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We received about six inches of snow in south Jersey this weekend, which helped me keep the listing pipeline going after a week where shipping was annoying and most of the energy I had for eBay went towards organizing listed and unlisted inventory. I’m already ready for warmer weather, but this was a nice end to the first month of the year.
1/23/2022 – 1/29/2022
Total items in store: 3319 (down from 3323)
Items sold: 61 (37 via best offer, 8 via seller initiated offer)
Gross sales: $3487.64 (down 40% from one year ago, but one year ago this week included my highest priced sale ever, so it’s nice to be within 50% of that total)
Net sales: $2449.55 (down 47% from one year ago)
Lowest price sold (net): $9.81 — Mahmut Tekmedir Mosaic gold prizm soccer card
One of two soccer cards to the same buyer, located in Poland with a shipping address at a US freight forwarder. Circle of eBay, got to love it.
Premium soccer cards, along with other niche sports like women’s basketball & MMA, have only really become a thing in the last 3 years, and I have little to no knowledge about these sports. I could name a few big players or teams but that’s it. So every new set that comes out is a learning experience. The set brands and types of cards have a lot of overlap from sport to sport, and that provides me with a little bit of a clue about what types of cards might sell. But there’s always more to learn.
Highest price sold (net, total for all 3 listings): $209.61 — Gabriel Davis National Treasures auto patch card
Gabriel Davis set an all-time NFL playoff record last week with 4 receiving touchdowns, and even though his team the Buffalo Bills lost to end their season, this was one of three different autographed Davis cards which all sold within minutes of the end of the game. I raised the price on all of my Davis cards as the game was progressing and I saw that he kept scoring touchdowns.
I would have been fine with selling any of the cards at their original price. I would have made a nice profit. But since I know card prices fluctuate around significant events, one of my goals this year was to pay closer attention to the big games so I can take advantage of those price fluctuations. I don’t want to watch all the important games (maybe once or twice a month I’ll feel the urge to watch a game), but checking the scores only takes a few minutes and so does changing prices. I’m an expert at buying low, and these sales are proof that with the right combination of luck and timing, I can raise some prices beyond the normal sales history and still make the sale.
If I save some searches for Gabriel Davis cards, in a few months during the football off-season, I can buy these cards (or similar ones) for half the price or less. It seems completely irrational, but paying attention to the game helped me understand these buyers a little more. The game was an all-time classic, back and forth, with the winner only decided in the last few seconds. It must have been devastating for Bills fans to see their team lose in such a dramatic way, despite all their amazing performances. But at least they can spend $50 or whatever on this guy’s autograph as a consolation prize and memento of the amazing game. And maybe in those moments after the game, they convince themselves that he (and the team) will be even better next year, so they can sell his cards then and even make some profit. Whether they will or not doesn’t really matter – this is what I think is the justification in the moment, why hundreds of his autographs sold right after the game for higher prices. I don’t know if they were all fans of the team, I think there are a lot of not-so-smart flippers in there, but I would bet some of them are fans and the purchase was how they dealt with their feelings.
I don’t really look at a money as a tool to make me feel better, or something to spend impulsively, but I think that’s the case for a lot of people.
We stopped by an estate sale on it’s last hour last week and loaded up the van with lots of great collectibles. Surprised a lot of the items were still available.
This relates to Jay’s post above about becoming an expert, for sure. There are definitely a lot more hands in the scavenging pot, so to speak, than there were five years ago and even two years ago. All the different platforms and apps for selling and looking up sold prices have made it so you don’t really need any prior knowledge or intuition or special equipment to sell online — just a phone and a barcode or the eBay app.
But more and more things slip through the cracks that way. I’ve seen it in my main niche of trading cards, and I used to see it when I scavenged at library book sales. I’m sure it’s true with vintage items and unique collectibles, too.
A little bit of knowledge has become a huge advantage in the scavenging world, and as long as you’re regularly listing your finds (not just sourcing) and your prices are reasonable, it’s a solid foundation for a business.
I’m impressed by the detail in your numbers (though I agree it’s a bit much) and it’s always interesting to see how different things sell on one platform but not another. This is something that I see regularly in the trading card world as well. Different types of buyers use different platforms, and figuring out what sells where is just another step in the scavenging process these days.
Have you tried submitting a request to eBay to have the negative feedback removed?
https://www.ebay.com/sellerhelp/feedback
This is the link I’ve used the two times within the last year that I’ve received negative feedback, and both were removed very quickly — definitely within 24 hours, and one was gone within about 10 minutes.
Jay, Your post was very philosophical and literary and brought back good memories. It reminded me of those little epiphanies I had when I first started listening to the podcast three or four years ago which made me feel like I found my tribe of people in this little corner of the internet who understood me and the way I think.
I’ve definitely shared those feelings of wonder, and fear, as I’ve moved further and further into my trading cards niche. I know the ins and outs of what’s valuable and what’s not and why, so I don’t have the fear that prices are going to suddenly bottom out. There are too many hands in the pot buying and selling and collecting and flipping for the market to completely dry up, and I have my own particular niche of the unique and rare cards within the niche. There is definitely more variability in ultra high end ($1000+ cards) and specific types of graded cards (like base cards or regular rookie cards) where the only criteria are how high the grade is and how many graded cards in each condition are in circulation. But I follow the basic principle of buy low and sell high. I will be fine.
Still, sometimes I can’t help but think: what will I do if all the good deals dry up? Because it seems illogical that I will keep finding auctions that end for far below established value, or auctions with bad titles, or large lots with a few valuable cards which cover the cost of the whole purchase. Even considering that I put in the work to find these deals, and considering my knowledge. There are lots of other buyers and sellers searching for the same deals I am, many of them with deeper pockets or who use technological advantages like bots to their advantage.
But every week I win plenty of auctions at bargain prices, and the pipeline continues.
1/16/2022 – 1/22/2022
Total items in store: 3323 (up from 3320)
Items sold: 56 (34 via best offer, 7 via seller initiated offer)
Gross sales: $2826.49 (up 2% from one year ago)
Net sales: $2068.30 (up 0.2% from one year ago)
Lowest price sold (net): $8.55 — Chris Conley autographed rookie jersey #09/10
The buyer of this card shares a name with the player. Or maybe it’s THE Chris Conley? Conley is not a star player, but not everyone gets to be the very best. However, since he’s not the best, hi
Highest price sold (net, total for all 3 listings): $481.55 — 1 2 3 autographed rookies of young Lakers star Talen Horton-Tucker all from the same draft set
Talen Horton-Tucker is an average player whose profile is boosted from the fact that he plays on the Lakers and is still very young (just 21) as he applied to the NBA Draft after his freshman year in college. He also wasn’t a very high draft pick, so he doesn’t have cards in every set like the higher draft picks too. Basically a perfect storm of high card values.
This was a particularly nice sale as it stemmed from a question from the buyer about condition of the most expensive of the 3 cards. I usually ignore those questions because it’s always best to ignore buyers, especially when the information they’re asking for is almost always in the picture or description.
But this buyer wrote a full, intelligible paragraph, so I wrote a similar length response and we ended up having a nice back and forth of 3 or 4 messages.
Then the buyer spent another ~$200 the next day. I gave them some pretty generous discounts (50% off on the second batch of purchases) but buyers who spend $500+ are the best kind of buyers, and there will always be more opportunities to get new inventory.
I’ve noticed an uptick in those kinds of positive interactions in the last month, with a few buyers sending me very nice messages about how grateful they were for the little gifts I sent with their purchases and long, thoughtful feedback.
eBay has made it so much easier in the last year or so to get these types of INR negative feedbacks removed. The last time that I received one, I don’t even think I had to talk to a rep — just clicked a few buttons and the feedback was gone, like magic.
Every once in a blue moon (maybe once a year), I receive one of these messages from the buyer and I refund them even though I know I am covered through eBay. Particularly if it’s a $10 or $20 sale and the buyer seems genuine and honest. I’ve had one or two of those buyers come back to buy from me again, which most likely wouldn’t have happened if I just told them to check with their post office. It’s not something I would do often, but I also don’t have very many INR or INAD cases anyway.
Just something to keep in mind for next time. Any way that we can give ourselves an edge as small businesses and not faceless corporations is worth considering, I think…
I get these types of messages every day. With the rise of “experts” like Sports Card Investor I suppose it is just part of that mindset. I don’t respond to these messages ever, really.
I do think that eBay has made it a lot easier to engage with these types of buyers. The ‘reply with offer’ button is a simple way to respond to a “what’s your lowest” buyer without actually engaging in a conversation. The auto decline offers below $x.xx means you won’t even see the lowball offers. And for the oddball who keeps persisting with “what’s your lowest” price messages, there’s a link to block bidders right in seller hub.
I’ve found occasional sales using reply with offer, but again I only reply to repeat buyers or buyers who purchase multiple items.
However allowing best offers on your listings is, in my opinion, eBay’s single most distinguishing feature as a marketplace. I really encourage all of you who are reading this but have best offer turned off on your listings to reconsider. At a minimum, try this: search for listings in your store via price using seller hub’s filters, take all of the listings at the same price (for example $20), go into the bulk editor and turn on offers, and set an auto decline of $10 or $15 or whatever number is your lowest.
I’m confident that you will get some sales just from turning best offer on with some listings. 50 to 75 percent of my sales every week are via best offer, and that’s been the case for 3+ years. This was the case when I sold a hodgepodge of items rather than focused on a single niche as well.
While you can send offers as a seller, it’s not the same. Allowing the buyer to make the offer gives them the power to make an impulsive purchase and feel like they are saving a few bucks on their schedule, not yours. I’m confident that there are some very casual eBay buyers who don’t check eBay all the time, and who don’t buy that often, and when they do they’re mostly looking at new listings or very specific saved searches, and saving $5 or less can be the difference between them buying and not buying.
This will give you the chance to reach those buyers and get $15 for that $20 listing or $30 for a $40 item. As scavengers, that’s a deal we will take 95% of the time or more since there is always more stuff to scavenge.
So give yourself that chance, please…and maybe report back with your numbers (good or bad) if you do turn on offers for listings after having them turned off? A lot of what I wrote here is theoretical and anecdotal…but I also really believe it’s good eBay practice for any seller. And I’d be curious if my intuition is correct.
Always love a Monday postal holiday. Normally I would be walking to the post office with a full postal bin around this time. It’s nice to be able to sit and go over the numbers instead. 2022 is off to a smashing start as I work through photos and listings for many boxes of unlisted inventory. Winter weather in the Northeast meant that I got a ton of items listed this weekend. Listing on eBay is one of the best ways to spend a cold, snowy day.
1/9/2022 – 1/15/2022
Total items in store: 3320 (up from 3308, despite a busy week and ending another ~50 low priced listings)
Items sold: 71 (43 via best offer, 12 via seller initiated offer)
Gross sales: $3823.50 (up 22% from one year ago)
Net sales: $2635.38 (up 20% from one year ago)
Lowest price sold (net): $8.48 — David Bakhtiari 2013 rookie card
This sale demonstrates that there is still a market for regular base cards in today’s specialized card market, but you also really need to know what you’re looking at. Bakhtiari is the Green Bay Packers best offensive tackle, one of the best in football, and has very few cards from early in his career since he was not a top draft pick. So even a basic card like this one can sell for $10 at the right time, like right now when it’s the start of the football playoffs. All of the hype and a lot of the money in football cards is around top quarterbacks, since those are the flashiest players and often the biggest key to a team’s success. But there is often good money in cards of the best kickers, punters, offensive linemen and defensive players, as long as you know who to look for.
Highest price sold (net): $218.10— Ja Morant white sparkle prizm rookie PSA 9
Ja Morant is one of the top young basketball players, and has been making the highlights almost every recent game with spectacular dunks and shots and blocks. It’s the white sparkling of this Morant rookie card, not the fact that it’s graded, which makes it so valuable. These white sparkle prizms are one of many popular non-autographed, non serial-numbered innovations developed by the card manufacturer Panini in the last few years.
When sealed boxes regularly sell for hundreds and even thousands, it makes sense that the rarest autographs and serial numbered cards of top players sell for hundreds and thousands. Otherwise there would be no buyers for those expensive boxes. But there are only so many cards of top players to go around. Not every box has one. So it makes sense that other types of unique cards also have a niche, and it’s just a product of the modern trading card market that these cards often sell for hundreds and not $2. This is a slow build of 25+ years of innovations in trading cards, and people who grew up in the 90s becoming adults with real money to spend on cards, and not merely a fluke of the pandemic. Though there are certainly more card buyers (and sellers) than there were even two years ago, and some of their stupid money being thrown around has definitely helped me make more profit and grow my business in the past year.
I’m not sure what types of cards will hold the most value in 5 or 10 or 20 years, but there’s no reason to worry about that when there’s so much to buy and sell and learn about right now.
Like a lot of valuable modern cards, this card (along with a slightly less expensive red white & blue PSA 9 Morant rookie) is on a journey to the other side of the world — Australia, though a lot of expensive cards end up in Japan and China, too. The buyer took a few days to pay but communicated the whole way through, and called me a ‘proper legend’ when I sent them a message letting them know I shipped their cards. I think they’re the real legend for spending $300 on a couple of basketball cards, but I went the extra mile packaging their cards, so as long as USPS holds up their end, we’ll all be legends. At least for one transaction.
My favorite sale of the week (net): $43.77 — A box full of empty cases
When cards can cost hundreds and even thousands, there is money even in the plastic cases used to protect them. This has been particularly true over the last 18 months as there have often been severe shortages in almost all supplies and the same type of hoarding and scalping that you have probably seen at your local grocery store.
But this sale is more about economics. These types of magnetic cases which most collectors use to protect their nicest cards cost $2 each for the thinnest size and more for larger sizes which holder thicker cards. About 1 out of every 10 cards I purchase comes in one of these cases, and many times the case has only been used once or twice. I prefer to ship the cards I sell in an appropriately sized plastic toploader since those protect the card more safely in shipping. So I save the magnetic cases and sell them in lots of 25, enough to fill a regional box A. This is the third box of 25 that I’ve sold in the last few months. Such a gratifying feeling when they sell.
There is a guy in my little South Jersey town who goes around in a beat-up old Ford pickup the day before garbage day. Fills it to the brim and then, I imagine, takes everything to the flea market on Saturday or his storage unit or sells it on eBay. I would love to know his whole story. If I ever talk to him (not likely — too many piles of garbage for him to pick through), I’ll tell him to sign up for the forum and post his numbers!
I also have an old friend who lives in Brooklyn and started a business (link is to a WSJ article, not trying to self-promote) based around rehoming stuff left on the street. Probably the #1 place for that kind of business in the world.
Great to read a bit about your NYC vacation, J & R, and so happy to see that it was a time for rest and recharge for both you and your employees.
Like all of us, I’m trying to ride the New Year energy into a productive and profitable January. This week was a good start. I’m sure that some of my buyers this week were spending their eBay bucks from last quarter, so I will be curious to see if these sales will keep up.
1/2/2022 – 1/8/2022
Total items in store: 3308 (down from 3312, but I pulled almost 100 low-dollar listings from inventory and replaced them with close to the same number of new, more valuable listings — basically that’s gonna be my life for the next few months)
Items sold: 59 (41 via best offer, 6 via seller initiated offer)
Gross sales: $3041.96 (up 30% from one year ago)
Net sales: $2277.69 (up 38% from one year ago)
Lowest price sold (net): $4.20 (dude!!!) — Bill Almon autograph
This type of autograph card is consistently my lowest seller every week, since I built up my inventory with hundreds of nondescript autographs like this. A small step up in quality from this type of autograph which was personally obtained by the seller since the autographs that I sell have third-party authentication from the card manufacturer or one of the large grading companies. I’m not an autograph seeker or expert by any means. I bought these cards through auctions for $1 or $2 each (usually in large lots) and have sold a few every week, week after week, through best offer or (often) buy it now. Many times (like with this sale) the buyer will purchase more than one. I’m down to 2 boxes and half of one shelf of these types of autographs. Soon enough, they will all be gone and replaced with more expensive, unique and valuable items. The circle of eBay.
Highest price sold (net): $232.35 — Joe Burrow Flawless patch
2nd high priced sale (net): $129.81 — Hunter Renfrow National Treasures autograph button
Two modern football cards of star players whose teams are about to play in the playoffs for the first time in quite a few years. Both from very expensive sets and the cards show this cost in quality, features and thickness. The thickest modern cards are 1/4″ thick, which doesn’t sound like much until you actually look at it next to a thin piece of card stock.
Joe Burrow was the #1 draft pick a few years ago, and really had his breakout season this year, so his autographs (even the most generic ones) are in the ~$200 range. Probably better, if you are into his cards, to get a nice patch card from one of the more expensive sets than a cheaper-looking autograph.
Hunter Renfrow is one of a few wide receivers who have emerged to set records this season and seen their card prices rise accordingly. I was very fortunate to come across a number of auctions of Renfrow cards last spring, before the season started, and won some (including this one) which ended at prices that were unusually low.
Cards have a somewhat natural ebb and flow to the pricing, where players are always at their most expensive after big achievements, like a great individual game, or if their team goes on a championship run, and the prices always drop in the offseason. It’s not at all rational to someone with a scavenger’s mindset. But I think for a lot of people, emotion plays a big part in how they spend money. Especially on themselves.
Both of these buyers purchased from me again tonight just before writing this post. They also left very kind feedback. I can think of a few reasons why and figure they are worth sharing.
1. I sent both buyers a few small bonuses with their purchase. Nothing more valuable than about $5, but thoughtfully chosen cards of the player on their card & other players on the team. Easy to do when you sell small items like trading cards, and especially when you’ve accumulated thousands and thousands of them like I have.
2. My shipping and packaging is meticulous. I buy most of my inventory on eBay, and like any large-volume eBay buyer I could write a book on the “creative” and unbelievable shipping methods of amateur sellers. There are also a lot of 100,000+ feedback massive card sellers who prioritize volume above everything else. Their packaging is usually fine, the very definition of 5 on a scale of 1-10. I package the same way I want to receive an item, and often upgrade $50+ items to priority mail and $100+ to priority small flat rate boxes at no charge to the buyer. It costs me a few bucks in extra shipping costs, but I think it’s worth the peace of mind and often the items arrives in 2 or 3 days instead of a week.
3. I sent both buyers a 20% off coupon. This is a fairly new addition to eBay’s repertoire of seller tools, and like any other tool, it takes time to learn how to use it best. I have been sending coupons to buyers since last June with only a handful of successes over months. Then tonight I had both of these buyers return to my store and use the coupon within an hour of each other on fairly expensive items. Most likely, it is a fluke. But this is also the first time I’ve sent a 20% coupon instead of 15% or 10%, and maybe that has something to do with it.
Obviously the most important factor is having similar items that the buyers were interested in purchasing. That’s really what building an eBay business is all about.
I think thats all true, Jay. I have tried many times in the past to find those weird and rare valuable items at my local thrift stores, library sales, estate sales and flea markets…but I lack much knowledge in epehemera, or jewelry, or books, or antiques. Every so often I find something cool (and I still have some of those types of items in my eBay store) but there would be a lot of days I left empty handed or my “hunch” (or research) about the value of something was off base. And those losses are painful when you only have $20 to scavenge with or you are hurting for new items. While the learning process is enjoyable, at some point your eBay store has to make money too.
It took a few years for me to really figure out all the cards, and how to make money with them. It took another few years after that to figure out the logistics of building up a real inventory, with this podcast and community providing guidance long before I ever started posting here.
and these last few years it’s been full speed ahead and tremendous growth. Truly, beyond anything I would have ever imagined, and it will be a lot of fun to see what new opportunities come up this year that I have a little extra spending money and a large inventory with lots of valuable items waiting to be listed.
When I was exploring selling other types of items, I used to come across so many of those sellers without passion in my travels. Especially at library sales, they were easy to spot since they were the ones desperately using those scanning apps and handheld scanners. Once Covid recedes a little bit further into the background, I can’t wait to head back out there and see how many of those types are still at it. It seemed like a lot of them were in an endless march to find that next $20, just anything worth selling to keep them going until the next sale. I guess I was like that too, just without the scanner in hand, trying to find stuff based on knowledge I didn’t have and half-assed research. It’s so easy to burn out like that, but I’m sure a few of them are still out there and maybe making a couple bucks by now.
The drop shippers and private label people have probably had a really rough couple years with all the supply chain issues, but I would bet most of the real money in those areas is from shilling success courses and monetizing YouTube and stuff like that. A shame for the unlucky people who get caught up in that and not that different from an MLM, really.
That said, I also send coupons to all my buyers as part of the packing slip. Haven’t had anyone buy using one, and I’m thinking of reworking that.
I’ve been playing around with coupons since June of last year, so a few thoughts to share. First, some numbers:
I ran a 15% private coupon from June to December of last year. I included this coupon on every packing slip, as well as sending it directly (using the ‘send coupon’ button to the right of the order) to repeat buyers, or buyers who purchased multiple items, or buyers who left overwhelmingly positive feedback. My total sales using this coupon, according to promotions manager, were $146.13.
I ran a 10% off public coupon on Black Friday weekend, good on any item in my store from the $10 items to the $250+ items. My total sales were $377.91. I’m sure some of those items would have sold without the coupon, but it was still a nice boost.
A few thoughts:
1. Anecdotally, it seemed as though I had a lot more sales from the private coupon than what promotions manager actually showed. But I trust the numbers over my gut. I know for sure that I had a few repeat buyers who bought from me again after I sent them the coupon, but they didn’t use the coupon. I wonder if it is difficult for some users to figure out how to use the private coupon.
2. Also anecdotal, but for whatever it’s worth — I had a handful of sales from buyers who used the coupon after they sent me a message thanking me for their purchase, or other types of buyer chit-chat, where part of my response was essentially “Here’s a coupon in case there are any other items in my store you might like.” We all have buyer interactions like this, so creating a coupon might be useful if only for these types of buyers.
3. The public coupons seem especially useful for “high-traffic” times — holiday weekends, and eBay bucks promotions including the beginning of the new quarter — to distinguish your listings from other sellers and other similar listings. There may not be a slash over the “old” price but there is text underneath the listing indicating that a coupon is available.
4. Just like with sending offers to buyers, and other types of discounts, buyers are more likely to engage when the discount is a good deal (ie 5% is basically useless). I’ve raised my current private coupon to 20%, and next quarter I might even try 25%. Your mileage may vary, but I always prefer to sell than not sell, even if I could have made a few extra bucks profit along the way.
5. Creating a coupon is so simple and quick, once you get the initial hang of it, that it’s worth experimenting with to see if it works particularly well in your niche or for your store. This is nothing more than speculation, but I think it’s at least possible that using these tools is a small part of eBay’s search algorithm. I have found that my sales (in general) are higher when I’m sending offers, running sales and sending coupons to buyers — though those are also the times when I’m regularly listing good, quality new items, which is obviously more important than any coupons or sales or other tactics.
I use the 6×9 eBay branded padded envelope fairly frequently (probably 10 to 20 a week), and I had a hunch that the price of them had gone up significantly over the last few years. I seem to remember that one box used to cost less than the full amount of the coupon, so I would end up ordering something else small (usually tissue paper) to use the full coupon plus a few bucks. So, I went back into my purchase history and checked.
On March 30, 2020, a box of 200 envelopes cost $51.12 before the coupon.
They were $54.09 the last time I ordered them (October) and the current price is $58.09.
Still an increase, but not as much as I thought and certainly not as much as the boxes have increased.
I love this perk even if the supplies are not as much of a deal as they used to be, and I’ll be sad if eBay ever gets rid of it. A lot of their changes in the last few years have been seller friendly, so let’s hope that trend continues.
Happy urban vacation J&R and happy New Year’s to everyone. I am excited to see what new tools eBay will offer us sellers and what new innovations (or “innovations”) we will learn to adapt to this year.
I wouldn’t have guessed my week was this busy until I ran the numbers. I knew I had a good number of $20 to $40 sales, and a few nice sales, but it was very steady busy all week. A nice way to end 2021, for sure.
12/26/2021 – 1/1/2022
Total items in store: 3312 (down from 3345, but I have built a nice backlog of to-be-listed items, so my listing numbers should grow and grow for quite some time)
Items sold: 81 (58 via best offer, 12 via seller initiated offer, 0 repeat buyers)
Gross sales: $3365.77 (up 34% from one year ago)
Net sales: $2289.64 (up 35% from one year ago)
Lowest price sold (net): $3.00 — Don Mossi autograph
One of 4 autographs to the same buyer. Almost every article on Don Mossi, a 1960s pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, references his huge ears and let’s be generous and call it “unique” face. I like to think that this is a buyer who is truly chasing nostalgia, like the author of this article about one of Mossi’s 1960s cards, but unless they purchase from me again, I’ll never know.
Highest price sold (net): $211.03 — Victor Robles 1/1 autographed Jackie Robinson patch
This listing is another good example of modern card collectors — specifically the money that gets tossed around on cards and the little intricacies to the cards. Victor Robles is a pretty average outfielder for the Washington Nationals, more potential than anything else so far in his short career. But this sale shows you can see how intricate (and expensive) modern cards can get, even for nondescript players and even when the card has obvious damage like this one did. There is a nice autograph on the card, a 1/1 serial number, and the card is from an expensive box where you can trace the provenance of each card’s jersey piece using MLB’s authentication website. This piece of jersey is from a 2019 game that Robles worse on MLB’s annual Jackie Robinson day, so it’s a completely unique piece.
You might think this lookup system would be possible for every card which contains a piece of jersey, but it’s very rare. Most modern jersey cards have language indicating they are “player-worn” meaning hastily put on for a minute or two at most during a photo shoot or autograph session, not during a practice or game. This has been a slow, steady change since the introduction of these types of memorabilia cards in the late 1990s. Easier to make a lot of jersey cards when you’re not only buying the jerseys used in the game. While most serious collectors understand that plain jersey cards are more decorative than anything else (most can be bought for $5 or less), once you start adding other features to them (like with this card), they get expensive quickly. That’s especially true for better players or the rare jersey cards with some provenance behind them.
I wouldn’t have spent $250 on this card, but with the prices of modern cards, I can see why someone might. Robles is still very young, with a lot of potential, and this is a completely unique card. The buyer was very friendly and sent me a few messages about how much they enjoyed watching Robles when he played for his local minor league team and how excited they were that I accepted their offer. So, I sent them a few less expensive Robles cards too. Once in a while, after I send these bonuses to a buyer, I look at their items for sale and find they have listed their/my freebies for sale. Usually these listings don’t sell, since I have a good idea what stuff is worth in this niche and why it’s valuable or not.
But I won’t be mad if a buyer ever makes a few bucks off one of my freebies. In fact, that would make me really happy since that’s scavenging at its core — find a few dollars when you can, especially when other people don’t see what something is worth or why. If there were more of a scavenging mentality with trading card buyers and sellers, I would have a lot less listings and a lot fewer death piles!
That sculpture is absolutely terrifying. The apple-like eyes are what really get to me.
Love to see the offers on it. There has got to be a paranormal museum or curiosity shop out there that is the perfect home for that kind of item.
I am glad to see more reports that this has led to sales and offers for many of you. This gives me more confidence that this is a useful tool and not just something that works in my niche or with my store.
I was also skeptical the first few times I tried this, which is why I thought it would be useful to document the experiment in the forums. The outcomes have never been exactly the same — sometimes I get a large (>50% above a “normal” day) sales boost on the same day I do the end and relist, other times the boost comes a day or two later, and other times it’s a consistent small increase for a week or two.
What I enjoy most about the end and relist process is seeing sales on items which have had no offers for months or years. Once you get the hang of the process, it is very fast (even with 1000+ items) so it doesn’t get in the way of more important tasks like creating new listings or shipping.
