1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,440 Welcome back to another episode of the resellers mindset podcast. 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,960 My name is Mike, also known as a used book guy on YouTube, along with my friend 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,080 and fellow full-time reseller, Johnny B. 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,680 We help people start and grow their reselling businesses from the ground up. 5 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:16,600 We also have a weekly zoom call and private discord for all YouTube members. 6 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:21,160 Head on over to youtube.com backslash use book guide to join the channel and gain 7 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,400 access to the full length podcast zoom call and private discord today. 8 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,320 Let's get into this week's episode. 9 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:28,400 What is up everybody? 10 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:30,360 Welcome into episode 17. 11 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,400 I can't believe we have made it this far along. 12 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:35,800 Johnny B I'm like full-time media. 13 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:37,280 Johnny B is the same guy. 14 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:38,440 My background's fake. 15 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:39,240 His is real. 16 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:42,200 He just, he just asked the one up me here. 17 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:43,520 Now he has a whole warehouse. 18 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,000 He's sitting in right now full of stuff. 19 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:45,360 Not me. 20 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,040 I'm in my penthouse third floor apartment. 21 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,840 Today's topic, I guess, I mean, I can't even say it's really a topic. 22 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:57,000 We're going to kind of debate some of the more prevalent ideas in the reselling 23 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,520 community, and I'm going to let him pick first because like I said, in previous 24 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,160 episodes, I don't send him a script or anything, right? 25 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:05,000 This is kind of just all on the fly. 26 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:09,840 Um, so I've had a little bit longer to prepare as in like, we'll say 27 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,960 half an hour to prepare, so I'm going to let him choose which side of the 28 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:17,280 topic he wants to defend, and then I'll kind of, you know, say my piece on the 29 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,480 other side, and then we'll kind of talk about it as a whole and move through them. 30 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:22,680 We got quite a few topics here. 31 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:24,520 We're going to jump right on into it. 32 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:29,720 The first one here is free shipping versus customer pays for shipping. 33 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:30,680 Go ahead. 34 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,120 Do you even pick your poison? 35 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:33,880 Free shipping all the way. 36 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:40,520 I mean, free shipping is, I think it's more of the norm these days, and we can 37 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:45,560 thank good old Amazon for that to making it a household expectation because 38 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:50,080 everybody box at shipping now, now that they've had free shipping, like, why do 39 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:51,240 I need to pay for shipping? 40 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:54,560 We got most things going free shipping or even free shipping. 41 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,560 If you purchase this much kind of deal, which is a form of free shipping, even 42 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,320 though you're spending more to get that. 43 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,000 I think that's a status quo. 44 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:08,480 Now for the people paying for shipping, I think it's a, well, there's no 45 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:12,240 other better option that offers free shipping either at a lower price point. 46 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:13,160 So you got to have to weigh. 47 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,680 I'm paying a lower price, but I'm getting free shipping or no, I'm sorry, paying a 48 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:23,680 lower price, but I'm paying for shipping, but I'm paying more to have free shipping 49 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:24,480 kind of scenario. 50 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,400 Like the shipping is kind of injected into the price itself kind of deal. 51 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:29,920 All right. 52 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:32,640 So I just think it's an expectation of people these days, free shipping. 53 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,440 So the heck with your free shipping, right? 54 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,600 I charge shipping on every one of my Amazon merchant fulfilled orders, right? 55 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:39,800 So free shipping can go away. 56 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:40,360 I don't care. 57 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:45,200 So for why I charge for shipping on Amazon is they give you a shipping credit. 58 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:49,160 So instead of just relying on Amazon to automatically credit you that shipping 59 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:50,680 credit, I charged the shipping. 60 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:55,880 So, and I also think with customer pays for shipping, a lot of people like to do 61 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:56,960 calculated, right? 62 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:01,920 You know, they don't want to see, Hey, I'm going to do free shipping and you have 63 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:06,560 to weigh your items and do the dimensions prior to you list. 64 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,960 Well, I guess you have to do that for calculated too, but what happens if I say 65 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,160 it's a 14 ounce item and I don't weigh it. 66 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,400 And then when I go to ship and I have free shipping, it goes from first class 67 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:22,280 to priority and all of a sudden I have to, you know, lose profits where if I have a 68 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,280 customer paying, say you figure out your flat number where it kind of covers 69 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:30,440 everything, maybe $8 per item shipping across the board, like some of the larger 70 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:31,600 sellers do things like that. 71 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,240 I would almost say that kind of counteracts to free shipping where you're going to 72 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,840 lose money because if you charge a flat fee, it's kind of like your average and 73 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:40,720 you know, you're going to win some, you're going to lose some. 74 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,160 So that's my argument for the customer pays for shipping. 75 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:44,160 I do agree though. 76 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,840 I think we do live in times where free shipping is kind of expected. 77 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,880 So now let's kind of, kind of, what do you do in your business? 78 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:58,680 Well, from Richard fulfilled, I do charge for shipping for eBay. 79 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:00,640 I do not, I eat the shipping on that. 80 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,200 I, in the scenario you just brought up, sometimes I lose out. 81 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,680 Like I do sell magazines and I have to have them at first class. 82 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,160 What happens is if somebody buys two or three magazines, it goes over that one 83 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,120 pound and I've got to upgrade by priority. 84 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:20,920 And I eat that cost too, but they're buying three or four items at a time, which 85 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:25,360 more than makes up for the extra shipping cost, or I might break even on the, what 86 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,240 I would normally pay on shipping, even though they're buying in volume. 87 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:36,880 But I really make out like this week, I sold 90 or no last week, I sold 95,000 88 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,320 magazines, that was a priority order, but they bought 95 of them. 89 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:42,840 They spent over $1,200 with me. 90 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,480 I'll pay for the stamp for priority on that every day. 91 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:46,680 How much was the shipping? 92 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,280 A shipping ended up being no, I lied. 93 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:52,560 They had one standalone book order. 94 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,800 So I was able to put everything on media. 95 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:58,600 I was able to do it media mail. 96 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:00,520 Now, if I didn't, I did look at the price. 97 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,840 I would have paid about $40 out of that. 98 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:04,440 That's well enough. 99 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:06,960 I'm ordering that still not that. 100 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:07,880 Yeah. 101 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:08,080 Yeah. 102 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:09,160 I agree with that. 103 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,720 And I think overall, worrying about shipping kind of, you know, just get your 104 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,680 stuff listed, whether you charge for shipping or free shipping, who cares? 105 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:18,080 If you list it, it'll sell. 106 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,960 If you list it competitively and it's something that's desirable, it'll sell 107 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,760 whether you charge for shipping or if you do free shipping. 108 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:25,880 So don't get bent out of shape. 109 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,880 I know this is one of those topics where I see it a lot, you know, people 110 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:31,320 like, Oh, free shipping or, Oh, I don't charge for shipping. 111 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,000 And I get, you know, a lot more sales. 112 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,840 And somebody that does, it really depends on what you're selling. 113 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:36,360 Honestly. 114 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:41,280 Now I have seen people offer free shipping, but they include like a service 115 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:45,240 and handling or packaging fee, which is because they're paying for the 116 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:47,720 expensive boxes or the stay flats. 117 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:50,280 I use stay flats, but they'll charge for their stay flats. 118 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:55,000 But they'll, they'll say the shipping is free, even though it's not technically 119 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:57,680 free, it's like one of those fine print line items. 120 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:01,320 That's an interesting one too. 121 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,520 I've always thought maybe I should add a shipping handling because I use 122 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:06,080 expensive mailers for my stuff. 123 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:13,280 So, but I think I get more sales overall than I would if I switched to that model. 124 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,360 So that, that covers a shipping versus customer pays. 125 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:22,160 Next one is stock photos or you personally take the photos. 126 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:23,440 Which side are you rolling with? 127 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:26,400 For eBay. 128 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:26,640 Yeah. 129 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:28,760 For reselling in general. 130 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:30,080 For reselling in general. 131 00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:34,560 For reselling in general, I say it does not apply when it comes to Amazon land. 132 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:41,160 When it comes to eBay land, a single photo versus a stock photo, an actual 133 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,520 photo is going to do better than a stock photo. 134 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:46,960 So, so you want, you take the photos. 135 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,240 For me personally, in my business, 100% I take photos and I take more than one. 136 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:53,280 All right. 137 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:57,080 So, so explain why you rather take the photos and use the stock one 138 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:58,880 before I blow up your spot. 139 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:02,720 The sell through it's better because people want to see what they're buying. 140 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:04,600 So again, it's a volume thing. 141 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:15,600 If apples were to apples, let's say, I don't know, this honky chateau by Elton John CD. 142 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:21,960 If I, if I just use a stock photo, it, well, that's a bad example. 143 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:23,080 The CDs, right? 144 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:24,240 In books is different. 145 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:25,360 Let's go with this. 146 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,800 This analog magazine, not going to do well. 147 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,440 If I just use a stock photo, I have to use a real photo. 148 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,640 Cause also this is probably an acceptable, maybe good condition. 149 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:37,320 Cause of all it's got scraping, whatever my words aren't good enough. 150 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:38,280 Photos tell it all. 151 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:39,400 Okay. 152 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:41,280 So, so that's it, right? 153 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:44,720 Your photos, you know, tell the story of exactly what the product is. 154 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,440 So now I have to try to defend people that use stock photos. 155 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:48,960 Okay. 156 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,000 So when is the stock photo acceptable? 157 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,960 I guess if you're selling a brand new item that's in some kind of packaging, 158 00:07:55,320 --> 00:08:01,280 you could possibly get away with using a stock photo, but I also do think at scale, 159 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,240 if you, you know, if you're getting truckloads and truckloads of stuff and 160 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:08,160 you're cross-listing and it's just uses the stock photo, because if you go on eBay 161 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:12,080 and search for any book, you're going to see multiple stock photo listings. 162 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:13,800 I think everybody can attest to that. 163 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:18,160 Probably if you search for anything, even if it's used, you're still going to see 164 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:19,880 people listing it with the stock photo. 165 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,200 So there's a lot of, you know, huge sellers out there that do this. 166 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:24,600 And I'm sure they see results. 167 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,120 So yeah, stock photos are important, but there's, there's also situations 168 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:32,800 where I feel like, uh, or not stock photos, taking your photos is important, 169 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,680 but I also feel like there's situations where stock photos you can get away with. 170 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:41,400 I will sit here and say, you know, it's not the, I wouldn't, you know, never 171 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:46,720 just upload stock photos unless I was a huge seller and you can get away with it. 172 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,440 I was a huge seller and you know, I had 50,000 books. 173 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,040 I was listening across multiple platforms and I couldn't upload photos 174 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,120 because of some kind of limitation. 175 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:58,520 But I think you're right here. 176 00:08:58,720 --> 00:08:59,560 Just to sum it up. 177 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:04,000 I don't, I don't think, uh, stock photos, especially for what we do have a 178 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,760 chance against you taking your own photos. 179 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:08,560 I know you agree with that 100%. 180 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,960 Probably most people listening to this agree with that, but there are people 181 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:13,680 out there that do sell a lot of new items. 182 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:16,880 You know, you see, if you like go look at clothes, right, you'll see the, like 183 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:20,360 the, the stock photos of the people wearing, you know, like the Nike Adidas 184 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:24,400 or whatever, it's not the somebody holding up the pair of, you know, Adidas 185 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:26,000 track pants or anything like that. 186 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,040 So there is a place for it. 187 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,840 It just has to be very specific to what you're doing in your business. 188 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:33,000 Kind of like the first one, right? 189 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:34,920 That's kind of what pertains to you. 190 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:37,400 There is, you know, no right or wrong answer. 191 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,720 It's just what works for you in your business and what you're selling, 192 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:41,840 like what your niche is. 193 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:45,000 Right. Like I said, like this Elton John CD, I don't think I would need, 194 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:48,440 I think this would still sell with a stock photo. 195 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:52,720 Now, if it was a collector's edition signed by Elton John or maybe some 196 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,560 exclusive rare cover art, I think it would sell better with actual photos. 197 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:00,880 But for common stuff in CD and DVD land, I think you can get away with stock 198 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:02,480 photos as long as you do a proper title. 199 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:05,920 I didn't even do this on purpose here. 200 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:07,400 This next one we're going to debate here. 201 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,720 We have hiring an employee versus staying solo. 202 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,520 I mean, that's like me and you looking in the mirrors here. 203 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:15,200 Wow. 204 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:16,480 You wrote this in advance, right? 205 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:17,320 Yeah. 206 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:18,440 10 minutes in advance. 207 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:19,280 Wrote them down. 208 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:20,720 This one I've really struggled with. 209 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:26,320 I really thought maybe going software, maybe going cross-listing was where I 210 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:28,560 was going to end up as a solo op. 211 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:35,520 But I like the way I do my eBay store and I like the sell through rate of the 212 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:39,360 way and how I do it with the photos, the extra descriptions, the really 213 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:40,920 detailed condition notes. 214 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:43,000 I have a lot of pride in that. 215 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,760 And if I went the software route, that pride would be gone. 216 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:49,920 And there's something to be said for swallowing your pride and just 217 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:51,120 take the money and run, right? 218 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,200 But if I'm going to be in this for the long haul, which I plan to be, I want 219 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:57,280 something that I am proud of that I built. 220 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:03,440 And so recently this year, and funnily enough, Mike and I talked about this 221 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,880 very briefly before we started this, I'm going the employee route all the way. 222 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:11,800 I think that's a play for me myself. 223 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,040 I know some other media sellers, they're entirely software. 224 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:16,920 They swear by it. 225 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,400 And I don't think they're wrong. 226 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:19,960 I think they're very right. 227 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:24,640 But for me and my store and what I want to do, I think I'm right for me, me 228 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:29,320 personally in my business, but to each their own, I really encourage you to 229 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:31,000 really give it some serious thought. 230 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,440 And think about what you want to do. 231 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,680 If it is just a take the money and run scenario, yeah, go software all the way. 232 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:39,600 No shame in that. 233 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:47,360 But if you want to do something a little extra special and keep that, I'm going to 234 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:50,360 call it small business mentality, even though I'm trying to be a big business 235 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:55,400 with a small business mentality, maybe, maybe go the employee route and there's 236 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:56,680 less problems with employees. 237 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:58,080 Software can go down. 238 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:02,680 Software could get sued and be down for a while, or they can go out of business 239 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:06,680 entirely and you got to make that pivot to switch softwares because you got to 240 00:12:06,680 --> 00:12:07,960 keep business rolling, right? 241 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,200 Employees had the downside of I'm sick. 242 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:12,000 I'm tired. 243 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:12,920 I'm cranky. 244 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:14,920 All other kinds of complaints. 245 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,000 Maybe you fire them, have to get new ones. 246 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:20,760 So there's pros and cons to both of them. 247 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,480 But for me, I'm going employees. 248 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:24,720 All right. 249 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:25,880 So I'm stuck with that. 250 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,560 Please. 251 00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:30,160 Thanks, buddy. 252 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:31,000 I appreciate it. 253 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:32,520 It's okay, Mike. 254 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:34,960 You get to see me once a week on the podcast. 255 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:39,080 You're just a fake AI I created that I did just act like, you know, you're, you're 256 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:42,600 going to make it believable. 257 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,200 So I'm stuck with staying solo. 258 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:45,440 Right. 259 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:47,600 So he kind of hit on a few things, right? 260 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:53,600 Personally, being a store manager previously in a previous lifetime, dealing 261 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:55,760 with people can be a headache. 262 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:00,600 I understand the argument with software, but I mean, listen, a comic can come 263 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:02,480 hit the earth and we're all done anyway. 264 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:02,760 Right. 265 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:07,440 So I get out of that mentality of thinking like it's the end of the line for everything. 266 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:12,240 But there are definitely challenges by staying solo. 267 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:15,880 You have, you have less overhead, but you have to be self motivated. 268 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,600 You can't just, you know, there's nobody, there's nobody else, right? 269 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:20,360 It's just you. 270 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,960 And if you're not motivated to do the job, then you're not going to get no results. 271 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,000 And then your business goes bye bye pretty quick. 272 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:30,920 Now, where, if you have employees, like you're saying, you know, you're other 273 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:32,640 people rely on you and your business. 274 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:37,480 So that's a little extra motivating, but being solo, you kind of keep a, a lower 275 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:41,440 overhead cost and dependent on what you want to do and where you want to be. 276 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,240 No, it's tough to have a solo business, especially for what we do. 277 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,880 And you're going to make seven figures, you know, clear seven figures a year. 278 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:51,520 I'm not talking about sales and talking about, you know, you're making over a 279 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:53,600 million dollars every single year by yourself. 280 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:58,000 That is super hard to do as a one person operation. 281 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:03,160 Now, if you have, you know, if you multiply yourself by five times, think about, 282 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:05,000 you know, how much easier that looks. 283 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:08,240 But if you're comfortable, you know, making a comfortable living and 284 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,800 you're self motivated, being solo is perfectly fine. 285 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:14,640 You just have to, you know, what's your business, right? 286 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:15,320 What's your niche? 287 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:16,120 What are you selling? 288 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:17,840 You know, how much time does it take? 289 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:18,720 Things like that. 290 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,400 And at the end of the day, Johnny B can hire, you know, 50 people and there's 291 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:23,920 never going to be another Johnny B, right? 292 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,440 He can, he can kind of make them like Johnny B Jr. 293 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:26,680 Right. 294 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:28,360 But he's not, he's not the whopper. 295 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:29,480 He's the whopper Jr. 296 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:31,200 You know, it's one of those things. 297 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:32,720 It's not exactly the same thing. 298 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,760 It still works, but you're never going to be able to replicate yourself. 299 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,360 So I kind of want to hear your opinions on that since you're, you know, you're 300 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:43,800 gun ho about having employees, like you have a certain expectation in your mind, 301 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:43,880 right? 302 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,280 Because you know, the knowledge, you understand everything. 303 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:49,880 You have to kind of, I would assume you have to dial that back when you're, you 304 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:52,720 know, talking to employees and having expectations for them. 305 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:54,880 No, absolutely. 306 00:14:54,920 --> 00:15:00,120 I mean, there, there's my standard and anybody I bring on ha there has to be 307 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:04,440 that time of them understanding and accepting that, that that is the standard. 308 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:06,800 Now, am I going to yell at them for every little mistake? 309 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:11,120 No, I'm going to explain why I want things done the way I want them done. 310 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:13,520 Cause they don't have a reason and they don't need to know the reason. 311 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:14,400 They're an employee, right? 312 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:19,400 They just need to be able to produce the, the, the final product, the 313 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:20,440 way I would like it to be. 314 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:25,320 Um, and that takes time and I don't expect them to learn it in two days. 315 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:29,520 Cause there's a lot, if you're doing listings, the way I do, uh, to it. 316 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:31,480 And there's every book's different. 317 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:32,480 Every CD is different. 318 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:34,560 Every DVD is different. 319 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:39,840 Um, so I can't be full tilt with them. 320 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:41,680 100% of the time. 321 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,760 I'm sure there's days where there'll be fun conversations like that. 322 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,520 Like maybe they want to learn a little bit more about business today, but 323 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:48,480 they're here to do a job. 324 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:50,720 They're here to clock in, clock out, get paid. 325 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:52,600 That's, that's what they're concerned with. 326 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:54,120 And I have to acknowledge their needs too. 327 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:56,200 All right. 328 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:57,040 So that kind of covers it. 329 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:59,840 You know, what you want to do employee solo really depends, you 330 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:02,520 know, which, which you want to be, you know, Johnny B wants to be. 331 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:06,600 A warehouse manager, you know, with a, with a bunch of people, you know, 332 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,800 a bunch of friends have, you know, employee cookouts, you know, 333 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,040 my employee cookout is just me in the backyard with the grill by myself. 334 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:13,360 Right. 335 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:16,040 So it really depends what you want to do with your business. 336 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:19,720 Mike, you're invited to a lion T-shirt and just letting, oh my, oh my, 337 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,400 listen, he's already coming up with days for his employees. 338 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:24,120 They're all going to be running to the Hills, right? 339 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:25,840 Don't I'm not applying to that job. 340 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,440 But yeah, just yet again, you know, these topics, there's no right or wrong answer. 341 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:32,520 It's just what fits for you and your business. 342 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,360 So the next one here is, is, is another good one. 343 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:40,680 Buying in bulk versus cherry picking. 344 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:43,440 I have to pick one. 345 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:44,560 You got to pick one. 346 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:47,720 I'm going to go bulk. 347 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:53,400 Uh, my reason for that is I can still get some quote unquote cherry 348 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:55,920 picked items I would get out of said bulk order. 349 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,920 Now I may have spent more money on the bulk order than maybe the two or three 350 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:03,960 items I would have picked up by their own, but I know how to make money 351 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:05,400 on the rest of this stuff. Thanks. 352 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,960 eBay, uh, maybe some Amazon in there too, but. 353 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,000 I just had better luck with that in my experience. 354 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:15,480 Now there's plenty of people who just cherry pick and they're 355 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:16,800 really successful at them. 356 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:21,960 I just don't think for me personally in my rule area, I live in the country 357 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:26,960 folks, unless I were to expand my radius, I couldn't cherry pick to the extent. 358 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,760 That I would like to be a cherry pick only kind of person. 359 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,240 And I, I like, I actually like doing bulk. 360 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:36,520 Despite all the problems that come with it, the whole processing it, 361 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:37,960 the loading it, the unloading it. 362 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:39,200 But I think it's more fun. 363 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,160 I think it's more what's in the box. 364 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:43,000 What did I buy? 365 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:44,320 Cause I don't look at it all. 366 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,840 I mean, I kind of give it a brush over, but I don't look at it all and find 367 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,840 detail until I get it in my warehouse and unpack it all kind of deal. 368 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:53,680 I think that's the fun part of the business for myself. 369 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:56,120 Maybe I'm weird and that's okay. 370 00:17:56,120 --> 00:17:56,720 I guess. 371 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,560 I already covered the big difference between, uh, buying and bulk and cherry 372 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:04,680 picking at the beginning of this call, his background is real. 373 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:05,760 Mine is fake. 374 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,360 That sums it up here for those that aren't watching. 375 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:11,680 Look at all the cool stuff. 376 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:15,560 I have real bookcases behind him on the zoom call. 377 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:18,720 And I have an imaginary bookcases behind me on the zoom call. 378 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:24,040 So, uh, that I I'm perfectly fine here with, uh, having a 100% cherry 379 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:28,640 picking business, especially if you don't have this space or the time, 380 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:33,600 because I'll sit here and challenge JB and say one of those shells behind him. 381 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:38,440 How long would it take a single person to list all of those items on eBay 382 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,320 versus if they just went out and maybe got a few more profitable items that 383 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,960 were really profitable, more desirable. 384 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,200 You would have a better experience overall if you want to keep this, 385 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:53,240 you know, a small operation kind of takes us back to employees, right? 386 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,880 You know, you have employees versus I don't, uh, you have a warehouse. 387 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,400 I have a storage unit, but you know, it's nowhere near the size of your warehouse. 388 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:04,920 So it's one of those things where we're staying in solo is. 389 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,360 It kind of comes with cherry picking almost because it's so hard to do. 390 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:15,360 Bulk by yourself because it's so easy to get overwhelmed with inventory. 391 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:15,720 Sure. 392 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:16,640 It's fun, right? 393 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:20,240 You don't know what's in the next box, but sometimes getting to that next 394 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,760 box might not be for a week because you've got to figure out what you're going 395 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:25,720 to do with everything when you're buying in bulk, right? 396 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:27,400 Because not everything is going to be a winner. 397 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:32,000 Only a small percentage of it is going to be Amazon, eBay, wherever you're selling. 398 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,080 The rest of it, you got to figure out what to do, whether that's redonating 399 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:39,440 or, you know, the yard sales or just listening and see what happens. 400 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,560 It's there's a lot more time when it comes to buying bulk versus cherry picking. 401 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:49,720 And I think it's, I think a lot of people jump into bulk, maybe too fast. 402 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:52,640 No, I think that's true. 403 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,200 I mean, we've seen people that just buy a Gaylord and try it out. 404 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:56,440 We never hear from again, right? 405 00:19:58,160 --> 00:19:59,520 They did it once and they're done. 406 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:00,360 Never again. 407 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,920 Um, and then you got other people who don't, like you said, they get in 408 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,520 the situation of maybe they're just the Amazon seller, they're just taking 409 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:09,480 the greens and sending them in. 410 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,880 Now they're stuck with the 800 books. 411 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:14,360 What do they do with the 800 books? 412 00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:17,840 Well, you can donate them, you can recycle them, you can burn them. 413 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:21,480 Um, you could try to find somebody else to take them off your hands. 414 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:22,040 You could Facebook. 415 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:27,400 There's, there's options, but they could have made a whole lot more money on those 416 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:31,800 800 books and that's where my bottle comes in where I'm going to sell those 417 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,320 800 books in my eBay business. 418 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:38,320 Um, and the 20 or 40 books I send to Amazon while they're out of my life. 419 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:38,760 Yay. 420 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:39,800 I like them out of my life. 421 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:40,560 Less books to deal with. 422 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:40,880 Sure. 423 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:47,080 But those other people, they, they're just trying to get rid of a problem where 424 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,120 I'm trying to profit off the problem, I guess is the best way to put it. 425 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:53,640 Yeah. And, and bulk is going to be a lot more time consuming. 426 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:57,760 I don't, there's, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but there is no such 427 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,080 thing as a part-time bulk seller. 428 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:01,680 I don't think it exists. 429 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,480 I think you have to be committed full time if you're going to be buying 430 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,840 any items in any niche and, and, and large volumes. 431 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,720 The only way I could see it is like you said, it may take you a month or two 432 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:18,360 to get through it and you don't do another bulk order until that's done. 433 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:22,000 But even I would still say that's a part-timer person. 434 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,480 Dude, that is like Mr. Miyagi discipline. 435 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:26,160 Nobody has that in this universe. 436 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:26,520 Okay. 437 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:27,960 That just does not exist. 438 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:32,560 Nobody's going to just sit there and have a bulk buy, sit in their house for a month. 439 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,200 If they do, it's going to be on next door free. 440 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:36,200 Come get all my junk. 441 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,520 I'm done reselling ad, but you know, the, the month after. 442 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:40,680 Sure. 443 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:41,200 Sure. 444 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:47,240 No, I think for buying large really excluding the obscure examples. 445 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:48,480 Nah, that's not a thing. 446 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:49,280 Yeah. 447 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:49,560 All right. 448 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,160 So that kind of covers buying a bulk versus cherry picking, whatever one suits you 449 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:57,080 better, whatever one you're more comfortable with, see better results with, 450 00:21:57,120 --> 00:21:58,600 roll with that personally. 451 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:03,440 I do a mixture JB basically, you know, he's doing a mixture this year as well. 452 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,480 I think that's the best combo candid up, you know, a little bit of both, make it 453 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:11,640 make sense, make it work to your needs and build it from there. 454 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:16,040 So next one we have is free returns. 455 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,560 Slash customer pays for returns or no returns. 456 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:22,960 Free returns. 457 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:28,640 And my only valid reason is if you treat them right, they may buy from you again. 458 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,280 And I'd rather have repeat customers than not have them. 459 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:34,520 Oh, Amazon makes you have free returns. 460 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:37,280 But on eBay, it's a choice. 461 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,120 I made the choice to offer free returns. 462 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,840 But even on eBay, there, uh, if somebody wants to return your item, even if you 463 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:49,840 have no returns from my understanding, 95% of the time, eBay is going to 464 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:51,240 make you return that item. 465 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,280 Me being the customer, me being the seller, I have to take the return. 466 00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:58,000 You have to take to return. 467 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:03,760 Um, yeah, I mean, the customer has to put in a valid reason. 468 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:04,120 Yeah. 469 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:07,880 I don't know if you can call eBay and try to argue your way out of it. 470 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:12,000 Um, but if they return the item, I don't know. 471 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,080 I've never tried to be a no return seller. 472 00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:15,240 I don't know the outcome of that. 473 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,600 What happens in that scenario where they literally are trying to give it back to 474 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,920 you, even though you've set the setting to no returns. 475 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:26,040 I've, I've, I've, I've seen and heard horror stories on YouTube. 476 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,880 Well, I guess they're really not horror story stories because you should offer 477 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:30,200 returns one way or another. 478 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:34,680 Um, even if you have, you know, customer pays for returns or something like that, 479 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,640 where, you know, if they say items not as described, then eBay is going to 480 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:40,440 approve that return every single time. 481 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,280 Even if it's something brand new, it's just kind of like, you kind of hit on it. 482 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:49,560 Like Amazon has created this mindset and expectation across the board where you 483 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:53,640 can return anything whenever you want, however you want, it doesn't matter. 484 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:55,800 And other platforms have to file suit, right? 485 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:57,600 Because if not, then people won't shop there. 486 00:23:58,760 --> 00:23:59,080 Right. 487 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,000 I think Amazon is something crazy. 488 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:06,120 Like they'll say 90 day returns during Q4, but it's really, like you said, 489 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:08,400 whenever they want three years down the road. 490 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:09,960 Yeah, it's silly. 491 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:10,640 It's endless. 492 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:15,360 I've seen returns, like you said, years, years after the fact, it's, uh, it's 493 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:16,680 just part of doing business. 494 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:18,840 And I think a lot of people kind of get called up and returns and get all 495 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,480 bent out of shape like, Oh my, I got a return. 496 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:22,080 Oh man. 497 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,640 Somebody returned it and said, they don't, they don't need it no more. 498 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:28,360 Or, you know, I got somebody, you know, I sold a brand new CD and they said, 499 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:31,880 Oh, I didn't know this, this CD had, uh, vocals on it. 500 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:33,320 They thought it was just instrumental. 501 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,000 Well, you still got to return it. 502 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:36,080 It's not new no more. 503 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:36,960 So I got a return. 504 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:38,440 It's not new no more. 505 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:40,040 So you're not going to get that money back. 506 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:41,360 It's just part of doing business. 507 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:44,840 And if you beat yourself up over returns, it's going to be brutal. 508 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:47,400 I mean, it's going to be, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle 509 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,400 a lot of days because it'll drive you nuts some days if you let it. 510 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,880 And that's why, you know, I turned off all my return email notifications on 511 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:55,880 Amazon because who cares? 512 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:56,920 There's nothing you can do about it. 513 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:57,120 Right? 514 00:24:57,120 --> 00:24:58,160 Why am I caring about it? 515 00:24:58,160 --> 00:24:59,920 It's not like you can say, no, don't do it. 516 00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:00,520 Don't do it. 517 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:02,040 It's already on its way. 518 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:06,600 I mean, I had a return last week that I bought some blue rays, even though it was 519 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:11,040 in the title region B, meaning UK, his player didn't play him. 520 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,240 He didn't realize it, even though it was mentioned several places. 521 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:15,080 I took the return. 522 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:16,280 That happens. 523 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:17,360 That's a problem. 524 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:18,520 I'll just resell them. 525 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:19,160 It's fine. 526 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:20,720 So I ate the return fee. 527 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,640 So I ate the stamp to him and back to me. 528 00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:25,640 Uh, items returned just fine. 529 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,520 Now I may have had a slight issue if they were like all broken or the wrong 530 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:29,640 disk in there, but they weren't. 531 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:32,200 Um, so yeah, I'm just going to resell them. 532 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:37,000 I think most people too, even though they're shopping on eBay, I don't think 533 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,240 people are looking that far into listings to see if they're, if somebody has returns 534 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:42,720 on, right, they're buying the item. 535 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:47,000 And then if they have to return it, then maybe they'll look, but by then they 536 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,040 already assumed the items get returned to the person they bought it from. 537 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:52,200 So I think it really doesn't matter. 538 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,960 And people that try to say no returns, I just think you're fighting a losing battle, 539 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,560 honestly, because like I said, eBay is most likely going to side with the customer 540 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,800 as they should, because that's the only way platforms like that survive. 541 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:06,160 You can't just make people keep things they don't want. 542 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:10,760 Unfortunately, yes, there's people that take advantage of the system, but there's 543 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:11,960 nothing you can do about that, right? 544 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,760 There's always going to be cheaters, you know, scoundrels, swashbucklers, all that 545 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:16,760 kind of stuff out there. 546 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,640 And unfortunately, that's just, you know, part of doing business. 547 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,320 Like I had one the other day, actually yesterday, uh, the message to me on Amazon, 548 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:28,480 Hey, the, the box with the book in it showed up and the box was tore open on the side. 549 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:29,760 And there was no book inside. 550 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:31,640 What am I going to do? 551 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,680 I mean, seriously, am I going to call the post office, you know, go 552 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:37,200 through all this nonsense? 553 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:38,760 You're not going to get nowhere. 554 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:39,520 Who cares? 555 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:41,200 I just submit the refund. 556 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,440 I say to the guy, Hey, sorry that, you know, something happened in transit. 557 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:47,040 I'll issue you a full refund. 558 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,600 You avoid the negative feedback, kind of give the customer a good experience 559 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:52,440 anyway, and kind of move on with it. 560 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,000 I don't care if, you know, if I got scammed out of it or not. 561 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:56,720 And I didn't because he messaged me back. 562 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,960 And you kind of can tell from conversations you have with customers, 563 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:01,280 but real nice guy. 564 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,160 So, you know, it's just part of doing business. 565 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:03,640 Who cares? 566 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,320 It's gone, whatever, you know, I don't have it anymore. 567 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:07,840 It's one less headache I got to deal with. 568 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:10,400 I just opened up one of my eBay listings. 569 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,880 Now the little, little tiny font where it says returns right above the payments 570 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,760 is super tiny and everybody's going to ignore that. 571 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:21,840 But I did notice in red font, which is not black font, like the whole rest of the 572 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:24,400 thing, it does say returns accepted in bright red. 573 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,080 So I guess that's how eBay is identifying it. 574 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:29,720 Cause it's been a while since I looked at my own listing on the front end. 575 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:30,920 It's different on the back end. 576 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:35,360 Well, and I think even like a large, you know, e-commerce, uh, I'll give another 577 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:36,800 crazy example here. 578 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,840 Like I would love to, I would have loved to have been the person on the other end 579 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:46,160 of Deb, Deb ordered, uh, 10 bags of catnip came through, uh, FedEx, I think. 580 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:51,560 And we got the box, the boxes, uh, like you could tell, like somebody pulled the 581 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:57,360 tape off the box, no catnip inside, but there was like, uh, PVC corner piping. 582 00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:59,360 So like the little corners of PVC piping. 583 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:04,760 So somebody took the 10 bags of catnip and put in, you know, like five PVC elbows. 584 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:11,040 Um, and Deb went online, chatted with somebody, you know, on Chewy said, Hey, I 585 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:14,960 got five PVC elbows and not 10 bags of catnip. 586 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:19,080 So do you think Chewy sat there and said, Deb, you're a liar. 587 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:21,400 Like they didn't even, they didn't even need nothing. 588 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:22,520 I said, here you go. 589 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,720 We'll send you out another 10 bags. 590 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:26,200 Sorry for the inconvenience. 591 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,360 And that's just how reselling is. 592 00:28:29,360 --> 00:28:30,480 We are businesses. 593 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:32,880 It's not what Johnny B believes in. 594 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,440 eBay doesn't care what Johnny B believes in. 595 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,120 Amazon doesn't care if Johnny B thinks somebody stole it. 596 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:41,040 It's their platform and they're just going to have returns 597 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:42,480 because it's customer friendly. 598 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,240 Now I have a buddy, he's a tool, eBay says. 599 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:53,840 He got a return with four packs of cool cigarettes in them instead of the tool. 600 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:55,600 And he did the math. 601 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:00,760 The guy paid more for the cigarettes that he put in there than the actual tool cost. 602 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:01,680 Yeah. 603 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:03,560 There's nothing you can do. 604 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:04,400 It's just part of business. 605 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,720 Unfortunately, you know, you just suck it up and deal with it. 606 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:10,040 And, and that's why I think you got to, people got to get in the habit of letting it go. 607 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:11,520 It's not controllable. 608 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,520 Issue the refund, erase it from your memory and move on. 609 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:14,880 Right. 610 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,840 I mean, I used to get mad at returns and that kind of stuff, but don't even 611 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:20,120 phase me these days. 612 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,120 It's like whatever cost of business, click button, move on. 613 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,760 Thanks for listening to another episode of the resellers mindset podcast. 614 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,720 Today's full episode and all previous episodes are available to all YouTube 615 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:35,000 members, along with the weekly zoom call and private discord, head on over to 616 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:45,040 youtube.com backslash to use book guy and 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