This week Doug officially welcomes Trish to the podcast. Also Trish and Doug feature interviews with Flipcon 2023 attendees including Kevin Anthony from Whatnot, Starr Bryson (Flippin Hippos), Cheryl Hinton (Ya Ya Rambles), Scot Kelly (The Cha-Ching King), Tucker and Ryan from Tucker’s Treasures, Paul and Faith of My Reseller Genie, Libby Kuniegel Broggi and Molly Hack Liska from Consignment Chats, Jenna Sippy from Ever Leslie Bookkeeping, and Ashley Hustle at Home Mom. They all share takeaways and perspectives from Flipcon 2023 and more.
The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly is the e-commerce resource for the seller community across all platforms and a hub for information on growing your business. Find out more at thesellercommunitypodcast.com, leave a message or ask a question at anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast, or email us at podcast@listperfectly.com.
Links
Seller Community Podcast on Anchor
Doug Smith (snoop.dougie) linktree
Trish Glenn (Super Sale Trish) Instagram
Episode Links
Intro
Trish: Welcome to the Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly. This is season three,
Doug: stop. Stop the show. Trish. Listen, I know you’re new, but you can’t just come in here and get started. I got a couple of things I need to start out. We got that protocol here.
Trish: Protocol. Big word, Dougie.
Doug: Little bit of recording time, and plus you haven’t been officially welcomed to the show. We’ve got chemistry, we’ve got rapport. People have been asking for it for a while. Welcome to the show, Trish Glenn, Super Sale Trish, as my new co-host. Everybody, please. I’m talking. It’s embarrassing for Trish. Ladies, gentlemen, welcome to the show, Trish. Give everybody a little insight into what it’s like working with me. ’cause that’s what they all wanna know.
Trish: It’s a privilege. Your privilege, but that’s the same…
Doug: Like the gift that keeps on giving…
Trish: it’s good. I love you. I’m glad to be here. I’m very happy to be here.
Doug: It’s very exciting. Technically, your first episode was last week for the BOSS Reseller Remix.
Trish: With Katy, Vikki, and Theresa.
Doug: Katy, Vikki, and Theresa. Yes. So that was fabulous. Did a great job. I received one of the best compliments, Libby from Consignment Chats said it felt like she was sitting drinking coffee with us.
Trish: Aw, that’s so nice.
Doug: That’s very sweet. That’s one of my favorite compliments ever on the show. But welcome to the show. Very excited for you to be here. Trish and I are talking about some new things, mixing some things up, but…
Trish: We got plans, Doug. We got plans.
Doug: We got plans. Plans. You never know. But yeah, a lot of people suggested it and asked for it, over the years, I guess you’d say.
Trish: I’m very happy to be here, Doug. You’re one of my favorite peeps, so I’m glad to be working with you more closely now. It’s awesome. I’m very excited to be here.
Doug: Samesies to you. All right, you may proceed!
Trish: Again. Welcome to the Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly. This is season three, episode 33. We’re here to talk about FlipCon 2023 and share our conversations with some of the attendees and even some sponsors. We talked to Kevin from Whatnot, who was just as an aside, a Boston boy. Starr Bryson, Cheryl, otherwise known as Yaya Rambles, Scot the Cha-Ching King, and of course, Tucker and Ryan from Tucker’s Treasures.
Doug: We also talked to Molly and Libby from Consignment Chats. Samantha was missed. Jenna Sippy Ever Leslie Bookkeeping. Paul and Faith from My Reseller Genie, and of course Ashley, the Hustle at Home Mom.
Trish: So let’s jump into our FlipCon 2023, the attendees episode.
Doug: Good job.
Kevin from Whatnot
Doug: I got to chat with Kevin from whatnot and learn what’s next for the growing auction platform.
Kevin, we’re here at FlipCon 2023, and tell us what you do for whatnot.
Kevin: What I do for Whatnot is I lead our jewelry category, our estate sales and storage unit’s categories, and our antiques, vintage, and ephemeral categories.
Doug: And you’re here as a sponsor?
Kevin: Yeah, so Whatnot is a sponsor, FlipCon, we’ve been here kinda all week just talking to different sellers, trying to see if they’re interested, doing live shopping, and getting on Whatnot just being a seller.
Doug: For those that don’t know, tell us about Whatnot and how sellers can use it.
Kevin: So Whatnot is a live shopping platform. The best way I can explain it, it’s as if eBay and QVC kind of had a baby, and that’s what Whatnot is. we’ve been one of the fastest-growing online marketplaces in US history. So been around for about three years. Started in the collectible space. So first as a Funko Pop marketplace, and then as a trading card game. So Pokémon cards, sports cards, and now we kinda do everything. So as I was saying, Fashion, collectibles, sports, and estate sales were just anything under the sun. And we’re looking for new sellers to come on.
We think, in the grand scheme of marketplaces out there, the eBays, the Esty’s of the Mercaris of the world, and Whatnot, is still pretty new. So there’s just a lot of opportunity for sellers that want to expand their business into a new channel.
Doug: And you sell yourself?
Kevin: Yeah. So I go live on Whatnot. I would say I’m not a great seller. I do go live to provide information, and product updates, and answer questions from other sellers and buyers on the platform. And then while I’m live, I’ll sell some jewelry, give some stuff away. Maybe sell some, I gave a, I think I sold a bobblehead once from a baseball game I went to, so I try to get in the mix. But I would say the true sellers are the ones on the platform.
Doug: And so is this your first seller event?
Kevin: Not my first seller event. At Whatnot, we try to get all of our employees to go to some of our major conventions. Like I said, we originally started in collectibles, so I’ve gone to some Comic-Cons which have been really fun. Definitely a different vibe. So I went to the Denver Fan Expo last year and then I also went to a pawn convention. ’cause there’s a lot of, when I was launching jewelry, there’s quite a few, pawn shops that sell jewelry online. But this is my first kind of full-time reseller event.
Doug: What do you think of seller events? What’s your impression?
Kevin: I think seller events are really cool. It’s such a community-driven event. You can tell there are folks that, they’ve come to these for years. They might be their first time. Everyone’s just so welcoming and they’re all driving towards this goal of learning how to become a better reseller, how to source better, and how to leverage their skills on different platforms. So I think it’s a really cool event. Really supportive community. Everyone so far, at least towards me as a newcomer, has been really welcoming. So it’s been great.
Doug: And what have you learned so far?
Kevin: Yeah, quite a bit. I feel like I’ve been spending a lot of my time just trying to learn about individual people’s businesses. Like I think that’s the most revealing thing to me. How long you’ve been in this, how do you think about sourcing? How do you think about your business today and where do you want to be? And. Five years, 10 years. And I think, from a Whatnot standpoint, I get a lot of feedback about why people, are either hesitant to do live shopping or, either they haven’t heard of Whatnot or they’ve been on it and didn’t like it.
So getting that feedback has been really valuable for me of, what they like and don’t like about our platform. And maybe if they haven’t done it what’s been their hesitation? So I can think about ways to either quell those hesitations at least take away that learning and bring it back to the team to say, how can we make this experience better for sellers like this in the future?
Doug: Awesome. And so what’s next for Whatnot?
Kevin: Oh man. What’s next for Whatnot? So many things. We’re a three-year-old company. I think everyone at our company knows that we just have so much room for improvement and growth. I think it’s great to say that we’ve had this big rise, but the fact of the matter is there’s been a lot of companies that have had big rises and we still view it as day one, and we have so much work to do.
I think there are just a million product improvements we could have. We could do a lot better job, around communication with sellers, and communication to buyers. We have a lot of growth just in terms of like knowledgeable whatnot is right. Coming to something like this where resellers are our core group and a lot of people still don’t know who we are.
There are so many people in this country who are just basic consumers who don’t know who we are. So I think there’s a lot of work to be done. But that’s, both, I guess challenging to think about, but also really exciting to think about that, to know that we’ve made it this far.
But we have a long road to go and a lot of opportunities ahead of us.
Doug: Okay. And so what’s next for you and your selling journey?
Kevin: What’s next for me and my selling journey? When I was younger, I used to go to a lot of yard sales, estate sales, flea markets, et cetera. I fell out of it for a while. And so yeah, now that I’m getting back into the estate sales space, running that category I think I’m gonna start going to more flea markets. Maybe start thinking about sourcing again. I don’t think I’m gonna be a full-time reseller in the sense of a lot of the folks that I’ve met here.
Still, my main focus is growing whatnot as a company, but If you don’t know your product as, as well as your customers, it’s really hard to, I guess be knowledgeable in what they need and make sure you’re making the right improvements. I’m hoping to get a little bit more in the mix in the estate sale, picking space, and then selling a little bit more on Whatnot.
Doug: So what’s your top piece of advice for someone getting started on Whatnot?
Kevin: Yeah, I, so this might seem very basic but my top piece of advice for people who are getting started on Whatnot is just to try it. Like I, I always say the scariest thing is doing the first live. I typically advise people, Put 20 things in your store.
Your goal of your first live is to sell two things. Just go through the motion once and demystify the challenges of, I guess like verbally present, on a screen. And I think that, yeah, it’s very different from just listing something on a site and setting it, forgetting it’s much more active, but it can be really fun.
And so I think once people go through it for the first time, shrug off the nerves and say, Hey, actually this is. It’s actually pretty fun, pretty easy, and now I’m gonna gear up for my next show and kind of the knowledge I have about my product or my knowledge I have about a seller like I can start to focus on bringing those things to the forefront as I move forward. So yeah, my best piece of advice is just to get started and rip the band-aid off and then build from there. Okay.
Doug: Anything to add before we go?
Kevin: Oh, man. Anything to add? I don’t think I have anything too major to add. What I would say is Hey, if you’re interested in whatnot, please reach out. Please get in contact with us. It’s very easy to become a seller. There’s a process to be approved because we wanna make sure sellers, are serious and want to want to be a part of our community. But I really just think that everyone should apply and check out Whatnot. And hopefully, I’ll see you soon and we’ll I’ll get to know you as a seller either in my category or another category on the platform.
Doug: Alright. Thanks very much, Kevin. Appreciate you taking the time.
Kevin: Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate it.
Cheryl Hinton Ya Ya Rambles
Doug: It’s always fun to chat with our friend Cheryl Hinton, also known as Ya Ya Rambles.
Cheryl: My name is Cheryl, but everybody knows me as Yaya Rambles.
Doug: What do you sell Yaya rambles?
Cheryl: Yaya sells anything legal. Anything I can find and flip for a profit As long as it’s legal.
Doug: Alright. And where can we find you?
Cheryl: I do have a slight YouTube channel under Yaya Rambles. I will be going back and starting content again, but I’m Yaya Rambles on most platforms. My eBay is under Yaya’s Rust and Dust.
Doug: So we’re here at Flipcon 2023. What do you think of the event so far?
Cheryl: I think the event’s great. I was here last year, so I was excited to come back and see people we met last year. We’ve met a lot of new people. Had some new speakers. So it’s been, it’s really good. My notebook’s getting full of notes of tidbits.
Doug: So what are some takeaways? What are some things that you’ve learned?
Cheryl: The biggest thing I learned was from Rachel Strickland and she told us to visualize success. So I’ve already put it in play, and I’ve visualized winning a thermal printer and I was the first person to win the thermal printer.
Doug: So it worked right away.
Cheryl: It did.
Doug: What would you say to somebody who’s never been to an event maybe is on the cusp of attending?
If you’ve never
Cheryl: come to an event like this I have to say why? Because if it’s money, start selling some stuff. Donate blood, whatever you have to do to get to wherever the event is. If you can drive even better. ’cause then you can fill your car up with all the treasures you’re gonna wanna buy along the way. But the networking is priceless. It’s worth the cost of admission and whatever it takes to get here.
Doug: Okay. And so what’s your top piece of selling advice for somebody getting started?
Cheryl: Shut up and list. That would be my advice that we’ve all taken from T Money, Theresa Cox. It’s true. I have not been the best seller over the years, and I’ve been putting that into practice the last couple of weeks and it really does work.
Doug: Anything to add before we go?
Cheryl: I just wanted to share with everybody that Yaya has a Tampa Bay meetup group for all eBay sellers. We welcome all sellers of any kind. We meet usually on the third Tuesday of the month but go on to eBay community events and we always have it listed, so come visit with us if you’re in the area.
Doug: Alright, thank you.
Starr Bryson Flippin Hippos
I had a quick touch base with our friend Starr Bryson of Flippin Hippos and got her perspective on the event.
So Starr, remind us of what you sell and where you sell.
Starr: I like to sell plushies or stuffed animals and mostly women’s, but also men’s jeans. And my partner does electronics and men’s shirts, and we sell on eBay, Amazon, Grailed, Kidizen, Mercari, and Poshmark.
Doug: So we’re at FlipCon 2023. What’s your impression of the event?
Starr: I’m highly impressed with this year compared to last. Last year was great. This year we have an extra day. We have a lot of varied speakers on a lot of different social media, Whatnot. We had a motivational speech by Rachel Strickland, which was phenomenal. The speakers are great. We had breakout sessions. The food’s good, which is important. The sponsors are great. I just really think Josh and Haley outed themselves this year.
Doug: And what are some things you’ve learned over the conference?
Starr: Keith and I will be switching our store in eBay from free shipping to charged shipping for the first time in seven years. So I got to talk with Theresa Cox about calculated versus flat rates. I learned you can set up certain business policies. I talked to Kevin from Whatnot’. August 22nd will be my first plus show, guys.
Doug: There you go. And why do you think seller events are important for sellers to attend?
Starr: The number one most important reason is community. You get to network; you get to make friends. And as you go to more of these, you can, you and I have known each other since 2018 and we see each other a couple of times a year, and we get closer and better friends every time. But you meet new people for the friendship because this can be a lonely job, but also for the learning. Because even if you’ve been doing this for 20 years, you’re still learning. No one knows everything and somebody always does something a little bit differently than you or sells something differently than you and you can learn from each other.
Doug: Okay, and so what’s on the horizon for Flippin Hippos?
Starr: What’s on the horizon for Flippin Hippos? So most of you know I had Lyme’s disease, and I was in the hospital, so I have to breathe some life back into my YouTube. I’ll be starting a series called Hanging with the Hippos with guest stars. I heard someone’s specials coming on Friday the 13th. Someone named Doug, who likes horror movies. But I have a really good lineup of guests coming for that. Whatnot. We’ll be starting whatnot, hopefully integrating Poshmark lives as well.
Doug: And where can we find you?
Starr: You can find me on all the socials. We’re on TikTok. Not too much. I’m not good at remembering to do TikTok. I’m old, but I am on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube as Flippin Hippos on all of it. And we have a Facebook group Flippin Hippos Reseller Pod. And if you live near Pittsburgh or within driving distance, I do have an eBay seller community. It’s hosted by the eBay seller community. Local meetup group. We meet once a month. You can find us at Mid-Atlantic Resellers on Facebook.
Doug: Awesome. Alright, thank you, Starr.
Starr: Yes. Thank you, Doug.
Paul and Faith from My Reseller Genie
Doug: My Reseller Genie were also sponsors and I sat down with Paul and Faith and learned more about the Genie, as they call it.
Paul: So My Reseller Genie is an accounting software for resellers. So we help you to keep your own books if you don’t have the resources to hire a full-time bookkeeper. And you maybe either don’t want to use your own spreadsheet or you don’t know Excel.
Doug: And how’d you guys get started?
Faith: So the shortened version of that story, Doug, is so we got started back when during my first year of reselling my first tax season. That year of reselling was a nightmare, and I had no idea what I was tracking. Taxes were just very confusing to me. My business numbers were very confusing to me. Paul was in accounting at that time, and he would come home from work and just see me totally stressed out. So long story short, he helped me that first tax year with my numbers. He created a really simple spreadsheet for me, and that really simple spreadsheet later turned into a full-blown web app that we created for resellers because we realized that it wasn’t just me that was struggling with this topic, it was all most resellers.
Doug: And do you both still sell?
Paul: So I do not sell. I’ve done some reselling, which was really fun. Every time you see that money come into your account, it’s exhilarating. But I’ve never been a professional reseller.
Faith: So again, I’ve been selling for about seven years. I went full-time soon after my first year. But since we started My Reseller Genie, it’s very much like selling is very much on the side for me because the majority of my time is spent on this business.
Doug: Okay. Okay. And so what stood out for you both of you this week at the conference?
Paul: The diversity of strategies that people have. I think when you come to these conferences, you’re expecting to get motivated. It’s good talking to people who are in the same space as you and just getting inspiration from them, but also just hearing about how different people run their businesses is really neat. Sourcing strategies. I’ve talked to people who are like buying stores that have gone out of business. I’ve talked to people who do Goodwill bins. There’s just, there’s so many ways that you can do it as a reseller.
Faith: For me, I think the thing that has stood out to me the most and this happens whenever we go to these events, is just the comradery. That’s here, it’s like as soon as you step into a venue like this, you immediately feel understood. And just know, even if you have, what Paul was saying, a different strategy for sourcing or for or for listing or what selling platforms you sell on. There’s just like this. Kind of common ground that we all have, and there’s a real comfort I think that comes with that. Okay. So I sell mostly women’s and some men’s clothing in shoes, but I’m about ready to niche down to just shoes because I found that is where the money is for me. So I’m very excited about that. Had a lot of success so far with shoes.
Doug: And where do you sell?
Faith: So I started out on Poshmark and then I moved to eBay. So I’m on, currently, I’m on Poshmark, eBay Merc Depop. And we are about to do our first Whatnot show actually. Yeah. August 18th. Oh, so exciting. We’ll see how that goes.
Doug: So what’s your number one piece of accounting advice for sellers?
Paul: Just do it really well. Yeah. It’s something that I think causes a lot of stress for folks and it feels like it’s easier to just put it off for most of the year, and that just makes it worse.
Whether you’re doing it on a, with a pen and paper, or you’re doing it with a spreadsheet, or you’re doing it with Genie, just do it. It’ll really help you out in the future.
Faith: And my piece of advice, and this is what I tell almost everybody who asks is give yourself grace. This kind of goes in tandem with what Paul was saying, but yes, just get started. But know too that it’s gonna be a learning curve to learn how to account for your business. Because if you think of it, it’s learning a whole new skill set, accounting, and so with. That for anybody, no matter how, if you think you’re smarter, if you think you’re dumb like it’s just gonna be hard for everybody just initially as you’re learning, like some terminology and things like that.
So give yourself grace and know that you’re gonna get there. It might not be on the first day, but you’re gonna understand it. And once you do, once you start to learn and understand unwrap the amazing world of accounting for your business, you’re just gonna be just amazed at how much insight you can get into your business, how well you’re doing. Maybe, maybe you’re not doing so well. So yeah, give yourself grace and it’ll take some time, but it’ll be well worth it.
Doug: Okay. What’s the number one challenge accounting challenge with sellers?
Paul: I think that one of the biggest challenges people have been figuring out inventory and how to account for inventory. Resellers will tend to fall into one of two camps. They’ll either do the accrual inventory method or the cash inventory method. And in plain English, that means for accrual inventory, you record an expense. Once the item sells for the cash inventory method, you record an expense when you buy the item.
And it’s a big area of confusion for people. About which one they should do and if they choose the accrual method, how to do it. So cash method, it’s less accurate but simpler. The accrual method is more complicated but more accurate. Okay, so when Jeanie started out, our goal was to make the accrual inventory method easy for people.
We just give you a form that you fill out and then we do all the calculations for you. You can do either one with Jeanie right now. But yeah, coming back to your original question, figuring out the inventory and how to account for it, I think that’s the biggest challenge resellers have.
Doug: Anything to add to that?
Faith: I would just say, and this goes back to what he was saying just people being afraid to the point that it locks them where they’re at and they don’t even try to start accounting for their business. So I’d say the fear that can come with that, and we are working our best to try to remove that fear. Take the fear out of reselling. Yeah. That’s what I’d say.
Doug: So tell us a little bit about the giveaways that you are doing and have done.
Paul: The giveaway we did this morning we gave away a $250 Southwest Airlines gift card. So the gift of travel, who doesn’t love, getting out of out of the regular routine? And I’m gonna let Faith talk about the giveaway we’re doing this afternoon. ’cause it was her. Her brainchild.
Faith: So the giveaway that we’re gonna be doing this afternoon is, it is a medium-sized Hulken bag. If you haven’t heard of Hulken, you need to look it up online because they are killer bags. They come in black, silver, or rose gold. We have the black one here at our table and it is filled to the brim. It’s overflowing with shipping supplies. Collectively everything that we’re giving away in this bag including the bag, is about $260. Wow. People have been stopping by our table and spinning a wheel and whatever number they get, that’s the number of entries they get towards, towards winning that bag. Okay. And we’re gonna announce that a little bit later. And then we are also giving to two other people free months of My Reseller Genie. So that’s cool.
Doug: Cool. Yeah. And you presented a bit earlier, so tell us about that, how that went.
Paul: Yeah, so our presentation, we talked about how we wanted to approach it and our idea was, Instead of going through a list of our features. ’cause that’s, it’s readily accessible. We just wanted to ask people, the questions, what are you doing to account for your business? And are you satisfied?
Because, if you’re not doing anything, it’s okay, but you need to start doing something. And if you’re already doing something but you’re not satisfied, then it’s worth looking into another solution. We did that and then showed a video of some of our happy customers. We love our customers.
They’ve just been so supportive of us and our journey. And hopefully, it landed. We’ll see with this next break.
Doug: Anything to add about the presentation?
Faith: The presentation was great. We wanted to just keep it short and sweet because when you start talking about numbers, sometimes people’s eyes glaze over. So we were just gonna say who we were and then yeah, just share what folks were saying. But we’re really grateful to be here. Josh and Hayley have been amazing. List Perfectly is amazing. We love you guys. All the other sponsors and vendors here FlipCon is just I think it’s been a very big success.
Doug: Anything to add?
Paul: No. Just excited to be on the podcast. Thanks for taking the time to interview us here and, Looking forward to seeing you at BOSS.
Doug: And we’ll definitely have you on again and go a little more in-depth. But thanks for telling us a little bit about My Reseller Genie.
Jenna Sippy from Ever Leslie Bookkeeping
Doug: Listen in on my chat with Jenna Sippy from Ever Leslie Bookkeeping, also a FlipCon sponsor.
Jenna: Hi, I am Jenna Sippy with Ever Leslie Bookkeeping.
Doug: So Jenna, what do you do and where can sellers find you?
Jenna: Yes, I am a bookkeeper, of course. We have a bookkeeping business with multiple employees, so we have a team of bookkeepers. We do monthly and quarterly bookkeeping. And my website is everlesliebookkeeping.com. It is brand new and coming out in a couple of weeks. So you can find us there or on Instagram at Ever Leslie Bookkeeping.
Doug: And so what brought you to FlipCon 2023?
Jenna: Of course bookkeeping because we work with resellers and content creators, but also, we got our start, interestingly with Josh Hairy Tornado, he’s from our area and he really encouraged me to start working with more resellers and content creators. So I did bookkeep before, but he encouraged us to really reach into this community. So it’s been a great adventure with that.
Doug: And how’s the conference going for you?
Jenna: It’s going great. We’re meeting so many new people and we already have several clients who are here and building relationships with them, continue to get to know them. And our company is very relational because we are working in their bookkeeping, they’re sensitive, to their finances, and we have to have a relationship in order for that to really, be a good fit. It’s been fun. It’s been a lot of fun.
Doug: And what’s stood out for you this week?
Jenna: Okay, so a lot of things have stood out, but probably my, I would say one of my favorite things that’s happened this week is learning a little bit more about the ins and outs of some of the people who sell on specific platforms. We deal, we’re bookkeepers, we see all of the platform income coming through. But actually hearing a lot about live auctions and the back side of what the seller is actually dealing with, not just the numbers coming in. That’s been a lot of fun to see how that works and how they make their decisions, not just the sales, so that’s been great.
Doug: And so any learnings this week? What have you learned?
Jenna: I have learned that live auctions are a pretty fast way for resellers to make some money. My husband needs to start this, so we’ll see. We’re working on it. We’re working on it. But that’s honestly just been pretty cool because I see like I said, I see the other side of it, so that’s been new. We’ve learned a little bit more about that.
Doug: What’s your top piece of bookkeeping advice for online sellers?
Jenna: Oh, just one. Just one piece of advice. Let’s see. Always my number one piece of advice is to have a separate bank account for your bookkeeping. So if you do not have a separate account for reselling, you need to get one today. Open that today. You can usually do that online. So just do it right now. Just stop everything and do that right now. And if you can separate that, then everything in your bookkeeping for your business can be cleaned up. But if it’s mixed with your personal, it is very hard to do that.
Doug: Okay. So is that the biggest accounting bookkeeping mistake sellers make?
Jenna: Yes, that is definitely the biggest mistake is just putting in like maybe you don’t open a new account because you don’t think you’re gonna be selling for a long time. You’re just trying it out. And so yes, it’s okay, I got a hundred dollars sale, it’s coming into our personal account. We can use that for groceries, but then they don’t realize that they really need to have all of that separated. Okay. And it just makes it really messy and hard to figure out when you pay taxes. And my experience with that is the mistake and why it’s hard is that usually the seller ends up paying more in taxes than they should. Okay. So really you could save a lot more. It’s not like you’re actually gonna have to report it. It’s, you could save a lot more if you actually separate everything and could see your expenses.
Doug: Since I have you, can I ask you some tax advice? I’m kidding. I’m kidding.
Jenna: I’m like, you know better than this. You know better than this. We do not give tax advice purposefully because I’m not an accountant, not a tax pro. I don’t wanna be, ’cause I love the day-to-day. Okay. So we love bookkeeping. So no, I will not give you tax advice, Doug.
Doug: So clarify ’cause I think a lot of people do get it wrong. ’cause we’ve talked before. What’s the difference between an accountant and a bookkeeper?
Jenna: So there are so many things, but basically the easiest thing that I like to explain is for resellers, bookkeepers are the link between the reseller and the CPA or the accountant. The accountant does the taxes, they help with financial planning and certain things that are, more in-depth. They do audits. They do all of that. We are the people who come in and try to give you the proof, we organize everything for you and give you the proof to get ready for taxes.
Doug: So last time we talked, you were in growth mode, you had a goal to get to every one of the states. So how’s the growth going?
Jenna: We haven’t updated it. I know immediately after our call we got two more states. Okay. But I think we’ve gained, I’m trying to think, have we gained Texas? I feel like we’re in 20 or 21 states. I need to update that. It will be on my Instagram soon because I have to do that. Thank you for reminding me.
Doug: Of course. So what’s next for you?
Jenna: As I said, our website is about to release, and I think that’s gonna be very helpful for resellers, for business owners because they’re gonna now be able to see what we offer. They’re gonna be able to schedule their consultations if they just wanna have a one-off call and just ask questions, not tax questions, right? But questions about their business. They can do that. They can get be able to, Schedule that immediately. But also, they can see what we offer and, have a better idea of what we do. We’re gonna have a platform for you to be able to see what we do.
Doug: Alright, anything to add before we go?
Jenna: Open that separate account and track your mileage.
Doug: Thanks very much.
Molly and Libby of Consignment Chats
Doug: Always a joy to speak with two of my favorite consignors, Molly, and Libby of Consignment Chats. And Samantha, you were missed because I’m sure you’re listening ’cause you support everybody’s everything.
All right. I’m very excited to be here with my friends, Molly, and Libby from Consignment Chats. What’s up, ladies?
Libby: Hi, Doug Libby’s, happy to be here.
Molly: Hi Doug. I’m so glad to see you.
Doug: Libby, let’s start with you. I’m glad to see you as well, by the way. Both of you. Again, tell us who you are and what you sell, and the whole elevator pitch intro.
Libby: Alright, so I’m Libby. I own an online consignment store, Conshy Consignment, and I run a consignment chats community for all resellers, helping them to be consignment ready.
Molly: And I’m just her sidekick, Doug. I sell with her business. I work with her with Conshy Consignment, and then she and I and Samantha Pratt, who sadly is not with us this trip, co-hosts consignment chats together.
Doug: What brought you to FlipCon 2023?
Libby: Really, I just wanted to visit Molly and so off to Charlotte we went, but actually my daughter goes to school in Charlotte, so anytime I get an excuse to come down here, I do.
Molly: So for me, I live in Greensboro, North Carolina, and I thought it’s just in my backyard. It would be silly not to go, and I’m really just trying to hit the trifecta this year. So Camp Listing Party check. FlipCon. Now I got a check and then I got BOSS Reseller Remix coming up, so I will have done the trifecta.
Doug: There you go. So we will definitely see you at Boss. What’s something you’ve each learned this week?
Libby: I was really, this is Libby. I was really happy to hear Tiffany Ghetto Gazelle talk about debt-free living and using reselling to get out of debt because I don’t think it’s something we talk about enough in the reselling community. So it was really cool that she went put that out there and opened the discussion for everybody.
Molly: Let’s see, how, what does Molly think? I have, as always, really my favorite thing of all with any of these is being with other like-minded people and meeting people in the community. This is a different group of people than I’m used to, so it’s, I’m meeting a lot of new people that don’t go to the other conferences that I go to, so that’s been fun.
And a lot of them are people I do watch on YouTube. So it’s nice to sit and have lunch with them and talk to them. So yeah, I’ve just really enjoyed getting to know new people and just hearing what they do and how they do it.
Doug: So what would you say to somebody who’s never been to a seller conference?
Libby: Oh, if there is any way you can get there it is, you learn so much, but really the highlight of it is meeting other people that do what you do. And we operate, a lot of us are solopreneurs and we’re operating on our own. And it is just so invigorating and motivating to meet other people that are doing the same thing you are and having some of the same struggles and wanna celebrate your victories with you.
Molly: So I think if you have never been to a reseller conference, you need to go because you get to hang out with Snoop Doug. If you can’t be with the Dougie, what more do you need? No, I’m with Libby. Same thing I said before. It really is about the community and it’s about the support. Everybody gives to each other and you always learn something. You all may do things very differently in your business, but you’re gonna pick up something from everybody you meet.
Doug: What’s your biggest piece of, if you could have one piece of seller advice that you put out, what would it be?
Libby: Just one. Oh, man. Oh, to really embrace the way you do things and double down on what is working for you currently in your business. And really just focus. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Definitely focus on what’s working, and you will make it happen, and you’ll build it.
Molly: I think the biggest thing I tell everybody all the time is don’t spend unnecessary money. Just don’t. There are so many things people think they have to get the biggest photo booth and the biggest lighting and the biggest, this, that, and the other, and you really don’t need it.
You need the basics. You need a phone with a camera, use the free PhotoRoom. I think you should pay for some lists perfectly because that’s necessary to get to other platforms. But yeah, just don’t spend unnecessary money. You can do this with very little cost.
Doug: Mine would Be ready to be a consignment seller.
Libby: Gimme that mic back, Doug. We want all sellers to be consignment ready. You do not wanna leave money on the table because Doug, you know the second you probably stand up and walk through this lobby, somebody’s gonna be like, I have some stuff. Would you sell it for me? Yeah. Yeah. And you wanna be ready to answer that question.
Doug: So tell us where you can be found.
Libby: We’re everywhere. But to hook up with us everywhere, the best way is to go to consignment chats.com and get where you need to get. We have a book club, we have a Facebook community, we have a YouTube podcast, TikTok Instagram. We do it all. We do it all.
Doug: Anything to add there?
Molly: We do it all. Y’all just come to hang out with us. Just come hang out with us. We have fun.
Doug: There you go. Alright, thanks, ladies.
Libby: Thanks, Doug.
Molly: Thanks for having us.
Tucker and Ryan from Tucker’s Treasures
Doug: I was happy to see my buddy Tucker and his dad, Ryan from Tucker’s Treasures, and catch up with what they’ve been doing.
What’s up, Tucker?
Tucker: What up?
Doug: Nice to see you again.
Tucker: Nice to see you.
Doug: So you’re back again at FlipCon? Anything you’ve learned this week?
Tucker: About the comics. Rod Picking and Punching, teaching me more about comics yesterday, a couple of days ago.
Doug: And so for those that don’t know, remind us of who you are, what you sell.
Tucker: I’m from Tucker’s Treasure. I sell everything, but the primary stuff I really sell is toys and video games. I sell my stuff really fast.
Doug: And tell us about how you source.
Tucker: I source from junk removal companies. Storage facilities, they come up to me like, Hey, I got a bunch of stuff. I’m like, okay. And is it wherever? Write me a check. Wherever’s reasonable.
Doug: What’s been your favorite thing so far about the conference?
Tucker: Meeting all these people.
Doug: Done seller events before?
Tucker: Yes.
Doug: So what would you say to somebody that was like, Tucker, why should I go to a seller event?
Tucker: It’s a network and learn more about your category or your niche or what you wanna get into. I wanna get into Whatnot. How are you getting into Whatnot? I wanna get into the List Perfectly. How do you get into List Perfectly and talk with people in person? Not oh, what to do here? Like what? Easier to talk in person face to face.
Doug: And so what’s coming up next for Tucker’s Treasures?
Tucker: Nine storage units. Now I’m buying nine storage units. I’m buying nine.
Doug: So let’s hear from Dad for a minute. So Ryan, what, how do you help Tucker out in his business?
Ryan: So Tucker is in online school from 10 to one. So his employee comes in around 9:30. He tells him what he wants listed on eBay and what to do, and then at one o’clock he gets offline, and he tells me and his other employee all the things we did wrong. And then So I help him run the store. Mom helps him do the shipping. But he runs the business and does all the big deals and has all the knowledge.
Doug: And mom helps too, right?
Ryan: Yeah. Mom does the shipping. We will see how long that lasts. It’s gotta transition at some point because, but for now, she’s doing the shipping for him.
Doug: So I remember the first time we talked, you told me that you guys did the shipping early on, but Mom took over.
Ryan: Yeah. So I, as a dad, you’re sitting there and you’re going, all right, I you need to do the, each little part of this, right? And he and I are like taping each other and we’re all like a d, and which box, which label did that box go on?
And my wife looked at us like, oh my gosh I can do this like in five or what it takes you guys an hour. I can do it in five or 10 minutes. So that’s what she does. She’s a saint for doing that for him, so isn’t she?
Doug: Alright, Tucker, give us your biggest piece of advice for online sellers.
Tucker: Have fun. Pound it! See ya!
Doug: Alright, cool. Thank you.
Scot, Cha Ching King
Trish: Let’s listen in on Doug and me chatting with Scot, the Cha-Ching King
Scot: Scot Kelly, also known as Cha-Ching King. I’m on YouTube and Instagram and we sell on eBay, Poshmark, and Etsy.
Doug: And so what do you sell?
Scot: I am an opportunistic seller. I will sell everything. So everything.
Doug: I’ve talked to you before but give us a high-level overview of your sourcing model. It’s very interesting.
Scot: Yeah. We do a lot of private picks. Like I’ve told everybody what I do for 20 years and after I retired, I got more and more opportunities to go into places that other resellers have never been in an estate sale.
And so I would say that’s probably 90% of my sourcing at this point. I do storage lockers and all the other stuff too. But it’s so much better if I don’t have to compete with other sellers.
Trish: If somebody’s just starting, how long does it take you to get to that point? That isn’t something that a new reseller can jump into.
Scot: No, because you have to have, it takes a long time to develop. But the connections, like even for me to get all of the private picks, I get, it’s probably four or five connections that have developed into that. So if somebody were a new reseller that wants to compete with me, I would tell them to not do that and quit. They should just quit and not compete with me.
Trish: So they can’t compete with you on that level. So what would your suggestion be to a new reseller?
Scot: I think the trick to being successful at this is to keep listing and learning. If you’re willing to keep learning, then all kinds of worlds open up. Whether you want to niche down or not. You can’t know that until you’ve listed a bunch of stuff, sold some stuff, find out what you like, find out what you don’t like, and they can absolutely compete with someone like me. Like me, there’s not anything special. We’ve just spent a long-time learning what we’re doing.
Doug: And so we’re at FlipCon 2023. What’s your impression so far?
Scot: Let me think about this. No. Honestly, it’s been awesome. I come as much for the fellowship and meeting other people and honestly talking to guys like you, like List Perfectly and some of the other people, when you sponsor an event like this, I’ve been on List Perfectly for, I don’t know, years now, but a lot of people don’t realize the power in Cross posting and I got a chance to find out some of the stuff you have coming up.
I would say that’s probably the biggest takeaway for me because of what you have, the changes you have coming, and some of the integrations that you have super excited about. So I would say other than just getting to meet a lot of the people that they understand what we do and getting to spend time with people that I’m, they know what I’m doing, but finding out what’s going on and what’s coming up, I think for me is a big deal.
Trish: I do think that having the understanding, somebody being able to really understand what you do for a living is invaluable because we don’t get that with most of the people we know. You explain, oh, I’m a reseller, and they’re like what the hell does that mean? And then you try to explain it even if they’ll never get it. So knowing somebody who could sit down and be as excited as you are for that pick or for that item is invaluable.
Scot: Yeah. Yesterday when I sold, I had one sale yesterday, $280 for some Russian nesting dolls. But when my phone went off, everybody around me is exactly what did we sell?
What did you pay? How long was it listed? And now Melody’s at home and has to ship it by herself. Yes. All of those things are true anyway. If I’m at a restaurant and my phone goes cha-ching, nobody in there knows. That’s awesome. I just paid for whatever I bought.
Doug: So any big takeaways, any learnings, any surprises at Flipcon for you?
Scot: I had a chance I don’t know if your listeners know who Josh and Hayley are, but I had an opportunity to talk to Hayley during one of the events. She wasn’t tasked with something else and getting a chance to talk to her. She’s super smart. And she has a great deal of understanding of YouTube, which for me is important.
Like I got as much from her about what it takes to have a consistent channel as I would any sit-down event. It’s the individual conversation. That have been the big takeaways. That’s great.
Trish: That’s great. And I agree. I think that when you sit down with somebody who really understands, it’s the same thing with reselling, right? And be able to ask a pointed question and have somebody know what the hell you’re talking about, right? Because you can’t just dive in and find this information. It has to be learned, right?
Scot: You gotta experience it. And having somebody like her who might not be the ready-made face of the channel, everybody recognizes what Josh knows and how well he knows it.
But I got a chance to talk to Hayley, who, she’s smart. She’s smart. And she’s been studying ever since she dove into this and like it’s you’re drinking straight from the tap on that.
Doug: And that’s Josh and Hayley Tornado, Hairy Tornado did everything for the event this year all on their own.
Cha-Ching King, where can we find you?
Scot: I am Cha Ching King on YouTube. I have. Most of my videos are aimed at beginners, people that are just getting started, but I’m on Instagram as well and it’s less of a teaching platform for me there. It’s more like I’m just trying to brag and make myself look better than I am in real life.
Trish: You gotta love that. You love a guy who’s honest.
Doug: That’s right. Exactly. Anything to add before we go?
Scot: I actually use List Perfectly. Like way. I never met any of you because I would’ve never cross-posted without it. And some of the things that you’ve got coming up are gonna make that easier. And I think I’ve been cross-posting ’cause you have, you get one sale, one sale in a month and you paid for List Perfectly.
So I would tell the listener that List Perfectly is actually one of the things that I think is worth it. And I don’t even use my affiliate link. I’ve been forwarding everybody to Ginger Marvin. So use the code GingerMarvin if you go to List Perfectly. So I’m not even getting any money out of it. I actually believe in List Perfectly. And you’re real people like. I can get a hold of an actual human being, who knows? And if I had an idea that was actually a good idea, like it would be investigated to see if that fits.
Trish: I think that’s, and that’s completely true. And I’ve only been here, I actually got my job at List Perfectly from FlipCon last year.
Scot: Yeah. So I have been with List perfectly longer than you.
Trish: Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh, totally. I’ve been here, I’ve been here a year, last year at FlipCon I came with Theresa as her friend and I helped, and by the end of that, Clara hired me. So I’ve literally, and I had, I’ve known Clara and Amanda for a long time, and I’d used the product off and on, but as you, same thing as you. I believed in the product. It’s a great product.
Scot: Now I’m wondering, I came to Flipcon as well last year, and there were no job offers, so…
Trish: I’m cuter than you.
Scot: No, no doubt. No doubt. There’s some resentment there, like for sure.
Doug: Alright, thanks so much Scot Cha Ching King for joining us.
Scot: Thank you so much.
Ashley Hustle at Home Mom
Doug: It was great to touch base with my friend Ashley Hustle at Home Mom. Catch up and get some thoughts on the event and some advice for sellers and content creators.
How important are seller events to you and to the community as a whole?
Ashley: Seller events are really important. A lot of my inspiration and growth has come, like after a seller event. There have been times when I’ve actually wanted to give up on social media, but it was a seller event in particular that I went to that I was like, wow I don’t wanna give up on that. I wanna keep trying. I’m so glad because everything’s grown a lot since then.
So I find tons of inspiration, tons of friendships have formed from these events and they’re just invaluable, genuinely, like they’re so great.
Doug: And so what what’s something you’ve learned this week here at FlipCon 2023?
Ashley: This week I’ve learned, I’m definitely not utilizing short-form content like I should. My long-form content, I feel like I’ve brought it to a pretty good place, but short form I’m not taking advantage of. And that’s definitely the next phase and wave of social media. And even just to bring people to my eBay store or if I ever want to do more live selling or whatever. Having that short-form content is a great way to gain a new audience. So I’m gonna go home and definitely sit down and have some plans on how I’m gonna grow that.
Doug: And then what else has really stood out for you this week?
Ashley: Some other stuff that stood out to me is definitely having a better system for what I’m going to schedule my day around and how I’m going to like, Really get my business into more of a well-oiled machine.
It’s fine, but I definitely think I could make some tweaks and adjustments that help it to run more efficiently. And there’s a lot of inspiration from people that I’ve talked to and that have been on panels where they’ve discussed, optimizing things and it’s just been really inspiration, inspirational for me so that I can use my time better and grow my business at the same time.
Doug: Now speaking of that, where do you sell and what do you sell?
Ashley: I sell primarily pre-owned clothing and shoes on eBay. And I’ve been doing that for a long time. I’ve sold on Amazon, I’ve sold everywhere. I used to sell everything, a mishmash of electronics, video games, whatever. But now I’ve niched down into clothing and shoes, and I share my journey on YouTube and Instagram. So both are pretty compatible with each other, which has been really fun.
Doug: And so you presented at the conference. Tell us about that.
Ashley: I did. I was on a panel with my husband, TJ, and we talked about where the business is at, how he supports me, and how we balance everything with three kids.
I have three kids, ages 10, nine, and one. And so my life is crazy. He works full-time. We have a really crazy busy life. But we talked about the balance and when we take breaks and how we juggle things with our kids and try to teach them at the same time, spend quality with them while growing. Our businesses it’s hard, but I was with Retro Rick on the panel as well, and he has kids and a bunch of things going on we just discussed, embracing the chaos, and letting your kids see you work, letting them see you grow, and hoping that they take that work ethic with them into the rest of their lives.
Doug: So what’s your top piece of advice for balancing it all?
Ashley: My best advice for creating balance in your life is to really separate your business and your family life as much as possible. So I have my office where I keep all of my social media stuff. I don’t have any social media apps on my phone except for just very limited periods of time.
Like here, I’ve got Instagram on my phone so I can share FlipCon with people, but I will delete it after that and primarily do things from my desktop. That way when I close my office door, I’m more present with my family. I’m there with them. My phone’s very boring, so I’m not really on that a lot. And I can just play with the kids at the most, listen to a podcast while I’m doing dishes or something, or cleaning up, doing laundry. But yeah, I think it’s creating that big separation and trying not to bleed the two together very often ’cause then you’ll be more present with your kids. Okay.
Doug: Do you have a top piece of social media advice for someone looking to grow their channels?
Ashley: Yes. My top piece of social media advice if you wanna grow, would be to be as authentic as possible and to get to the point as quickly as possible. Definitely, get started with it. Get right into the action. If you’re talking about something that has nothing to do with the point of your video, edit that out and you can, and be your authentic self at the same time. You don’t need to put on a fake personality. People wanna get to know you for you.
But yeah, I think getting, keeping it short and sweet at first, really getting, driving home the point right away is, or getting, giving the payoff as quickly as possible is extremely helpful.
Doug: Any selling tips for those starting out?
Ashley: Yes. Selling my selling tips for eBay at least would be to be as consistent as possible. eBay’s not really a list. One thing, and just let it sit and wait until it sells. eBay is very much a process of listing daily, and other listings sell when you list other things consistently if that makes sense. So my store is roughly a thousand items, and it’s very normal to see maybe half a percent to 1% of those items sell each day.
And that’s very typical. So it’s a slow burn. As long as you’re consistent, as long as you get into a habit of daily listing, you’ll start to see results after 1, 2, 300 listings in your store.
Doug: Anything to add?
Ashley: Yeah, just biggest thing overall is to just keep at it. I think. Just whatever you’re trying to grow, don’t give up. I’ve wanted to give up a million times, but I’m so glad I didn’t because I’m really happy with where I’m at now, and anything worth doing is going to require consistency. So just get into that habit of consistency and cool things will happen.
Doug: Awesome. And then remind us again where we can find you.
Ashley: Yes, you can find me on YouTube at Hustle at Home Mom and on Instagram under the same name.
Tucker: Alright. Thanks so much. Always great talking to you.
Ashley: So great. Always great to talk to you, Doug.
Outro
Trish: Thank you for joining us on The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly. You can find us at thesellercommunitypodcast.com.
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