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still looking for a little help - short survey on retail cost of supplies

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gamecockfanatic

Active member
Jun 17, 2009
945
25
Gamecock Country
hope this forum is ok for this ....if not , feel free to move it to wherever it would fit better......


the last shop within an hour's drive of here closed down in 2010....they were quite high on most of their inventory , including supplies (3.96 for basic 20-point toploaders , 5.96 for thicker ones , and 25.00 for 100 album pages just to cite a few examples - and bear in mind these were prices nearly a decade ago)....

setting up weekly at one of the local flea markets , my partners and i started carrying just a few basic supplies (20-points top loaders , soft sleeves , and 9-pocket pages) 2 years ago but lately i've been trying to broaden that a bit....the problem for me is that with no shops anywhere near here , i'm not really all that up to date on the current pricing of some of the supplies that i don't already use for myself....i know what i can get them for online in quantities anywhere from a single item to multiple cases , but what i'm looking for is a little input on what SHOPS around the country actually charge for these items and what typical collectors EXPECT to pay for them when buying just a single pack or two instead of buying in bulk.......

i've posted a list below of a few supplies that i either already do have in stock , am planning to add , or that i've had customers ask about already....i don't want anyone to knock themselves out here and you don't even have to add info for every item , but i'd really appreciate it if you could add in the typical cost you'd expect to pay if you were buying these at a shop in your area....except where noted in parentheses , i'm looking for prices per single item....

thanks in advance for your time ,
claude


20-pt top loaders (pack of 25)
60-pt top loaders (pack of 25)
79-pt top loaders (pack of 25)
100-pt top loaders (pack of 25)
138-pt top loaders (pack of 10)
197-pt top loaders (pack of 10)

20-point mini snap tites
120-pt mini snap tites

55-pt magnetic one-touches
75-pt magnetic one-touches
100-pt magnetic one-touches
130-pt magnetic one-touches
175-point magnetic one-touches
260-point magnetic one-touches
360-point magnetic one-touches

standard soft sleeves (pack of 100)
thick soft sleeves (pack of 100)

team bags (pack of 100)
graded team bags (pack of 100)

9-pocket album pages (per page or as a pack of 100)

2-inch d-ring binders
3-inch d-ring binders

ball cubes

200-count storage boxes
800-count storage boxes
1600-count (2-row shoe) boxes
3000-count (3 row) boxes
3200-count (4-row) boxes
5000-count (5-row) boxes
 
Last edited:

BBCgalaxee

Well-known member
Sep 9, 2011
6,475
59
In my store two years ago I used to charge the following:

$2.50 toploads
$1 soft sleeves
$18 box of pages or 5 for a buck
$6 albums
$1 800 ct
$3 shoe box
$1 magnetic (used)

I checked My regulars a little cheaper


Sent from my SM-G950U using Freedom Card Board mobile app
 

gamecockfanatic

Active member
Jun 17, 2009
945
25
Gamecock Country
In my store two years ago I used to charge the following:

$2.50 toploads
$1 soft sleeves
$18 box of pages or 5 for a buck
$6 albums
$1 800 ct
$3 shoe box
$1 magnetic (used)

I checked My regulars a little cheaper


Sent from my SM-G950U using Freedom Card Board mobile app


thanks for the info...

i'm pretty close on most of these items....typically i have 20-pt top loaders at 2.50 or 5 for 10 with thicker ones anywhere from 3.50 to 5.00 per pack ....sleeves i'm at 1.00/pack or 6 for 5.00....album pages at .25 each , 5 for 1.00 , and ended up dropping my price on boxes from $18 to 15 last year.....

the magnetic one-touches are something i've never cared to use myself and as such have never bothered to carry them , but recently i've had more and more customers asking for them so i've stocked up on several different sizes and am trying to figure exactly how much i should charge for them to both make a profit and have them considered reasonably priced...

as for used ones - a few customers said they were interested in used ones but when i took out a hundred or so used ones i'd accumulated and asked anywhere from .50 to 1.00 each they passed and said they now only want new ones.....because i've never used them myself and the last shop here never stocked those , i really don't have a baseline for those like i did with the "basics" i already carried so any more help would be greatly appreciated....
 

gamecockfanatic

Active member
Jun 17, 2009
945
25
Gamecock Country
I'll add that I carried ball cubes and team bags once in a while and think I charged $2 on cubes and $3 on bags.

I might be off though on those numbers.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Freedom Card Board mobile app


i've never had any cubes (figured they'd be a bit cost prohibitive considering how few people have asked about them so far but i haven't really looked into them in depth yet) but i have been at $3 per pack (a bit under the 3.16 + tax the last LCS had them for 10 years ago) on regular team bags since i started carrying them and have my graded bags at the same price for now as well...

still looking for more input , especially on the one-touches and boxes so if anyone out there has a minute or two free this weekend , feel free to reply with info on as many as you can even if it's just one or two items.......
 

gamecockfanatic

Active member
Jun 17, 2009
945
25
Gamecock Country
I was always a bit high on single supplies. I think shops should be.


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app


bear in mind we don't have a brick and mortar shop...we set up at the main local flea market where we have 3 spaces (4 tables) at a cost of $60 per week....in the 90's , there were close to 30 card "dealers" every saturday in addition to aa dozen shops in columbia ....now , prior to our return in february of 2015 , there has been only ONE weekly dealer at the market since 2005 and no full time shop within 60 miles since 2010....as such , the vast majority of cards collectors here end up getting their cards and supplies either online or from walmart , target , or toys-r-us.....

with very little competition at the market , one might think it was a rather steady and profitable deal now , but even after well over 2 years back at the market , the overall lack of sellers there means the traffic just is not all that great....while there have been a few really nice days , there have been more than a few days that didn't cover the table costs (including 1 or 2 days with sales of less than $10)....the one other full timer at the market doesn't carry supplies at all so we do have an opportunity to "corner the market" on supplies , but if we don't get that niche going NOW , we may not be able to tread water long enough to build the foot traffic that should be there in a town this size...
 

Fandruw25

Active member
Aug 25, 2008
3,238
0
Are you setting up at Barnyard or the one with the castle looking building? Barnyard seems empty compared to 3-4 years ago where as the castle one still looks packed when I drive by.
 

gamecockfanatic

Active member
Jun 17, 2009
945
25
Gamecock Country
Are you setting up at Barnyard or the one with the castle looking building? Barnyard seems empty compared to 3-4 years ago where as the castle one still looks packed when I drive by.


yep...the barnyard is our home base...swing by and introduce yourself sometime - and bring a friend or a dozen :) ....we're at spaces f1 , f2 , and f3 at the main intersection right near the office , main restroom , and only remaining restaurant ...it's pretty much the best spot in the market for foot traffic , and most everyone is waiting for us to give up one or more of our slots , but i just can't let em go without a fight even though traffic for our type of product is still nothing like it SHOULD be.....

since february 7 , 2015 we've missed a total of 6 saturdays : 2 while i was in the hospital getting skin grafts in april of 2015 , then this past christmas eve and new year's eve (a big mistake it turns out , or so we were told by others who did set up those days) , plus two weeks ago when my partner dave was out of town for a bowling tournament and then today while he was out of town with his wife who underwent emergency surgery thursday.....

i set up at us-1 market ONCE.....25 years ago...never again ...and though i admit i've never gone back to check it out again , most people i talk to who are into cards say there's nothing there outside of the occasional "yard sale" type junk lots....
 

u2me57

Well-known member
Mar 21, 2014
3,234
63
Hendersonville, Tn.
I know this is a stretch but is there any way I could buy some 800 count boxes from you and ship them to me? No card shops here and I don't know where to buy them from. If you can't do it, do you know wher I could buy some? Thanks.
 

gamecockfanatic

Active member
Jun 17, 2009
945
25
Gamecock Country
I know this is a stretch but is there any way I could buy some 800 count boxes from you and ship them to me? No card shops here and I don't know where to buy them from. If you can't do it, do you know wher I could buy some? Thanks.

right now that is one of the items on the "hope to be adding soon" list....i'll shoot you a PM with the name of the place i currently get all my supplies ....
 

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