My main method for selling books, something to consider!

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Hey guys. I wanted to, um, Talk little bit about selling books. There are all kinds of different topics I'm going to talk about on future podcasts. But, um, I wanted to talk about. As far as book selling, um, you know, I sell Christian books, classics. Uh, rare antique books, everything across the board, basically. I feel like I have a pretty good knowledge of, um, how books are made. And different topics. And what different aspects of books give them more value? I don't know as much as some people I know more than some people. And, um, I want to tell you about a little hack that I came up with. Um, Something. That if you've ever gone on. A, uh, online selling platform like eBay. There are these companies that have millions of books. And they sell them dirt cheap. And when I had, gosh, I probably had right now my store I have around 3,500 books. But, um, Before that when I moved from central Texas to east Texas, I probably had about a thousand books more. At the time. And it was really frustrating because I would have these books that I knew were really nice. And I would go on eBay. And I'd see these companies like thrift books or better world books or second sale. All these companies that had like over a million feedback. And I looked at their listings and they'd have the book that I had. But then they be selling it for like$3 59 cents free shipping. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. This book is so much better than that. And I was really frustrated. Even though I paid 20 cents a book. I put a lot of work into it and, um, What I did was I got really frustrated and I thought, okay, well, this is a lost cause I can't make any money doing this. So. I brought probably. Probably around 700 books to a have price books. Of course, they gave me 15 to 25 cents a book. Um, every time I went there, I was, it just really irritated me how the rip people off. On these good books. And I've thought, okay, there's gotta be some way to figure out. How I can do better. So I started looking. At these different mega sellers. And, um, Critiquing their listings. And what I realized is that their listings are generic photos. And if you look at the condition. The condition that they would say they would even give a book. A very good condition rating. If it had highlighting writing in the margins, all kinds of stuff. And tuck kind of clay that doesn't go with EBS policy. But eBay lets him get away with it because they saw a lot of books in eight bay makes a lot money from it. So I looked at that and I said, okay, I've got the same book that they're selling for 3 59 free shipping. But my book. Is in better condition. And it doesn't have any writing in it. So I thought, okay. What I'm gonna do. Is on-going to list my book, take an actual picture, tell them. What is actually in it, not a theory about wallet might have highlighting. It might have writing blah, blah, blah. I'm going to tell him what had actually has, and I'm going to charge$3 to$10 more for my book. Now. I did that. And let's see. I think at the time I had between 1500 and 2000 books. And I was probably selling two or three books a day, real low sell through rate. I was probably making 20 to 30 bucks a day. On average. And I was still getting my feet wet. I didn't realize. That I should be alleging 10 books a day. On average to stay good with the eBay algorithm. But, um, that's what I was doing. So 20, 30 bucks a day is 600 to 900 a month. And I was doing that. Thinking. Okay. I'm going to sell these for a little bit higher price. And then I was, um, Doing some research and watching videos and stuff. And I was like, okay. I looked at listing and I had, I had$10. On the book. And it was worth$10, but then I would look at listings from these mega sellers. And they would have like 300 books. On their listing and they sold 259. And here mine is sitting at$10 plus shipping there's. This is setting at 3 59 free shipping and people didn't even know what they're getting. So I thought to myself, okay. I'm going to bite the bullet. I'm going to just price everything at$5. That. Um, Is with an actual photo. And guaranteeing that condition. And actually when I list books, I under promise and I over-deliver. So if I think a book is like new. I'll say it's very good. If I think a book is very good. I'll put the condition as good. And I'll tell people, I'll say, Hey, it's Scott, where on the cover. But it's clean inside. There's no writing. Or for example, if there's a book that would be unlike new condition, but it's from a library, but it's, it's got the card in the back, but it's still a really nice book. I'll say it's good condition. And if you look at my feedback on eBay, everyone loves the books they get. They can't believe that God such a good deal on everything. So. What I did was. On over 3000 of my books. Um, I put$5 plus shipping. And I explained to my listing. What I'm doing saying, okay, you get an actual photo. You know what the kid is actually is. And I'm charging a dollar to$2 more. Then the mega sellers and that's how I'm competing with them. And what's happened. Doing this. Is that a. My sell-through rate has gone from between two and 3% a month to 10% a month. And I get a lot of repeat buyers. People really appreciate the fact that I. Have great condition and they can get the books for a very, very fair price. So my customers, pretty much people that are looking for books that are unmarked in very good condition. That are really good books that, uh, other people want a lot more money for. And, uh, that's a little hack. I came up with. Um, if I would have thought about this. Before, when I brought all those books to have prize for, I wish I would have thought about, I would love to have those books back, but, um, You know, it's just a matter of analyze your competition. And figuring out. How you can, um, Improve on their weaknesses and capitalize on it. So I. Also as, as far as, uh, finding books when I was in central Texas. I felt like the holy spirit wanted me. To get a ton of stuff and really focus on that for the year. Before it was during COVID and the year before. I moved to east Texas with my family. Um, I would go to the Goodwill outlet, probably two or three times a day, every day. And I just hoarded as much good stuff as I could. Because I knew it would be hard to find stuff up here, any sexist, which it is. And, um, you know, when you have a horde. Of good stuff. Um, you can consistently put it on and list it. Each day state good with the algorithm. Slowly build up your cash reserve. And protect yourself. Because when you move, you don't know what you're getting into. And, um, So that's why I did. And, um, right now, I've got about 3,500 books. In eBay. And, um, You know, I sell probably between six and 12 books a day. And I do have some books that are priced higher, but if other people. Like for example, uh, tonight I listed a book. That there are none on eBay, but some other books that are not signed. Uh, they want$12 for it. And I have a book. That is in better condition. I have the actual picture. And it's signed by the author. And, um, I only paid like 10 cents for it. I put$10 on it and my$10 prices probably. At least half of what it's worth. But the thing is I'm going to sell it quick. So 10 cents into$10. You know, You can't complain about that. If, if you want to hold out for a higher price, you can do that, but I'd rather have$10. Within a month and then flip it a whole bunch of times throughout the year, then hold out for$20 and sell it maybe once in six months. That's just the way you need to look at things. People have as much money right now. And, uh, people are very, very thankful and appreciative of what I'm doing. I've got books. I'm looking at my shelves right now. I've got a back room. Totally. Uh, inventoried everything organized and I'll write where everything is. I've got six, eight foot tall shelves. I'm looking at right now. And I have so many. Awesome. Amazing books. And I know. For our fact that eBay is not letting people see some of them because our older listings. And the only way they would find them as if they did a keywords word search in my store. But I'm telling you. These books for$5. If I would have had access to some of these books when I was in undergrad and grad school. It would. It would have just blown me away. These books are fantastic. Um, Yeah. Some of these books, have you guys saw them? Am I storing? You know what they were, um, you'd be like, how on earth are you selling that for five bucks? I've had people send me messages and say, do you realize this book is worth 30 bucks? And I write him back and I say, well, you better buy it then. And they're very appreciative. So. I don't need to. You know, I get top dollar for everything. Um, I have, when I, when I moved here, I had no sources. So all I had. What's like a storage container full of books that I went through and, uh, Now that I'm here. I have. Let's see. I've got one place I can get free books. I've got another place. I can get them. Dirt cheap. And then another town over. I've got two sources where I can get them dirt cheap. And then further down than that, I've kind of another place where I can get them dirt cheap. And when I look up books, I do it based on what I think. I don't scan anything. I go base on. Okay. I can tell this as a well-made book. The artwork is good. The quality is good. Uh, that condition is good. And. The subject matter is good. You can tell a cheap book. I mean, A lot of these paper backs I don't get, but. I've been around education. And gone through college and grad school and everything. And I, I feel like I'm a pretty well. Uh, educated person. Not in an arrogant way, but. I know a lot about a lot of different subjects and. There's just something about me. I can look at something and know if it would be valuable or not. So. That's what I do. But, um, I just want to, uh, Tell you guys what I'm doing. And if you're going to get into bookselling, I would do something similar. If I were you. If you can't get good books in really good condition. For 25 cents or less. And you have a lot of storage space. And you add the time to put the work in. And you want to sell them online? Try something similar to what I'm doing. Um, Most of my friends. That I see out and about when I go and get books and stuff, we talk and. They have between six and 10,000 books. In their homes or garages or wherever. Some of them. Don't sell anything for less than$10. And one of those friends of mine, he's got 6,000 books. He sells three to five books a day, minimum$10 each. And I'm like, I don't tell them this when I'm like, you know, I dude. Drop them to five and you'll make so much more. But. You know, He enjoys it. It's a hobby. He was a executive for an insurance company at one point. And, uh, he's retired. His house is paid for. He does it because he enjoys it. So. But, um, there are a lot of topics, um, Within the umbrella of selling books. That I'm going to talk about. Um, this podcast is talking about a lot of things that I'm interested in. And, um, You know, People that know me know that, you know, one of the things that people always say is how do you know so much about so much? You are one of the most interesting people. Matt. And, you know, what. Um, when you do a podcast, a lot of the experts say, okay, have a niche. Or a niche. Do that subject focus on that subject, but the thing is when you only focus on one subject, I think it gets really boring. And after about a year or two, you're going to run out of things to talk about with it. And. Um, this podcast is Lance. And all the things he knows about. His passion for God. Primarily everything is based on that. And, um, This is what the podcast is about. You're going to learn a lot of different things. And I've got all kinds of different ideas and stuff. So. Stay tuned. You're going to be surprised by some of the different topics, different topics. I'd talk about. Some of the titles of the podcast. So, all right. It looks like this little podcast was 17 minutes. So I will talk to you guys soon. Bye.