From running his bookstore to launching a successful online re-selling business selling all sorts of media, including books, magazines and video games, Matt talks us through his passions and challenges, and his unique long-term goal with the re-selling business. He shares with us his experience and interests in growing the business as well as specific tips to start your very own online re-sale business!

From Half.com to Amazon

From early days, Matt had an innate passion for content and books. From magazines to video games, he enjoys seeing how plots develop, how mysteries unravel with characters in a narrative as well as learning more about history. While working at the reference desk in a public library while in college, he started re-selling books which were discarded or donated on Half.com. His big break came when he sold a first edition Charles Dickens book titled New Stories, which he sold for $500. This was the moment he'd realised the monetary value and significance books provided. From then on, he continued selling books on the side.

His passion for re-selling books got him connected to a books dealer named Kim, who introduced him to others in the book re-selling business. With this rich network of book re-selling contacts, Matt has grown his business and is currently partners across a few book stores.

Influencers and inspiration

A few influencers Matt follows include is Driftlist books, Eddie Nix, Yesterday's Muse by Jonathan Smalter and Heather O'Donnell, who does Honey & Wax. These top names in the game can also give you some tips as you start your re-selling business, as they have been in the trade for a long time. Aside from influencers in the re-selling game, Matt gets his inspiration from authors of history and literature books, as well as the ideas discussed in these books. He enriches his knowledge network in the re-selling space further through being part of re-selling discord groups, as well as Facebook groups.

Challenges and Solutions in the Re-selling Business

He shares with us that while he aims to hit a quarter million of sales this year, this would not account for the re-selling platform fees. Due to this, he aims to develop other channels for selling. Another challenge he mentions some booksellers face is pivoting online in re-selling, and a listing and pricing software like AccelerList can help such sellers to pivot online seamlessly and to grow their business online.

Matt's Long-term Goals

If you haven't guessed it from his love of books, Matt aspires to own his own bookstore and to build an apartment on top of it. He wants to spend as much time as possible reading books, and he'd love to leave his apartment to travel the country flipping books. He firmly believes that bookstores are fundamental to building a community, as it provides people within a community with a platform to meet, discuss and exchange ideas, which is the basic building block to what holds a community together.

Tips Including Get Your Basics Right

His top advice to re-sellers includes get your basics right, such as a solid listing software like AccelerList, and to get your technology sorted out, like a scanning system if you're looking to enter the books re-selling business. Matt further mentions specialising in something if you are looking to enter the re-selling business in the long-term or if you are looking to enter an untapped market, which often comes with a higher earning potential if you have done your research. He adds to grow your business, keeping up with learning is important.

"Specialise in something. Become an expert on something no one knows about. I think that's an untapped market. Wherever you live, find out about the local history, poets, historical events, whatever. There's tons of books that are micro press, or small press that explain really significant historical events that are unknown, that don't have a sales history."

While many resellers think about money and profitability when it comes to re-selling, it is also important to think about the impacts of your business, mentions Matt. With his expertise in the library business, he's helped to generate funds to create programmes for children to read and for people to get a GED class.

"I've found personally more doors open when you do good. So that's my outlook."

He shares this and many other gems on The Sellers Corner. Listen to his podcast interview below to get the whole story and more helpful tips on scaling your online re-selling business!

From driving full-time to launching a successful online reselling business which gives him the ability to work on his missions, Jon takes us through his challenges with re-selling and how he’s looking to scale the business in the coming years. He shares with us how his journey on growing the business as well as top tips to start your very own online re-sale business!

From Selling Rare Collectables to Books

Jon saw the opportunity to sell on e-Bay when he got a box of martial arts DVDs at a yard sale. For only 5 bucks, he got 100 DVDs and flipped them on e-Bay for 40 bucks each! This was when Jon saw the potential to quit his 6-day a week job driving to become an online entrepreneur.

He owes his success to his influencers, whose sessions he listened to while driving. It motivated him to look out for opportunities and make the most of each sale. Jon sells a variety of things on e-Bay, from video games to books to toys, and he’s now shaping his online store to sell rare collectibles, such as the 1986 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle collectibles and accessories.

Jon enjoys sourcing and believes that there is value in items even when others don’t see them. His passion for researching has allowed him to understand more about each product he comes across when intending to flip it, and he is able to highlight the positives of it to promote its sale.

As part of his daily routine, Jon reads 1 chapter of a book a day. This would include entrepreneurial and motivational books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, and reading these have helped with his re-selling business.

Scaling Sustainably and Understanding Pricing

Jon had wanted to be a re-seller long before he got into it. His advice to new sellers looking to get into selling on e-Bay or Amazon is just do it, take the leap, and don’t worry about making it a full-time job, it’s one step at a time and things will work out. That’s how he got started and slowly started scaling the business from his first flip with the martial arts DVDs.

Jon shares with us that his greatest challenge to date has been scaling the business, and the way to manage this is through finding the right balance between the following: setting some funds aside for scaling inventory, finding the right inventory, listing the items on e-Bay and Amazon, and receiving the items to re-sell, which in the case of scaling, would likely be wholesale from manufacturers.

“Just take the leap and get started”

He also shares with us the importance of learning the tools used in the business well, such as AccerlerList and ensure that every function or listing is double-checked before publishing it live to prevent a loss or any risks to the business.

He believes that the best way to have a successful business on e-Bay or Amazon is to put in the hours for research, be thorough and trust the sales ranks of items on the website.

“You got to put the research in. So just make sure you're researching or items thoroughly…I would buy stuff because I thought they were awesome. I thought they were cool, but they would never sell. So just trusting the sold listings, if there's no sold listings on that item, no matter how neat, it is. Just pass. So just researching your items, and then learning that and if you're on Amazon trust the sales rank. None of that stuff ever lies. If there's no solids, it's never on sale. If the sales rank super high, it's never gonna sell. So you just need to research your items. I would say that's the biggest thing is just making sure that you're buying quality items and not just random stuff,” he adds.

Making the most of re-selling online

Jon intends to scale the business so it can support him and his family while they travel to different destinations in the future.

“Long-term is to pretty much have it self-sustained to the point to where that you know could, if I'm, I've, my company name is driven missions and we've named it that because we're really heavy into missions and community work and different things like that. And I would love to be able to just say, you know, I'm gonna take a team on a three-month mission’s trip to wherever and just go, and then my employees be able to sustain the business while I'm gone.”

Having a goal can help to motivate you on your seller journey and to stay track on scaling the business!

“Trust the sales rank. None of that stuff ever lies. If there's no solids, it's never on sale.”

He shares this and many other gems on The Sellers Corner. Listen to his podcast interview below to get the whole story and more helpful tips on scaling your e-Bay or Amazon store!

From a successful popcorn seller in NV to launching a successful online reselling business in 2018, Bob Treska takes us through his challenges with re-selling how he’d made a regular monthly profit of 3K. He shares with us how he creatively made a pivot with his business as well as top tips to start your very own re-sale books business!

From selling on carts to selling on online carts

Bob loves to be creative with what he does. He started out with a popcorn business and sold the yummiest popcorn along the east coast. He and his wife sold over 30 different flavors of popcorn, with customized labels and photos! It was a family effort, and he enjoyed the business very much.

In 2018, Bob chanced upon an opportunity, where he got 20,000 magnet shower curtain fillers as someone nearby was giving them away. He thought, why not diversify his income options, and sell these items online?

While popcorn selling was fun, Bob wanted to eventually switch to doing something that was less physically taxing, and something which gave him the time to do more. After testing the sales of the magnetic fillers, he developed a selling strategy, which primarily included re-selling books.

“I want the product (which I re-sell) to be packaged reasonably,” Bob mentions. He goes on to further elaborate that he discovered that books were convenient to re-sell, as they could be easily sourced from thrift shops near his home, and he could physically inspect their condition before selling them online. This quality check process, he affirms, ensures that the items shipped out are in a good shape and any possible product damage that the customer receives would have come from the transit journey. Bob also regularly tests a few products on his store to ensure that there is a diversity of items on his stores. Another strategy he uses for his product listings is to offer bundles of items on his online stores.

Family Above All

Bob owes his success to his supportive partner and loving family. Being married for over 20 years, he mentions that they’ve been through thick and thin, and believes their patience has allowed them to thrive in business. He also spends a chunk of his day daily to spend time with his children and family. Being the family man that he is, Bob’s goal is to save up 500K in the coming years for his family. He aims to do this by reselling items on Amazon and e-Bay, and by investing some of the profits in stocks, which he believes is a great strategy to apply to grow your money.

You can learn anything online

From popping the best American kernels to learning how to make a steady profit from Amazon and e-Bay, Bob believes you can learn anything online these days!

“Just amazing all the stuff, you can find on YouTube. That's basically how we got started with our popcorn business…YouTube is pretty cool.”

Using online platforms like YouTube helped Bob get the knowledge he needed to start his business. He attributes his success to tools like AccerlerList which helped him set up functions and automate workflows in the business easily. He’s grateful for the ease of using the internet to troubleshoot issues in the business when they arise, such as control settings on platforms like e-Bay or Amazon that impact the listing’s visibilities.

He signs up for online courses to understand the stock market better and listens in regularly in Zoom online sessions to understand how the stock market is performing.

While he hasn’t experienced any major events or failures in his business, Bob mentions that he still struggles with getting tech-savvy, but takes his time to be patient with himself and learns how to be a more effective seller online by asking questions.

On parting advice, he offers patience as the key to success. “Everybody thinks everything's going to happen like tomorrow is Yeah, life doesn't work that way. You got to be patient,” he said.

Bob mentioned that asking questions, getting in early, and being patient with your businesses or portfolios can help you become successful in earning multiple streams of profitable income online.

He shares this and many other gems on The Sellers Corner. Listen to his podcast interview below to get the whole story and more helpful tips!

From a supermom of 9 to a top-rated eBay seller, Terry Wilcox takes us through her challenges with book resale and how she’d made a regular profitable turnover per year on the platform. She shares with us her dreams and aspirations as well as hot tips on how to start your very own resale books business!

From Homeschooling to E-Commerce: The Pivot

Being a super mother of 9 kids, Terry wanted to ensure that all her children received the best quality education. So she began buying and selling curriculum materials and before she knew it, she had a solid physical inventory with her. She then thought to herself, instead of throwing it out, why not give back to others and start an eBay store?

This was back in 2013 and the store has only grown. She regularly visits yard sales with her friends and spends her time sourcing these items to sell on e-Bay. While she started with books, her sourcing journey brought her to sell many things, including shoes and clothing. She does regular research online, follows influencers in the space, and has a good group of friends with who she does her thrift shopping. With the help of these, she’s able to strategize and re-strategize with the listings on her eBay seller account.

“I got to the point where I had probably about 1200 physical items in my house. It finally got to the point where it was like, I am running out of room where I can put my physical inventory. And I said, there’s got to be a different way to be able to sell online.”

When her husband lost his job in 2018, the two tag-teamed and help scale the eBay account three times the revenue in the past 3 years. The extra pair of hands helped supermom Terry to get time to source for more products and with the help of AccerlerList, she was able to cross-list the products in her store onto Amazon and start selling there too!

The Success Formula

Terry attributes her success to her routine amidst her hectic schedule and her support network. She ensures she wakes up by 5.30 am every morning and follows a morning routine inspired by the Hal Elrod Morning Miracle. Her morning routine starts with meditation, affirmations, and visualizations, followed by exercise and some reading. This gives her a solid start to the day and allows her to get some me-time in for the day. She likes the headspace this gives her and recommends anyone who’s looking at improving themselves to adopt a morning routine. As for her support network, Terry first started watching videos on YouTube about setting up an eBay store and is an active member in multiple online reselling communities.

Terry adds that she believes in having multiple streams of income and reselling books and other stuff online is just one part of her day. She works in a day job, which in turn supports her sourcing ventures for her online re-selling stores!

Giving Back Through Coaching

In the future, Terry mentions she intends to learn more about online more so that she can eventually give back by coaching online. She intends to schedule some time off to learn all the amazing tools relating to video editing and social media so that she can make these coaching videos seamlessly. She mentions that she’s lucky she got a good support system, with her daughter understanding how to create TikTok videos.

“Having someone to walk you through it is easier than trying to learn all of it. Because it's all been done. It's just like, we just need to find the right people to teach us how to do some of these steps. And that's where I think those Facebook communities have been helpful,” Terry mentions. She intends to give back in the same way, despite her hectic schedule with a job and raising 9 children. She believes that there are lots of opportunities still in the re-selling market, and people can still find their place, and she intends to guide future re-sellers.

“Oh, well, I guess I never really consider myself an expert on these things. But since I'm in ahead, then, and I do like being able to help people. So, there are two sides to this, this business. You know, there's the part where we're making money, and then there's the part where it's satisfying on both sides.”

She shares this and many other gems on The Sellers Corner. Listen to her podcast interview below to get the whole story and more helpful tips!