Here are my latest numbers from hiring a book-sourcer. It's been about one year, so I thought it would be a good time to post an update.
In this video, I show:
- Profits
- Percentage of Books Sold
- How to Track the Numbers
- FAQ's like, “What prevents him from starting his own FBA book business”
If you would like more information such as the trigger settings on the scanner, and how I pay my book sourcer, please download this free guide.
Here's the link to the tracking spreadsheet as well.
Excellent video and info, thanks Nathan!
Thanks David!
Really good information ..
Thanks!
Nathan,
The information contained in your video is very useful. I print every bit of information that I receive from you! it is excellent. thanks for sharing your experiences with me.
(I also live in the state of Illinois)
thanks Nathan,
Francine Armstead
Thank you!
Nathan, I enjoyed the video and like your pdf. Couple questions though regarding setting.
Do you have the prices set as landed or not landed?
When you click on the profit button you can fill in a base cost or purchase and a shipping per pound. I have typically set these as $1. for book and .50 per pound. But wonder if you are basically paying $2.35 per book do you add that to the cost of purchase. Then you have you costs covered and a profit of 3.00 Or are you leaving those costs a 0.00 and setting the trigger at 3.00 to cover your $2.35. Didnt want to double dip but if no costs and shipping built in then are you essentially saying a minimum spread between 2.35-3.00 is your base purchase requirement.
I hope i am being clear here. I feel like i may not be.
Prices are MF and they are not landed. I don’t use the profit button on FBAScan, so I can’t really answer your question there.
Thanks for sharing all this information with us. You set the scanner to hidden mode but isn’t it possible to get it active to normal mode back by the sourcer? and instead of PDA scanner, I assume you meant PDA scanner, what do you think about using smartphone with FBAScan app.
Thanks again
Yes, it possible that he can get it back to the normal mode. That’s just a chance that I’m taking. I don’t have my sourcer use a PDA scanner. He uses a phone with the FBAScan app.
Regards,
Nathan
Can you talk about your “no rank – 100” setting? What does that mean? and should “no Rank” be checked or not?
Thanks for all you do Nathan…
Craig
Thanks for the update and I think this is a good system you’ve developed. Have you ever run up against FBA’s listing limit of 5,000 items and if so how did you resolve that? I’d imagine if I had several book scouts I might run into that issue.
Matt
I have an older account, so I personally don’t have a limit. I know a lot of newer sellers focus on moving inventory fast, then calling Amazon reps to ask to have their limits raised.
How do I engage a book sourcer if I don’t reside in US?
Not really sure about that. If you are sourcing yourself and you want to hire someone, you should be able to apply the same rules that I laid out.
How do you keep your book sourcer from stealing your phone and scanner?
There’s some trust built since I talked to him on the phone and in person several times.. You can get a pretty good feel for a person. Plus I gave him an envelope with pre-paid postage. That way if they quits, he can just send me the scanner and phone in them mail. He doesn’t have to be embarrassed by handing it to me in person. I also have him fill out a contrac stating the price of the equipment and how it must be returned at the end of employment.
Haven’t watched video but wanted to comment on PDF download.
Your approach is a good variation on Bryan Young’s model.
I wondered what’s the deal with the FBA Scan use. Do you just
give the person this expensive tool or do you require a deposit
of sort to assure it’s returned, not damaged or lost.
I’d like to see a more detailed view of the whole model and how
it’s playing out so far. Perhaps a training program is in order.
Thank You
Yes, I took a chance and gave him the scanner. I did have him sign a contract stating the worth of the scanner ($300), and that it needed to be returned at the end of employment. There was some trust built since I talked to him on the phone a few times and met him in person a couple times as well. One strategy that I’ve heard is a really good one, but I haven’t used. You deduct a certain amount of money from the sourcer’s paycheck every week and have that money go towards the purchase of the scanner. Once the scanner is paid off, then the sourcer will own it. At the end of employment, you can offer a buyback policy where you buy it back from him/her.
I have someone interested in sourcing for me. Do you know the average amount of [time] your book sourcer is spending weekly, to provide you this amount of books? Also can you provide a copy of the scanner contract you mentioned?