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US subtitle is similarly expensive! But every big consignment seller I source from on eBay uses a subtitle on almost every listing to promote their business. Complete with “unique” taglines which all basically say the same thing. This must be a freebie feature with a large enough store, though I still don’t understand the point. Are they getting customer referrals from…a subtitle?
I’ve been a hot streak lately which makes it easy to get into the groove of eBay, planning one day’s work at a time in a very organized way and really focusing on my current projects: spring (now summer) cleaning, small and large lot listings and listing individual items when I think they will sell fast. I hope this is the start of a scorching summer of sales. But as the temperature goes up, there are always down sales weeks too. I’ve found it’s best when I stay on an even keel with eBay. Get my processes in place, do the work, and trust that it will pay off — if not now, then sometime sooner. And often listings will sell when you don’t expect them to.
6/2/2024 to 6/8/2024
Items in store: 232 (same as when I did the numbers last week, which has to be a first)
Items sold: 32 — 16 via best offer, 10 via seller initiated offer, 24 via promoted listings
Gross sales: $2279.81 (down 13% from one year ago)
Net sales: $1567.70 (down 13% from one year ago)
Average sales price: $71.24 (up 74% from one year ago)
Highest price sold (net): $267.52 — Paul Skenes 2023 Onyx Vintage autograph with Geaux Tigers inscription #5/12
Paul Skenes is the new phenom pitcher in the major leagues. His autographs have been priced high since the moment they were released, since he was the #1 overall draft pick last year, so my profit was only about 50 bucks on this card. I bought the card from my consignment site which charges a 10% cash out fee. So I saved myself the fee and earned a little pocket change. I like to get a box shipped from consignment to me every week full of cards for my curated lots and a handful to sell individually.
The buyer was a repeat customer and quick negotiator. $325 was his max, he messaged me, we both know that Onyx cards won’t hold their value long-term. I accepted his offer because he was right. Unlicensed cards like Onyx are much less valuable compared to cards with players pictured in their major league uniform, and Skenes value is most likely at its peak since he’s just debuted in the majors and pitching great. Kind of a funny message to go along with a $300+ offer — this won’t be worth this much ever again, but I want it anway. The ultra-modern card world is a quirky place.
This Skenes card was my largest individual sale, but I sold two flat rate boxes full of graded all sports and graded baseball — combined into one large box, of course — to the same buyer for $490.06. These are all cards that just miss the cut for sending to consignment, where my cut off is usually in the $10 sell range for graded cards. My COGS on these is two to three dollars each, so it’s a few hundred bucks profit from both.
Lowest price sold (net): $11.17 — Nestor Cortes 2023 Topps Allen & Ginter autograph
Another consignment to eBay flip, with my COGS in consignment credit at $10.25 which would be $9.23 after the cash out fee. Starting to look at these numbers more closely makes me realize what’s worth spending time on and what’s not. I like flipping cards like these that I can buy on the consignment site for less than $10 and list for $20. My thinking is, saving myself that cash out fee is worth it. But after fees and time spent making the listing, it’s really not. I’ll try and stick to larger flips (in terms of dollar value or percentage) going forward.
You’re a good Mom Christine. Your kids are lucky to have you in their corner.
I took a trip to Lancaster PA last year and there was a funky shopping complex called Building Character which had similar vibes to your market. Sometimes I think that I would love to end up in a touristy town like that. But you really need a lot of foot traffic to make the numbers work.
There is a teeny tiny similar type of market in my little New Jersey town and sometimes I walk there and check out the vendors. It’s fun to browse, even if there’s nothing I would buy. The booth/table fees are very cheap and everyone is nice. But the place is always dead. I just can’t see how anyone is ever making more than about $50 profit on any given weekend…let alone on weekdays.
Since moving to this small town, I’ve noticed that a lot of brick and mortar stores come and go in a year or less, and a lot of others exist in this weird way where the business isn’t open often enough where they could possibly make a profit. I would like to think this will get better over the next 5-10 years. It seems like an inefficient use of space. But considering how wealth is concentrated in the US, it’s probably going to get worse, not better. Am I too cynical?
I’m glad the premium hoarder seller took good care of you as far as throwing in a few freebies. I get the VIP treatment from a few of the regular eBay consignment card sellers I buy from. Usually it’s a big break on combined shipping but every so often it’s a cool freebie. A few weeks ago, one seller who lives in Hawaii sent me a message that they couldn’t find one of the cards in my 30+ card order (just a cheap card, $1 or $2 winning bid) and they promised a replacement I would like. I opened the box and they sent me a small box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts!! Best freebie I’ve ever gotten! I ate those one bite at a time over the next few days.
Thanks all. I like tracking my numbers, but a lot of card sellers get soooo granular with the numbers to a point it’s like paralysis by analysis. Sometimes a week or month is up or down from last year, and it’s just random. But it’s good to take a moment and recognize patterns and when things are going well. My sell-through rate is higher than it’s ever been because I’ve educated myself more about why things sell. My knowledge of cards and memorabilia is much wider and deeper than it was a year ago. I know a lot more about vintage cards, non-sports cards and certified autographs valuable. This has helped me do well with individual cards as well as small curated lots and bulk lots. I’m starting to feel more comfortable and confident each time I branch out to related but still somewhat new-to-me areas like old photographs or signed memorabilia.
My goal over the next few months is to try and maintain this STR as I work through some bins with longtail/oddball/other niche items. As long as I continue to be selective about what I list, and price things well, I think this will go smoothly. If this means I donate a few boxes of stuff which don’t make the cut, or sell them for in a bulk lot for a quick offer, well that’s all part of a day’s work!
Ideally I would like to hit 300 listings in my eBay store by the end of the month, and then assess my goals from there. In the very short term, I have a nice pile of 75 individual cards on the desk to get scanned and listed. About half of them were carefully selected consignment purchases where buying the card with consignment credit was more profitable than paying the 10% cash-out fee. The rest are “best of the best” from my weekly eBay buys or pickups from the Panini Rewards site where I buy multiple copies of the same card.
I’ve found that I really enjoy selling autographs of obscure players who have cards in just a few sets. My purchases are often more based in my gut, my knowledge of the player and type of card, since there is little to no Terapeak history for that player’s autographs. A lot of times the buyers are true player or team collectors, often located in the same state as their home team and their fandom is a big part of who they are. They are the type to leave feedback that says Go (favorite team) or they get really happy when I send them a few bonus cards of that player or team and send me a nice message or leave a long feedback. It reminds me of what eBay used to be like before drop shipping and pre orders and people with handheld scanners and apps at every thrift store, estate sale and flea market. I’m not entirely nostalgic for that era. I think it’s easier to make a buck reselling now. But it’s nice to deal regularly with both collectors and flippers. Makes it harder to get cynical and easier to remind myself how much I enjoy my day to day routine. A lot of people have a very different, much more negative relationship with work.
Love the egg chair fiasco turned into a huge profit! I don’t like using Amazon but for some items, it makes sense and if there’s ever a shipping hiccup or damaged item, you will often end up with multiples. I’m sure this used to be more common a few years ago but nice to hear it still happens sometimes.
How are you packaging things like your transformers? I have a bin or two of oddball stuff like that in my listing pipeline…not my specialty at all…but stuff that I’ve accumulated for good deals. Not my first priority to list but definitely want to get it all listed by end of summer so the collectors (and flippers?) can buy it all up in Q3 and Q4…
Nice to see the premium hoarder stuff still selling. That leopard sweater is certainly unique! Going to price the next one even higher or same price range?
Yeah, this is typically something like what I do. I used Staples for all my supplies the last fewyears since it was pretty easy to order a lot of stuff and spend less than $25 net between coupons, discounts and store credits for ink recycling. But they changed their Rewards program recently and the deals are not as good. Likely the change was due to scavengers like me exploiting every loophole possible. So it is probably time to figure out a new plan for supplies. I’m not too far from a Walmart so that might be the way to go.
The Pembroke table is really a work of art. I did a quick eBay search for them and turns out I’m a mere 15 minute drive from securing a pair of Pembroke tables for the low, low price of $400 each. Someday…!!!
There is a Philadelphia word jawn which is a catch-all noun for most any person, place or thing and appeared as a $2000 Jeopardy! clue the other night. That Pembroke jawn was a great find!
5/26/2024 to 6/1/2024
Items in store: 232 (up from 156 a few weeks ago)
Items sold: 21 — 6 via best offer, 10 via seller initiated offer, 17 via promoted listings
This might be my largest number of sales via seller initiated offer since that feature’s been introduced. I generally send 20% offers and sometimes 25%. I don’t go that high on higher priced items or items which I think will sell for full price, but anything else is fair game. If you believe in the predictive power of numbers, give some 20% offers a try!
Gross sales: $831.63 (down 44% from one year ago)
Net sales: $491.96 (down 40% from one year ago)
Sometimes these sales numbers are a reflection of me relying less on eBay and more on my consignment trading cards port to sell my inventory, but my consignment sales for the month of May 2024 were essentially the exact same as May 2023. But those consignment numbers come with a catch: I ran weeklong sales of 20%, 25% and 30% last May. In fact, I ran 28 (!!!) sales on my full consignment inventory last year, ranging from 4 days long to 11. I’ve run just two sales this year, both in March. I will definitely run a few later in the year during the site’s extensive Black Friday promotions, but mostly I have been letting things sell at full price and taking offers.
Your numbers tell a good story, but sometimes you really need to analyze them to appreciate the full story. And remember that doom and gloom is often wasted energy.
Average sales price: $39.60 (down 25% from one year ago)
Highest price sold (net): $55.24— Naz Reid 2019 Panini Contenders draft playoff ticket auto /18
Naz Reid, one of the top backups on the Minnesota Timberwolves, was a key player as his team made a surprising run to the Western Conference finals. I had a nice stack of Naz autographs from my time spent scavenging the Panini Rewards site, where they release cards every week usually on Fridays. The expensive cards ($100 and up) sell in seconds, but I can often pick up multiple copies of cards of players like Naz. It’s a matter of doing the research to find out whose cards are priced too high or too low. I am down to 1 or 2 copies of most of my Naz autographs after selling 29 (!!!) Naz cards since March. I’d love to add some more this offseason, but athletic peaks are often very short (same goes for team success) and it’s likely this last month was the height of Naz-mania.
If I buy too many of his cards, and they don’t sell, does that mean he’ll be my Nazmanian devil?
Lowest price sold (net): $11.03 — Ed Howard signed full sized bat
Made a whopping $1 profit on this one. Full saga in sale of the week thread. Hey, they’re not all gonna be winners. Lesson learned and I’m sure what I learned here will pay off with real, actual profit sometime in the future.
The provenance for memorabilia cards has gotten thinner and thinner over the years. Back in the day, the back of the card used to show the full jersey that the swatch was cut from. But manufacturers learned that card addicts would need their fix regardless of whether they inserted memorabilia from a jersey with dirt from the game or a pile of napkins. Today, the majority of sets go the napkin route, and the premium sets with provenance for the memorabilia start at $500 for a 6 card box.
I received Horatio today and he is in fine shape, so with luck he’ll end up in a future sale of the week thread soon.
I appreciate the heads-up retro, there are so many sets released all the time that even though I subscribe to all the companies email, I still miss stuff.
When I was a kid, I used to love reading the Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Leagues. I must have donated the book at some point which is too bad because it’s out of print now and has a pretty nice Terapeak history.
The artist of these Topps Negro League cards is former player Micah Johnson and he has a niche following for his cards even though he was an average player (at best) because of his second career as an artist. I am going to buy some Micah cards to flip today because I think this set is going to be well-received and his cards will become more in demand. Plus with flipping sub $5 cards, which most of his are sub $5, it’s a volume game. You don’t need to be successful on every flip, just hit on some of them.
I rarely buy cards direct from the manufacturers (whether it’s sealed packs or individual cards only available for a short time) because they usually sell for much less than MSRP. The one exception I make is the Panini Rewards site because you buy those cards with points and I can often get a great deal on the points through eBay. But Topps does a lot of really great cards and I have enough credit on the Topps site to afford the six pack of cards once it comes out on June 20.
I really loved Memento the one time I saw it. I’m almost afraid to go back and rewatch again 10+ years later. Strange because I return to a lot of my favorites (books, music, movies) over and over, like a comfort food.
You killed it with media this week! Pretty solid basic how-to guide for media from your sales this week: special editions, old unused, and something obscure from a known studio or band. Check the discs to make sure they match.
Great work on the title of the Joe Camel lighter. How do you keep smalls like that organized? I assume a separate bin like you do with hats, but any method beyond that? I alphabetize my individual cards for sale and then sort the rest by team. Other than that, a lot of piles and stacks. Working through it!
Lmao. I don’t really miss having coworkers but I do love learning people’s weird conspiracy theories about sports and pop culture, as long as it doesn’t veer into lizard people controlling the government territory.
I can’t believe I hadn’t heard Anthony Edwards is Michael Jordan’s long-lost son until now. I am blown! Blown away. Blown George. Blooooown!
I always like to see a new team rise up and Ant is such a talented player. Besides looking like Jordan. I hope in a few years that Jimmy Butler goes to Minnesota so MJ’s two sons can win a title together.
Christine, what do you think makes that Mickey sheet set less valuable? If it’s overproduction, is there a way to tell that from feel or packaging or something?
It’s sooo 70s that I’m surprised it wouldn’t sell higher. Though judging by Terapeak you did quite well for yourself…
Thanks. I guess these are the new version of the Regional A and B boxes? I still have a few packages of Regional A’s but I have been out of the side loading ones for some time. At least until these arrive!
