- This topic has 38 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
We’re not sure what happened but we did twice as many sales this week as last. And many of the items sold were for over $100. People made offers and a
[See the full post at: The Numbers: April 17-23, 2022] -
-
Numbers from a two-day antiques fair at Lamport Hall, a minor stately home. Cost of one table for two days 64 dollars. Sales on the Easter Sunday 200 dollars. Sales on the Monday 25 dollars.
I shared a pitch with my friend Ola, the pitch being two six-foot long tables in a stable block. We had to be there from 8 am to 4.30 pm, which wasn’t too bad the first day, which was hot and sunny, but the second day there was a cold wind blowing through the block, and we had to take turns getting out into the courtyard to warm up.
On the drive back the first day (the hall’s 25 miles away) the offside rear wheel bearing on my car started disintegrating, so on the second day Ola gave me a lift in, which meant that I couldn’t take any stock with me, hence poor sales. On the other hand I got a lift back in a Ford Ka, and there was barely enough room for me and the driver, so it was a good job I didn’t bring more stock.
The punters were mostly English eccentrics, which is amusing for the first few hours but after a while you just don’t want to see waxed moustaches, bunny ears, couples in matching gear that says in large letters “Palm Angels” and small dogs at eye level. This year’s fad in the Northamptonshire boondocks is to carry a small dog in your arms.
I thought “Palm Angels” was some kind of executive-relief service but then I googled it.
I went round the fair a few times, but there was nothing worth buying. A dealer in the middle of the courtyard had a huge selection of woodworking tools, which were all in below-average condition and overpriced. Most of them went back home with him, and he’s a regular at the bi-yearly fair according to another dealer, so ? I mention this ‘cos I was able to judge the quality of his stock easier than I could do with the other stalls.
A coffee curiosity; I mentioned to our neighbour, who has her own shop in Sywell, about not seeing any coffee grinders. She told me she’d seen some, and took me over to a 1950s electric percolator, i.e. a piece of garbage. She’d misheard me. I did find one grinder, one of those wall-mounted ones with a Delft china hopper and a missing receptacle, which piece of junk the dealer wanted 20 dollars for.
There were a couple of food caravans selling hog roast sandwiches and brewed coffee. The coffee was 5 dollars and tasteless. Don’t know about the hog roast- it being Ramadan we had a a stock of samosas and stuff given us by neighbours back in Leicester.
Well, it paid for the new wheel bearing and ABS sensor, but I ain’t never doing one of those again.
-
I google Palm Angels and still don’t understand what it is. Somehow it cost $300 for a shirt.
-
-
-
Week of Apr 17 – 23
Total Items in Store: 1573 eBay, 37 Etsy
Items Sold: 17 eBay, 1 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $10.75 + $48 Commission
Total Sales: $372.95 eBay, $31 Etsy; Includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $88 for Vintage 24 pc Anchor Hocking Depression Glass Sandwich Pattern Service for 4
Average price: $22.44
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 28I did a decent week for me. I was happy with the glass set sale. I wanted a decent price considering the amount of packing I had to do. It ended up not being that difficult. For some reason, both the glass set and the other item I had to ship out on Saturday both went to Arkansas.
@robb_ I have tried the new listing tool including using it twice with a video. I think it is a nice improvement. I haven’t moved to it permanently because it doesn’t have the Custom Label window, or at least didn’t have it when I used it last. I also ended about 200 listings yesterday and relisted with sell similar, and the new tool came up automatically. I really appreciated the ability to adjust the price much easier. So, I really liked that improvement.-
-
@Sharyn , yeah, I like it, but it seems I can’t find the button anymore to return to the old tool. Yet, I don’t have really any issues with it yet.
-
-
-
I tried the new bulk editing tool last week. Immediately switched back to the old, but I guess the days are numbered before they automatically switch us. I mainly use the bulk editing tool to get an export of recent listings to upload into my tracking spreadsheet so I don’t have to retype everything, just cut and paste. For some reason they left the Item ID off the new tool which is my unique identifier in my spreadsheet. I sent them some feedback and hope they listen.
-
Like a lot of eBay’s interface changes, once they get the initial kinks worked out I think it will be a more streamlined improvement. Remember all the fuss over required and recommended item specifics last year, or the year before? But those are just one easy part of the listing flow now.
-
-
Total Items in Store:Â 232 Ebay, 20 Mercari
Items Sold:Â 7 Ebay, 2 Mercari
Cost of Items Sold: $82
Gross Sales, Ebay: $432.09, $27 MercariNet Sales, Ebay: $326.37
Highest Price Sold:Â $70 Two like new Tommy Hilfiger pillow shams
Average price, Ebay:Â $61.73
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $48
Number of items listed this week: 0Congrats on your great sales R&J. I had a great week considering I still haven’t gotten back to listing. I did run a sale and took some offers. I listened to an old podcast this week while I was working on something and it was nice to hear your voices again.
Today is my first day of “retirement”. It feels weird. I already took a nap but have many things to do. I have some important non-Ebay things I need to address but I’m really looking forward to rediscovering and organizing my unlisted inventory. My dad is going to come over and keep me company / help with the sorting. I think it will give him some new purpose and he likes to watch my sales. He’s so cheap and he can’t believe what people pay for things. I’m thinking about making videos for what sold again as I relaunch just for kicks.
I’ve decided to stick with Mercari for our better brand clothing since it’s so much faster to list. I have a couple of bins of that. I get about $10-20 apiece but can list in a minute or two on that platform and I’ll get more than at the yard sale. I look forward to checking out the new Ebay listing tool. I’d love to do it all on the phone but just find that the desktop works best for me so far and then I take the photos on the phone.
-
Today is my first day of “retirement”.
Congrats! Remember that you can now set your own pace. It probably took us a couple years when we left our “career jobs” to really feel comfortable. After a lifetime of someone telling you what to do, independence is a new muscle you have to work.
-
Thanks Jay. My production and timing was controlled by the rainmakers. It was a great, flexible job but it will be nice to have more freedom. I’m lucky. I got a lot of wistful looks from my coworkers. The nice cushy job you appreciated so much earlier really can get old when you are in your 50s and 60s.
-
-
-
Let me rephrase, lol, Fantastic numbers Jay And Ryanne! Hey, what do you guys think of the new listing tool?
-
i tried it, and didn’t like that some of the inputs were drop down menus. i’d have to revisit it and see if they are still like that. i did send them feedback on that.
-
-
-
Total Items in Store: 605
Items Sold: 44
Gross Sales: $1,190.07 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $630.11 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $59.40
Highest Price Sold: $95 (cisco switch)
Average Price Sold: $27.05
Returns: 1 (cisco switch)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $140
Number of items listed this week: 60It felt like a good week because we were selling a lot but our items are fairly low dollar so the net was not quite what I had hoped. Still selling some computer equipment here and there, three more Cisco switches, this time they were given to us from a local telco company that the IT business partners with. One of the 3 got returned due to us not properly describing the extent of the corrosion on some of the ports. The high return shipping cost and it being our fault I just gave them a full refund and told them to pitch it, so that hurt a bit. I did get to visit another train show and that is where the $140 was spent on a bunch of train cars and some other random scenery items and track. I’m finding that many of the dealers at these train shows appear to be retired guys that maybe are supplementing their retirement income selling used trains. They tend to get pretty excited when I offer to buy a whole box of stuff so I think that will be my strategy going forward, look for somebody who has a large box of a particular item and offer to buy it all for a good discount. I even got a deal on a box of items from a large local train shop who claimed he “does not negotiate on price” but with a little bit of friendly insistence he just couldn’t resist the chance to clear out a whole box of random kits.
eBay is proving useful for my IT business too. Refurbished computers are super popular with small business owners on a budget and I like selling them because I can mark them up a lot more than new computers. I used to buy all my refurbished computers on Amazon but ebay’s new computer refurbisher standards has made it a lot less risky, and cheaper, to buy my refurbished PCs on ebay now. I picked up 3 Dell Optiplex 7060’s for $350 and sold them to a customer for $650 and bought a Latitude 5090 for $300 and sold it for $500. The real money in IT is always the labor and monthly service contracts but it’s nice to make some extra $$ on the sale of the hardware too.
-
Refurbished computers are super popular with small business owners on a budget
It’s fun to find a niche that isn’t being serviced by big companies. As a small business owner, we recently purchased a used macbook air for one of our partners. It was a 2017 but were the perfect specs for what he does.
-
-
 I used to buy all my refurbished computers on Amazon but ebay’s new computer refurbisher standards has made it a lot less risky, and cheaper, to buy my refurbished PCs on ebay now.
What are eBay’s new standards? Do they have some used PC program now? I’m impressed that you are buying used computers to provide clients. I’d be afraid I was buying someone else’s problems.
-
-
Rumor has it that there was a 5% eBay bucks promo circulating today, so if you haven’t been listing much lately, now is definitely the time!
Today was the 85th consecutive day that I listed at least three new items in my store, and the 25th straight that I created five new listings. It’s been a real change to list with this consistency but I like the routine. I’ve also had good sales numbers throughout the whole stretch.
I’m confident that this consistent pipeline of new listings, and a higher average sales price, are the biggest reasons that my numbers remain mostly steady even though I am still downsizing my inventory.
4/17/2022 – 4/23/2022
Total items in store: 2174 (down from 2370)
Items sold: 32 (17 via best offer, 9 via seller initiated offer)
Gross sales: $1992.25 (down 37% from one year ago)
Net sales: $1355.26 (down 38% from one year ago)
Quantity sold: 32 (down 68% from one year ago)
Average sales price: $62.26 (up 63% from one year ago)
Lowest price sold (net): $8.02 — Jose Siri autographed 8×10 Houston Astros photo
Most of the sellers whose auctions I bid on every week sell on consignment, and every so often they’ll have other items mixed in with all the cards listings. I guess when you sell that way, you sell whatever shows up in your mailbox. I used to ignore these listings to focus on bidding on, and learning about, all the different types of cards. But I’ve been researching and bidding on the random stuff more often over the last six months. It will be a learning process figuring out what sells well and what doesn’t. But that’s one of my favorite things about selling on eBay.
Highest price sold (net): $164.48 — Nancy Kerrigan and Kristi Yamaguchi Leaf 1/1 autograph card
Sometimes the smaller manufacturers come up with valuable unique cards. There is not a huge history of Olympics trading cards, so the top olympians nicer cards (especially autographs) sell for nice money. And Nancy Kerrigan is more famous than your average olympian. The serial number 1/1 means the version of the card (in this case, the color) is completely unique. These are always desirable cards for collectors. I’ve never watched an Olympic event but I knew this card would sell quickly if it was listed correctly. I was right. It sold the same night I listed it.
-
@Craig Rex – Are most of your sales from your recent postings? Do you have an idea about what your average shelf time is?
-
I would say it is probably a 50/50 split between slow and fast sales.
Fast sales are listed for less than a day or a few days. Like the Kerrigan and Yamaguchi autograph above, where the initial listing had some kind of error and the right deep-pocketed collector (or flipper) couldn’t find the card until I came into the equation to list the card properly. Or sometimes a player is in the news for an incredible game, and if I have any of their valuable cards in my to-be-listed pile, I try to get them listed before the news cycle changes.
Slow sales take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. I buy all my inventory through auctions, and auctions are not the best method to sell most items. But I had a lot less money to work with a few years ago since I was still building up my inventory. This meant a lot of buying cards for $1-$10 each and selling them through BIN/BO for $20-$40. These cards usually have less valuable features (like an autograph with an average serial number like xx/100 as opposed to a more desirable xx/10 or x/5) or feature less desirable players.
This card which sold tonight for $15 is a good example — a rookie card with a serial number of 25 of popular wide receiver Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are Tom Brady’s current team. So there are a lot of possible collectors or flippers out there. But this card is from a set, Upper Deck Quantum, that is not produced anymore and wasn’t popular when it was manufactured. This is primarily because of the college uniforms on the card which most collectors don’t value as highly as pro uniforms. And obviously no autograph on the card or other embellishment besides the serial number.
I originally purchased the card in August for about $5. Who knows why it sold tonight. The only other sale in Terapeak was in November (middle of football season) for $20. But another copy will pop up next month…or next year…or sometime. Less likely for the rarer serial number cards which is why they’re so prized by collectors and can fetch high prices.
For a while, cards like the Mike Evans were the majority (1000+) of my listings, now it’s probably closer to 1/3 or 1/4. These lower value cards sell once in a while just like Mike did tonight. List it and forget it always has a place and it’s a great way to build up your store from 100 listings to 500 and 1000 and those leaps are so important.
But in my case, it’s possible that the “true” value of a lot of my lower priced inventory might be closer to what I paid for them and not what I have had them listed at. So I have been trying to downsize my inventory lately and focus exclusively on either fast sales or more profitable slower sales. So far, so good and I really enjoy experimenting and tweaking now that the income pipeline is steadier.
-
-
-
These airedale figurines are the gift that just keeps giving. Â With exception of the week I sold the Salvador Dali prints, last week was my best week on eBay ever.
W/E 4/23/22
Total Items In Store: 4,164
Items Sold: 60
Cost of Items Sold: Â 169.88
Total Sales (Sales + Shipping does [not inc sales tax]) 2,749.52
Ebay / Paypal / Shipping Costs / Fees: 736.82
Net Profit: 2,012.71
Highest Price Sold: Â $299.99 – Â 2002 Airedale Terriers Figurine
Average Price Sold: Â Â Â Â 33.53
Number of items listed: Â 87My death pile has creeped up a bit. Â I need to get some serious listing done this week.
-
@debitendcredits – Amazing. Can’t hardly imagine 60 sales in a single week. It’s a wonder you got so many items listed with all that packing. Congrats.
-
Can’t hardly imagine 60 sales in a single week. It’s a wonder you got so many items listed with all that packing.
This was my life a lot of the last 18 months or so. I’m closer to 30-40 sales a week now that I’ve spent a lot of time downsizing my inventory. 30-40 sales a week is a good baseline level, I think. The time spent on packing the extra sales from 40 to 60 and beyond adds up. I had less energy for listing and organizing my space. It’s one thing to pack those extra sales during the holidays when you expect it will be busy but another to do it every week.
And I sell almost all small items which get packed the same way in the same small envelope or small flat rate box. It would be even more time consuming with a store like @debitendcredits with a lot of random items and different types of packaging.
But a good label printer and organizing your shipping supplies make life a lot easier during the busy weeks. And the busy times make the slow times (like the next few months) a lot more bearable.
-
-
-
Items in Store 1741
Items Sold 26
Total Sales $1,081.00
COGS $102.00
Total Profit $979.00
Average profit $37.65
Average sales price $41.58
New Listings 1
Items scavenged 0
Listing 2022 weekly Avg 48
Sourcing Allotment 2I had a $200 and two $100 sales this week that really helped me out. I didn’t list because it was a CRAZY week! Two of my children had Birthdays (they are 3 days apart), we had a major audit at work which I’ve been preparing for since the beginning of the year, and we left on Friday so I could go on a work trip to an industry expo show for 4 days. I take my family on these trips so in the evenings we can have some fun in the big city.
We got back last night and I had to do a bunch of shipping because I had a great weekend of sales.
This week of sales got off to a very nice start as well – 14 items for $458 in sales on Monday & Tuesday.
-
What the…I went from having awesome sales every day since Thursday last week to not a single sale today – not even an offer!
-
Its good to hear we’re not the only ones. We had several days (Mon, Tues, Wed) where nothing happened. Last night we finally sold a couple items.
-
I have noticed those slow days this week as well. Figured it’s a combination of the nice weather plus the ongoing uncertainty in the world.
One suggestion I can make is to see if you are able to activate the promoted listings 75% off fees promotion that eBay is running through May 5th. I don’t know if it will work for everyone but it’s worth checking. I created a campaign for the first time this afternoon and received two sales from them tonight. I have always been skeptical of promoted listings, but like all the other tools eBay has given us sellers over the last few years, they are all probably worth experimenting with and giving a try once or twice a year.
-
-
-
-
Week Ending 4/23/22
Gross Sales (W\O shipping and tax): $555.84
Net Sales (after fees): $471.27 Total Items in eBay Store: 1045
Items Sold eBay: 6
Total Items in Etsy Store: 163
Items Sold Etsy: 3
Cost of Items Sold: $59.80
Highest Price Sold: $115.00 Seiko Watch
Average Price Sold: $61.76
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $130.00
Average Days Listed: 309
Longest Listed: 2007
New items listed: 14Fantastic week of sales for Jay and Ryanne. To have so many sales and a high average selling price must have been satisfying. Below average sales for the week for me, but fortunately what sold went for good prices. The Etsy sales really saved the week. Though I only put a small percentage of my items for sale on the platform, it accounts for a decent percentage of my sales without a significant amount of additional work (except starting learning curve which was significant). I still have a hard time justifying paying the monthly fee for Sixbit, though, and will probably cancel the subscription once I devise a system to help me keep items in sync.
Bid at one auction during the week and hit some estate sales Saturday. Found a few interesting things, but most things were overpriced. I went back to one on Sunday morning for the 50% sale and picked up a nice Seth Thomas nautical clock and some Arabia pottery that should sell well.
Had some interesting sales during the week. Sold my new longest tail item, a Star Wars Darth Vader watch for $12.99, after 2007 days. Watch was sealed in its case and the battery had gone bad in the interim. Offered to open it and replace battery but buyer wanted it still sealed. Sold a brochure for a 1950s fly fishing reel for $19.95 the day I listed it. Brochure was in the bottom of a box of pipes I purchased.
-
@craig-rex – I’m starting to go through the boxes of cards I purchased and thought some of your old posts would be a good place to start. I wasn’t wrong. Your reply to Sharon a few weeks ago in particular was very helpful. The link to article about why cards from the 1980s are virtually worthless was eye-opening. Looks like a good portion of the cards I purchased are from this era, but seem to be a lot of 1994 and later, so maybe I have something yet.
Your generosity in sharing your knowledge is commendable. Thank you!
-
You’re welcome. My store wouldn’t exist without this podcast which changed my thinking about eBay (and everything, really) and I’ve learned so much from posting on the forums and the collective wisdom and encouragement of this community. I’m so happy to contribute to that in any small way.
If you want to post some pictures of the cards you bought, I’d love to see them. And if you think you have any possible hidden gems, I’d be happy to give you some tips on how to quickly figure out value.
Fanning the cards in rows on a table (like this listing which I really ought to cut the price on to just get it sold) is an easy way to show a large number of cards in one picture.
-
-
@craig-rex – Thanks for the offer. Here is one that has me stumped on pricing. I got a stack of 51 Topps Finest refractor basketball cards 1993-1994 season. Most appear to be $2-$5 cards, but a few have higher dollar sales history. One in particular, this David Robinson card has sales from $0.88 to $39.95 in non-graded condition.
From looking at past sales via Terapeak there seems to be no discernable difference between them. Almost all sales were for mint condition cards. A good portion have been selling in the $20-$30 range. Looking at what’s available, there are 48 with a few graded this Robinson GSM 10 card for $19.99. I just don’t understand why so many people are paying so much for non-graded cards when comparable cards are selling for so much less.
There are also a lot of these available on COMC.
What would you price it at? Would you even bother with it?
Thanks!
-
1993-94 Topps Finest was one of the earliest sets to include the “chase” cards (in this case, refractors) which are basically the foundation of modern cards today. Topps refractors are still a thing and the other large companies have their own versions — for example, every week I sell a few Panini prizm cards with various flourishes like a serial number or an autograph. Here is a good article which explains the influence of the Finest refractor.
My guess from your picture is that you have a much more common regular base card, not a refractor. Take a look at this listing which is definitely a refractor and compare it to the front of your card. If your card shines and shimmers like a rainbow when you tilt it in the light, you have a refractor. If not (and I suspect it won’t), it’s a regular base. Later years of Finest refractors are easy to identify because the front is even shinier (often with different patterns and colors) and Topps put the word refractor on the back of the card. It’s just the first year or two where you have to do the tilt test.
A lot of the $0.99 sales in Terapeak of David Robinson 1993-94 Topps Finest refractors are regular base cards which are listed (intentionally or not) as a refractor. The last few sales of real refractors that I see are:
$35 April 8th fixed price
$25 April 2nd fixed price
$21.50 March 18th auction
$13.02 March 4th auction (really bad picture on this listing though)
$27 February 9th auction
$20 January 29th fixed price
The prices are fairly consistent (except for the listing with bad picture) because the set’s been around for 30 years now. Also, Robinson was a great player, a Hall of Famer, but he had been in the league for a few years before this set was released. Rookie cards are always the most valuable — for example, a rookie refractor from the same 1993-94 Topps Finest set of another great player, Penny Hardaway, regularly sells for over $100. Same set, same type of refractor card, but it’s his rookie so it’s valued more highly by collectors. If there were Topps Finest refractors made in the 1980s, David Robinson’s rookie would probably be worth $500+ today.
One more thing I should mention: graded cards are one of the biggest misunderstandings about the modern card industry. There are a few well known grading companies (PSA, BGS, SGC) with (mostly) professional standards and expensive fees. There are also about a million smaller companies (including the one you linked) whose standards are mostly dubious at best. Calling these operations “companies” is being generous; it’s usually just one guy (or gal) encapsulating the cards for a nominal fee.
Make no mistake: a card in a high grade from a reputable company (gem mint which is either 9.5 or 10 depending on the company) often increases the value, especially with ultra high value ($1000+) cards or for popular players or types of cards. But most cards are not 10s either due to slight manufacturing flaws or tiny amounts of wear on the front or back of the card.
Were you to submit your card for grading (please don’t, you’ll be throwing away money), I can tell just from the left to right centering on the front that it would receive a 9 at best, and more likely an 8 or lower. For modern cards, 8s or 9s tend to sell for similar prices to ungraded cards.
With all that said, the fact that you bought a lot with some early Topps Finest cards in it, and not just 1988 Upper Deck, shows that you have an eye for what might be valuable. Keep digging and researching and you will find the $10 and $20 more consistently. At which point we can start to discuss scanning and shipping!
-
Thanks again for the information. So, what I have are the standard chromium cards and not the refractors. I can see the difference now that I know what I’m looking for. These alone appear pretty special even without the added refractor coating and have a completely different look than the basic trading card, which is why I assumed I had something special. Shame they aren’t worth more.
I ended up with around 50 of these basketball cards, another 4500 football cards and 5000 baseball cards. I’ve been able to use Terapeak to identify some valuable cards that came in some of the sets I have and verified I don’t have them. For someone that isn’t a rabid fan, and primarily knows only the biggest names, I am astounded at the volume of names I’ve never heard of.
I bought these for the education value mainly, and I’ve gotten my money’s worth in that respect. I see so many cards for sale at estate sales, usually at high prices, and always feel like I might be passing up money. Will likely put them up as lots and see what happens. So much to learn. It’s admirable how much you’ve taught yourself.
-
These alone appear pretty special even without the added refractor coating and have a completely different look than the basic trading card, which is why I assumed I had something special.
The Topps Finest “look” (even without the refractor finish) has influenced a lot (maybe the majority) of modern cards sets for the last 25+ years, so your assumption was a pretty good one. The cards you found were just a few years before manufacturers really started adding a “chase” element to the cards with many different types of refractors, autographs, serial numbers, etc, and that’s basically what led to where the modern card market is today where buying a special individual card for $20 or $200 or even $2,000 and above is just normal.
I ended up with around 50 of these basketball cards, another 4500 football cards and 5000 baseball cards.
If you have any others which you’re having trouble identifying, let me know. Likewise if you want to discuss how to break down lots of this size or how to best sell them. Every collector or reseller has boxes full of random cards like this, myself included. I’ve had enough success in the past selling boxes of 100 to 150 cards for $5 to $10 each that I am thinking about getting a table again sometime in the next month or two. I have other things to sell, but the cards alone will probably cover the cost of the table, lunch and anything I wanted to buy for myself. I know that others use Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace to buy or sell in the same way.
For someone that isn’t a rabid fan, and primarily knows only the biggest names, I am astounded at the volume of names I’ve never heard of.
This is a constant education for me as well. I know a lot about sports because of the cards, but that knowledge often occurs in hindsight — I sell a card, then I Google the player and see they were traded or got drafted to the local team. Both of those sales were from this past weekend. That’s not always why the cards sell, but it can be a factor sometimes. I’ve been doing this full-time (or close to it) that I have a pretty large knowledge base built up, but there are a lot of gaps in it. I have friends who are fans of specific teams but not into cards who know a lot more than me about individual players and the rival teams players.
But I have too many other interests to sink a lot of time into watching games regularly, especially since researching players is kind of the easy part. Learning about the different sets and which types of cards are more valuable than others is what’s really important. A rookie autograph of the same player can go for $10 if it’s a cheaply made card from one set and $100 or more if it’s a low serial number or desirable insert from a higher quality set.
That is, I think, the knowledge that this forum and podcast has always focused on — finding good quality items out in the world, figuring out why they’re worth a lot or a little, and turning someone’s trash into someone else’s treasure.
I see so many cards for sale at estate sales, usually at high prices, and always feel like I might be passing up money.
This is why I started going into detail in my posts. Well, that and the process of going over the numbers and writing the posts inspires me to list more and think more critically about what I want from this life, now that I’m doing it full time.
I would bet that a lot of the cards you’ve seen at estate sales are not the cards I sell but cards from the 60s and 70s and 80s, almost all overpriced unless condition on the cards is perfect which it never is. Maybe cards from the 1950s if you get lucky. But the more common players from even the 1940s and 1950s are not always worth much. You have to go back to early 1900s tobacco baseball cards for a random card in a random condition to be worth $20 and up. But in general, an individual card’s value is always dependent on quality of set, rarity of card, player and the condition of the card itself.
I would expect that modern card collections (mid-1990s to present) will become a lot more common at estate sales and out in the wild. Cards have had a fairly sizable niche audience for 30+ years now. Even within that world, not everyone has a good understanding of what’s valuable and why. Not everyone is motivated to profit off of their hobby, either, and a lot of collectors hold on to their PC (personal collection) cards for a very long time. Even if the cards are valuable!
Plus there has been so much money thrown around on high-end cards the last few years that I’m sure it’s got more people in the game. And when that happens, you get people buying cards trying to make money without educating themselves about the cards (or how to sell them) in any real way. I don’t know if these are the types of people who would sell at a townwide yard sale or flea market, and maybe all of their cards will be wildly overpriced too. But I’m sure some of us will find out this spring and summer.
-
-
-
-
Between your notes on SL and looking through your store and going through this lot, I have a much better idea on what I should be looking for now. A general rule seems to be to look for a combination of features: low-number limited-editions, signed, near mint or better condition, and of course, a well-known player. Special features add value. With exceptions. AND, stay away from the 1980’s.
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.