hey what's going on everybody Steve here
raking profit raking profit calm super
pumped up - coming to you guys with
another live video it's been a while but
I'm really excited to bring some
information to you guys that can help
you out because when it comes to you
know changing your life and in building
an income stream one of the best ways
that I found over the last four or five
years to do this is by selling books on
Amazon and I know a lot of people who
are following me on my youtube channel
are selling on ebay and eBay's awesome
eBay is great
I was actually contemplating whether I
should make a video about eBay or Amazon
but I've been really busy with books
lately been spending a lot of time
sourcing and of course if you guys know
my story I spent a lot of time with my
mother who I helped to start her own
personal book business I believe she's
63 or so which goes to proof it doesn't
matter if you're younger or older or mid
age anybody could do this but I spent a
lot of time with her in her business and
going outsourcing and stuff and we
actually just got back from a little
sourcing trip to be 100% honest we
didn't find anything which happens at
times but yeah well I want to answer a
lot of beginner questions for people who
are maybe transitioning from eBay to
Amazon or you know maybe somebody who
just stumbles upon one of my youtube
videos and is like Steve you know how do
I get started what are some of the basic
things like scanning apps what the heck
is a scanning app what's the sales rank
you know how much does it cost to ship
books what's FBA what's merchant so I
start with a free account or a paid
account I've got a bunch of questions
I'm gonna be talking about online
arbitrage best places the source books
when you're getting started can you buy
and sell damaged books what if it has
water damage what if it's missing a CD
how do I analyze a book right what the
heck is a keep a chart how do i price a
book for the first time should i sell as
an FBA seller or as a merchant you know
how much does it cost is shipped to the
to the amazon warehouses so I'm gonna be
answering a bunch of questions I've got
a little list here so it's gonna be a
very well thought-out organized show for
you guys so I'm gonna be kind of
smashing these questions and answers for
you and then I'll be tuning into the
comments if you guys see me looking
to my left it's because I have another
screen you might be able to see it right
over here I have another screen so I'll
be able to answer your guys's questions
and whatnot so great to see you guys
really excited to be here I must shout
out some people we got Adams
exploits in the house wave in what's
going on Adam good to see ya
we got Andre Vaughn's in hey Steve Scott
burns saying hey Steve glad to see you
back with your videos yeah it's it's
awesome to be back for sure
Illinois's picker just opened an account
to begin selling on Amazon been selling
on eBay for 20 years that's awesome you
know it's a it's really beneficial to
sell on Amazon because when you're out
there especially if you're just an eBay
seller sometimes it's really dry the
same as an Amazon seller sometimes it's
dry you don't find anything so by having
another platform to distribute
merchandise not only you're gonna be
able to sell more but you're gonna be
able to find more items because some
items just aren't gonna sell in the
Amazon certain items are only gonna sell
on eBay so that's why I like to kind of
dabble in both platforms so great to see
you here Illinois's picker secret
scratcher hey Steve I watch the old
videos when you when when you and your
mom would go sourcing yeah probably have
some more videos coming out soon
with Mama profits Paul Austin Steve
looking good appreciate that Paul thank
you thank you what's going on Mike Manny
a look at sharp glad you're back
question I have can you sell books as an
individual or do you need to be a small
business so let's just get right into it
guys not too much conversation I was
just reading a comment from one of my
older book videos and I was kind of
getting some questions for you guys
ready and some guys like seven minute
introduction talking about how you're
doing golf way to waste my time so I
don't waste anybody's time I know your
time is precious so do you need to be a
business do you have to be incorporated
you needed to be you know do you need to
do corporate as an LLC or an S corp so
on and so forth to answer that no you
don't need to write it's not like Amazon
is gonna require you to show your EIN
number now if you do want to protect
yourself against being sued for example
let's just say a customer receives a box
with
one of your books in it and maybe they
walk out their door they don't see the
box and they trip over it and then they
crack their neck
unfortunately you could be named on the
lawsuit so by not being incorporated
essentially there's no cushion there's
no protection between you and your
assets so in that sense you might want
to incorporate right so you're gonna
definitely want to talk to an accountant
or an a lawyer a lawyer about that I'm
neither one of them but that that's
gonna answer your question right there
you don't need to but there's obviously
benefits to it okay so I'm gonna answer
some questions first and then I'll go
into my script
let's see Shannon says I'd like to get
started streamlining the whole process
as quick as I can the cool thing about
selling books on the Amazon especially
if you sell through the FBA program
which is fulfillment by Amazon there's
two ways you can go about selling in
Amazon when it comes to books or
anything in general you could sell via
merchant which means you're essentially
like an eBay seller you buy an item you
store an item you ship the item customer
service all that stuff or you could sell
via through the via through the FBA
program which means you you're gonna
source the product but instead of you
holding on to that inventory dealing
with customer service and all that good
stuff you ship it out to the Amazon
warehouses and then they do the rest for
you now the fees are gonna be a little
bit higher but you're gonna be able to
streamline the process much better which
is what Shannon was talking about plus
you could typically get more money for
an item and make more profit and save
more time and I think a lot of us were
not in the business of reselling to
necessarily get rich a lot of us we just
want to make some extra income and have
more time and more freedom so I find it
well worth it to invest in the FBA
program versus being a merchant hey
what's going on Stephen post and I got
your email Stephen it looks like you uh
you finally got the Amazon gift card
that I sent over so I think you were the
one who told me you're gonna buy some
Amazon some book inventory using a flip
which I'm going to talk about later I
think that was you but I'm glad to see
you here Stephen says
my first $100 book yesterday you got me
off the fence and helped me to get
started that's awesome Steven people in
here making it happen Mike says I have
not sold on Amazon FBA yet but I've
acquired quite a bit of inventory
watched and liked a lot of your videos I
have made OK money buying and selling
textbooks now venturing into niche
categories well I can tell you right now
you kind of miss the boat right now
because textbook seasons starting to
come to the end right now
it's still selling well but if you take
a look at the keep of charts check out
keep oh it's a Chrome extension you can
get an idea of when prices in sales
velocities increase which is when you
know the students are going to school
and buying books August September is
really popular but FBA during textbook
season when kids are getting ready to go
to school and even the first couple of
weeks of the semester prices are
inflated like crazy sales velocities are
increased a ridiculous rate you get a
lot of money you can make a lot of money
um try FBA III you know I I think FBA is
great I think you'll make more money
you'll have more time so I would
definitely you know for the people out
there who are like I'm intimidated by
the FBA process you know because I've
got a label the books I've got to ship
them out the Amazon I've got a trust in
Amazon's not gonna damage them and
destroy them so on and so forth I know
it's new my advice to you is just give
it a shot even five books right get
yourself a little you know a little box
and put five books together and learn
the process right there's plenty of
videos that are gonna teach you step by
step this isn't gonna be one of those
videos where I go through step by step
and scan the book and slap a label on
why because there's already a million
videos out there that can teach you how
to do that it's pretty easy you could
even just contact the Amazon you might
even have them have them help you to
walk you through and I know they have
some tutorials as well but give five
books together and ship it out learn the
process you're gonna be amazed at how
much faster books sell when you're
shipping it out well when you're when
you're selling at FBA right when you
have that Prime badge on it I mean I'm
telling you right now it's just it sells
hot
Manny says thanks for answer my question
you got it Manny Tina says hello Steve I
love your positive inspirational
messages Thank You Tina I appreciate you
Tomer barrel saying good info thank you
so much mr. or mrs. T L always picker I
love the fact that Amazon offers that
cheaper shipping rate where obey you
USPS do not significant savings yeah so
one of the comments that I got on one of
my previous videos was Steve I wish you
would have gone more in depth about the
pros and cons of shipping when you're
using FBA right so again like I said
when you're selling these books guys and
we're gonna talk about what's scanner to
use we're gonna talk about you know do
you need apps do you need a phone where
to find ebooks online arbitrage we're
gonna get in all that okay um crap I
just lost my train of thought what was I
talking about
forgot what I was gonna say that's what
I get from multi multitasking but I know
I said we were gonna we were gonna talk
about a bunch of different things
anyways let's move on to another
question maybe somebody could pick up my
thought let's let's look back okay I was
gonna talk about shipping so pros and
cons of shipping FBA versus a merchant
right well I'll throw that in shipping
rates are really really cheap because it
is subsidized right the shipping rate is
really really inexpensive when you're
shipping to FBA a couple reasons one
you're putting a bunch of books in one
box so for example you might put 20
books in one box it might weigh 40
pounds you've got to keep it under 50
pounds so forty pounds depending on
where you're shipping it to because
you're shipping it to an Amazon FBA
warehouse a fulfillment center so here I
live in Connecticut
I mostly ship out to New Jersey so it's
only a couple states away for me to ship
about 40 pounds it might be seven or
eight dollars that is so cheap that's 30
40 cents a book or less sometimes 50
cents now there are times when you know
shipments get split and I've got to ship
a couple books to California or out to
the Midwest it might be double that so
it might be 60 cents right or 65 cents
but typically it
20 30 40 cents to ship a book out so
shipping is very very cheap through the
FBA program because it is subsidized
through UPS okay so that's great that's
awesome right there guys you can get
your book shipped out really cheap and
you're not having to ship out a
million-in-one books at a time you put
them all in a box just make sure they're
under 50 pounds we use a 16 by 15 by 15
box we usually put 20 25 books in there
depending on if we've got a lot of small
soft paperbacks or hard covers or text
books but you put it all in you ship it
off you label all your books with an
effing SKU and it's cheap now if your
shipping as a merchant it's gonna be you
know quite a bit more you're gonna be
shipping out media or first-class right
so I love FBA
we have wades venture in the house guys
if you don't subscribe to wait venture I
don't know what you are doing with your
life
Wade you're awesome man it was it was
great making some videos with you so
Stephen says I bought a book at Goodwill
for a dollar ninety-nine which is an
average price at Goodwill he sold it for
a hundred and twenty nine dollars it's
crazy that's one of the things I love
about books right I'm not coming on here
saying you're gonna get rich selling
books you're not right unless you you
know you have people out there sourcing
for you and you've got a big you know a
warehouse or maybe you're doing
something like Greg Murphy where you're
buying Gaylords of books and you're
sourcing from recycling companies and
you put all these deals together
but for the average guy and girl out
there who's watching right now you're
gonna be going to thrift stores garage
sales Church sales library sales you're
not gonna get rich but could you make an
extra 500 bucks a month yes a thousand
bucks a month yes 2,000 bucks a month
yes but once you start getting over
2,000 a month I'm talking profit I'm not
talking net sales you're gonna be
hustling you're gonna be spending time
you're gonna be grinding but I think you
guys don't have a problem with grinding
and hustling you just want your freedom
and you want to go out there and make it
happen so you can definitely do that you
can also do this on a part-time basis as
well as example for example you know a
lot of times I'll go out and I might not
only spend 20 or 30 minutes going out
with my mom just having fun today we
went to Whole Foods a lot of times we'll
go out and we'll find
you know an $80 book last week for
example I went out to a garage sale I
went to two garage sales why I wanted to
sleep in I was enjoying myself went to
Dunkin Donuts got a nice coffee
little expresso in it you're screwing
around having some fun stopped at two
garage sales we found well I found and I
just gave it to my mom because I'm you
know I'm a nice son I like to give my
mom gifts every now and then in the form
of books I'm a weirdo like that but I
stopped at this one garage sale and
there were two well there was like six
or seven textbooks I scanned them all
two of them were profitable one of them
my mom I gave it to her shoutout to
mamma profit she listed that up for a
hundred forty three dollars she told me
today and then the other one I think was
going for like 30 bucks but that's like
a hundred bucks profit quick like in a
couple of minutes they wanted five bucks
each for the book I said would you take
five bucks for both by the being about a
boom got it it's just an example you
don't have to be a full-time reseller to
make money with books walk into a thrift
store right another thing okay and I'm
gonna start getting into some of the
specifics of the apps and technology and
stuff like that
a lot of people think you have to go
into a thrift store and spend hours
scanning all the books no here's a big
tip guys this is a really really big tip
so I hope you're all listening go to the
thrift stores frequently and get to know
what books are new and what books are
old why is that important because when
you start to notice what's been there
for a while what's dead stock what
hasn't been moving what textbooks look
really attractive but you already
scanned them that worth anything the
next time you go in you don't have to
spend an hour and a half two hours
scanning everything you kind of already
know what is new and what is old now
that's a good strategy for saving time
it's not necessarily the best strategy
for making the most money because as you
know the more you scan the more money
you're gonna make there's thousands of
books you're gonna miss something it's
the same with going through clothing
racks and selling on eBay right you've
got to look through everything to
maximize profits but for someone like me
who isn't relying necessarily on a book
selling book income alone I've got other
income streams as well I like to just go
in and pop and look for kind of
low-hanging fruit in a sense so if you
know where the textbooks are hanging out
if you know what's new and
inventory at least 70% of it you could
go and you could just kind of snipe out
books snipe an $80 book here snipe a $40
book out here and walk in and out within
seven or eight minutes it's possible so
that's kind of my strategy so my
strategy's not necessarily like the best
strategy for making the most money but
just know you can do that if you already
maybe you're a nurse or I don't know
maybe you're a schoolteacher or maybe
you're just a full-time eBay seller and
you're like well Steve you know books is
you know it sounds great but I don't
want to be in their scanning spending
hours and hours you don't have to you
could go in there and just snipe kind of
like I do mama profits my mother she
spends a little more time because she's
a retired now and she's just out there
having fun but don't you know don't
forget about the sniping method okay
let me go through and smash some of
these questions for you guys to help out
a lot of the beginners and again I'm not
forgetting about you guys in the
comments I will be in there as well
answering some questions real quick guys
if you're enjoying this video so far
give me a favor and smash that like
button down below we got a hundred and
ten people watching right now so if we
hit a hundred likes I'm gonna give away
something okay I don't know what I'm
gonna give away but something really
cool that you guys are going to enjoy
self let's smash let's smash that like
button get a hundred likes and let's get
into some questions so I went through
some of my videos with you some of my
facebook comments YouTube comments some
of the most common questions I received
regarding books I wrote them down and
I'm gonna answer them so do you need a
scanner to start selling books on Amazon
yes you need okay why do you need a
scanner let me answer that specifically
no you do not need a scanner like for
example you don't need a handheld
scanner like a Bluetooth scanner you
don't need one of those but you do need
something that is gonna allow you to
scan books so for example I have iPhone
7 I think 8 I think of the 8 I don't
know I have an iPhone and I scan my
books using the Amazon seller app and
Scout eye-q so I use the phone right I
also do have a Bluetooth scanner and I'm
gonna talk about a couple Bluetooth
scanners that are wireless that you can
use and some of the benefits to them but
you need something to analyze books you
need some
type of you need a phone and you need
some type of scanning app that's gonna
allow you to analyze books to see what
it's selling for how many sellers there
are the sales ranks own and so forth and
we'll talk about some of that specific
data in a couple of minutes but yes you
need something to scan if you have a
smartphone download the Amazon seller
app why because that's free it's a
hundred percent free Scout IQ is another
scanning app that's more advanced it's
going to give you more details you can
be able to make better buying decisions
there is a free I believe I have a free
link in my description so if you go in a
description right now I'm just looking
on my other screen you go to description
there is a thanks the fourth link down
free 14-day scout IQ scanning up for
Amazon you can try that out for 14 days
but just know that's gonna turn into a
reoccurring payment after 14 days so if
you're brand new I wouldn't even mess
with that I would just download the
Amazon seller app first because it's
free it's not gonna give you the most
data but it's gonna give you enough
that's what I use 90% of the time if I'm
just screwing around
mama profits she uses that as well if
you're going for with more high volume
and you have a Bluetooth scanner you're
gonna want to get Scout IQ for sure
um so yes you need something to analyze
you need a phone smart phone you need a
scanning app I would recommend the
Amazon seller app if you're new on a
budget and if you're looking to step up
your game make better buying decisions
especially if you're looking to invest
into more longtail books and books that
have factors such as seasonality or or
if you're you know going after textbooks
and stuff you're definitely gonna want
that
what scanner do I recommend so what is a
scanner okay in terms of what I'm
talking about is a Bluetooth scanner
it's a handheld scanner so it's just a
little tiny device that has a laser on
it and you hold it in your hand and you
hold your phone in your other hand and
you scan and it uses a laser to read the
barcode it then takes that information
and translates it onto your phone so
essentially the reason why people use
Bluetooth scanners is it's a lot faster
than using the camera on your phone to
then scan the barcode right it's about
two to three times faster so when
it comes to scanning books the more
books you scanned the more money you're
typically gonna make it's a numbers game
and a lot of times you might have to
scan 30 or 40 books to find a profitable
book depending on where you live and the
prices that you have to pay for these
books so couple scanners I would
recommend the first one is a KDC scanner
I believe that 200 or 300 is what my
good friend Ariza resells recommends and
Caleb Roth I think he might use the same
one I'm not sure but that's a good
beginner one I've never used it before
the one that I have is the scan fob
opticon 2006 so if you go on Amazon you
can check both of those out the scan
files gonna cost you quite a bit more
money but I hear that KDC is like 2 to 3
times less expensive and I think it does
just as well so definitely look into
into those now let me jump into the
comments real quick Adam says question
do the inexpensive Bluetooth scanners
work well the better ones are in excess
of 125 I haven't used the cheap ones but
I know a lot of people use them and they
say they're fine so you just got to get
them installed and connected and it
should work well so I would just go with
the cheaper one to be honest
hey Reagan listening to you as I'm out
delivering sales how do I know what
books to get so you're gonna know what
books to buy based on the data that you
get from the scanning software that
you're using so you know when it comes
to maybe for example this is a book so
I've been fighting a cold like a week
and a half this is a book I'm actually
reading right now it's called the
biohackers guide it's upgrade energy and
focus anyways if you use the Amazon
seller app I'm just scanning the cover
because it doesn't even have a barcode
when you scan a book it's going to give
you information such as the sales rank
which is an indicator of sales velocity
it's going to give you reviews which is
social proof how many people are selling
it new and used what are the prices and
what is your profit margins based on you
know the different numbers that you plug
in cost of goods shipping rate all that
so you're gonna use the software that's
on your phone that you're gonna download
the Amazon seller app or Scout IQ to
make a buying decision and based on your
business model you're gonna make that
decision whether you want to buy it or
not because some people might say wow it
makes $3 I'm in all day long and the
next guy or gal might say $3 well I
don't want to be processing hundreds of
books a week I'm only looking to process
15 to 20 books a week and my minimum
profit margin has to be at least $10 so
it's really gonna depend upon your
business model are you looking for quick
flips are you interested in investing in
ebooks that are long tail that might
incur a long-term storage fee that's up
to you there's no right or wrong the
answer just depends upon your time and
you know what you're looking to shape or
mold your business into so that's how
you're gonna make buying decisions
thrill a gorilla picker what's going on
see people scanning books for hours out
of state sales I say keep scanning we'll
hike it this good stuff hey you know a
lot of people especially at estate sales
and garage sales don't go for books I've
noticed it just depends on your
knowledge base I don't know a lot of
stuff about like vintage jewelry and
fishing items and pots and pans and
antiques and all that stuff so I'm gonna
go for the books because that's what I
know that's what I'm good at so if
you've got knowledge outside of books
out of the state sale there's probably a
lot more money with the stuff that
you're mentioning thriller gorilla but
for someone like me if you and I went in
there I'm going for the books all day
long because I'm never gonna be able to
compete with you I don't even know you
know I don't I just don't know that type
of stuff
what up Denny says hey brother can you
advise if I have to adhere a suffocation
warning label on the plastic wrap for
new books before I send to Amazon that's
a really good question right there I
would probably just slap one on I don't
sell a lot of new books for the most
part if I have a new book I just I've
got these little stickers I'm just slap
it on any time I do
a polybag on anything I make sure the
poly bag has a suffocation warning on it
which is the only poly bags I buy now or
if it doesn't for some reason maybe I'm
using an older one from back in the day
I'll just you know slap a sticker on it
but I don't know what the actual answer
to that is but why not just slap one on
it's not gonna hurt anybody's feelings
lava temptress says glad to finally
catch you live good to see you
Darren uh Coleman says the money-making
king the Master Blaster of the reselling
our dare and I appreciate that discrete
discrete nice name would you invest in a
hardcover early nineteen hundred's book
for FBA it depends if if the
informations looking good the sales rank
is decent if there's enough money there
if the books in good condition if it is
what I think it is there's a lot of
times with these older books it's kind
of hard to identify is this exactly what
it looks like if all those things came
together absolutely uh come Omo hey
Rekha newbie in the game some of those
software's wants you to be a pro seller
so that's actually that's actually
something we should probably talk about
right now should you be a like if you're
just getting started selling books
should you go for the free plan or
should you go for the paid plan so I
honestly if I was brand new just getting
started and I didn't really know what I
was doing I would just go for the free
plan and once I got up to the point
where I was selling about 40 books per
month I would then invest in the in the
pro plan I know there's quite a few
benefits to being a pro just outside of
saving a dollar every time you sell a
book but if I was brand new I would just
go with the free plan until I you know
until I got serious enough to see it
worth it to spend the $40 a month
because some people might be thinking
Steve forty bucks a month is nothing and
I personally agree but if I was new and
I only had 50 bucks in my bank account
or a hundred or maybe not even that much
that forty bucks could do some damage
right I would rather use that forty
bucks towards investing in books that
can make me
30 40 50 bucks a pop so that's the way I
would go yeah I know some apps you have
to be a pro seller and there's different
benefits and buy box and different
things like that
right I believe you need to be a pro
seller to get the buy box correct me if
I'm wrong I thought I heard that some of
these things I'm kind of out of touch
with because I've I've been a pro seller
for so long now but somebody help me out
um let's see
Louis K is textbook season over just
something more over the weekend am I too
late I don't think you're too late it is
getting towards the end of textbook
season right now I know the kids are
back in school but they're just selling
we actually just sold a book for 88
bucks today it was a book that I had
sourced off of a flip recently and I'm
not buying a ton of books right now Oh a
using a flip and if you guys are
wondering what a flip is it's actually a
software I've done a video on this that
allows you to go in and snipe books for
merchants off of Amazon and then flip it
FBA and we made quite a bit of money
this this this textbook season using a
flip so if you guys don't know what that
is look up Rick and profit a flip on
YouTube or you can just go into my
description on this video and I believe
I have yeah I have a 321 dei flip trial
that you can check out so essentially
just a software that allows you to
analyze data and you could search for
books that have a certain rank certain
profit margin in comparison to if you're
gonna sell FBA or whatever you're gonna
do it's a great software now cost a bit
more money to invest in these books so a
lot of times for example the book I sold
today for 88 bucks I paid $30 for so I'm
probably gonna make 25 bucks profit on
it so for some people you might think am
I gonna invest 30 to make 25 but for
others like myself
you've got enough capital to where it's
a really good return on your investment
to go about that route and we just can't
find enough books around here so
definitely look up a flip for sure
John Mendoza says hey Steve I got a free
pallet of
grade school books from a school
district and made over 800 bucks this
month by sending him to FBA John Bowman
John killing it it's what I love
Darrin Steve you got that six-pack yet
unfortunately I don't I used to weigh
240 pounds so unfortunately this might
be too much information to share but
I've got quite a bit of loose skin so
the six-packs under there
but I think it's gonna take a bit more
time to kind of dial in on the diet and
just tighten things up but I'm making
progress through the Gorillaz is funny
Rick and I bought an old Sony cassette
walkman for a buck when I got it home
plugged into headphones in the tape Tony
Robbins was in it
achieving your ultimate goal that's
funny sounds like personal power right
there that's great uh my daughter
doesn't start college at 24th so there's
a little bit of time Wow
Thank You Rob so for some reason I
thought I thought um wow we got Rob
Anderson in the house right now I
thought schoolbooks season was coming to
an end maybe it's not so I guess
Rob let us know in the comment section
cuz Rob's been selling books for longer
than I have especially like I'll just be
honest with you guys doing a flip and
all that this was our first time like
really going for it so let us know Rob
when are the sweet spots
I know it's August in September but at
what point in September do you really
want to like when did the sales start to
really dive off and if you guys go in to
keep on you take a look at the chart
you'll be able to see that so um glad
you brought that up it's actually good
to know I have to send mom a prophet a
message because we were just talking
about that earlier his Amazon individual
seller still available every time I sign
up I only see Pro yeah it should be
unless it changed most colleges start in
August so I thought so maybe there's
some dough that started in September how
come a lot of books don't even scan so
this is another great thing to talk
about right now guys so when you're
taking a look at a book and you want to
scan a book usually gonna look for a
barcode this book doesn't have a barcode
probably because I bought it it was like
a private label type of thing it's not
even on Amazon I don't think I don't
know maybe it is but I'm most of the
time we're gonna scan the barcode now
there's a couple issues with this
sometimes you'll scan the barcode in the
wrong book will come up why because
whoever put it in initially when they
created the listing they put up the
wrong book or they did something wrong
essentially so he always got to make
sure the right book comes up other times
you'll scan the barcode and a book won't
even show up again maybe somebody put in
the book the wrong way they put in the
wrong I see a number I don't know why
but sometimes it happens so he's gonna
make sure the right book comes up when
you scan it make sure it's the right
cover um what do you do if you scan it
and nothing comes up well there's a
couple of options guys this is what I'm
gonna do number one if you're using the
Amazon seller app what you can do is you
can actually hit a button it's in the
right-hand corner it's a little camera
and it comes up like this it's got these
little sparkly things and you can
actually go ahead and scan the cover of
the book sometimes you have to angle it
right and the information will come up
so you can actually use Amazon's
proprietary software to scan the cover
to then have it locate that book um if
that doesn't work which it usually will
and the barcodes not there or it's not
pulling it up you can open up the first
page of the book or the you know first
second third page of the book and we
look for the ISBN number and you could
type that in if that isn't there you
could go to Amazon and you could type in
the whatever app you're using type in
the title of the book and you should be
able to pull it up that way so that's
essentially how I do it Stephen says I
keep getting burned by books with new
editions under the same ISBN number yeah
I mean you got to be careful you
definitely got to be careful how do you
find profit amount when scanning the
Amazon seller app I find rank but not
profit so what you actually do and it's
gonna be hard because I can't share my
screen with you on my phone but if you
say for example you might be able to see
that let me say get in there okay so
when you're on your app when you click
gross proceeds it'll actually bring
another screen and you're not gonna be
able to see it cuz it's too bright and
it'll show net proceeds so if I sold
this for 942 and I got it for free I
would make $2 profit so you just gotta
hit um when you're in the app you gotta
hit gross proceeds and then it'll show
you the profit right there okay um can I
sell books that are damaged what
conditions are allowed to sell okay you
could sell books that are water damaged
you could sell books that are brand-new
now if you sell a book that's damaged or
it's missing a CD or it has some issues
or has a lot of highlighting you're
gonna want to under promise and
under-promise and over-deliver you know
you're gonna want to over promise weight
under-promise and over-deliver okay so
if it's not water damaged if it's bad
condition don't say it's very nice its
pristine it's amazing condition
under-promise and over-deliver
to make them happy so that's got water
damage any substantial issues missing
CDs blah blah blah typically I'll go
with acceptable if it has a little bit
of highlighting maybe a ripped page here
they're just a little issue maybes a
little dirt in the cover I'll go good if
it looks amazing really good I'll go
very good I rarely do like new and I
pretty much never do new unless it's you
know sealed with stickers and everything
so try to stay with books that are in
good shape once you start messing with
water damage books and pages ripped out
and things are missing you're playing
with fire because a lot of people aren't
going to read the condition they're not
gonna read your notes and you could get
in trouble so you could sell anything
just make sure to give as much
information as you can in the
description if it has water damage and
stuff I'd probably take a picture of it
and give as much data to your potential
customer as possible to make them happy
because this is the Amazon this is not
eBay it's not the wild wild west all it
takes is a couple pissed-off customers
to hit the wrong button when they create
a dispute and you can be in a world of
itch so keep that in mind
how long do books stay in Amazon you can
keep books in Amazon for as long as you
want
once you start hitting that six-month
mark you're gonna get hit with long-term
storage fees and based on the size and
the weight those fees are gonna add up
substantially to the point where it's
not gonna be worth keeping it there
anymore
I'll keep them in here as long as you
want you're just gonna stack up the
long-term storage fee so most books that
I buy and sell mama profits buys and
sells they usually sit for less than a
month right you might be thinking wow
but yeah I mean we're focusing on quick
selling books we do have some longer
tail books that sit for four or five
months some that never sell and then we
pluck them out when when the time comes
or sometimes we get those notifications
from Amazon that you know it's free
disposal of books to clear your
inventory and we of course take
advantage of those opportunities hey
what's going on Denise hey Steven
finally caught you on a live stream good
to see ya thanks for watching live
Steven says I have a third dollar book
that's nice and clean but binding is
unglued on the spot acceptable or don't
bother yeah I hate those because it's
like one slip away from just
disconnecting so for something like that
I would poly bag it when I ship it out
put a suffocation label on it if you can
just because you don't want that binding
to disconnect if there's enough profit
I'll take a risk obviously go acceptable
obviously do the most I can to explain
it in the description and sell it but if
it's only gonna make me 10 15 bucks I
probably won't do it with binding issues
I'm sure there's ways to glue it and fix
it and if we had really sells on right
now he'd probably like Steve just do
this do this do that it'd be good I
don't know but I'm sure there's ways to
fix it do you have books destroyed or
I've sent back the thing with books when
it gets to the point where it doesn't
sell like for example say I have a book
that's been sitting in there for five
and a half months it's getting ready to
incur a long-term storage fee at that
point if it's got less than $10 profit
and the rank is starting to get over 2
mil I'll just have it destroyed now if
it's a book that for some reason or
another maybe it's like a 1.2 million
rank but there's like 40 or $50 profit
you know I'll pay the long-term storage
fee and I'll keep it in there it just
depends on your business model Walter
says you ever get looks for scanning I
do have you even had problems with like
some of the veterans making comments
like what you're doing is cheating
you're scanning blah blah blah
um you know you adapter you die it is
what it is but in terms of looks a lot
of times people look at you because
they're just curious they don't know if
you're like with the CIA or something
like what is this guy doing oftentimes
they think I work there and I'm like
pricing books or something but for the
most part it's all in your head most
people don't care they're out there
doing their thing most people are just
normal customers they're not resellers
and a lot of times they're just curious
I'll say hey yeah I'm scanning books and
sometimes I'll say hey you know is it
worth anything and I'll be like no and
it's worth like 80 bucks because I don't
want to encourage the competition
locally but other times people will be
really cool and nice and I'll just teach
them so it just depends um what do you
do with your duds books that you get
home and they're not good to send in
sometimes that'll happen price is just a
road or someone comes in with a crap
load of inventory or maybe I just make a
mistake usually I'll just donate them
back it rarely happens though like less
than two percent of the time I make a
mistake like that just because when I'm
scanning books I'm using the data on
Amazon on the Amazon seller a poor
scholar like you to make those decisions
um okay so how do you price your books
it's really going to depend right a lot
of people will price comparison pricing
so if you're selling FBA pretty much
what you do is you compare FBA prices in
conditions so for example if you have a
very good condition book you might price
competitively with the next person who's
very good also a lot of people price
higher or lower based on seasonality I
would highly recommend getting the
Chrome extension keepa is the Chrome
extension yeah it is and it kind of pops
up on your on your screen and that'll
give you data based on sales velocity in
price history and when Amazon comes in
and out of stock so you can make better
buying decisions sometimes it's best to
be eighth or ninth in line 25% higher
than the lowest price because you know
the trend from last year is sales
velocity increases and it's all supply
and demand and when that wave of buyers
comes through one through seven is gonna
get knocked out you're gonna be sitting
there pretty 25% higher so depends on
seasonality
keepa charts your specific business
model and you know the amount of money
that you have some people want a quick
turn make them money get in and get out
because there's always a risk if you
wait it out
price can erode Amazon could come in
there's issues that can come about so
that really just depends but that's
essentially how I price look at the
condition I look at the sales rank I
look at the competition and there's
other factors as well but that's it for
the most part Louis cases rally roots
has a very good FBI step by step
tutorial yeah those guys are amazing I
trust them with all my heart so go check
them out for sure what justifies listing
a book is collectible I'm a little
confused on that I think confusing that
the whole time as well someone else is
gonna have to answer that question but
it's collectible is like how do I
explain it like with board games
sometimes it's just like new and
collectible and I always think of
collectible as being like used like it's
like the used version of books I mean
for board games but I'm gonna be honest
with you I don't even know the answer so
somebody if I don't know an answer I
admit it guys I don't pretend to know at
all someone help me out with that though
I don't really know the answer
Cato Jones I've never heard of keeper
glad I started watching your livestream
about it being but a boom there you go
get it make sure you get keeper guys if
you're watching right now download key
pod so if you just go to like Google
Chrome extension type in keep download
it it'll show up on your on your little
chrome tab and then when you go to an
Amazon listing this chart will show up
it's really cool and it'll like you
could like scan through the chart and it
will show you like sales velocity price
history it's awesome trust me you want
to get that um looking to see if there's
any more questions for new book sellers
how many items do you recommend selling
initially to get enough feedback to be
competitive with established booksellers
um I wouldn't worry about that I mean
obviously when you're brand new like
nobody wants to buy from like the new
guy but it's just part of the game like
you might miss out on a couple sales a
couple fish might bite on your lure and
then you know get scared because of you
being new but the thing is a lot of
people especially if you're selling FBA
people trust FBA a lot of these you guys
know the difference because you're an
Amazon seller but a lot of normal people
normal people who don't even know that
like most people think that Amazon is
just like everything for sale on Amazon
as buying Amazon representatives like
they think it's like the Amazon company
they don't realize it's like people like
you and I most people so I wouldn't even
worry about that just go through the
process you know analyze books spend the
right amount of money on your books make
sure they're in good shape list them
correctly ship them out go through the
process it's gonna start selling you
know feedback you might get a feedback
one out of every 25 or one every 101
other than 50 you're not gonna get a lot
of feedback don't worry about it I just
I don't want to waste that much time on
it because it's not even that big of a
deal there's nothing you can do you just
have to trust in the process and slowly
over time when you make more sales
you're gonna get more feedback but it's
a good question um just looking through
some of the comments to see what else we
got here
Brandon says thanks for the reply yeah I
sometimes set the collectable sale price
quite a bit higher I don't even know
what it means really so I'm still
looking for an answer because FBA scan
compared to Amazon seller absolutely a
scan is another great app I've actually
used them in the past so you're not
gonna go wrong with FBA scan or Scout IQ
for more data I personally like Scout IQ
just because it's got a couple more
pieces of data that helped me to analyze
but you're really not gonna go wrong
with either again those are paid so if
you're new just start with the Amazon
seller app all I know is my pre price er
won't work on collectable books yeah I
use reprice it so I don't know what you
guys use repriced it's a very beginner
friendly reprice err there are other
repressors out there that are more
advanced and cost more money for me it's
like 17 bucks a month or something like
that so how about something to keep
competitive and you could set your own
rules and stuff but if you're brand-new
I wouldn't worry about a repressor but
down the road after you get a couple
hundred books you can look into that it
might be worth the investment Steve to
keep
with amazon selling requirements that i
read just prices to liquidate inventory
so yeah they've got that new little
rating I wouldn't worry about that too
much
I would just you know I would just think
about your business model and what
you're trying to do and focus on that I
would try to keep it under that
six-month period average selling range
because just to avoid that long term
storage fee I like to stick with books
that sell quick that's just me
personally I'm not sure exactly what do
you mean by the amazon selling
requirements maybe you want to touch on
that a little bit more but I would just
focus on you and do your thing I'm not
sure what requirements you're talking
about how does how does keep a make
money probably off of they probably have
brand deals with other companies or
advertising how long does it take or how
long should you wait until you drop the
price it's just gonna depend it's gonna
depend on your business model
seasonality for example right now maybe
you're trying to get 150 for a textbook
but you notice that maybe for your
specific book kids classes have already
started which means is gonna be more
demand for which means prices are
probably gonna drop read prices or just
start battling it out so you might want
to start lowering the price but if it
was the beginning of textbook season
around August 8th and you were trying to
get your price and you weren't getting
it maybe someone came underneath you I
wouldn't necessarily drop it so it
depends on your business model depends
on how bad you need the cash depends on
the keeper charts in the competition if
a lot of competition is coming in and
maybe somebody has like 800 books
there's actually if you go in and you
pretend to buy their book and you type
in 999 for the quantity you can see how
many books they have there's also a
there's an extension I'm gonna be buying
it for my mother and I that it pops up
automatically how many units they have
in their inventory so that's something
cool I'll share that with you guys when
I when I finally get it but yeah those
are some of the things that I would take
into consideration when adjusting prices
Laurie says to get your book sent back
to you to avoid charges six months I
assume you pay postage to return um
there's a set fee what is it is it 15 or
30 cents to get it I haven't got an item
shipped back in so long I don't remember
but it's it's not a lot of money you
don't have to pay for shipping you just
have to pay for the cost per unit which
is like 15 or 50 cents it's in between
there it's one of those thanks for
suggestions I'm looking for textbooks I
bought 20 - textbooks for 20 bucks
already sold - for over 200 I mean it's
crazy guys if you are a reseller I don't
care if you're on a lik o or Craigslist
flipping bikes or you're doing antiques
from estate sales you got to get
acquainted with books because there's
just so many opportunities not only
scanning a million books and going hard
full-time but just pick in and slicing
and dicing and snipe in going to your
thrift store I mean how many people are
ready I've already seen like three or
four comments from people saying I sold
a book for 80 a hundred two books for
200 you know we just found 150 dollar
book of the garage so guys there's money
to be made out there right so definitely
check it out guys there's a lot of
resources out there on my youtube
channel I've got tons of free videos if
you're looking for a step-by-step course
to get started selling books take a look
in my description it's the first link it
says my favorite course for selling
books on Amazon FBA it's of course be
created by my good friend Jim Pickens
guys it's step-by-step detailed I mean
everything from from A to Z I mean
there's 50 or 60 videos community it's
really good there's probably like
upwards to a thousand students in that
course now I'm assuming it's a really
good course guys it's 97 bucks it's dirt
cheap you know I'd start with the free
YouTube videos but if it gets to the
point where you're like I'm just sick of
wasting time just grab the course guys
it's really good the same guy Jim
Pickens my good friend his warehouse is
actually like 10 minutes away from me
I've been there
guy's legit he's super cool smart he has
another course called textbook arbitrage
so if you're interested in learning
about how to source books online using a
flip or there's other software's out
there as well like Zen arbitrage
I mentioned it and touched on it a
little bit before but there's software's
out there that'll allow you to analyze
data on Amazon to essentially buy
underpriced books on Amazon through
merchants the flip as an FBA seller if
you want to learn that whole process he
actually has a course on that as well
links in the description there's also
free 21 day a flip trowel in the
description free 14-day scout IQ in the
description go on to the Amazon excuse
me go on to your um your App Store and
download the Amazon seller app it's a
hundred percent free guys if you have a
smartphone download the Amazon seller
app it's free signup for our Amazon
seller account get the free account to
start and start visiting thrift stores
garage sales you go to book sale finder
calm and you can start looking for
library sales you can look on Craigslist
the free section talk to your friends
take a look around your house maybe
you're you're a graduate and you have
some text books laying around start
scanning those books start sending them
in learn how to ship to the FBA
warehouse is start making some money
guys alright I'm just trying to help you
guys out there's too many people out
there who are complaining about not
having enough money or the business
isn't growing so on and so forth
I've been there and I can tell you right
now guys ebooks is a great opportunity
so hopefully this video was able to help
you guys out I tried my best to answer
all the questions for you again this
isn't a step by step tutorial going into
all the specifics but I don't think
that's as important as being motivated
and inspired and knowing that you can do
it and kind of understanding the overall
you know 10,000 foot overview of how
this works because once you believe in
yourself you know it's possible and you
see people in the comments you know
saying hey look I'm making money I'm
making it work once you believe in
yourself you could figure out the little
details guys this course is like I
dropped in the description you can check
that out you go through those there's
free videos check out rally routes
there's tons of free videos on my
channel guys go out there make it happen
there's no excuse guys go out there and
crush it okay so if you guys have any
more questions drop comments for me
after the show in the description I'll
do my best to go in and I'll respond to
them immediately if I don't I'll
probably make another video like I'm
doing right now answering all your guys
questions but yeah I want to thank
everybody for watching this video
unfortunately it's about 3 p.m. right
now
Eastern I've got to get running I've got
something going on so I want to thank
you guys from the bottom of my heart for
watching this video I truly hope that
this was able to add value to you and
teach you some new things and hopefully
you go out there and apply this
information and make some money and yeah
go out there and make it happen I'll see
you guys the next one appreciate you all
hey smash that like button guys if you
haven't had a chance to yet and I'll see
you in the next one bye