Contemplating starting from home card business

RedSoxSoul · Oct 25, 2013

Bill Menard said:
Hey Thom,

Welcome back to the boards! Glad you got through your divorce and such. I can't imagine that was a very good experience, but hopefully things are going to be a lot better for you going forward!

I hope we see you around the boards more often again! I was bummed we never got to catch a sox game this season but I understand you had some other stuff to deal with this past summer. I will be at game two as well on Thursday... Let's hope the weather holds out and we get a decent night for it, though I anticipate it will be a bit chilly!

Welcome back!
Bill

Hey Bill thanks a lot my friend I really appreciate it. I wish I had checked here earlier as I was there last night too, but I was basically glued to my seat so I'm not sure we would've connected. I'm definitely happy to be getting back on my feet and trying to be a productive member of society. Life is funny sometimes, just when things look bleakest things can break to the light just around the corner. Thanks again

RedSoxSoul · Oct 25, 2013

jbmm161 said:
I sold on eBay for almost a year while out of work. It can be done to help pay the bills. It takes some skill and luck in selling at the right time and not spazzing out and worrying about what each card profits or loses. You win some and lose some.

The key is to buy at the right price and hold on to prospects until call up. Grade the nicer cards and sell the others when hype is at its highest point. Find some vintage for cheap and resell. And keep repeating. Your going to have to devote some money to buying new cards to keep your inventory up.

Buying early on sealed cases of Bowman and Bowman Draft and holding is also a way to make profits.

Box breaks and modern wax other than Bowman are a bit to risky and will cause you to lose a lot of money.

Also buying stars in football and basketball and hoping for playoff spikes helped me out last year to make great money. I doubled my return on investment in Kevin Durant last year.

Thanks [MENTION=5556]jbmm161[/MENTION], that is awesome information. I have had success doing just this type of thing before so it's great to hear the validation. And an excellent point on Bowman, I've always danced around that thought but seeing it there in black and white made it come together for me. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

RedSoxSoul · Oct 25, 2013

All The Hype said:
Buy, grade, sell. In my opinion grading is one of the best ways to profit on cards because you don't have to know anything about sports at all (read: you don't have to pick the right guys/cards 100% of the time) to be able to consistently profit.

Aside from that, if you are passionate about cards and you have time to learn the market and it's trends, there's a lot of money to be made in this industry.

If interested, you can check out the FCB group BGS submission info in my signature. Also, I'm no expert, but I've been doing what you're talking about for about 7 years now and I'd be happy to talk shop if you have specific ideas or questions you want to bounce off someone. Feel free to PM me anytime. Welcome back!

Wow thank you so much. I've done some of this but much more as a hobby than anything else. I will absolutely be in touch once I get things clearer in my mind, thank you!

RedSoxSoul · Oct 25, 2013

predatorkj said:
I'd say some of these are great points. IMO, the biggest thing is to know what sells and where to sell it. I've spoken at length to a guy I know who runs a store and have given him some help on where and how to move certain types of cards and what kinds of cards to buy.

For instance, I can go online and buy Texans cards all day long pretty cheaply. But if you take them to the flea market on the weekends during the season, depending on the card, you can quadruple your money easily. I was picking up JJ Watt stuff really cheap. His base rookies were $0.25-$0.50 a piece out of topps chrome. You take those out to a flea market here and sell them at $2.00 a piece or even $3.00 all day long. Remember that not everyone buys on eBay. So know what kinds of cards to buy and the best place to sell them.

You're obviously in Boston area so I'd look at doing something similar with Pedroia or other popular Boston players. Get stuff cheap online, eBay or not, especially from sellers out of state, and sell locally in person if possible. Or even to local dealers set up at flea markets or shows.

Another idea that recently came to me was the panini prizm stuff. The red and blue pulsars seem to sell decently. If you could find someone moving a bunch locally(offline) pop them up on eBay for a profit.

IMO, these are the easiest types of cards to sell and you have little money into them. Buying these, at the right times(mostly in the offseason), and selling in the proper venue will really help generate money. And recognize that all cards have some value. They can all be sold. It just has to be at the right venue.

This board is awesome. Along with the online stuff this was just the type of opportunity that was floating around in my brain but I couldn't quite get a handle on it. Amazing ideas I can put into practice almost immediately thank you!

RedSoxSoul · Oct 25, 2013

Bob Loblaw said:
I can't see how this business could possibly fail.

HA!! Nothing like a little brevity, thanks for the laugh

RedSoxSoul · Oct 25, 2013

JHeyKolektor24 said:
Open a store through godaddy. It would cost around $20 to open a site. Designing would be very easy and i could help you if you need. Would be directly linked to your PP account, secure and professional. Stay away from Ebay because their fees and seller support suck. Let me know if you need any help.

Thanks @JheyKlektor24 my girlfriend is in web design and this is exactly what we're planning. Ebay is messy because it's so big, I'd like to ultimately go the BBexchange route where I have my own site but also use Ebay because there's no other exposure like it. I'm in shotgun business model approach right now, but have a thought that specialization might be the best way to sustainability. Thank you for the offer of help because I will be taking you up on that.

Wes · Oct 26, 2013

It's not a bad idea for some extra cash but I have a hard time seeing how you could spend 40+ hours a week doing anything but consignment within the card industry. Prospecting has a huge wait factor that requires you to hold inventory for months or even years. It's also a real gamble.

predatorkj · Oct 26, 2013

Wes said:
It's not a bad idea for some extra cash but I have a hard time seeing how you could spend 40+ hours a week doing anything but consignment within the card industry. Prospecting has a huge wait factor that requires you to hold inventory for months or even years. It's also a real gamble.

Yeah, I don't think prospects are the bread and butter. Not up front anyway. That's one of those things where you get set up and then use the residual income to move forwards. Of course that's a lot of the business anyways but it's a longer process using prospects.

Seems like common sense but you've got to know your markets and then where to get the cards under market value. You've also got to be willing to spend more than 40 hours a week working deals. You'd be surprised how many sellers don't understand this or refuse to do it. But it's not like working a real job. How many of us put in hours upon hours just messing around with our collection as a hobby? I probably spend at least 20 hours a week on here and eBay and that's just as a hobby. It's not that hard and most of it can be done from home while you are watching tv. Of I were trying to make money, I'd be pushing a lot harder.

predatorkj · Oct 26, 2013

One other thing is knowing how to bounce things to people to gain something better. I take a lot of my unwanted base to a guy who will buy them or give me store credit. He uses them for the set collectors. Now I may only get $10 for 500 base cards but they are all nobodies. I then either pocket the money or I get something worth more in trade. Last time I believe I took a 1000 base cards and got a 1994 fleer update sealed set for them. I can also get unopened wax from him too. You can also use sport lots. Not sure of their fee structure but listing should be easy and just let the base stuff sell itself. You might say you don't feel like wasting your personal time but what were you doing? Watching tv? Sit there, watch tv, and make some money instead.

It's good to have contacts. Some of the collectors on this board are a good source. There are guys here who know the different players collected here and they go to a show looking for that player's cards and bring them here to make a few bucks on. A Bagwell card in a dealer's box in New Jersey is not necessarily going to sell. And most dealers don't feel like listing all their cards. But if you go the extra step, know who collects what and where they are, you can take that card you buy for cheap, and turn it into money.

jcmint · Oct 26, 2013

Those premiums are sure not what they used to be. FOr someone who wants to do this for a living I would say look for another facet within the hobby.

All The Hype said:
Buy, grade, sell. In my opinion grading is one of the best ways to profit on cards because you don't have to know anything about sports at all (read: you don't have to pick the right guys/cards 100% of the time) to be able to consistently profit.

Aside from that, if you are passionate about cards and you have time to learn the market and it's trends, there's a lot of money to be made in this industry.

If interested, you can check out the FCB group BGS submission info in my signature. Also, I'm no expert, but I've been doing what you're talking about for about 7 years now and I'd be happy to talk shop if you have specific ideas or questions you want to bounce off someone. Feel free to PM me anytime. Welcome back!

jcmint · Oct 26, 2013

+1 Wes makes a ton of sense here.

Wes said:
It's not a bad idea for some extra cash but I have a hard time seeing how you could spend 40+ hours a week doing anything but consignment within the card industry. Prospecting has a huge wait factor that requires you to hold inventory for months or even years. It's also a real gamble.

sportscardtheory · Oct 26, 2013

It's pretty simple really. The more you list, the more you will make... and you have to be endlessly buying too. You have 5,000+ listings, you should be able to live off the sales and still buy constantly. The trick is getting that many listings.

MansGame · Oct 26, 2013

sportscardtheory said:
It's pretty simple really. The more you list, the more you will make... and you have to be endlessly buying too. You have 5,000+ listings, you should be able to live off the sales and still buy constantly. The trick is getting that many listings.

This sounds spot on

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Buying Albert Belle cards! PM me!

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