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

2
00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,160
My name is Mike, also known as the used book guy on YouTube,

3
00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,080
along with my friend and fellow full time reseller, Johnny B.

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

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

6
00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,840
Head on over to youtube.com backslash used book guy to join the channel

7
00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:25,400
and gain access to the full length podcast, Zoom call and private Discord today.

8
00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,360
Let's get into this week's episode.

9
00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:28,240
What is up, everybody?

10
00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,520
Welcome in episode 23 here.

11
00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:33,040
I don't even need his help anymore.

12
00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:34,200
He's doing his own thing.

13
00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:35,280
I'm doing my own thing.

14
00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,480
Today's topic, believe it or not, I had I didn't even tell him the topic.

15
00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:41,160
So this is going to be a surprise to him as well.

16
00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:46,200
We're going to talk about bulk inventory, sourcing it, the benefits, the negatives.

17
00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,800
So we're going to cover everything related to buying in bulk, selling in bulk.

18
00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:52,920
And it's going to be a fun call because we both kind of dabble in bulk

19
00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:54,560
in our own different ways.

20
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,640
And it's going to be interesting to see, you know, the eBay side of it

21
00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,960
versus the Amazon side of it, how he manages the bulk and how I manage it.

22
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,960
It's completely different, but I'm sure he can attest that, you know,

23
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,720
having bulk sources is pivotal to your success as a media seller.

24
00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,400
100% and I love this topic and I'm surprised.

25
00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:15,560
Woohoo.

26
00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:17,120
I'm going to let you take it away.

27
00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:18,800
We can run wherever you want to run with bulk.

28
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,320
OK, I guess bulk.

29
00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,680
How to let's go with that.

30
00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,520
So when you're first starting out, you're probably still

31
00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:30,240
probably going into thrifts, which is fine.

32
00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:32,880
Maybe mom and pop thrifts at this point.

33
00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,200
You discovered a few of those.

34
00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,680
So for retail or mainstream thrifts, like your goodwill and stuff,

35
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,960
you want to ask for the manager on duty.

36
00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,320
This is your first approach to buying bulk after you decide

37
00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:48,360
you want to buy everything they got.

38
00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,520
And with that, you ask some probing questions like,

39
00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:55,520
is this all the books you have or are there more in the back just to get an idea?

40
00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,120
Because if you have a number in mind and they say we have four times as much

41
00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:01,200
in the back, well, your number just went out the window.

42
00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,600
So once you've established the quantity, the true quantity they have, say,

43
00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:12,400
well, would you be interested in selling it all to me at a discount?

44
00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:14,200
And what would that discount number be?

45
00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,640
The key to buying bulk is to let them speak first on the number

46
00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:21,240
because then you have the ability to go lower.

47
00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:25,640
Once you speak, you can only go higher than whatever numbers

48
00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:28,800
uttered aloud amongst you too, unless there's multiple managers.

49
00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:36,520
That would be my tip on both thrift and mom and pop type thrift stores,

50
00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:38,680
is ask for the manager or the owner on duty.

51
00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:40,200
I got a question for you.

52
00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:46,280
So you walk in, we'll say, you know, their books are priced at two dollars each.

53
00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,360
You want to buy the whole thing, right?

54
00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,640
Well, this person, you go, hey, you know, you explain what you do, yada, yada, yada.

55
00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:54,880
You say, I want to buy everything.

56
00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:56,960
And I'm like, well, how much you want to pay on you?

57
00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,280
Say, well, how much do you want to sell them for?

58
00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,440
And it goes back and forth until you have to throw out the first number.

59
00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:04,760
I have to be the initiator.

60
00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:06,080
They're being a little bit stubborn.

61
00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:07,280
Yeah, sure.

62
00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:08,040
Sure.

63
00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:12,160
Well, you tell them what you normally do if you've not normally done it before.

64
00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:15,160
Say, well, I'm used to buying by the pound.

65
00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:20,440
I have my scale in my car that I'll bring in and tubs to weigh them in or boxes.

66
00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,280
Or if you don't have any of that, you could just put the books on the darn scale

67
00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:27,800
and figure it out from there and roll them out in shopping carts at that place.

68
00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:28,680
I shopping carts.

69
00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:35,000
I know Mike and I were both around the 15 cents a pound kind of mark.

70
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,440
I'll go as high as a quarter sometimes, depending on what they have.

71
00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,640
The better the stuff, the higher I'll go, the lower end stuff, more like library stuff.

72
00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:45,520
I'm sticking at 15 cents.

73
00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:47,800
15 cents is actually high.

74
00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:53,120
Last time I spoke with some bulk bulk media sellers that buy by the truckload.

75
00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,520
Yes, it is 15 cents is well above what they pay.

76
00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,840
I'm pretty sure they're going right now for a truckload is around eight,

77
00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,320
maybe seven to 10 cents per pound.

78
00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,240
So what we're paying is actually more than a lot of the huge sellers are paying.

79
00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:08,600
I guess, you know, what we're paying is the truckload.

80
00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,160
We're paying, I guess, you know, with volume, it goes down in price.

81
00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:16,200
But it's a fair it's a fair price to offer somebody when you're paying by the pound.

82
00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:21,920
And it is kind of good to, like you said, explain what you do, explain how you normally do it.

83
00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:26,600
So it doesn't seem like, you know, hey, like this person just throwing this crazy number at me.

84
00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,120
Well, you know, with books, it's a little different, right?

85
00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,480
If you're going to buy everything by the book, that's a little bit different than weighing everything.

86
00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:35,840
So it really depends on what you're going in there for.

87
00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:38,280
Right. If it's CDs or DVDs, then we're going by piece.

88
00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:39,960
But it is tough.

89
00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:48,160
I think it's tougher than it ever has been to kind of walk into a thrift store and be able to get back room access or even buy things in bulk anymore,

90
00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,360
because a lot of thrift stores have gotten a lot smarter.

91
00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:57,440
I think the only the only chance you're going to have with this is if you luck out and a Goodwill has a new manager or something,

92
00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:01,800
or a mom and pop store just has an excess of inventory, that's going to be your ticket in.

93
00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:06,400
How do you feel about like going into the same thrift store multiple times?

94
00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,080
Like I go to the you know, I go to this Goodwill once a month.

95
00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:13,040
And every time I'm in there, I'm asking for the manager to have the same conversation.

96
00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:18,240
Like if you're just hassling them down, seeing the down eventually.

97
00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:20,680
I mean, you kind of just building a relationship, right?

98
00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:22,280
You know, you're kind of just like, hey, what's up, man?

99
00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:24,000
Anything changed since I last was here?

100
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,360
Like, you feel like that's too much or you feel like, you know, it's kind of like stepping stones.

101
00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:34,440
No, I feel like it's stepping stones because the more comfortable they are with you, the more likely they are to come down over time,

102
00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:40,720
especially if they'll be thinking about through the weeks and through the months, man, that stuff hasn't moved.

103
00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:46,880
I want to get rid of it. I want to turn my inventory because that's what they're running a business more or less themselves,

104
00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:49,480
even if they're not the owner, the manager of the store, right?

105
00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:51,560
They care about the day to day operations.

106
00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:54,680
They care. They usually care about clearing their inventory.

107
00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:56,560
There are some stubborn weirdos out there.

108
00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:58,560
Don't get me wrong. Just don't care.

109
00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,480
But no, I do think that's very much a stepping stone approach.

110
00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:06,280
I think you can kind of tell, too, like when you have conversations with people,

111
00:06:06,280 --> 00:06:12,760
if you if you feel like there's a chance down the road that you might be able to get in the back room or buy things,

112
00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:16,760
you know, buy everything at a discount, you kind of can tell from the conversations you have.

113
00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:20,880
So you should should have a feel for what's going on, right?

114
00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:26,880
I mean, I know it's tough when you walk into a place and you talk to somebody for the first time alive.

115
00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,120
You know, media sellers kind of like sticking to themselves,

116
00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:32,760
just scanning the media and going on their way.

117
00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:38,960
But the importance of having a bulk source or a few bulk sources or even just bulk buys from other people,

118
00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:40,880
it's going to change your business overnight.

119
00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,160
And you'll be amazed that, you know, the stress free life,

120
00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:48,360
you don't have to go around chasing books at thrift stores, never know what you're walking into.

121
00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:50,320
It can change everything.

122
00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,880
So you kind of hit on like the store approach.

123
00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,880
Yeah, I'm going to take it over to like the the person that you're talking to.

124
00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:57,920
Like the person to person approach.

125
00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,920
So I'm a firm believer in Craigslist, have ads out there.

126
00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:04,160
They're free. We're not paying for no ads.

127
00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:09,280
You just post them in the, you know, for sale and you put that you're buying books, free book pickup.

128
00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:10,280
You don't even got to pay for it.

129
00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:16,760
I could argue that somebody could start a media business today, book CDs and DVDs and have free pickup ads

130
00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:22,360
and probably have a whole business with never paying for a single piece of inventory.

131
00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:26,680
100 percent. It may take a little longer, but it's totally doable.

132
00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,160
It'll take a little longer. But I mean, what are you spending?

133
00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,960
You're not spending nothing. It's just it's just happening.

134
00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:33,280
That's it. That's it.

135
00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:35,880
I mean, it's crazy to think about.

136
00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:41,720
So if you don't have like a used book guy in your area saying he's paying for books and 100 percent,

137
00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:45,320
he should be saying, hey, I'm saving books from the landfill.

138
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,680
Don't even pay for the books. Just provide the service.

139
00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,600
Because even even us that are paying for it,

140
00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:52,960
it's not so much they want to make money on the books.

141
00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:54,720
They just want the books gone.

142
00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:57,280
It's not like, hey, I want to make money off this.

143
00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:01,640
It's like, hey, I have three thousand pounds of books and they got to go. Right.

144
00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:06,600
I mean, you ran into it with somebody that had a storage locker that needed all the stuff gone.

145
00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:08,640
And it's not like they wanted to make money.

146
00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:10,880
I mean, you could have told him 20 bucks and they would have been like,

147
00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,320
as long as you get them out of the storage unit, I don't care how much you give me.

148
00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,880
That's pretty much how that roll. They were wanting a dollar and fifty cents each.

149
00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:22,880
I ended up offering them. I spoke first. It broke my own rule because I just wanted it.

150
00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,200
I was like, I'll give you 100 bucks for it all right here right now.

151
00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:28,760
And I'll bring back my tubs and I'll haul it all away. And like done. Sold.

152
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:30,920
And I could tell they'd been waiting.

153
00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:36,960
They've been waiting to get that stuff back out or clear it out because they had stuff lined out on the outside of the unit.

154
00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:38,640
Had books on the inside of the unit.

155
00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:42,320
They knew the books were heavy because they're the ones that had to take them outside the unit.

156
00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,440
I guarantee you, they did not want to put any of those books back.

157
00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,760
So the guy came up offering, I'll take it all. They're like, hell yeah.

158
00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:55,040
And I believe that like it's no matter what people price their books, right?

159
00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:59,840
If I walk into a small mom and pop and their books are five dollars each,

160
00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:03,200
if I have a conversation with a manager, I don't care what their price is.

161
00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:10,240
Because I know and everybody listening to this, that's a media seller, knows that stuff is never going to sell.

162
00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,600
Like you said earlier, it's not going to sell. It'll sit there.

163
00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:18,440
And after you walk out the door and you don't show back up for a few weeks and the person that told you to beat it

164
00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:22,480
is looking at the same stuff sitting on the same shelf that weighs the same amount of weight.

165
00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,240
They're probably going to be like, well, maybe we should have done this.

166
00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:34,600
So I think you have a lot more leverage than we give ourselves when we go in and buy both from like, you know, thrift stores or, you know, just anywhere when we're buying a whole bunch of everything.

167
00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:39,360
I think I think we almost feel like we're kind of ripping somebody off because we're paying so little.

168
00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,560
But in actuality, nobody else is ever going to buy that stuff.

169
00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:47,520
Right. I used to think that way that maybe maybe I should have given them a little more.

170
00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,200
I do not feel that way anymore.

171
00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,560
Simple for the fact of they were happy with the number.

172
00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:57,880
They could they always have the ability to say no.

173
00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:01,320
So those kind of feelings went away in the same mentality.

174
00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:04,760
I play at garage sales, too. I was at one.

175
00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:08,680
Three, two, three weeks ago, and I walked up there.

176
00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:11,160
Fun parts of haggling, negotiating, right?

177
00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,800
So I look at the box, my how much for all of it.

178
00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,280
And one of the ladies had it's been a rainy day.

179
00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:22,080
They moved everything inside, obviously, and one of the ladies started to chime in.

180
00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,800
But the other lady, like, cut her completely off.

181
00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:26,480
Two dollars. Take it all, please.

182
00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,360
I'm like, yes, ma'am, let me get my wallet.

183
00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:35,520
I think that's because that lady probably carried the box of books down and put it out for sale.

184
00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:37,240
It was not a light box of books.

185
00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:38,800
I had a little bit of a struggle.

186
00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,480
I should have brought my cart, but I just hauled it out to my truck and it was not light.

187
00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,040
And I was a little bit stronger than this lady who spoke up.

188
00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:47,600
Yeah, I think you kind of hit on the head, right?

189
00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,560
Everybody has a chance to negotiate if they're not comfortable with something.

190
00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:57,240
But I can even tell you when I did the yard sale to try to get rid of duds for the last hour and a half of the yard sale,

191
00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:59,240
I changed it on Craigslist.

192
00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,440
I put it out there that it was all free.

193
00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:06,720
And I'll tell you what, you can't give away books anymore.

194
00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:12,840
I think I would sit here. I experienced I sat out there for an hour on a nice day for with free books.

195
00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:17,800
And I maybe had 10 people come by and grab a book or two or three.

196
00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,800
You can't give you can't give this stuff away no more.

197
00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:24,960
It's crazy to me. So the fact that you're willing to give somebody something, you know,

198
00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:30,680
maybe that 20, 40, 50, 100 bucks you give somebody, you know, maybe that's making a big difference in their life.

199
00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:32,600
Maybe they need money to hold themselves over.

200
00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:34,960
You know, everybody's in different situations.

201
00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:37,960
So don't feel bad or just feel like you're ripping somebody off.

202
00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,680
I mean, I pay 10 cents a DVD.

203
00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:43,640
I mean, that's the cheapest I'm the cheapest person there is.

204
00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:46,880
People can sit here and say, oh, the clutter doesn't buy DVDs.

205
00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:48,520
This this company. Well, guess what?

206
00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:51,960
The used book guy does. And he's paying a whole lot less than anybody else.

207
00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:57,280
But people still reach out and say, hey, I got a thousand DVDs, ten cents a piece.

208
00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:00,480
Here's one hundred dollars. I take a thousand DVDs.

209
00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:02,000
And everybody's happy. Right.

210
00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:07,440
It's not one of those things where I don't think I've ever left a bulk buy where like there was tension.

211
00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,680
Right. Like that person felt like they were getting kind of taken.

212
00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:17,760
No, absolutely. I mean, even even the storage unit place for 100 bucks, it's a large family there.

213
00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,160
They actually helped me load up the truck.

214
00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:24,240
I could tell it's been a while since that family's seen one hundred dollars.

215
00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:29,560
They were they did not look that well off, but they were very friendly, very nice people.

216
00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:31,160
Like I said, they helped me load the truck.

217
00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:38,120
It was about, I don't know, over 1500 books, probably closer to the 1600 side.

218
00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,960
A lot of good stuff. They were happy. I was happy. Everybody was happy.

219
00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,760
It was a happy day. Yeah. I mean, 100 bucks is 100 bucks, dude.

220
00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:49,480
I mean, I remember when I was not doing so well financially, 100 bucks would, you know,

221
00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:51,480
that had me as a world of a difference. Right.

222
00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:55,280
You walk and find a hundred dollar bill on the street. You're like, you know, forget about it.

223
00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:56,760
It's a good day. Yeah.

224
00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:01,120
So I kind of want to get the stigma out of there that, you know, you're not ripping people off.

225
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:05,800
You're you're providing a service and you're paying them for you to do the service.

226
00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:10,560
It's not like I mean, people just want their stuff going, especially books, because they're heavy.

227
00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:13,160
And you got to lift them. You got to process them.

228
00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,640
So not only are you getting rid of the stuff for them, you got to deal with it.

229
00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:20,880
And you're giving them money for it. So I think that kind of nips that in the bud.

230
00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:25,240
Don't feel type of way just because you're given a little bit of money.

231
00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:28,680
And like I said, people can't give stuff away. I was in a pawn shop the other day.

232
00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:33,080
Dude had six thousand DVDs. It was twenty for ten dollars.

233
00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:34,400
You can offer him anything you want.

234
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,680
You probably could. I probably could have found a nickel on the floor and said, here, I'm taking a DVD.

235
00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:42,280
And, you know, he would have. And when I checked out at the end, he's like, you want anything else?

236
00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:44,840
Take whatever you want. I'm like, now I'm good.

237
00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:46,920
Get out, Mike. Get out. You'll end up with it all.

238
00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:48,880
There's so much of it out there with media.

239
00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:54,600
And that's kind of the benefit of being in this niche in this market is that it's everywhere you look.

240
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:59,520
But you're going to find it really expensive overpriced and you can come back there three years later

241
00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:03,600
and the same book or DVD is still be sitting on the shelf or you're going to find it really cheap.

242
00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:08,600
So you got to just kind of sift your way through it when it comes to buying in bulk and just, you know,

243
00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:10,920
be aware of what you're providing for people.

244
00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,280
It's not just you, you know, trying to make a buck.

245
00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:18,640
It's you. Maybe I've had it where, you know, elderly couple was moving out of the state.

246
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:24,360
They had all these books in their houses and, hey, I need these books going so we can move and sell the house.

247
00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:28,360
So think about it, you know, maybe it's something along those lines where somebody's trying to move.

248
00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:30,680
They have a whole bunch of bookcases full of books.

249
00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:35,400
And this is one of those things where I had to go into the actual house flights of steps

250
00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,920
because they had books on each floor and you're providing a service for them right now.

251
00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,280
They can move. They can list their house. Nice photos.

252
00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,760
They don't have all these bookcases full of books all over the place.

253
00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:48,080
So it's more than just buying books and trying to make a buck, at least in my opinion,

254
00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,680
I think it's a service I'm providing for somebody versus me trying to make a buck.

255
00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:59,480
Cool. No, I agree. And let me let me shift it over to the two private home versions.

256
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:00,760
I'm not talking about garage sales.

257
00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:05,480
I'm talking about somebody's personal collection they're wanting to get rid of and estate sales,

258
00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,040
which, again, is somebody's personal collection.

259
00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:12,880
They're either getting rid of because somebody died in that family or

260
00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:20,160
there's other reasons for having a state sales in there foreclosing or they went bankrupt or various other factors.

261
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:26,040
I think the estate sales very much covered in what we talked previously, just how much do you want it for all?

262
00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,640
Now, the private home collector, that's a little different.

263
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:35,920
They're going to want more than what you're used to paying for bulk usually.

264
00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:40,080
And that is fair because it's their collection. They are emotionally attached to it.

265
00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:45,920
That's the difference. So you got to pay up for their emotional attachment.

266
00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:52,720
And usually they have really better stuff, usually it's sets of things and series of things and

267
00:15:52,720 --> 00:16:00,040
something, niches of things like history, silver war, 200 books on the Civil War, that kind of stuff.

268
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:08,640
So that's more appealing to me than whatever is on the shelf at Goodwill because it's themed usually.

269
00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:15,920
So on that, I have gone as high as twenty two dollars a book, and that was for an Easton Press collection.

270
00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:23,240
Those books were most all of them were signed by the author, came with the COA certificate of authenticity.

271
00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:28,520
And I looked them up beforehand and most of them were well over one hundred dollars each on eBay.

272
00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:31,000
Some are three hundred, four hundred dollar books.

273
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:36,160
But we settled on twenty two dollars a book. Well worth it. It paid for itself.

274
00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,520
So you kind of knew what you were walking into, though, before you showed up, right?

275
00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:43,600
I did. Yes, I did my investigation. I asked for a list of titles.

276
00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:50,200
They emailed me a list of titles and several, several photographs of what was inside.

277
00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:53,280
The certificates, the signatures, all that kind of stuff.

278
00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:59,600
How do you feel about if you show up there and that's what they have and they're like, you know,

279
00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:03,080
I know these are worth decent money.

280
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:08,400
Like what's your play there if you're right on the spot like you're going to have to act?

281
00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:12,240
I mean, for me, I would look I would look them up if I'm going to pay that much.

282
00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:14,440
How many do you remember how many books it was?

283
00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:19,280
It was about 90 books. I ended up paying close to two grand.

284
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:23,600
So one hundred percent, I'm going to be looking up books if they want me to pay twenty two dollars a book.

285
00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,120
I don't care if I'm sitting right there in their living room.

286
00:17:26,120 --> 00:17:28,760
I'm not going to be like you were talking about two thousand dollars.

287
00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:31,080
It's not a everyday kind of pickup.

288
00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:38,080
Yeah. So you got to if you get yourself in a situation, like you said, it's it's still a very lucrative situation.

289
00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:42,960
And I know, like I kind of hit on it a lot, like I don't have any credit card debt, anything like that.

290
00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:47,080
I do have cash reserves for said situation, right?

291
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:53,320
If if somebody calls me today and says, hey, I got ten thousand pounds of books for you,

292
00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:56,840
like I have the money to go pick those up.

293
00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,600
So like, do you like did you have like a cash reserve?

294
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:04,480
Do you have a cash reserve for like opportunities that can arise?

295
00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:11,480
Yeah, I have a cash box. I keep cash on hand up to five grand for anything like that.

296
00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:16,960
Do I carry around five grand all the time? No, I live in the cash box and cash box goes in a safe.

297
00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:22,600
But when I'm going out to every now and then I'll get a get a I want to go sourcing a day.

298
00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:29,000
I want to go source and I'll I'll put that money in my pockets or I actually have a backpack that'll go in.

299
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,080
And I just carry around the backpack is eight, even five grand in the car.

300
00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:35,040
So it's all my person at all times.

301
00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:42,880
And if I come across something like that in my outings, I'll pull it out and let's make a deal.

302
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:50,920
All right, now we're going to jump into I think this is more important than buying the inventory is dealing with the inventory.

303
00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,880
That is that's what people don't realize about bulk.

304
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:59,680
How to deal with it, you have to deal with the inventory you buy.

305
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:06,800
You have to keep the books moving one way or another in your process along the way.

306
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:13,960
So I'm going to let you kind of take it away. You get you know, we're just we'll just say you got one tub of books you buy from somebody today, drops them off.

307
00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:20,600
Here goes, you know, five bucks. You take the tub of books, run me down exactly what those books go through, how you handle it, start to finish.

308
00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:24,000
Sure. So I get the tub inside the shop.

309
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,320
I roll out my processing table or tables, whichever the case may be, depending on the quantity.

310
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,880
We're saying a tub of books here, so it's probably a table's worth.

311
00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:44,800
I then start taking them out. And as I'm taking them out, I have some trash cans nearby for the things that will fall apart in my hand or that are water damaged or that the books are kind of curvy and bent.

312
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:47,560
I sell those. Those get trashed right away.

313
00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,760
Sorry, landfill. You're going there.

314
00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:53,280
I know. Sad face.

315
00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:57,760
The rest I sort into two piles hardback and paperback.

316
00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:04,560
And then on the hardbacks, I sub sort those between hardback with dust jacket, hardback without dust jacket.

317
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:12,480
And then all of them get sub processed by publisher if I'm noticing a larger quantity of publishers.

318
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:19,360
And then I go through the scanning process of ones with barcodes and one without barcodes and those various little sub piles.

319
00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:24,320
Then what's left is just for eBay. Then I look at them again.

320
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,560
eBay later pile eBay now pile, essentially.

321
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:32,680
And then my eBay now pile, there is a queue. So they go to the back of the queue.

322
00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:34,720
That's that's pretty extensive.

323
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:41,240
I mean, but yet again, you are sitting in your warehouse right now and you deal with many, many, many, many books.

324
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:49,760
So you need a process, especially with eBay, to kind of put the stuff that's going to sell faster, has a little bit more value in the front of the line.

325
00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:52,920
And then the not so valuable stuff at the back of the line for me.

326
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:58,720
I get my tub. I give them a handshake, an autograph, tell them, hey, thanks for coming to visit me.

327
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,240
I'm not giving you no money because I'm famous and this was an opportunity for you to meet some.

328
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,360
Now I give them their five bucks and send them on their way.

329
00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:09,240
But I'm kind of in the same boat. I just don't separate it as much as you.

330
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,560
I have to because of how I do eBay.

331
00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:14,760
Yeah, you got it.

332
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:20,560
Every field I don't have to change during a listing is time saved.

333
00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:27,560
I don't think people realize that you don't do eBay every day in a large quantity of eBay every day.

334
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,680
Any seconds you could save. Oh, my gosh.

335
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:37,480
It's it's even it saves you time for the photography even because usually the same contents on the same page.

336
00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:42,560
So even if you're taking photos like I do, I take about 12 to 15 photos per book.

337
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,840
If it's on the same page, I don't have to think and play treasure hunting.

338
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,960
Where the heck is the copyright page? Where's the title page?

339
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:51,040
Is there any illustrations in this?

340
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:56,200
Because once you get to know certain publishers, they use illustrations or they don't.

341
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,600
But I can't speak to how much time it actually saves.

342
00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:01,720
We're talking hours, people, hours.

343
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,440
Oh, one hundred percent. It's like me trying to list books versus you trying to list books.

344
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:12,200
Right. It's just the front load work you do and understanding how eBay works versus me being naive.

345
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,440
Don't understand how eBay works.

346
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:18,320
I'm looking for the same exact book to sell similar where you're just busting out your own listings

347
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,120
because you have item descriptions already ready to go.

348
00:22:21,120 --> 00:22:23,560
So that's kind of like it's a whole different beast.

349
00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:29,560
Right. The eBay to Amazon when it comes to, you know, listing things, having things work efficiently.

350
00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:35,160
And that's why a lot of people get burned out on eBay, because if you don't do it the correct way and have a process,

351
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:40,840
it'll take you all day to list, you know, 30 books versus you, where you probably can knock it out, you know, in an hour and be done with it.

352
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,520
It's it's pretty crazy to think about.

353
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:50,840
So eBay is more of a refined, like operating procedure versus Amazon is just you scan, see if it's worth it,

354
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,000
list it, throw it on the shelf and forget about it.

355
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,960
So it's it's it's a lot different. And for me, it's got a barcode. I scan it.

356
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,840
If not, if it's an older book, I put it in eBay pile.

357
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:02,560
I look up those books one by one.

358
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:07,120
I don't separate them by hardback, softback, because I don't have the volume he has.

359
00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:09,600
Right. There's one bookshelf sitting there behind him.

360
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,560
He's got, you know, probably three times the amount of books I have listed on eBay.

361
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:15,440
So it's a little bit different for me.

362
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,080
And it's good to kind of see the contrast with Amazon.

363
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,720
You just scan it if it's worth it. All right.

364
00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,360
It goes in the FBA pile. It's worth it. Merchant fulfilled.

365
00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:26,720
It goes in the FBM pile. And then from there, it's that easy.

366
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,480
You know, you just send it in once a week or you list it right there.

367
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:31,720
Merchant fulfilled. And you're pretty much done with it.

368
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,880
But the problem is, I'm sure you run into it.

369
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,920
So like books that have no value, that aren't destroyed.

370
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:45,120
I have in the I'll get to it when I run out of the good stuff pile.

371
00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:48,640
Because you say you don't do nothing with books that are, you know,

372
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:53,040
you kind of hang on to them. You're kind of like you're like collecting cards.

373
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,960
Right. You're hoping they go up in value someday.

374
00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:03,040
No, I'm hoping that they will catch fire, honestly.

375
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:08,760
No, I just know I even charge a premium on eBay, right, because of all the work I do.

376
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,000
I couldn't even do that with those books.

377
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,720
There's no way because there's like 200 of them listed for four bucks.

378
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:16,960
Free ship.

379
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,040
All right. This is barely the cost of the stamp.

380
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:22,880
I can't play the quarter game. I don't got time to play the quarter game.

381
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:27,480
I could list them for what I price met, but they will sit.

382
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,960
For years at that price and the right buyer at the right time,

383
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:35,680
impulse who wants really dumb crap will buy it.

384
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,640
But I don't want to list those right now.

385
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:43,440
No. And for me, I they all go to second and Charles.

386
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:48,000
There's a local store that buys books, CDs, DVDs, toys, board games, video games,

387
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:49,480
everything you can imagine they buy.

388
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:54,080
It's basically, you know, a retail flea market almost, I would say.

389
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:56,760
So all of my stuff goes there.

390
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,880
I do send a lot of the older stuff to JB.

391
00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:04,000
That's his payment for the podcast is I send them all the old paid books, people,

392
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:08,600
all the old paperback books that I that I get from, you know, my bulk pickups.

393
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:14,360
So I always I do not like seeing books sitting around that aren't listed and have no value.

394
00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:18,040
I ran into this with CDs and DVDs.

395
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:19,680
Second and Charles stopped taking them.

396
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,720
And what I did, I just boxed them up.

397
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:23,760
I wrote on the box CD or DVD.

398
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,880
I stacked them somewhere in the storage unit, just forgot about them until I started

399
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:29,280
taking them again. And then I took them.

400
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,760
You you got to have kind of you got to have a process because if you just have all those books

401
00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:36,720
sitting out in front of you, like you don't got to look at them every day.

402
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:39,640
If you don't want to write, you don't got to look up and see all the books sitting up there.

403
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:43,120
That, you know, your does. It's.

404
00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:47,400
That I'm actually saving for when I hire new employees.

405
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,200
It's what they get trained on because I don't care if they screw it up

406
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,600
because I know they're going to sit for a while anyway.

407
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:57,000
Yeah. And you know, down the road, you know, maybe you have some kind of flea market or something.

408
00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:03,280
I think the important part is you you definitely squeeze more money out of all the inventory

409
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,560
that comes through your doors than I do.

410
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,920
I mean, you just you definitely try to get every every penny out of every book.

411
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:14,200
And for somebody that's new starting this, be a little bit weary of doing what JB does

412
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:20,520
because it can overwhelm you and just slow you down and you can list 30 Danielle Steel books today.

413
00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,960
And like he said, they won't sell.

414
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,480
So you just wasted your whole day listing stuff that's not going to sell.

415
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,640
Well, here's the power of eBay.

416
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,760
And it's not to contradict what he just said. It all sells.

417
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,880
It's just how long until it sells is the question.

418
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:42,040
Like I could list some Nora Roberts books for, I don't know, 1299.

419
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,360
But I don't know when they're going to sell because she's overprinted.

420
00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:48,400
Everybody has them for sale.

421
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,760
And then the collectors, well, the odds are they already have them, too.

422
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:56,160
You're looking for somebody to pick back up the collection or just getting into the series,

423
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,920
honestly, because they're usually buying them brand new out when they're at Walmart.

424
00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:03,600
Oh, it's the Nora Roberts Book of the Week.

425
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,440
She just said so they got them for their 499 brand new.

426
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,000
Right. My Nora Roberts books aren't brand new.

427
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,040
They got library stickers on them, too.

428
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,000
They're just going to sit for an eternity.

429
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,800
And I rather churn for the stuff that's going to sell within this year, honestly,

430
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:26,600
before I get to the Nora Roberts, the Diana Palmer, the Tom Clancy is the John Grisham of the world.

431
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:30,440
I agree. I think the overall takeaway is you have to keep the inventory moving.

432
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:35,320
If you're buying in bulk, you don't want the same stale stuff sitting around forever and forever.

433
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:41,040
It's never going to sell, but you have to have some kind of bulk effort put in with Craig's List,

434
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:45,600
with local relationships, with thrift stores and libraries and anything along those lines.

435
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:51,160
And I'm telling you, once you get one, you'll be like, wow, I'm glad I did this because it's going to change your business overnight.

436
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,320
You're going to have a lower buy cost and your profits in turn are just going to be higher.

437
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:58,920
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Resellers Mindset Podcast.

438
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:03,360
Today's full episode and all previous episodes are available to all YouTube members,

439
00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:06,160
along with a weekly Zoom call and private Discord.

440
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:36,120
Head on over to youtube.com backslash to use book guy and consider joining for as little as $2.99 a month.