My new book is out (and it’s free). “Reselling For Rebels” is 396 pages on every trick to selling used books (and more) on Amazon, building an empire, and quitting your job forever.
“Reselling For Rebels” is here
What is this book?
In a sense, it’s a “best of” from the first 10 years of FBA Mastery(.com). But its also more than that.
More on that in a minute, but let’s get down to business:
- Download “Reselling For Rebels” (free)
- Get the paperback (not free)
(This book is seriously big at 396 pages, so be prepared to download a big file).
The Evolution of FBA Mastery(.com): From blog to book
Before I get into what’s in the book, here’s the story behind it…
In 2012, I began documenting my Amazon-selling journey on FBA Mastery (.com), revealing “every trick to quit your job selling used books (& more) on Amazon.”
Fast-forward to last year, when I set out to overhaul FBA Mastery and make it a truly evergreen resource for Amazon sellers. The plan was to trim it down and edit it into a trove of timeless (or at least still-relevant) material to launch or accelerate any Amazon business.
First thing I did was delete dozens of old articles that were not timeless – old articles about new Amazon fees, etc. Any information that had an expiration date had to go. I wanted every article on the site to be relevant for the present day.
Next thing I did was take down most of my old paid courses, and slowly release the content for free in article and video form (on YouTube).
Then I compiled a “best of” collection of articles from FBA Mastery. What articles was I most proud of? Which generated the best feedback? What pieces had the best and most actionable information?
Then I took those articles and edited each of them to read like chapters in a book – not just a collection of blog posts.
Then I put them all together. And it was still over 600 pages.
Then I went through again and trimmed the fat even more, keeping it to the best-of-the-best articles. It was important to me to have a paperback version that was under $15. The price per copy to print went WAY up over 400 pages, and I would be loosing money per copy at 600 pages (small print run books are really expensive). I got it down to 396 pages, and here we are.
The very last thing I did was give it a title. And that brings us to the book you just downloaded (you downloaded it, didn’t you?).
Why the weird title? I chose Reselling For Rebels against my better judgement (the title is a little cheesy, for sure), but there’s a story behind the name…
How FBA Mastery became the site for “rebels”
Shortly after I launched the site in 2012, I also released a book. It was called Amazon Autopilot (I think the idea behind that title was that FBA put your shipping on “autopilot,” but the name could have been better).
This was 2012, when there were only a couple of websites on Amazon selling, one paperback book, and a few ebooks. I had no audience and I didn’t expect anyone to read my book. And it was self-published, so I could be totally honest and rough around the edges, and it didn’t matter. I didn’t have to answer to anyone.
The big Facebook group for sellers at the time was called Scanpower. I posted a link to my book and asked people to check out Amazon Autopilot.
Someone in the downloaded the PDF and immediately began going crazy on me in the Facebook group comments, attacking me over some of the things I wrote about. Soon dozens of other people dogpiled on. I forget the specifics, but I think their drama was over me talking about listing cosmetically flawless, new condition books as “New” -even if they had a previous owner.
I didn’t think that was controversial, but the Facebook thread exploded with vitriol. As I remember, there were about 30 sellers telling me I was somewhere between the bad guy they told their daughter she couldn’t see anymore, and the Taliban.
And it wasn’t just Amazon Autopilot that stirred up trouble. FBA Mastery(.com) elicited a similar response from some sellers. A segment of the Amazon selling world got REALLY mad at some of the things I was talking about. Some were mad I was sharing too many “trade secrets,” and others were mad that I was a proud advocate of bending certain Amazon’s rules (and some of society’s rules) in pursuit of Amazon profit.
But my inbox from readers told a different story. I was getting tons of response from sellers thanking me for talking about all the little tricks of the business that no one else was talking about. Some thanking me for teaching them these things, and other who already knew them thanking me for showing them they weren’t alone.
What I learned is that there was a pent-up demand for really honest material on the often rough-around-the-edges business of reselling books (and more) on Amazon. Basically, a “rebel‘s” take on the business.
And I learned something really important: you have to alienate certain people to find your “tribe.” The people who got what I was doing with FBA Mastery really got it. And it was a cool group of sellers who weren’t the stuffy, hall-monitor types. Those are the people I was speaking to.
So for lack of a better word, FBA Mastery became the resource for the sellers who were slightly rebellious. And here we are.
True to it’s name, in the pages of Reselling For Rebels, you’ll find acts of trespassing, exploiting unpopular loopholes, quasi-homelessness, and unapologetic Marketplace policy-breaking – all in pursuit of Amazon profit.
So to bring this full-circle: I agree “Reselling For Rebels” is a cheesy title. But I think I’ve earned it.
Now that you’ve read this far…
- Download here (free)
- Get the paperback (not free)
What’s in Reselling For Rebels?
It’s actually an insane amount of material for one book (again: 396 pages). Here’s a partial list…
Some basic Amazon-selling lessons, like:
? How to find used books to resell on Amazon.
? The most profitable book categories to sell on Amazon.
? Sourcing books from thrift stores, garage sales, and even dumpsters.
? Sourcing Amazon inventory online (aka “online arbitrage”).
? Tricks to profit from library book sales.
? The 3 steps to double your Amazon FBA business.
? How to beat your Amazon seller competition.
? 10 facts about Amazon feedback.
? How to resell used textbooks on Amazon for big profits.
More advanced tactics, like:
? The science of finding books to resell on Amazon.
? How to sell books for more on eBay than on Amazon.
? Five steps to traveling for free using Fulfillment by Amazon.
? Why Amazon sellers should ignore the Buy Box.
? Advanced Amazon book sourcing secrets: From overstock stores to retail arbitrage.
? Beyond books: reselling vinyl records, CDs, and cassette tapes on Amazon.
Interviews with other sellers over the years, such as:
? An Amazon seller who made $30,000 from a library book sale.
? A large-scale Amazon bookseller on advanced Amazon bookselling techniques.
? An expert in reselling used board games on Amazon.
? A professional dumpster diver who resells books from dumpsters on Amazon.
? A large-scale Amazon used CD reseller.
And personal stories from my life, like:
? The time I got locked in a dumpster full of books.
? How a short trip to a recycling center yielded me $3,000 in books to resell.
? Dumpster diving for books at college dorms.
? How I made $2,000 flipping weird DVD courses on Amazon doing online arbitrage.
? A four-figure used book score at an estate sale.
? Case studies in sourcing books from garage sales.
? How I manage to profit from even the most low-quality library book sales.
? Reselling books from thrift stores: case study.
? An Amazon inventory-sourcing road trip.
…and tons more.
- Download “Reselling For Rebels” (free)
- Get the paperback (not free)
Excerpt: The Introduction To “Reselling For Rebels”
Here’s a sample from the first five pages of the book:
*Begin excerpt*
Sometimes I miss the dark ages of Amazon selling…
The last job I had was in 2007. That was the year I stated selling on Amazon. I haven’t worked for someone else since.
At that time, the world for Amazon sellers was bleak. There were few resources. Maybe two blogs. A few ebooks. No YouTube channels. Almost nowhere to turn. I had to make almost everything up as I went.
Five years (and multiple six-figures) into the weird world of selling used books on Amazon, I launched FBA Mastery (.com). The plan was to be the resource I wish I had when I got started — sharing stories, tactics, triumphs and defeats — and give newer sellers a shortcut past the learning curve. I.e. something I never had.
What follows is a “best of” from the first 10 years of FBA Mastery: A site that has spawned over a dozen books, courses, software tools, and (dare I say) guided thousands of sellers to enter the weird business of selling weird things on Amazon.
Let me back up, to the beginning…
My life’s mission has always been to not have a real job. A life of fruitful unemployment so I could live the most interesting life possible, not be lazy on a couch watching TV.
In 2007, when a previous business venture ended (after the job before it), I was looking for a new start. I wanted something I could make a full time living from while working less than 25 hours a week.
One day my girlfriend and I were at a garage sale. We overheard a couple talking about purchasing thousands of books at a storage unit auction and selling them on Amazon. I liked what I was hearing.
Problem was, I had no money.
So I couldn’t believe my luck when, soon after, I was at the recycling center at the college near my house and found hundreds of books in the dumpster. The listing price on Amazon came to over $1,000.
Soon after that, I was at another garage sale and bought a photography book called O Rio De Janeiro: A Photographic Journal for $1. I sold it quickly on Amazon for over $500.
I was hooked.
There was another problem.
I had nowhere to turn for advice. This was 2007. There were no blogs. And only one book on how to sell on Amazon.
If I was going to succeed, I would have to make it up as I went.
I bought the only “how to” book on Amazon selling I could find, and read it in one day.
The book wasn’t even that good, but if it wasn’t for the few bits of useful advice I picked up, I wouldn’t be here, many years later.
Fast forward to 2010…
I was making a cross-country move, and transporting my Amazon inventory was cost-prohibitive. I researched Amazon’s “Fulfillment by Amazon” (FBA) program, where Amazon stores and ships your inventory for you, doing most of the work. Still skeptical, I shipped Amazon my inventory of books, and held my breath.
My sales exploded, and my once-part time Amazon business became a full-time obsession.
I’ve sold a lot of stuff on Amazon since then.
Since 2007, I’ve sold tens of thousands of books, and personally handled over 1 million.
And I’m still learning. My website (with a few courses and books here and there) are where I share every trick I know about how to make the most money on Amazon.
I write the books and articles I wish I had when I started.
Everything you’re about to read was written for the seller I was in 2007: Clueless, nowhere to turn, and eager for good Amazon selling advice I could put into action immediately.
How to make this book work for you
These writings were selected to strike a balance between being a beginner’s “how to” manual, and an accelerant for more experienced sellers. You’ll get value from this book as either an amateur or an expert.
The only thing this book is not is a “from the ground up” list of steps on launching a business from scratch. I’m respecting the reader’s time (and saving a few trees) by sparing them anything easily Googlable. So this book assumes a couple things:
- You have the basic infrastructure (scanning app, barcode scanner, label printer, and Amazon seller account).
- You understand the fundamentals (specifically, Amazon Sales Rank and a basic grasp of Amazon fees).
- You have a grasp of beginner terminology (“Merchant Fulfilled” vs. “FBA,” etc.)
If you don’t meet all these criteria, let me help. Here’s a quick process to get you there:
Go to FBAmastery.com. Search for “scanning app” and see what I’m recommending at the moment. Buy a Bluetooth barcode scanner to connect to your phone/scanning app. If you’re selling FBA, you’ll need a label printer — any one will do (I use an old Dymo Labelwriter 450). Set up an Amazon seller account.
Also on FBA Mastery(.com), search for “sales rank.” Read the beginner articles. Google “Amazon fee calculator.” Run some items through. Get a rough idea of how fees work so you’re not losing money when buying inventory.
Lastly, when you see a term in this book you don’t recognize — put the book down and Google it.
Easy. You now have more than enough to get maximum value from this book. None of this is hard.
There is almost nothing you’ll need to succeed left out of this book. Once you have the groundwork (covered above) in place, this book is almost everything you need to hit six-figure sales.
(The only two subjects worth going deeper into are sourcing and re/pricing. If you dial those two things in, it is literally impossible to not make money doing this.)
This isn’t about selling books — it’s about freedom
I’ll let you get to reading, but one final note: This is a book for the rule-breakers. This is not a sanitized business manual. This book is not here to make friends.
In these pages, you’ll find acts of trespassing, exploiting unpopular loopholes, quasi-homelessness, and unapologetic Amazon policy-breaking — all in pursuit of internet profit.
If you want stability, you get a 9-to-5. If you want freedom, you start a business. And the most freedom will always go to those who break the most rules. It’s not always elegant.
This pursuit of personal freedom is the guiding principle behind everything you’re about to read.
“No compromise in pursuit of selling weird things online for a profit.”
-Peter Valley
- Download “Reselling For Rebels” (free)
- Get the paperback (not free)
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