Trading card(s) for wax at your lcs

BBCgalaxee · Nov 10, 2013

This topic was brought up on bo. Wanted to bring it here too.

The question was if you brought in a card which generally sells for $100 on eBay, would you be able to trade it to your lcs for an $80 box?

As an lcs owner, it really REALLY depends on the card(s) and box that is wanted.

If it's slow moving wax or something I over ordered, there's a good chance I will make a trade.

But it really matters the cards and timing.

I would take 10 Jeter jersey cards which sell for $10 each on eBay for an $80 box because they wouldn't get to eBay. Instead I would put them In my showcases for $15 per.

But if I just purchased a huge Jeter collection loaded with jersey and bat cards, I might not do that trade.

I hate feebay so I avoid at all costs unless totally necessary, so unless it's completely the best scenario for me as an owner, I'll avoid a trade.

There's other things which come into play but What's your stance?

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BiggioBrooks755 · Nov 10, 2013

Basically you are NOT allowed to trade or sell anything at the LCS here is Manty unless its super nice or rare card

mchenrycards · Nov 10, 2013

BiggioBrooks755 said:
Basically you are NOT allowed to trade or sell anything at the LCS here is Manty unless its super nice or rare card

That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. When I owned my shop I loved trading and would get some great cards to sell to my customers via trading. A shop owner has to be willing to do some trading and buying back of quality singles, and not just the super nice or rare cards so that those busting wax will have an outlet, other than online to move their cards.

As a shop owner I would certainly trade for packs but the value the collector would receive in return was considerably less if they wanted high value packs. As BBC said, if it was slower moving wax I would give a better trade on but it all depended on what they were trading and what they wanted in return.

jbmm161 · Nov 10, 2013

My LCS will give store credit for Cowboys/Rangers autos.
Have done it a few times.

cgilmo · Nov 10, 2013

I simply consign for customers.

Sales - fees = your store credit

BiggioBrooks755 · Nov 10, 2013

The LCS in Manty is about 90% memorabilia, 5% embroidery stuff, 2% Frisbees for Frisbee golf, and 3% cards which are sold at BV or higher

byronscott4ever · Nov 10, 2013

My favorite shop as a kid traded 100% towards singles in the shop and 50% towards wax because he had more invested in it

cgilmo · Nov 10, 2013

byronscott4ever said:
My favorite shop as a kid traded 100% towards singles in the shop and 50% towards wax because he had more invested in it

this would be really difficult for any store to do in this day and age

Bogeysave82 · Nov 10, 2013

Doesn't the cost of wax factor in? I deal with new and used golf clubs. The first thing I look at is cost then eBay value last PGA value.

rsmath · Nov 10, 2013

BBCgalaxee said:
The question was if you brought in a card which generally sells for $100 on eBay, would you be able to trade it to your lcs for an $80 box?

As an lcs owner, it really REALLY depends on the card(s) and box that is wanted.

_IF_ I were a LCS dealer and the card would be a quick mover (could get rid of it in a day or two) and the wax was bought direct and not acquired due to a stock-out of the original shipment, I'd do the deal.

The card being a quick mover at $100 insures I don't have money tied into inventory for too long due to the trade where I would give more value than I usually do in return. If a box is priced in the shop at $80 purchased direct, it likely means I bought it at $55-60, so it's $20-25 profit there plus the $20 additional profit from flipping a card quickly ($100 sale price - $80 cash I could have had if I sold the box instead). So it's $40-45 profit for the 1-2 days I held the single from the trade.

If the box was purchased to replace a stock-out of product, I likely didn't get it as good of price as direct so my profit margin for 1-2 days would be lower and I'll have to decide at trade acceptance or denial time if it's worth $25-30 for 1-2 days instead of $40-45 for 1-2 days of holding onto a single.

predatorkj · Nov 10, 2013

I've never been to a LCS that offered decent trade. I know a lot of big wax busters leave hits and all base behind as a way to offset the cost of ripping but it's never really paid for any of their breaks. Most of the kinds of cards that would pay for their breaks are kept by them.

I'd personally never trade anything to any of my shops because they want to give so little for it it would be easier to move on my own. They want to make too much profit.

MansGame · Nov 11, 2013

How many LCS are left? Didn't someone post an article about how many there were back in the day versus now? The number has to be 10% what it use to be. In all of the Dallas metroplex, there are roughly four but I bet back in the 90s there was way more than that.

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trauty · Nov 11, 2013

MansGame said:
How many LCS are left? Didn't someone post an article about how many there were back in the day versus now? The number has to be 10% what it use to be. In all of the Dallas metroplex, there are roughly four but I bet back in the 90s there was way more than that.

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Buying Albert Belle cards! PM me!

In '98 (my first trip to Dallas) I remember there being roughly 15-20 card shops in the Yellow Pages. I'd imagine in the boom era of the late '80's & early '90's there had to be at least 50 (there were at least 25 in Omaha during that time and Dallas is way bigger than Omaha).

magicpapa · Nov 11, 2013

back in the 90's I couldnt tell you how many Rarer Inserts a buddy and I traded in..... Crusades (all Colors ect.........)

MansGame · Nov 11, 2013

trauty said:
In '98 (my first trip to Dallas) I remember there being roughly 15-20 card shops in the Yellow Pages. I'd imagine in the boom era of the late '80's & early '90's there had to be at least 50 (there were at least 25 in Omaha during that time and Dallas is way bigger than Omaha).

That's crazy haha... There are seriously three real card shops that I can think of in all of DFW, which is a huge area obviously. That's crazy.

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Buying Albert Belle cards! PM me!

smapdi · Nov 11, 2013

The DFW area had a bunch. I lived there in 1998 and in Arlington on Division alone there was DB's and some other less shop to the west I only went to once, then a weekly show at the 360 Mall. Various other shops of varying quality around the Metroplex, usually listed in the book under sportscards but the cards were actually a small section of an unrelated shop. I remember one shop that was like a Hallmark card shop that had a couple display cases of overpriced singles.

I've never been to any LCS that would trade at 80% value, especially for wax, unless it was some extreme case, like you wanting to trade a Puig rookie for a few boxes of 1991 Fleer. Wax is a known, fixed cost with fairly small margins that they have to recoup and profit on, while trading singles for singles has greater flexibility because of the margin they were originally acquired for. Singles walked in off the street are generally acquired at 10-33% market value at shops around here, last I asked, unless it was something scorching hot, and even then they act like paying over 50% market value was an unnatural act.

byronscott4ever · Nov 11, 2013

cgilmo said:
this would be really difficult for any store to do in this day and age

Well, that was 20 years ago lol. Also, he was selling cards he had bought for pennies by his own admission. I don't even bother with card shops now.

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