, you were like, mine's a 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:51.319 seven years old. I'm like, yeah, mine, I had 00:23:51.319 --> 00:23:54.140 you be mine's older than seven years. So, um, 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:58.380 it's, uh, it's like, you can take a step back 00:23:58.380 --> 00:24:00.440 and if we're getting things for a dollar a piece, 00:24:00.539 --> 00:24:03.819 I think it's okay to like, you know, if you don't 00:24:03.819 --> 00:24:06.630 have the capital. Then just pause for a little 00:24:06.630 --> 00:24:08.650 bit. And by pause, I don't mean completely stop. 00:24:08.809 --> 00:24:10.670 I still want you to send a box every single week. 00:24:10.730 --> 00:24:12.869 You still have to show Amazon you're dedicated 00:24:12.869 --> 00:24:15.089 to the game because if you stop sending stuff 00:24:15.089 --> 00:24:18.069 and you lose the buy box on your account and 00:24:18.069 --> 00:24:20.630 this comes back, then you're really screwed. 00:24:20.769 --> 00:24:23.490 Like that is like worst case scenario. And I 00:24:23.490 --> 00:24:25.789 think a lot of people, unfortunately, will just 00:24:25.789 --> 00:24:28.779 completely turn off the spigot. And then they're 00:24:28.779 --> 00:24:30.299 kind of screwed. They're up the creek without 00:24:30.299 --> 00:24:32.099 a paddle. And it's like, well, what am I going 00:24:32.099 --> 00:24:34.299 to do now? Well, I don't know what you're going 00:24:34.299 --> 00:24:36.299 to do now, honestly. You're going to have to 00:24:36.299 --> 00:24:40.019 figure it out one way or another. Yeah, it's 00:24:40.019 --> 00:24:41.519 really what's in the matter of your control. 00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:44.940 And you just decide what you're able to do. And 00:24:44.940 --> 00:24:47.759 the thing about it is you can be as expensive 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:49.799 as you want in this business if your entire goal 00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:53.160 is to not make money. If your goal is to make 00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:54.700 money, then you should always be as cheap as 00:24:54.700 --> 00:24:57.740 possible. If you're being as expensive as possible, 00:24:57.779 --> 00:24:59.319 that just means you're cutting into your profits 00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:01.900 and you're lowering your profit number, and it 00:25:01.900 --> 00:25:05.460 defies logic. So therefore, even in any context, 00:25:05.720 --> 00:25:09.200 you should be as cheap as possible. And the very 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:14.119 important thing about it is, if you've survived 00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:16.299 a famine before, you're going to be very skimpy 00:25:16.299 --> 00:25:19.559 on food, even in the best of times. And the same 00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:22.279 exact mindset should carry over. So if it's famine 00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:25.720 right now, but it's feast a month from now, You 00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:27.640 should still carry a famine mindset. You should 00:25:27.640 --> 00:25:29.759 always have food set aside, and that's how you 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:31.839 should always approach it, even when something 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:35.680 uncontrollable such as this happens. I'm going 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:38.059 to say this, and people will probably hate me 00:25:38.059 --> 00:25:41.380 for it, but I don't care. Max already kind of 00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:43.880 harped on it, but I go to these library sales, 00:25:44.019 --> 00:25:48.690 and I see these idiots scanning books. And I 00:25:48.690 --> 00:25:50.329 think to myself, you know, the margins have gone 00:25:50.329 --> 00:25:53.369 down a book so significantly. Like if this pushes 00:25:53.369 --> 00:25:56.230 some of those people out the door and then so 00:25:56.230 --> 00:25:58.970 be it, right? Like it's a dog eat dog world. 00:25:59.049 --> 00:26:02.029 I hope nobody listened to this fails in the Amazon 00:26:02.029 --> 00:26:04.230 land, right? Like my whole YouTube channel is 00:26:04.230 --> 00:26:06.509 about you being successful. But if you decide 00:26:06.509 --> 00:26:08.690 to stop selling on Amazon and you're selling 00:26:08.690 --> 00:26:11.089 the same stuff as me, right? If Max goes away, 00:26:11.329 --> 00:26:14.029 right? That's 30 ,000 less listings I have to 00:26:14.029 --> 00:26:17.000 compete with if he's on like. Does it suck? Am 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:19.480 I, you know, am I sad for Max or sad for whoever 00:26:19.480 --> 00:26:21.700 it is that they kind of throw in the tail and 00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:24.079 really never see the fruits of selling on Amazon? 00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:26.759 100%. But at the same time, I think to myself, 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:29.660 like, that's one less person I have to deal with 00:26:29.660 --> 00:26:32.299 competing on some of these listings. And unfortunately, 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:35.259 a lot of people that quit really don't understand 00:26:35.259 --> 00:26:37.339 the business. So they usually have the worst 00:26:37.339 --> 00:26:40.079 settings when it comes to repricing and they 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:41.779 don't know how to price their items and they're 00:26:41.779 --> 00:26:47.130 tanking the listings worse than I do. Yeah, that's 00:26:47.130 --> 00:26:48.890 the thing. There's a lot of idiots in the business. 00:26:49.410 --> 00:26:51.410 There's a lot of idiots in any business, really. 00:26:52.009 --> 00:26:55.750 And this is basically just the ultimate test. 00:26:56.349 --> 00:26:59.529 Are they idiot enough to survive, or are they 00:26:59.529 --> 00:27:01.970 going to just quit, you know? Of course, like 00:27:01.970 --> 00:27:03.549 you just said earlier, it's very easy to quit. 00:27:04.089 --> 00:27:09.799 And, I mean, what's stopping you? It's too cheap. 00:27:09.980 --> 00:27:12.039 It's too cheap. So these people can drag, like 00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:14.460 you can drag an Amazon business out almost forever, 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:16.440 like an eBay business, because it's just books 00:27:16.440 --> 00:27:18.259 and CDs and DVDs, right? They're like a dollar 00:27:18.259 --> 00:27:21.420 a piece. So it's like, if. People can drag this 00:27:21.420 --> 00:27:23.640 thing out for years and years if they really 00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:25.660 wanted to. And a lot of people will, and they'll 00:27:25.660 --> 00:27:27.740 never be profitable. I'll tell you right now, 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:30.339 I'm never FBMing, right? I'm never listing my 00:27:30.339 --> 00:27:32.240 own items. I'm never packing my... There's a 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:34.940 lot easier ways in the world to make money than 00:27:34.940 --> 00:27:38.640 selling FBM on Amazon. So don't get any ideas 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:40.720 that Mike's going to start filling his storage 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:42.980 unit up with shelves and packing and listing 00:27:42.980 --> 00:27:45.299 orders. That shit ain't ever going to happen. 00:27:45.339 --> 00:27:47.380 You might have a different mindset, but even 00:27:47.380 --> 00:27:50.460 still, I feel like you got enough other things 00:27:50.460 --> 00:27:52.400 in your life that you could generate income from. 00:27:53.900 --> 00:27:56.660 Yeah, and that's the importance of having a plan 00:27:56.660 --> 00:27:59.799 to be diversified in the case that you need to. 00:28:01.380 --> 00:28:02.920 Diversification, of course, it can come in different 00:28:02.920 --> 00:28:05.180 ways. You can be literally diversified, spend 00:28:05.180 --> 00:28:07.160 20 hours on this job, 20 hours on this other 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:09.940 job. Or you could spread it out as in saying, 00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:11.960 I have a plan to be diversified and you have 00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:15.369 a lifeboat. Really, that's what diversification 00:28:15.369 --> 00:28:17.269 really should just mean. It's just a lifeboat 00:28:17.269 --> 00:28:19.650 in the case something were to happen, and it 00:28:19.650 --> 00:28:22.650 reduces your overall risk. But you shouldn't 00:28:22.650 --> 00:28:24.890 remove that extra profit that you can make that 00:28:24.890 --> 00:28:28.170 we talked about earlier. So I need to know, why 00:28:28.170 --> 00:28:33.710 do you think Amazon changed the buy box? What's 00:28:33.710 --> 00:28:35.730 your conspiracy theory hill that you're going 00:28:35.730 --> 00:28:40.190 to stand on? They very easily could be just fixing 00:28:40.190 --> 00:28:42.029 and correcting orders. The thing about it is 00:28:42.029 --> 00:28:43.890 I've noticed that my payouts per day has gone 00:28:43.890 --> 00:28:46.329 up tremendously during the whole buy box thing. 00:28:46.549 --> 00:28:48.789 That means that more items are being closed out 00:28:48.789 --> 00:28:51.230 and more orders are being closed out and finished. 00:28:51.670 --> 00:28:54.609 And as a result of that, that's my hypothesis 00:28:54.609 --> 00:28:57.109 and belief that they're just correcting warehouse 00:28:57.109 --> 00:28:59.849 operations because they had restock limits, what, 00:28:59.950 --> 00:29:02.029 two or three years ago? Yeah. And this could 00:29:02.029 --> 00:29:04.240 just... And maybe they decided that this is more 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:06.299 profitable to restock limits. And this would 00:29:06.299 --> 00:29:08.200 be the alternative to restock limits. Let's just 00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:10.680 slow down the buy box for a minute. Let's just 00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:12.779 limit our fulfilled by Amazon operations for 00:29:12.779 --> 00:29:14.400 our used division. We aren't going to limit our 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:16.220 new one because new is more profitable for us. 00:29:16.700 --> 00:29:18.720 And we put that at second rate and we'll get 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:21.259 our warehouses ahead. And it's more profitable 00:29:21.259 --> 00:29:23.500 for us than just completely cutting off and screwing 00:29:23.500 --> 00:29:25.880 over our sales in all of January. Yeah, I think 00:29:25.880 --> 00:29:27.539 another thing, too, a lot of booksellers and 00:29:27.539 --> 00:29:29.799 media sellers like. We're selling used media 00:29:29.799 --> 00:29:31.880 like Amazon don't want you don't want all your 00:29:31.880 --> 00:29:33.700 shit clogging up their warehouses. Right. We're 00:29:33.700 --> 00:29:36.039 just a little speck on the huge map that Amazon 00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:39.500 is. I think like, oh, Amazon started with books. 00:29:39.539 --> 00:29:42.500 So they really care about books. No, they don't. 00:29:42.500 --> 00:29:45.000 They want to sell the most expensive items, new 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:47.079 items, get them out the door. You think they 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:50.160 want their warehouses looking like my fake. you 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:52.019 know background that i have here where there's 00:29:52.019 --> 00:29:54.480 just tons and tons because we already said anybody 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:56.700 can do this business so how much shit is sitting 00:29:56.700 --> 00:29:58.940 at amazon's warehouse that will never sell in 00:29:58.940 --> 00:30:01.400 the in the media category we're talking millions 00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:04.880 and millions of items that will never sell and 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:07.299 amazon has to keep them in the corner and charge 00:30:07.299 --> 00:30:11.019 their sellers five cents a month 20 cents a month 00:30:11.019 --> 00:30:14.259 until they actually can get rid of them and They 00:30:14.259 --> 00:30:15.839 can sit there forever. If you don't have your 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:17.619 automated removal settings on, they'll just keep 00:30:17.619 --> 00:30:19.440 charging your card till the end of time. You 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:21.579 can store a book on Amazon. Maybe we should do 00:30:21.579 --> 00:30:23.900 that as a test. Just like maybe we'll send one 00:30:23.900 --> 00:30:27.660 book today, Max, and we'll just price it so ridiculous 00:30:27.660 --> 00:30:30.240 and just see how long it can sit there and how 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:33.640 much we pay like 30 years from now. I think there 00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:35.519 should be two different mindsets you have because 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:37.920 this is also in the context of fee raises and 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:40.900 software API fee raises. And I think that there 00:30:40.900 --> 00:30:42.500 should be two different perspectives based off 00:30:42.500 --> 00:30:44.950 of what you said. I think, first off, you can 00:30:44.950 --> 00:30:47.210 think of Amazon as greedy scumbags. They're trying 00:30:47.210 --> 00:30:49.750 to take as much money as possible. There's validity 00:30:49.750 --> 00:30:51.950 to that. But I think there's another way you 00:30:51.950 --> 00:30:55.049 should think about it. I think having used dusty 00:30:55.049 --> 00:30:57.049 books in their warehouse for them is inherently 00:30:57.049 --> 00:31:00.369 undesirable. So as a result of that, to deal 00:31:00.369 --> 00:31:02.529 with it, they have to ask more of a higher price 00:31:02.529 --> 00:31:05.410 to reduce the idiots who send in no -rank books 00:31:05.410 --> 00:31:08.329 and all the books that are bad. So they make 00:31:08.329 --> 00:31:10.309 it more expensive, first off, to make them more 00:31:10.309 --> 00:31:13.519 money, but to... remove the idiot books and the 00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:15.960 idiot booksellers from the scene and as a result 00:31:15.960 --> 00:31:19.500 of that only the strong will survive and if you 00:31:19.500 --> 00:31:23.400 think of it that way then it makes a lot more 00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:25.660 sense than just being scummy because they have 00:31:25.660 --> 00:31:27.500 to be doing it for a reason they're running a 00:31:27.500 --> 00:31:29.880 business and they're trying to make record stock 00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:32.259 prices right now and they wouldn't be able to 00:31:32.259 --> 00:31:34.039 do that if they didn't think about it reasonably 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:36.140 and they're just trying to run a business just 00:31:36.140 --> 00:31:39.190 like us really Yeah. So what Mac said to all 00:31:39.190 --> 00:31:41.549 you media sellers is that you're all the, you 00:31:41.549 --> 00:31:44.109 are the reason this is happening because you 00:31:44.109 --> 00:31:47.390 sent this undesirable crappy items to their warehouse. 00:31:47.529 --> 00:31:49.670 And they're tired of seeing your Nora Roberts 00:31:49.670 --> 00:31:52.829 on the shelf that you got listed for 49 99. That's 00:31:52.829 --> 00:31:54.789 never going to sell. And it's just taking up 00:31:54.789 --> 00:31:58.210 space. They don't want to be in the media game 00:31:58.210 --> 00:32:00.269 and I don't blame them, dude. You don't want 00:32:00.269 --> 00:32:01.890 to deal with the headaches. You don't want to 00:32:01.890 --> 00:32:04.549 deal with the. The nastiness that comes in the 00:32:04.549 --> 00:32:06.950 warehouses, the stuff just sits on your shelf. 00:32:07.009 --> 00:32:09.369 Like I would love to go to a warehouse and just 00:32:09.369 --> 00:32:12.089 see how they store all their books and like what 00:32:12.089 --> 00:32:15.450 their process is, because I guarantee you they 00:32:15.450 --> 00:32:19.309 regret being so heavy in media nowadays compared 00:32:19.309 --> 00:32:22.589 to five years ago. It was probably nothing like 00:32:22.589 --> 00:32:25.960 it is now. Now it's just. So many people have 00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:28.039 started this business and haven't gotten results, 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:30.779 and their stuff still exists at Amazon's warehouse, 00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:32.819 and they don't know what the hell they're doing 00:32:32.819 --> 00:32:35.500 because anybody can start an Amazon account today 00:32:35.500 --> 00:32:39.380 and send in their first box this week. Like, 00:32:39.380 --> 00:32:41.819 I can tell you even in the context of a smaller 00:32:41.819 --> 00:32:45.059 Amazon, my own consignment business, I get a 00:32:45.059 --> 00:32:47.779 lot of items that I'm not able to sell. And if 00:32:47.779 --> 00:32:49.480 I wanted to remove that, I'd either raise my 00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:51.039 fees to reduce the amount of people who come 00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:53.660 in, or I would just raise the bar in which needs 00:32:53.660 --> 00:32:57.200 to be good. And I think Amazon is just doing 00:32:57.200 --> 00:33:00.779 basically what I'm saying here. And, well, I 00:33:00.779 --> 00:33:03.039 don't do that because I believe everyone should 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:06.000 be able to maximize their dollars. Amazon doesn't 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:09.019 like media as much. Media is a black sheep compared 00:33:09.019 --> 00:33:11.119 to the rest of Amazon. There's not a lot of used 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:13.339 categories. Think about it. The only used categories 00:33:13.339 --> 00:33:17.000 there are books, discs, as in DVDs, CDs, cassette 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:20.089 tapes. and video games. There's not used toys 00:33:20.089 --> 00:33:23.589 anymore, and used is a category that's not really 00:33:23.589 --> 00:33:26.150 desirable by them. They make most of their money 00:33:26.150 --> 00:33:28.789 on new items, because new items, there's on paper 00:33:28.789 --> 00:33:32.450 less returns, and there's less returns sent in, 00:33:32.470 --> 00:33:34.349 because if you get a return, if you get a new 00:33:34.349 --> 00:33:36.309 item returned, you can't really sell it new again. 00:33:37.089 --> 00:33:39.529 So you're only getting the top of the line, and 00:33:39.529 --> 00:33:42.029 you're also getting larger companies, because 00:33:42.029 --> 00:33:46.000 only larger operations sell new. with the exception 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:49.259 of new dvds or other media and as a result of 00:33:49.259 --> 00:33:51.619 that you need more money and you need a stronger 00:33:51.619 --> 00:33:54.680 business so as a result of that amazon might 00:33:54.680 --> 00:33:57.420 think this whole division is weaker because there's 00:33:57.420 --> 00:34:00.799 a lot of weaker people in the business who might 00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:02.660 not operate a business as well or might not have 00:34:02.660 --> 00:34:05.500 operated a business at all i got a crazy take 00:34:05.500 --> 00:34:07.440 and i'm curious if you agree or disagree with 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:13.039 me i think they will get rid of The used media 00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:16.699 category before they keep the buy box going to 00:34:16.699 --> 00:34:19.940 merchant fulfilled forever. Yep, I fully agree 00:34:19.940 --> 00:34:24.219 with you on that. If they, I mean, right now, 00:34:24.300 --> 00:34:27.840 I think used is a good punching bag. The used 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:30.219 category inherently is a good punching bag for 00:34:30.219 --> 00:34:32.360 Amazon to do whatever they want with. If they 00:34:32.360 --> 00:34:33.860 want to get their items in order, let's just 00:34:33.860 --> 00:34:37.579 slow down used. Used is basically an extracurricular 00:34:37.579 --> 00:34:40.469 to their entire operation at this point. And 00:34:40.469 --> 00:34:42.789 right now, if you look at corporate Amazon, they're 00:34:42.789 --> 00:34:44.949 trying to go into higher -end stuff. They're 00:34:44.949 --> 00:34:47.050 trying to go into – they partnered with Saks 00:34:47.050 --> 00:34:49.210 Fifth Avenue. They partnered with higher -end 00:34:49.210 --> 00:34:51.030 companies, and they're partnering with AI companies 00:34:51.030 --> 00:34:53.409 because they want to sell stuff with a higher 00:34:53.409 --> 00:34:55.869 average sales price. And guess what media is 00:34:55.869 --> 00:34:57.769 doing? Guess what specifically used media is 00:34:57.769 --> 00:35:03.909 doing? They're going down $9, $10, $5. So – they 00:35:03.909 --> 00:35:05.610 can use it as a punching bag. And if they get 00:35:05.610 --> 00:35:07.369 rid of that, then they're not going to have anything 00:35:07.369 --> 00:35:08.690 to slow down. What are they going to do? Slow 00:35:08.690 --> 00:35:10.909 down a whole category? They're not doing that. 00:35:10.929 --> 00:35:14.130 That would be nonsensical to them. They aren't 00:35:14.130 --> 00:35:15.889 just going to slow down their entire car parts 00:35:15.889 --> 00:35:19.130 sales division just because they do that, because 00:35:19.130 --> 00:35:20.630 that's a whole division of their company. Let's 00:35:20.630 --> 00:35:23.909 just give a subject of a whole category. And 00:35:23.909 --> 00:35:26.110 this is the only real category which they can 00:35:26.110 --> 00:35:29.969 do that with. It's weird to say this, but it's 00:35:29.969 --> 00:35:33.150 true. You got me thinking about this. They don't 00:35:33.150 --> 00:35:35.110 want to deal with the used stuff, and that's 00:35:35.110 --> 00:35:37.210 why the fees go up, and that's why they have 00:35:37.210 --> 00:35:42.070 to charge $6, $7 minimum in fees for these used 00:35:42.070 --> 00:35:44.630 products, these used books. In some cases, the 00:35:44.630 --> 00:35:46.909 fees on a book, depending if it's a hardback, 00:35:47.090 --> 00:35:51.349 it's going to be $10. I think they look at their 00:35:51.349 --> 00:35:53.869 overall business from the lowest performing shit, 00:35:53.929 --> 00:35:57.150 which is a used hardback book that is this thick. 00:35:57.610 --> 00:36:00.070 and weighs, you know, three pounds. Well, what 00:36:00.070 --> 00:36:02.570 is the worst case scenario if we have to go remove 00:36:02.570 --> 00:36:04.670 this or we have to pack this and ship it to a 00:36:04.670 --> 00:36:07.429 customer, right? So like, it's almost as if the 00:36:07.429 --> 00:36:10.449 use category determines how much they're going 00:36:10.449 --> 00:36:13.329 to charge in fees across the board because they 00:36:13.329 --> 00:36:15.289 have so much of this junk sitting here and this 00:36:15.289 --> 00:36:18.030 is the most lowest value crap that they're selling. 00:36:18.130 --> 00:36:20.610 So they need to go based off of a worst case 00:36:20.610 --> 00:36:22.449 scenario. If this is all we were selling, then 00:36:22.449 --> 00:36:25.619 how can we still sustain our business? Yep. A 00:36:25.619 --> 00:36:27.920 mindset used by a lot of executives is to look 00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:29.940 at the weakest link and figure out what you can 00:36:29.940 --> 00:36:32.079 do from there. And it's the same thing with team 00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:34.340 management. If you have a team or a set of employees, 00:36:34.619 --> 00:36:36.059 you're going to look at the weakest employee 00:36:36.059 --> 00:36:38.159 because in the end, if it's a chain operation, 00:36:38.440 --> 00:36:40.159 one, two, three, four, five, six, each employee 00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:43.019 does a different thing, then they're only going 00:36:43.019 --> 00:36:46.619 to go as fast as the weakest person. And in the 00:36:46.619 --> 00:36:48.980 context of media, that's going to be very common 00:36:48.980 --> 00:36:51.960 for the fact that media definitely carries not 00:36:51.960 --> 00:36:54.510 a lot and they only make money when... They make 00:36:54.510 --> 00:36:56.050 more money on the higher -dollar stuff than the 00:36:56.050 --> 00:36:58.070 lower -dollar stuff. That's undeniable. And they 00:36:58.070 --> 00:37:00.849 make more money per hour with it. Because think 00:37:00.849 --> 00:37:03.030 about it. If you sell a $400 book and you get 00:37:03.030 --> 00:37:08.409 $350, they made a $25 placement fee, or referral 00:37:08.409 --> 00:37:10.650 fee, technically, just because they referred 00:37:10.650 --> 00:37:13.869 the item. So that's $25 for basically having 00:37:13.869 --> 00:37:16.530 Amazon. Compare that to a DVD that you sell for 00:37:16.530 --> 00:37:23.280 $5. They get $0 .15 for having Amazon up. If 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:25.179 I was Jeff Bezos, I'd wipe out the used media 00:37:25.179 --> 00:37:29.619 division first. If I had to get rid of a division 00:37:29.619 --> 00:37:32.559 and the country was going into a recession and 00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:35.260 I needed a strict budget cut, that would be what 00:37:35.260 --> 00:37:38.619 would be cut first. Max wants you to consign 00:37:38.619 --> 00:37:40.639 with him. All the information is down below. 00:37:40.800 --> 00:37:43.559 But if he gets hired at Amazon, we're all screwed 00:37:43.559 --> 00:37:47.059 because we're first on the chopping block. I 00:37:47.059 --> 00:37:49.739 mean, if you give me something else to cut first, 00:37:49.860 --> 00:37:52.849 then I'll take it into consideration. With everything 00:37:52.849 --> 00:37:56.030 we know about media, it's the black sheep of 00:37:56.030 --> 00:38:01.769 Amazon, really. Yeah, dude. $12 .20 in fees to 00:38:01.769 --> 00:38:06.269 sell this book at $18 .60. One book, they have 00:38:06.269 --> 00:38:09.150 to charge $12 because it's such a headache for 00:38:09.150 --> 00:38:13.489 them to pack, ship, provide the customer service. 00:38:13.610 --> 00:38:15.750 And I think another thing with the used category, 00:38:15.929 --> 00:38:18.309 why I stand on the idea that they would just 00:38:18.309 --> 00:38:20.409 get rid of the used category altogether before 00:38:20.409 --> 00:38:23.179 this sticking. is the process they have to do 00:38:23.179 --> 00:38:26.260 if a customer returns a used item, right? Because 00:38:26.260 --> 00:38:28.699 they have to pay somebody to sit there and say, 00:38:28.780 --> 00:38:32.059 is this used good condition or used very good, 00:38:32.119 --> 00:38:35.460 like new, whatever you people put in your used 00:38:35.460 --> 00:38:38.050 condition notes. They have to pay somebody to 00:38:38.050 --> 00:38:39.849 sit there and make a determination if they can 00:38:39.849 --> 00:38:42.389 resell this book at the condition that's listed, 00:38:42.530 --> 00:38:45.849 right? So in the new category, you can see whether 00:38:45.849 --> 00:38:47.510 it's new, right? Like it's going to take you 00:38:47.510 --> 00:38:49.710 half a second to determine whether or not the 00:38:49.710 --> 00:38:52.590 DVD is still shrink -wrapped or the toy or the 00:38:52.590 --> 00:38:54.969 Lego set is still, you know, sealed from the 00:38:54.969 --> 00:38:58.050 manufacturer versus the used category, man. I 00:38:58.050 --> 00:39:01.190 can't imagine the backlog and you couldn't pay 00:39:01.190 --> 00:39:03.210 me any money in the world to sit there for an 00:39:03.210 --> 00:39:06.809 eight -hour shift. and process used media returns 00:39:06.809 --> 00:39:09.210 and make the decision whether or not they're 00:39:09.210 --> 00:39:12.030 still sellable because they have way too many 00:39:12.030 --> 00:39:16.010 conditions. They got acceptable, good, very good, 00:39:16.150 --> 00:39:18.449 like new, right? Is that all of them, right? 00:39:19.030 --> 00:39:21.570 Very good. Yep. Yeah, that would be. Four different 00:39:21.570 --> 00:39:24.289 ones. So they have to train somebody to be able 00:39:24.289 --> 00:39:26.949 to tell what the difference is. And there's really 00:39:26.949 --> 00:39:29.570 not much difference in a condition like categories 00:39:29.570 --> 00:39:31.389 on Amazon. Like you could sell a book in good 00:39:31.389 --> 00:39:33.909 condition. technically without a dutch jacket 00:39:33.909 --> 00:39:36.090 like you could literally sell this in good condition 00:39:36.090 --> 00:39:38.409 based on amazon's condition you know criteria 00:39:38.409 --> 00:39:41.429 and the thing about it is if you if you take 00:39:41.429 --> 00:39:43.190 that perspective and continue it the weakest 00:39:43.190 --> 00:39:45.630 link right let's think about the worst case possible 00:39:45.630 --> 00:39:47.309 scenario for the grade and resale program let's 00:39:47.309 --> 00:39:49.969 say you have an employee and it costs maybe a 00:39:49.969 --> 00:39:52.250 hundred dollars of time to train them to get 00:39:52.250 --> 00:39:54.050 them to understand all the different conditions 00:39:54.050 --> 00:39:56.929 and whatever right on top of that extra hundred 00:39:56.929 --> 00:39:58.389 dollars that you have to do towards this use 00:39:58.389 --> 00:40:01.469 category Let's say we get a box of returns and 00:40:01.469 --> 00:40:04.849 let's say 200 returns and they're all $8 DVDs 00:40:04.849 --> 00:40:08.550 Let's say let's say conservatively spend 30 seconds 00:40:08.550 --> 00:40:11.130 grading each item right and let's say that that 00:40:11.130 --> 00:40:14.429 creates What maybe 50 cents of value for each 00:40:14.429 --> 00:40:19.789 of it? That's maybe That's maybe what so that's 00:40:19.789 --> 00:40:22.309 120 cut that in half. That's $60 an hour of value 00:40:22.309 --> 00:40:24.809 For value that they might not even get because 00:40:24.809 --> 00:40:26.389 they're not earning any money off of grading 00:40:26.389 --> 00:40:28.940 the returns really They aren't earning any fees. 00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:34.139 So $60 for the seller. So they're basically losing 00:40:34.139 --> 00:40:36.539 whatever the wage is on top of the $100 that 00:40:36.539 --> 00:40:39.460 they spent to train them for really a pointless 00:40:39.460 --> 00:40:42.300 operation. And it would be a lot easier if it 00:40:42.300 --> 00:40:44.360 was higher dollar and they could regrade and 00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:46.659 resell it. Because you know those items that 00:40:46.659 --> 00:40:48.199 are all $8, they're going to get liquidated out 00:40:48.199 --> 00:40:51.920 anyways. Unless they're really fast moving. And 00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:55.460 if it's really high dollar stuff, then the value 00:40:55.460 --> 00:40:57.579 would actually be made. Really, it's just lost 00:40:57.579 --> 00:40:59.780 value. And they're not making a lot of money 00:40:59.780 --> 00:41:02.480 off of regrade for media. And they don't make 00:41:02.480 --> 00:41:05.400 a lot of money. It's a lot of volume that's required. 00:41:05.599 --> 00:41:08.619 And Amazon's moving in a direction that the exact 00:41:08.619 --> 00:41:09.980 opposite where they're trying to reduce their 00:41:09.980 --> 00:41:14.159 volume and get higher dollar per. I agree wholeheartedly. 00:41:14.219 --> 00:41:15.619 I'm going to give my final thoughts and then 00:41:15.619 --> 00:41:17.440 I'm going to let you have your final thoughts 00:41:17.440 --> 00:41:20.159 after mine. I think, you know, it's business 00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:22.849 as usual for me. I gave you all the runway three 00:41:22.849 --> 00:41:24.429 to six months. So I think this is permanent. 00:41:24.650 --> 00:41:28.130 No chance. If it turns out to be permanent, we'll 00:41:28.130 --> 00:41:29.769 cross that bridge when we get there. But I'm 00:41:29.769 --> 00:41:32.789 not I don't make business decisions just on a 00:41:32.789 --> 00:41:35.230 flip of a switch, whatever it may be, whatever 00:41:35.230 --> 00:41:37.989 the hell is going on. I do think there's still 00:41:37.989 --> 00:41:39.849 great opportunity. I still think it's a great 00:41:39.849 --> 00:41:42.210 time to start to start on Amazon. I'm not saying 00:41:42.210 --> 00:41:43.789 that just to get your two dollars and ninety 00:41:43.789 --> 00:41:46.329 nine cents. Right. Like I do genuinely believe 00:41:46.329 --> 00:41:48.510 that, you know, there's not many businesses in 00:41:48.510 --> 00:41:50.329 the world where you can slap a sticker on something. 00:41:51.219 --> 00:41:53.340 throw it in a box and kind of forget about it. 00:41:53.480 --> 00:41:57.280 But I do think after this, there will be something 00:41:57.280 --> 00:41:59.320 else. And after that, there will be something 00:41:59.320 --> 00:42:02.239 else. And all I can do is tell you all to, you 00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:04.199 know, have an emergency fund for your business 00:42:04.199 --> 00:42:07.139 and be willing to, you know, if the time does 00:42:07.139 --> 00:42:09.760 come and we can't sell used books, CDs, DVDs 00:42:09.760 --> 00:42:12.199 anymore, you know, think about something else 00:42:12.199 --> 00:42:13.639 that's going to make sense. But we're not doing 00:42:13.639 --> 00:42:16.179 that any time right now or in the near future. 00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:18.840 Max, give your final thoughts on this whole situation. 00:42:19.400 --> 00:42:23.340 Okay. my thoughts are this so over time it's 00:42:23.340 --> 00:42:25.340 gotten harder to become an amazon seller there's 00:42:25.340 --> 00:42:27.920 been more gates there's been more issues and 00:42:27.920 --> 00:42:30.480 something that's also very common is if you stop 00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:33.179 selling you stop selling entirely all that progress 00:42:33.179 --> 00:42:34.599 that you've made let's say you've been a seller 00:42:34.599 --> 00:42:38.219 since 2017 all gone so if you want to maintain 00:42:38.219 --> 00:42:40.840 the reduced barriers of entry and benefits of 00:42:40.840 --> 00:42:42.920 being an older seller you need to continue selling 00:42:42.920 --> 00:42:46.039 and if you're a newer seller Now is the best 00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:47.679 time to consign if you don't want to go through 00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:50.920 that work and the rising gates and issues that 00:42:50.920 --> 00:42:53.940 follow. If you want to save time, you can consign 00:42:53.940 --> 00:42:57.960 and send out to me or Johnny, and you can reduce 00:42:57.960 --> 00:43:00.719 that issue of having to deal with all this stuff, 00:43:00.860 --> 00:43:03.760 and you could skip this entire podcast, really. 00:43:04.820 --> 00:43:07.539 So if you want to make your business easier, 00:43:07.659 --> 00:43:09.599 you can consign with me, or if you're an older 00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:13.309 seller, just continue on with usual. Figure out 00:43:13.309 --> 00:43:15.070 what's the easiest for you and what gives you 00:43:15.070 --> 00:43:19.429 the most value per your time. And the ways that 00:43:19.429 --> 00:43:21.789 I just outlined above is definitely, in my opinion, 00:43:21.829 --> 00:43:24.170 the best ways. We have to make sure Max doesn't 00:43:24.170 --> 00:43:26.349 get hired at Amazon, all right? So, you know, 00:43:26.389 --> 00:43:28.289 everybody keep your eye out. You see him driving 00:43:28.289 --> 00:43:30.670 around a fulfillment center or Amazon headquarters, 00:43:31.050 --> 00:43:32.929 don't let him go in, all right? He's going to 00:43:32.929 --> 00:43:36.809 terminate us all. There was an AI picture of 00:43:36.809 --> 00:43:39.579 me in the Discord with me and Jeff Bezos. on 00:43:39.579 --> 00:43:42.460 a yacht together oh yeah and you know it's it's 00:43:42.460 --> 00:43:45.079 already in progress if if you see my name by 00:43:45.079 --> 00:43:46.619 the way if you want to look at my consignment 00:43:46.619 --> 00:43:48.739 search up my name m -a -x -d -a -m on facebook 00:43:48.739 --> 00:43:51.159 you can reach out to me there or in mike's discord 00:43:51.159 --> 00:43:53.039 service go to the very bottom max gated items 00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:56.559 and i have a whole fax page but if you see my 00:43:56.559 --> 00:43:59.559 name on the executive roster and me talking at 00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:01.949 a shareholder meeting know that you're next Yeah. 00:44:02.070 --> 00:44:03.590 And then I'll bring them on the podcast and a 00:44:03.590 --> 00:44:05.789 lie to our face and say, I'm not getting rid 00:44:05.789 --> 00:44:08.789 of use the use category. I'm not getting rid 00:44:08.789 --> 00:44:11.030 of the use category and I need editorial rights 00:44:11.030 --> 00:44:14.630 over this podcast. Yeah. But yeah, all Max's 00:44:14.630 --> 00:44:16.409 consignment information, that'll all be down 00:44:16.409 --> 00:44:18.889 below. You know, I appreciate him coming on, 00:44:18.929 --> 00:44:20.829 spending his time with me. This was short notice. 00:44:20.889 --> 00:44:23.710 So it always good to have, you know, see somebody 00:44:23.710 --> 00:44:26.070 that's for he's doing over 4X what I'm doing. 00:44:26.150 --> 00:44:29.449 Right. Like, so it's not just me being stubborn 00:44:29.449 --> 00:44:31.360 and saying, keep doing what you're doing. It's 00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:33.880 all the huge players. They keep pushing on, right? 00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:37.659 Do you have to be 11 days, right? 11 days is 00:44:37.659 --> 00:44:39.599 nothing, dude. That's not even, don't people 00:44:39.599 --> 00:44:41.980 take vacations? If you take a two week vacation, 00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:44.099 that's longer than 11 days and you haven't done 00:44:44.099 --> 00:44:46.639 nothing in the business, right? So like, I think 00:44:46.639 --> 00:44:50.079 people are, I think the Amazon media selling 00:44:50.079 --> 00:44:53.039 space is absolutely crazy. Everybody wants to 00:44:53.039 --> 00:44:55.280 quit yesterday. And I think when things like 00:44:55.280 --> 00:44:57.050 this happen, it's just like, all right. I'm out 00:44:57.050 --> 00:44:58.989 of here. So as always, we appreciate you listening, 00:44:59.130 --> 00:45:01.070 watching over on YouTube, and we'll talk to you 00:45:01.070 --> 00:45:03.710 all in next week's episode. Thanks for listening 00:45:03.710 --> 00:45:05.750 to another episode of the Reseller's Mindset 00:45:05.750 --> 00:45:08.349 Podcast. Today's full episode and all previous 00:45:08.349 --> 00:45:10.750 episodes are available to all YouTube members, 00:45:10.889 --> 00:45:13.449 along with the weekly Zoom call and private Discord. 00:45:13.750 --> 00:45:16.570 Head on over to youtube .com backslash to use 00:45:16.570 --> 00:45:18.650 book guy and consider joining for as little as 00:45:18.650 --> 00:45:19.570 $2 .99 a month.