SFH
Integral Poster
New graded card reveal video!!
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Sports Cards Hobby Thread 2.0
- Thread starter HarleyQuinn
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New graded card reveal video!!
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Still been picking up cards here and there. My latest Mail Day from Burbank (used a coupon so got these for around $40 total). The Marvin Harrison is 01/25 and the Lockett is 02/25. The JuJu and Baker are /50, the Lamar /199 but I love the pink color, the Renfrow is /75 as is the green Luminance Jalen Hurts which its covering up lol, and the Waller is 08/35
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My Pokemon MewTwo pick ups 
Spent about $90ish total.
Spent about $90ish total.
SFH
Integral Poster
The seafood place that held a card show a few months ago had another gathering today. Much smaller attendance from vendors and customers. I got a handful of stuff for my Brees PC but not selling much lately has hindered my ability to hit the heavy items.
Two vendors knew me by first and last name which caught me off guard. One of them clearly saw my posts on the card shop's facebook page but the other one was there as a vendor for non-sports items. Mostly video games, figures, and DVDs. He has me invited to a blood drive/game con at one of the school gyms in September. Not sure I can do the blood drive, it's 50/50 with my heart condition and each individual entity's rules about it. I think I'm working that weekend so it won't be an extended visit from me anyway.
Still enjoyed today.
Two vendors knew me by first and last name which caught me off guard. One of them clearly saw my posts on the card shop's facebook page but the other one was there as a vendor for non-sports items. Mostly video games, figures, and DVDs. He has me invited to a blood drive/game con at one of the school gyms in September. Not sure I can do the blood drive, it's 50/50 with my heart condition and each individual entity's rules about it. I think I'm working that weekend so it won't be an extended visit from me anyway.
Still enjoyed today.
SFH
Integral Poster
I did rent a table @ the September con. It was more geared toward the comic, video game, and collectible card game hobbies than sports cards. I wound up being the only sports card vendor. Owing in part to a friend hiring me to sell off some complete in box 1990s computer games, I placed those (with his price schedule) on my table with a few hundred graded sports cards. I put all of them in graded card bags and put price stickers on the more significant items and was just going to quote a few dollars over cost of grading on the less significant ones.
I also set up information and submission forms for the vintage video game cleaning I do locally figuring if all else failed, with all of the games being sold and traded, people would line up for that. The organizer did his best to hype that for me.
All in all my table was verrrrrrry crowded. My +1 helper and I kept marveling at how badly a 2nd table was needed. I had originally planned to set up some extra pops, McFarlane Figures, video games, and consoles but around 03:30 am the morning of the event I was still up doing school work and also packaging and pricing cards. I decided to not play test the consoles and games and just stick to the cards and friend's computer games.
Needless to say the only thing I sold was some collectible currency I had recently picked up and tossed in the box on a lark. I had a lot of dialogue with collectors. Paid attendance was 250 adults in a small area elementary gym, so I definitely extend my props to the 22 year old guy that organized it. I consider the day a win for myself as I learned a lot and have a better idea of what to do for the card show at the university in October.
Also, I was recruited by the organizer for an event in Slidell, LA in November. That's a little bit over 2 hours from me. My concern there is that it is similar to the show I just worked. He did however say they have a larger turn out at his and that people frequently ask him to bring on sports card vendors. So I'm putting down my deposit to reserve a spot. Owing to the driving expenses involved, we're only going to get one table.
The only expense that is a MUST right now is a two wheel dolly. The elementary gym required 8 trips to the car between loading and unloading before and after. My friend that agreed to help didn't arrive until after everything was inside. The walk for the university show is 3 times as long from the car to showroom and I have no idea about Slidell. I see that Harbor Freight has a collapsable one for less than $70 that can live in my storage unit. I spoke to RIP sportscards from Baton Rouge and he said the last show he worked at the University he did make his table back. It's only an extra $50 to get a 2nd table at that one. As it'll be sports card centric, I am comfortable spending the extra money. It's also a two day event.
Mrs. SFH had committed to a family function for labor day weekend, so she wasn't there to form ideas for improvement so she's only going based off of my reports, my friend's reports, and the photos that made social media and the local paper. She's excited to join me for the University show but I have a feeling after day 1 that excitement is going to turn into "honey, your hobby is cool for you but..." She might surprise me. I have my friend on standby though. Hell with two tables I might need two +1s anyway. I also have a friend I mentioned in another thread (the onlyfans former coworker) willing to come hang out at the table. None of the above are requesting money but it'd be messed up to not pay them. I need to figure out a fair % in either case.
For the University show, I also might advertise the game cleaning service and put out some video game merchandise, but TBD. There's lowkey some bullshit with that, I'm still trying to organize my thoughts on how to proceed with as little drama as possible. Someone that qualifies for "the worst person you know" thread has been prodding at me in regards to this service. I'm still thinking on this.
I also set up information and submission forms for the vintage video game cleaning I do locally figuring if all else failed, with all of the games being sold and traded, people would line up for that. The organizer did his best to hype that for me.
All in all my table was verrrrrrry crowded. My +1 helper and I kept marveling at how badly a 2nd table was needed. I had originally planned to set up some extra pops, McFarlane Figures, video games, and consoles but around 03:30 am the morning of the event I was still up doing school work and also packaging and pricing cards. I decided to not play test the consoles and games and just stick to the cards and friend's computer games.
Needless to say the only thing I sold was some collectible currency I had recently picked up and tossed in the box on a lark. I had a lot of dialogue with collectors. Paid attendance was 250 adults in a small area elementary gym, so I definitely extend my props to the 22 year old guy that organized it. I consider the day a win for myself as I learned a lot and have a better idea of what to do for the card show at the university in October.
Also, I was recruited by the organizer for an event in Slidell, LA in November. That's a little bit over 2 hours from me. My concern there is that it is similar to the show I just worked. He did however say they have a larger turn out at his and that people frequently ask him to bring on sports card vendors. So I'm putting down my deposit to reserve a spot. Owing to the driving expenses involved, we're only going to get one table.
The only expense that is a MUST right now is a two wheel dolly. The elementary gym required 8 trips to the car between loading and unloading before and after. My friend that agreed to help didn't arrive until after everything was inside. The walk for the university show is 3 times as long from the car to showroom and I have no idea about Slidell. I see that Harbor Freight has a collapsable one for less than $70 that can live in my storage unit. I spoke to RIP sportscards from Baton Rouge and he said the last show he worked at the University he did make his table back. It's only an extra $50 to get a 2nd table at that one. As it'll be sports card centric, I am comfortable spending the extra money. It's also a two day event.
Mrs. SFH had committed to a family function for labor day weekend, so she wasn't there to form ideas for improvement so she's only going based off of my reports, my friend's reports, and the photos that made social media and the local paper. She's excited to join me for the University show but I have a feeling after day 1 that excitement is going to turn into "honey, your hobby is cool for you but..." She might surprise me. I have my friend on standby though. Hell with two tables I might need two +1s anyway. I also have a friend I mentioned in another thread (the onlyfans former coworker) willing to come hang out at the table. None of the above are requesting money but it'd be messed up to not pay them. I need to figure out a fair % in either case.
For the University show, I also might advertise the game cleaning service and put out some video game merchandise, but TBD. There's lowkey some bullshit with that, I'm still trying to organize my thoughts on how to proceed with as little drama as possible. Someone that qualifies for "the worst person you know" thread has been prodding at me in regards to this service. I'm still thinking on this.
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Another great, interesting video from Vintage Card Curator
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Picked up multiple HOFers across several 1984-1987 sets that were specific store exclusives/etc. ('84 Milton Bradley Championship Game, Fleer Limited Editions from 85-87, 1988 & 1989 Score Young Superstars, '87 Fleer Hottest Stars - Record Setters - Exciting Stars). Posted several of the 'set' pickups on my IG.
I don't think they are "rare" by any means but I do think they are scarcer than people truly think they are despite seeing them as early Junk Wax era cards. I don't even know if they are "Topps Tiffany" rare e.g. 5,000/10,000 but I truly don't think they are each card is 475,000 type existing print runs either. Part of my thinking always goes back to how many of these cards got thrown into landfills by the mid to late 90s after the boom which could decrease the overall pop count even by just 5% (e.g. 750,000 each card and a 5% decrease knocks that down by 37,500).
I don't think they are "rare" by any means but I do think they are scarcer than people truly think they are despite seeing them as early Junk Wax era cards. I don't even know if they are "Topps Tiffany" rare e.g. 5,000/10,000 but I truly don't think they are each card is 475,000 type existing print runs either. Part of my thinking always goes back to how many of these cards got thrown into landfills by the mid to late 90s after the boom which could decrease the overall pop count even by just 5% (e.g. 750,000 each card and a 5% decrease knocks that down by 37,500).
SFH
Integral Poster
Too much to write but I worked my first ever sports card show as a vendor (the last show was general purpose collectibles). On the Friday night set up/trade night we (wife and I) quickly realized one table wasn't enough and no one had claimed the next table so the organizer let me claim it too for an extra $50. Before 11 on day 1 of the actual show we had already made back our investment on the show and the dolly I bought to haul everything from the car. By the end of the weekend we made enough that I honestly could have paid a friend to work as a third and still did okay.
Day 2 most of the out of town vendors didn't show so it was mostly locals. I didn't do much actual business on day two BUT I was able to trade for a dual auto Drew Brees/Marques Colston card, some Jarvis Landry select low print run cards, and with the organizer I traded for a 1966 Topps Mickey Mantle BVG 2.5. On the Mantle I offered a 2015 Brees National Treasures Sapphire card. We first negotiated over a 1959 SGC 4.5 but it would have been too tilted in my favor. Thankfully I'm in love with '66 Topps so no brainer to move to that one.
Also of positive: the negative nancies were mostly not at this show. Everyone was nice. I did have one guy refer to a white jersey swatch as a "paper towel" and kept saying "who's that?" for every card I showed him on a potential trade (I was showing him known players).
And an "it's own me" thing, I came from the bathroom and there was a man at our table talking Marvel comic characters with Mrs. SFH. I deduced quite quickly he was highly intelligent about his interests but potentially going through life with something else that I'm not qualified to diagnose (but if I was guessing I would think somewhere on the spectrum from his voice only and I don't think that's enough evidence nor my business). Anyway, he was so lit up and smiles talking about comic books that I pointed to some of the comic book cards we had and offered him the Deadpool Marvel card as a freebie. We were having an awesome day, I was in a good mood, and he just seemed so into Marvel it seemed like the right thing to do.
Apparently, Deadpool is the one character he dislikes and he started yelling about his dislike of Deadpool, not loud enough to call for security but loud enough that people were looking. Props to him, he had self awareness, his eyes got wide, and he self diffused and apologized. We got some handshakes in and exchanged online handles. So it definitely got uncomfortable and I learned a very important lesson about assuming but in the end we had a positive goodbye.
Very interesting weekend.
Day 2 most of the out of town vendors didn't show so it was mostly locals. I didn't do much actual business on day two BUT I was able to trade for a dual auto Drew Brees/Marques Colston card, some Jarvis Landry select low print run cards, and with the organizer I traded for a 1966 Topps Mickey Mantle BVG 2.5. On the Mantle I offered a 2015 Brees National Treasures Sapphire card. We first negotiated over a 1959 SGC 4.5 but it would have been too tilted in my favor. Thankfully I'm in love with '66 Topps so no brainer to move to that one.
Also of positive: the negative nancies were mostly not at this show. Everyone was nice. I did have one guy refer to a white jersey swatch as a "paper towel" and kept saying "who's that?" for every card I showed him on a potential trade (I was showing him known players).
And an "it's own me" thing, I came from the bathroom and there was a man at our table talking Marvel comic characters with Mrs. SFH. I deduced quite quickly he was highly intelligent about his interests but potentially going through life with something else that I'm not qualified to diagnose (but if I was guessing I would think somewhere on the spectrum from his voice only and I don't think that's enough evidence nor my business). Anyway, he was so lit up and smiles talking about comic books that I pointed to some of the comic book cards we had and offered him the Deadpool Marvel card as a freebie. We were having an awesome day, I was in a good mood, and he just seemed so into Marvel it seemed like the right thing to do.
Apparently, Deadpool is the one character he dislikes and he started yelling about his dislike of Deadpool, not loud enough to call for security but loud enough that people were looking. Props to him, he had self awareness, his eyes got wide, and he self diffused and apologized. We got some handshakes in and exchanged online handles. So it definitely got uncomfortable and I learned a very important lesson about assuming but in the end we had a positive goodbye.
Very interesting weekend.
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SFH
Integral Poster
Fun time in Saint Tammany Parish Louisiana at the Castine Center, Mandeville for the ST Collectors Conference. I made the list of vendors they were advertising among the Pokemon, action figure, comic book, art, and other dealers. Also advertised, and appearing, were Vernon Wells, One Man Gang, and the actors that played Bulk & Skull on Power Rangers. The advertising worked because we had a few people approach our booth specifically. Some wanted to buy, and we definitely did some sales. A few people showed up with stuff to try and sell but nothing we could do anything with beyond donate to our favorite charities, I advised them to do as much.
All of the organizers and vendors were so awesome. We probably spent as much as we made. So many talented creators in the artist section got me texting my mother-in-law and told her to start painting up some pieces that would be attractive to this crowd for the next one, so she is (artist by trade).
Most notable interaction was an information sharing one. A man and his 2nd (unknown if wife/girlfriend/sister) approached me about moving a "$50,000 pokemon collection." I got the feeling this man was sincere in his quote and not delusional TV customer on the relevant shows. He fit the profile of someone that started at the beginning of the hobby and knows what he has, other than he sought out my expertise in liquidating. I thanked him for thinking of me in the same regard as the heavy hitters in the hobby, but I'm just not liquid enough to do a $50,000 move, "I operate out of my apartment's spare bedroom." I then provided him a list of dealers that ARE liquid in this state and that I trust. I also stated the dealer closest to him (he asked if any in the metro area) would not receive my recommendation but I'm also not about to expand on my own beef with the guy, you'd have to meet him and form your own opinion. I was able to figure out that he's about equidistant from a shop near my grandparents' old house and the shop down the street from me. I said in both cases, even if the shop isn't liquid in the moment, if your stuff is as grand as you describe, they're independently wealthy enough to entertain you but just remember, they're in a business to make money and the deal has to make sense for them. I realized at this point his 2nd is scribbling in a notebook as fast as she can like an over caffeinated Lois Lane. He asked me for directions to one of the places and she elbows him and shows him her phone, "I already got it on facebook and it's in the notebook." So this is a very motivated to sell pair, I just hope they really have what they think they have. I would hate for them to be doing all of this leg work (you figure they spent $20 just to get into the center and talk to vendors) for them to be way off on the collection's value.
I texted my friend at the local shop and he's excited to see this $50,000 collection and thanked me immensely for the referral. I'm not on texting level with the other shop I referred, but that guy is definitely lighting cigars with $100 bills on the regular (and good for him). Not that I want the pat on the back but shit if he does move this stuff to the shop owner I personally know, I'd like some damn gratitude
We made a few more connections and are booked for another show in my hometown, another show in Mandeville, LA in April, and something in February in a bar is in discussion that we're on the fence about. "We'll have it in a bar, get people drunk, and they'll spend money And we will have a band!" was the sales pitch. It's the video game crowd so he was mostly recruiting me to set up a booth for my cleaning service I do locally as another side hustle. I don't know how that communication will work in a bar.
All of the organizers and vendors were so awesome. We probably spent as much as we made. So many talented creators in the artist section got me texting my mother-in-law and told her to start painting up some pieces that would be attractive to this crowd for the next one, so she is (artist by trade).
Most notable interaction was an information sharing one. A man and his 2nd (unknown if wife/girlfriend/sister) approached me about moving a "$50,000 pokemon collection." I got the feeling this man was sincere in his quote and not delusional TV customer on the relevant shows. He fit the profile of someone that started at the beginning of the hobby and knows what he has, other than he sought out my expertise in liquidating. I thanked him for thinking of me in the same regard as the heavy hitters in the hobby, but I'm just not liquid enough to do a $50,000 move, "I operate out of my apartment's spare bedroom." I then provided him a list of dealers that ARE liquid in this state and that I trust. I also stated the dealer closest to him (he asked if any in the metro area) would not receive my recommendation but I'm also not about to expand on my own beef with the guy, you'd have to meet him and form your own opinion. I was able to figure out that he's about equidistant from a shop near my grandparents' old house and the shop down the street from me. I said in both cases, even if the shop isn't liquid in the moment, if your stuff is as grand as you describe, they're independently wealthy enough to entertain you but just remember, they're in a business to make money and the deal has to make sense for them. I realized at this point his 2nd is scribbling in a notebook as fast as she can like an over caffeinated Lois Lane. He asked me for directions to one of the places and she elbows him and shows him her phone, "I already got it on facebook and it's in the notebook." So this is a very motivated to sell pair, I just hope they really have what they think they have. I would hate for them to be doing all of this leg work (you figure they spent $20 just to get into the center and talk to vendors) for them to be way off on the collection's value.
I texted my friend at the local shop and he's excited to see this $50,000 collection and thanked me immensely for the referral. I'm not on texting level with the other shop I referred, but that guy is definitely lighting cigars with $100 bills on the regular (and good for him). Not that I want the pat on the back but shit if he does move this stuff to the shop owner I personally know, I'd like some damn gratitude
We made a few more connections and are booked for another show in my hometown, another show in Mandeville, LA in April, and something in February in a bar is in discussion that we're on the fence about. "We'll have it in a bar, get people drunk, and they'll spend money And we will have a band!" was the sales pitch. It's the video game crowd so he was mostly recruiting me to set up a booth for my cleaning service I do locally as another side hustle. I don't know how that communication will work in a bar.
SFH
Integral Poster
Out of town hobby friend has been having a rough enough time to fire sell a lot of his PC stuff and also ask a small group for money. Not a big ask on his part b/c he's given so much of himself to us over the years but his rough time has been lining up with a few of our own rough times and it's kind of hard to just paypal him to cover his light bill that he screen shot and emailed to us to make sure we understood he wasn't BSing us. I ran through some ideas and settled on sending him some graded heavy hitters in my collection, 3 of the 4 copies I own. I reserved the 9.5 for myself and let him have the 8.5 and two 9s. I sold a fifth copy (BGS 9) in Spring 2022 for north of $300, to give context on a heavy hitter in my terms.
He accepted this idea with much gratitude and I didn't mention anything about a % of the funds gained, the dude's in some financial emergency shit, but he did state he would cut me in on 50% of the sales once they arrived.
I quickly saw them pop up on eBay as they match one of my saved searches but otherwise forgot about them. Tonight I got my daily saved search email and one of the cards I sent him was in it, listed by a different seller in a different state. I realized I hadn't heard from him in a while so I checked ebay recent sales for that card's key words and sure enough two copies have sold since October, both from his account, both with serial #s in my notes. So sort of at a moral stand still on if I should check in on my share of the profits since it IS Christmas time and I'd like to spoil my niece as much as possible, but at the same time I don't want to pile on if he's already dodging debt collectors. Besides, I had no expectation to receive compensation until he brought it up, so reflectively, seems like it'd be a dick move on my part. Then there's this 2% of me that points out while he's never given me reason to doubt him, desperate circumstances can create some really negative behavior.
He accepted this idea with much gratitude and I didn't mention anything about a % of the funds gained, the dude's in some financial emergency shit, but he did state he would cut me in on 50% of the sales once they arrived.
I quickly saw them pop up on eBay as they match one of my saved searches but otherwise forgot about them. Tonight I got my daily saved search email and one of the cards I sent him was in it, listed by a different seller in a different state. I realized I hadn't heard from him in a while so I checked ebay recent sales for that card's key words and sure enough two copies have sold since October, both from his account, both with serial #s in my notes. So sort of at a moral stand still on if I should check in on my share of the profits since it IS Christmas time and I'd like to spoil my niece as much as possible, but at the same time I don't want to pile on if he's already dodging debt collectors. Besides, I had no expectation to receive compensation until he brought it up, so reflectively, seems like it'd be a dick move on my part. Then there's this 2% of me that points out while he's never given me reason to doubt him, desperate circumstances can create some really negative behavior.
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I'd say treat it as a gift in the Holiday spirit and move on. If he pays you back and wants to, great but remember that if he finds himself in a similar jam asking for some $$ from you again, remind him of this situation and how you helped him out a lot last time but that it was a one time favor (so you don't come off as a dick but also lets him know you did it once but aren't gonna be his personal ATM).
SFH
Integral Poster
Had a chance today to catch up with my friend that rediscovered the hobby. This time he had a list made in his notes app of questions he wanted to ask me, mostly opinion based things that he thought of randomly and jotted down. By around the third or fourth topic I did a quick look around the living room to see if he was hosting a podcast. It was very enthralling to discuss it freely but also in a regimented way and was probably the first time since the podcasting format entered my thought process that I considered a collaboration. I've had a multitude of friends and colleagues approach me about all manner of podcast ideas that weren't bad, but not exciting enough for me to join. There are already 1000 podcasts about any interest I have. Everything I think I can discuss credibly, there are 1 million better qualified people hosting podcasts so why should we invest in equipment for a project that'll have 5 listeners? But today was different. We were discussing this hobby and sharing opinions and the ones where we had different takes we were both going, "whoa that's a good point" type responses. I pondered, "this would be a fun conversation to play back" and it didn't seem to be a negative if only 3 people would subscribe.
I'm leaving the state for Christmas, but after the new year, I might float this idea past him. His level of preparation for a casual hang out was very impressive, he can talk most major sports and as a consequence the corresponding trading cards. But yay, cards.
On gaming cards: boss unloaded a bunch of trading cards on me from the various gaming genres. I'm only qualified to appraise MTG. Using TCG player app, I was able to find a few $50-70 cards so that was cool and then one card scanned at $10 and then one with the same name and art, but just a bit different in color, scanned at $2800. So we're going to sub it to PSA just to authenticate what TCG app says. I've done too many Google image comparisons trying to debunk the high value and so far I keep coming back to, "this dude might actually have had a $2000 card in his attic for 15 years."
I'm leaving the state for Christmas, but after the new year, I might float this idea past him. His level of preparation for a casual hang out was very impressive, he can talk most major sports and as a consequence the corresponding trading cards. But yay, cards.
On gaming cards: boss unloaded a bunch of trading cards on me from the various gaming genres. I'm only qualified to appraise MTG. Using TCG player app, I was able to find a few $50-70 cards so that was cool and then one card scanned at $10 and then one with the same name and art, but just a bit different in color, scanned at $2800. So we're going to sub it to PSA just to authenticate what TCG app says. I've done too many Google image comparisons trying to debunk the high value and so far I keep coming back to, "this dude might actually have had a $2000 card in his attic for 15 years."
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Fun video from the Red Letter Media guys exploring the "graded VHS" market
SFH
Integral Poster
On one hand, I've earned enough hobby credibility to purchase a membership to CSG. The above story about the gaming cards is still a work in progress, I potentially have $10,000 worth of Magic, Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh, and Digimon cards in my living room right now....or I have about $15 worth and the TCG player app isn't worth a shit. I'm being fronted the money to get all cards graded that I think will turn a profit. Anything over $100 is going to PSA. Anything over $15 but under $100 is going to CGC. Anything that's under $15 and I think is nice enough to still grade and turn a profit at the GMA $10 price point, he wants to explore that.
On the other hand, a buyer hit me up on Facebook for 12 cards. I told him to hold off paying until I sorted through everything:
1 card sold last week but Facebook marketplace did not catch the duplicate listings that somehow were generated, leaving me with "well can't do this one." So he picked two more, can't find one. Another I can't find the BGS 9.5 he wants but the same card, same grade, same player is still in stock, just a different serial #. A third card I can't find at all. And now a fourth one, I sold it in November but Facebook has it listed two more times. I messaged him about it and also offered same year, set, player, BGS grade, and print run but with a jersey instead of the non-jersey card he wanted. Sent him all of this information in the initial chat. Then I went delete all of the listings for the cards that were sold. That was a mistake because that's how he was messaging me. I'd been up since 4am so I had already forgot his name and couldn't pull up message history. I strained my head a bit and remembered his first name matched my deceased friend and he lives in the same town as my M-I-L's art studio. Found him quickly enough and sent him a version of this tirade but I guess he went to bed.
And upon realizing I couldn't find the one card, I noted that I was also missing one of those slabbed but not graded cards that Panini does with Beckett. A #'d to 15 auto of one of my PC guys.
On the other hand, a buyer hit me up on Facebook for 12 cards. I told him to hold off paying until I sorted through everything:
1 card sold last week but Facebook marketplace did not catch the duplicate listings that somehow were generated, leaving me with "well can't do this one." So he picked two more, can't find one. Another I can't find the BGS 9.5 he wants but the same card, same grade, same player is still in stock, just a different serial #. A third card I can't find at all. And now a fourth one, I sold it in November but Facebook has it listed two more times. I messaged him about it and also offered same year, set, player, BGS grade, and print run but with a jersey instead of the non-jersey card he wanted. Sent him all of this information in the initial chat. Then I went delete all of the listings for the cards that were sold. That was a mistake because that's how he was messaging me. I'd been up since 4am so I had already forgot his name and couldn't pull up message history. I strained my head a bit and remembered his first name matched my deceased friend and he lives in the same town as my M-I-L's art studio. Found him quickly enough and sent him a version of this tirade but I guess he went to bed.
And upon realizing I couldn't find the one card, I noted that I was also missing one of those slabbed but not graded cards that Panini does with Beckett. A #'d to 15 auto of one of my PC guys.
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Recent pickups... The Jeter back is from the 2002 Fleer set, and the "Gold Back" version is estimated to be 15% of the entire print run. The Bergeron is /149, the Karlsson is the base RC, and the Moss is a Game Used Jersey from 2009 Donruss Classics IIRC. The Larry Walker 1993 Stadium Club is the /2000 First Day Release (or whatever it's called) Parallel. Also got a Paul Molitor from the same '93 SC 1st Day Release /2000.
SFH
Integral Poster
CSG's parent company made me a deal I couldn't pass up after last post (and I don't know if all people are offered the same thing discreetly or what) but I purchased an annual membership for submission purposes. Some back and forth and suddenly I have their highest tiered membership. I can now submit at prices per card cheaper than my facebook bulk guy. I have no beef with the gentleman, but I sent him 6 Aaron Rodgers cards for my wife's #12 PC and he messaged me that he can't submit them until he has 25 cards. I get that he has a contract with them but I didn't like the onus of come up with 19 more cards before I can send these in when there's literally 1000+ people in the group.
The membership allows access to all of their divisions, TCG, sports, currency, stamps, video games, etc... We did a 25 card Pokemon CGC submission for my boss. They were checked in January 24, graded January 26, and back in house January 28. Simultaneously a friend and I combined for a 38 card sports submission with my $150 membership credit, 10% discount (I subbed before upgrading to Elite membership so the discounts aren't reflected on my initial invoice), and allegedly we'll be given a 20% discount for the January special. Those also arrived January 24 and are sitting in "scheduled to be graded." When the Pokemon cards hit that stage it was same day service. Some people on Blowout are reporting 2-3 day turnaround with sports too, so we'll see tomorrow.
In all of this my local shop owner has been monitoring my social media and his kid is big into Pokemon. We've exchanged a few messages and he is interested in letting me do a TCG submission for his shop (and son) via my account. I have the utmost personal admiration for him as a person, hobbyist, and businessman so of course I'm into this idea. I just always worry about miscalculating something. I've been burned by less than ethical people in the past, taking advantage of my excitement to interact with other hobbyists and doing grading submissions or retro video game buys on my credit card and then they don't pay me in time to mitigate the interest charge and gave me grief for asking them to cough up the extra money for their delay. It's lessons I've learned but instead of swearing it off, I just agree to help people I know won't do that. I think an arrangement with the LCS owner will probably reflect what I'm doing with my boss's cards and my sports card friend's cards and have them pay me cash up front and then just direct that deposit immediately toward the card I'm using or use my Nerdgasm checking account debit card (generally what we do). Just depends on the quantity he wants I guess.
Boss and I also have a 20 card submission in for the SGC Pokemon special. I found out about that after we sent Pokemon cards to CGC and PSA. I could have saved him $7/card on the PSA and $3 off CGC. Which, we're not crying over spilled milk, we made the decision with the information we had at that time. CGC is still going to catch the bulk of the Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic cards. Turns out they don't grade the Digimon so I've sent the first 8 cards I researched as valuable to BGS.
I was looking at an email from Becket advertising whatever % off the price guide without saying the actual price. What caught my eye was that it came with a coupon for 6 free gradings at the standard service level. I decided to see if I could do "pay in 4" with all the various platforms that facilitate that. It'd be a lot easier if I used it as a guideline for all of these TCG cards and my limited knowledge. I guess I zigged when I should have zagged because next thing I know my phone went off, my email alerted, paypal app popped up, and every other notification for a large transaction to let me know I just bought the full access price guide that nearly no one uses (though it does now list recent sales of raw and graded copies of cards). I immediately used my 6 free gradings on some PC stuff. I have the price guide for a year. So far it's irritating because half the 1999-2000 Pokemon cards (the ones from the movie and TV show) aren't priced. None of the Digimon has prices. So I have to search these things individually on ebay sold listings anyway, like I was before subscribing to the guide.
So I'm just a random dude on a message board but I have the price guide and CGC/CSG Elite membership until January 2024 and there's no guarantee I'll make full use of the cost so if anyone has any good ideas how I can help other people benefit from it let me know. I'd imagine just giving my login credentials to someone is risky to fail when the person enters their address and payment info so then we'd have to get into the trouble of having something shipped twice, from the TPG to me and then from me to you. I'm definitely doing it for people in my home area. Price guide sharing is a little sketchy b/c Beckett has done copyright claims on their proprietary information in the past. And I'm learning there also isn't a whole lot of data for my pre-war tobacco collection either. Factoring the free graded cards I got from that deal, I got a $240 grading order for free and paid $349 on the price guide. So I guess essentially I need to figure out how to maximize $109 worth of price guide data.
The membership allows access to all of their divisions, TCG, sports, currency, stamps, video games, etc... We did a 25 card Pokemon CGC submission for my boss. They were checked in January 24, graded January 26, and back in house January 28. Simultaneously a friend and I combined for a 38 card sports submission with my $150 membership credit, 10% discount (I subbed before upgrading to Elite membership so the discounts aren't reflected on my initial invoice), and allegedly we'll be given a 20% discount for the January special. Those also arrived January 24 and are sitting in "scheduled to be graded." When the Pokemon cards hit that stage it was same day service. Some people on Blowout are reporting 2-3 day turnaround with sports too, so we'll see tomorrow.
In all of this my local shop owner has been monitoring my social media and his kid is big into Pokemon. We've exchanged a few messages and he is interested in letting me do a TCG submission for his shop (and son) via my account. I have the utmost personal admiration for him as a person, hobbyist, and businessman so of course I'm into this idea. I just always worry about miscalculating something. I've been burned by less than ethical people in the past, taking advantage of my excitement to interact with other hobbyists and doing grading submissions or retro video game buys on my credit card and then they don't pay me in time to mitigate the interest charge and gave me grief for asking them to cough up the extra money for their delay. It's lessons I've learned but instead of swearing it off, I just agree to help people I know won't do that. I think an arrangement with the LCS owner will probably reflect what I'm doing with my boss's cards and my sports card friend's cards and have them pay me cash up front and then just direct that deposit immediately toward the card I'm using or use my Nerdgasm checking account debit card (generally what we do). Just depends on the quantity he wants I guess.
Boss and I also have a 20 card submission in for the SGC Pokemon special. I found out about that after we sent Pokemon cards to CGC and PSA. I could have saved him $7/card on the PSA and $3 off CGC. Which, we're not crying over spilled milk, we made the decision with the information we had at that time. CGC is still going to catch the bulk of the Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic cards. Turns out they don't grade the Digimon so I've sent the first 8 cards I researched as valuable to BGS.
I was looking at an email from Becket advertising whatever % off the price guide without saying the actual price. What caught my eye was that it came with a coupon for 6 free gradings at the standard service level. I decided to see if I could do "pay in 4" with all the various platforms that facilitate that. It'd be a lot easier if I used it as a guideline for all of these TCG cards and my limited knowledge. I guess I zigged when I should have zagged because next thing I know my phone went off, my email alerted, paypal app popped up, and every other notification for a large transaction to let me know I just bought the full access price guide that nearly no one uses (though it does now list recent sales of raw and graded copies of cards). I immediately used my 6 free gradings on some PC stuff. I have the price guide for a year. So far it's irritating because half the 1999-2000 Pokemon cards (the ones from the movie and TV show) aren't priced. None of the Digimon has prices. So I have to search these things individually on ebay sold listings anyway, like I was before subscribing to the guide.
So I'm just a random dude on a message board but I have the price guide and CGC/CSG Elite membership until January 2024 and there's no guarantee I'll make full use of the cost so if anyone has any good ideas how I can help other people benefit from it let me know. I'd imagine just giving my login credentials to someone is risky to fail when the person enters their address and payment info so then we'd have to get into the trouble of having something shipped twice, from the TPG to me and then from me to you. I'm definitely doing it for people in my home area. Price guide sharing is a little sketchy b/c Beckett has done copyright claims on their proprietary information in the past. And I'm learning there also isn't a whole lot of data for my pre-war tobacco collection either. Factoring the free graded cards I got from that deal, I got a $240 grading order for free and paid $349 on the price guide. So I guess essentially I need to figure out how to maximize $109 worth of price guide data.
SFH
Integral Poster
Good thing I was the designated driver tonight and not drinking. Dude PM'd my personal Facebook in regards to one of my higher end listings (#'7 Reebok logo National Treasures Brees card BGS 9) and typed out 4 other listings (all graded) he was interested in doing a bulk deal. To give an idea, I was an hour from home in a bar for my friend's band. I was literally 10 minutes from where the guy wanted to meet but explained to him I'd have to run home and back (and then home again) and I'm the DD for a handful of people. We go back and forth on price while I'm also checking his profile and it's completely null and void of anything, just a name that's either a first/middle or his last name is also a first name (totally normal but had my attention). He was also using common hobby lingo like "comps" to justify his end of negotiating so he seems to be in the hobby, be it as a collector or a flipper, he checks out from a vocabulary stand point.
After I convinced him 10pm on a Saturday in the New Orleans metro area wasn't happening, I erred toward the side of caution and threw out, "let's meet at the Jefferson Sheriff's office parking lot, they have a 'safe zone' for internet transactions." He was cool with that.
Right before I put my phone in my pocket to start the drive to drop off and then home, I see one last message, "Of course, I'm going to have to inspect them closely before I put any money in your hands." It just sat weird with me the whole way home, I get that slab integrity is a concern for collectors and is why I've migrated toward the Myslabs platform for the bulk of my deals. We have to show clear evidence that the slab is good and it eliminates buyer disputes. I use the same images on Facebook marketplace and ebay listings. The only difference is the list price or the amount of wiggle room I offer based on the platform's cut.
I get home and I start googling his name but it's literally as common as "Robert John" or "William Robert" and just throwing "New Orleans" and the little suburbs in the area of the city will not narrow it down. I finally sent screenshots to five different people of different backgrounds, my boss who's an artist when he's not telling me what to do, a retired cop, my wife who is in HR, a professional musician (not the one we saw tonight), another collector, and my friend that acts as my heavy when I have to go into unfamiliar situations. All responded within a minute to not make that drive tomorrow with varying reasons all going back to "red flag" and my boss saying, "he probably has counterfeit bills" and that's why he wasn't worried about ripping me off in the SO parking lot. Someone in my text spam found a guy matching the name in the metro area that's an MMA coach but otherwise nothing to indicate he collects...but if he's using a burner account for his hobby, that might be why there's no mention on his main page.
I'm not comfortable going there and I'm not comfortable bringing anyone else along in case it is some shady shit. I've messaged him that I "got called into work, earliest I can do is Wednesday." If he's okay with waiting I'll feel a little better. If not, my brain circles back to him pressuring me to do the deal within a few hours of initial contact.
Unrelated: I apparently was giving my cell # out to people at the October 2022 card show because a guy called me on Friday looking to move 6k cards. He sent me a few photos and there's some good stuff in there but nothing worth buying as part of that many cards, I'm not going to cherry pick the guy's stuff like that, and I think he's looking to move everything in one big deal. I don't have the room to take on something of that size nor the energy to convince my wife that I can turn a profit on these 6,000 cards in addition to the other x,000 I've accumulated in the time I've donated my last batch to whatever nonprofit is willing to accept them this time. Hell I still have 90 Nintendo games and 3 systems in my card room that I'm supposed to clean and get working for a coworker, a paper to write for school, and a 2 hour presentation to write for an April speech. And book card shows to move these pokemon cards I took on. Someone just dig a hole and throw me in it 1996 In Your House: Buried Alive style.
After I convinced him 10pm on a Saturday in the New Orleans metro area wasn't happening, I erred toward the side of caution and threw out, "let's meet at the Jefferson Sheriff's office parking lot, they have a 'safe zone' for internet transactions." He was cool with that.
Right before I put my phone in my pocket to start the drive to drop off and then home, I see one last message, "Of course, I'm going to have to inspect them closely before I put any money in your hands." It just sat weird with me the whole way home, I get that slab integrity is a concern for collectors and is why I've migrated toward the Myslabs platform for the bulk of my deals. We have to show clear evidence that the slab is good and it eliminates buyer disputes. I use the same images on Facebook marketplace and ebay listings. The only difference is the list price or the amount of wiggle room I offer based on the platform's cut.
I get home and I start googling his name but it's literally as common as "Robert John" or "William Robert" and just throwing "New Orleans" and the little suburbs in the area of the city will not narrow it down. I finally sent screenshots to five different people of different backgrounds, my boss who's an artist when he's not telling me what to do, a retired cop, my wife who is in HR, a professional musician (not the one we saw tonight), another collector, and my friend that acts as my heavy when I have to go into unfamiliar situations. All responded within a minute to not make that drive tomorrow with varying reasons all going back to "red flag" and my boss saying, "he probably has counterfeit bills" and that's why he wasn't worried about ripping me off in the SO parking lot. Someone in my text spam found a guy matching the name in the metro area that's an MMA coach but otherwise nothing to indicate he collects...but if he's using a burner account for his hobby, that might be why there's no mention on his main page.
I'm not comfortable going there and I'm not comfortable bringing anyone else along in case it is some shady shit. I've messaged him that I "got called into work, earliest I can do is Wednesday." If he's okay with waiting I'll feel a little better. If not, my brain circles back to him pressuring me to do the deal within a few hours of initial contact.
Unrelated: I apparently was giving my cell # out to people at the October 2022 card show because a guy called me on Friday looking to move 6k cards. He sent me a few photos and there's some good stuff in there but nothing worth buying as part of that many cards, I'm not going to cherry pick the guy's stuff like that, and I think he's looking to move everything in one big deal. I don't have the room to take on something of that size nor the energy to convince my wife that I can turn a profit on these 6,000 cards in addition to the other x,000 I've accumulated in the time I've donated my last batch to whatever nonprofit is willing to accept them this time. Hell I still have 90 Nintendo games and 3 systems in my card room that I'm supposed to clean and get working for a coworker, a paper to write for school, and a 2 hour presentation to write for an April speech. And book card shows to move these pokemon cards I took on. Someone just dig a hole and throw me in it 1996 In Your House: Buried Alive style.
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Yeah, that guy sounds really sketchy. I'd be pretty leery. Good scammers can easily co-opt lingo from whatever area they're scamming so that doesn't really guarantee anything re: them being a hobbyist/collector.
Many folks also dump significant collections like that 6K guy and hope the buyer throws them into a storage closet (like they probably did) or has the time/money to cherry-pick through them (which most people don't). I know Chris on YT (aka BaseballCardCollectorInvestorDealer) has done breakdowns of such deals he's done and usually, the pure time commitment outweighs whatever profit could be made on a $$/Hr basis.
SFH
Integral Poster
6k card wants $300 per our conversation this morning. Had the above deal worked I might actually have met up with him.
This morning I fell for a few classic blunders on a multi-rookie graded lot when the guy asked where I live. I never specify town I just say southern LA. Hindsight is he googled cities in the south of this state and landed on one 2 hours from me and picked an address off Zillow or similar. At that point I'm still a gullible mark and willing to either drive or mail out tomorrow. He asks for my paypal handle and sends me a screenshot of it with no avatar. I send him back the right one with my avatar and he sends it back, I'm still marked. I know not to give my phone # but my email seemed safe, it is connected to my paypal, and so he asked for email not phone #. I then get the spoofed email that he overpaid by $200 and he asked if I could refund it. I said I was emailing paypal fraud to verify, he was cool with that and then I get another spoof email saying the last email is legit. These are coming from Paypal's international Gmail account. Somewhere in there was a handful of "using my brother's account/address/daughter is sick" stuff that would have tipped an awake me off but I was clearing cobwebs.
Once I saw the "gmail" I asked my friend in that town if she recognized the address that guy gave me for mailing, she said its a part of town she avoids. Their tax assessor website records has it as owned by an investment group, but honestly the guy wasn't after the item, just the $200 refund. Whoever finds the cards, finds the cards or they get sent back to me. He started calling me on messenger's phone call gimmick and I declined it. Once I figured out, which took too long honestly, I reported him.
Literally 2 scammers in 12 hours with 2 different approaches. But yeah ebay is at 14% fees and a lot of collectors, new and potential, aren't up to date on the alternatives so FB marketplace is a good way to make new connections (and hopefully new collectors) but two in 12 hours has really zapped my mood.
This morning I fell for a few classic blunders on a multi-rookie graded lot when the guy asked where I live. I never specify town I just say southern LA. Hindsight is he googled cities in the south of this state and landed on one 2 hours from me and picked an address off Zillow or similar. At that point I'm still a gullible mark and willing to either drive or mail out tomorrow. He asks for my paypal handle and sends me a screenshot of it with no avatar. I send him back the right one with my avatar and he sends it back, I'm still marked. I know not to give my phone # but my email seemed safe, it is connected to my paypal, and so he asked for email not phone #. I then get the spoofed email that he overpaid by $200 and he asked if I could refund it. I said I was emailing paypal fraud to verify, he was cool with that and then I get another spoof email saying the last email is legit. These are coming from Paypal's international Gmail account. Somewhere in there was a handful of "using my brother's account/address/daughter is sick" stuff that would have tipped an awake me off but I was clearing cobwebs.
Once I saw the "gmail" I asked my friend in that town if she recognized the address that guy gave me for mailing, she said its a part of town she avoids. Their tax assessor website records has it as owned by an investment group, but honestly the guy wasn't after the item, just the $200 refund. Whoever finds the cards, finds the cards or they get sent back to me. He started calling me on messenger's phone call gimmick and I declined it. Once I figured out, which took too long honestly, I reported him.
Literally 2 scammers in 12 hours with 2 different approaches. But yeah ebay is at 14% fees and a lot of collectors, new and potential, aren't up to date on the alternatives so FB marketplace is a good way to make new connections (and hopefully new collectors) but two in 12 hours has really zapped my mood.
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Yeah... as bad as eBay is for fees and places like COMC are solid (ish?) alternatives, there's also a large reason why savvier collectors/sellers don't use places like Facebook Marketplace, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc. because it's so much easier to get scammed on those places even when you're bright enough about the tactics used. Harder to get recuperated too it seems on those places if you're scammed or a deal goes really sour.
SFH
Integral Poster
I'm booked for a "swap meet" at a local-ish brewery (near LSU campus) next weekend. Lots of different collectible specialties. I found out about it from a guy I met at one of the Nicholls State U card shows. I'm also now on the hook to bring extra tables for the organizer. He asked if I had a table b/c they are limited. I confirmed I have access to one at work. I floated it by my boss, I am after all trying to move Pokemon cards for him, and he got excited, signed off on me using the table from work and also he has two privately owned tables I can bring to loan out to other vendors for the day.
Looking like I'll be doing this event solo, which stinks as I love craft beer. It's a 2 hour drive or so, but there's no distance to excuse impaired driving. Allegedly the organizer is going to be doing some advertising too, makes me somewhat nervous. Obviously advertising = money but then my social anxiety starts getting inflamed. For the show we did in November, we were the only sports card vendor and people literally paid admission into the convention center to bring cards to us and try to strike a deal. THAT is a weird experience knowing someone took that time to go to your table first (they were empty handed except for card binders). Anyway, talking my head in circles.
I got one of those padded card cases from Fun Guys. I like it, cards are secure, and while I haven't done any major impact testing, I feel reassured if I do drop it, the cards in it will be fine.
Looking like I'll be doing this event solo, which stinks as I love craft beer. It's a 2 hour drive or so, but there's no distance to excuse impaired driving. Allegedly the organizer is going to be doing some advertising too, makes me somewhat nervous. Obviously advertising = money but then my social anxiety starts getting inflamed. For the show we did in November, we were the only sports card vendor and people literally paid admission into the convention center to bring cards to us and try to strike a deal. THAT is a weird experience knowing someone took that time to go to your table first (they were empty handed except for card binders). Anyway, talking my head in circles.
I got one of those padded card cases from Fun Guys. I like it, cards are secure, and while I haven't done any major impact testing, I feel reassured if I do drop it, the cards in it will be fine.
SFH
Integral Poster
Worked a bigger 2 day show out of town. Thankfully I had family near it so I didn't have to get a hotel. Made my table fee and gas money back early on the first day. Then I got so busy that I forgot to eat lunch. I literally set an alarm so I would be reminded to eat something and I just had to silence it in my pocket. It was successful as a whole. The $0.25 binder and box led to me getting a LOT of dollar bills from the younger crowd (and I run 5 for $1.00 as per my training in food back in the day). The Burrows and Zions were hot this weekend which is weird since it's offseason for NFL and Zion is injured currently. Moved a lot of stuff, though, that I'd been sitting on for a while.
Now that i'm in the Pokemon space ( from an earlier post) I've been trying to educate myself but the collection I'm helping to move is all 1999-2000 stuff and then the youngsters run up asking me about terminology and characters I haven't learned yet...AND my ear is still jacked up from the wreck on 3/11/2023 so I also can't hear small voices in loud convention centers. That's a me problem, though. The next to paragraphs are copy paste from text and social as different people had asked me about two different convention things:
I have 1,393 tobacco trading cards from before 1940. My pricing is $5 per card, 10 cards for $40, 100 cards for $350. A physical card shop asked Saturday if I’d want to move the entire collection in one sale and I said sure, $3000. That’s $2.15 per card. They slept on it Saturday night and Sunday morning said we are too far apart and wouldn’t even offer a counter. So I went from really excited not so thrilled but to their credit, super polite about agreeing to disagree. And then one of the business partners came to my table for a third time to vent about the subject of the next:
length warning
But as a whole, for a convention with maybe 3 advertised sports card vendors and a few booths having cards as a supplement to their normal wares, I did very well. And because it is broad spectrum collectibles and the organizer advertises each of us in advance, people will show up specifically for the card vendor, the toy vendor, the video game vendor or the special guest stars. And a lot of that I get. It is still a giant weird mind fuck that people paid $8-$15 to go straight to my table with their own cards to do a trade or offer to sell me their stuff. At least with "real" shop owners being there, it's less intimidating and I feel less bad about admitting to being small potatoes in comparison. But the November event when I was the only card vendor, I hated having to say "I'm not liquid enough to buy your $50,000 collection that you took the time and care to bring to us." But with people in house that are 7 day a week card professionals, I can do referrals. So that was nice.
Now that i'm in the Pokemon space ( from an earlier post) I've been trying to educate myself but the collection I'm helping to move is all 1999-2000 stuff and then the youngsters run up asking me about terminology and characters I haven't learned yet...AND my ear is still jacked up from the wreck on 3/11/2023 so I also can't hear small voices in loud convention centers. That's a me problem, though. The next to paragraphs are copy paste from text and social as different people had asked me about two different convention things:
I have 1,393 tobacco trading cards from before 1940. My pricing is $5 per card, 10 cards for $40, 100 cards for $350. A physical card shop asked Saturday if I’d want to move the entire collection in one sale and I said sure, $3000. That’s $2.15 per card. They slept on it Saturday night and Sunday morning said we are too far apart and wouldn’t even offer a counter. So I went from really excited not so thrilled but to their credit, super polite about agreeing to disagree. And then one of the business partners came to my table for a third time to vent about the subject of the next:
length warning
I’ve decided to remove a higher end item (I have two copies) from my show inventory as it created too many headaches from two negotiators that were transparently telling me they would be reselling it really soon (weird flex but okay). One was a nearby vendor/collector that I've already had a negative experience with a few shows ago as his kid was running around the show with key rookies trying to move them and I'm like "someone is going to rip her off..." so I checked with him to make sure he knew his daughter was running up to strangers and might get ripped off, "that used to happen to me as a kid," etc.. etc.. and he got quite cross with me. Maybe I was out of line but in my heart I was just looking out the way I'd want someone to look out for my niece if she becomes a collector.
The other negotiator was a very high energy late teens/early 20s guy that had the spirit of 8 gallons of Red Bull in his veins. He's the one that said, "I ain't gonna lie man, I'm a flipper."
Back to the card: the sticker price allowed me to be “talked down” 25%. At one point I even started entertaining a 50% offer. They kept coming back lower and lower and using even more pressure language until the young guy flatly offered 1/4 of my sticker price, and legitimately I’m impressed I didn’t laugh. For being so far apart on their appraisal (low print run so price guides and recent eBay sales aren’t very helpful ), they sure wanted it pretty enthusiastically . My price might be unreasonable but the desperation kept me in a pessimistic stance after the sixth attempt.
The younger guy even offered to trade me a PSA 8 1/1 Davis Mills Mosaic Black rookie card if I'd give up my card and another card. I said I wasn't comfortable in trading for anything Texans right now and he said, "yeah but what if he goes off when the season starts....?" I said, "well I hope you make a great deal off of that card."
Like there are maybe two people I’d give 75% discounts to and one I’ve known since childhood and the other is the shop owner down my street.
After the last time I saw the younger guy one of the actual retail sport vendors (and not some doofus just operating out of his bedroom like me) walked up to share his annoyance with the same guy.
Cliff notes, the young guy will buy from one vendor and walk directly to another vendor to flip it. All the time. And will tie you up for unreasonable lengths to negotiate you into submission. I said the dude outed himself on the flipping almost from the start but I didn’t realize he meant he was going to literally do it that same day . But I have one hobby virtue I try to keep: there’s no wrong way to collect. I’ll sit on a flip for years if I think I’m on to something. This guy is apparently on a much tighter schedule and I’ve got a good 20 year head start on him so not sure why he’s in a rush. So, the card is going to go back to the PC with its twin.
The other negotiator was a very high energy late teens/early 20s guy that had the spirit of 8 gallons of Red Bull in his veins. He's the one that said, "I ain't gonna lie man, I'm a flipper."
Back to the card: the sticker price allowed me to be “talked down” 25%. At one point I even started entertaining a 50% offer. They kept coming back lower and lower and using even more pressure language until the young guy flatly offered 1/4 of my sticker price, and legitimately I’m impressed I didn’t laugh. For being so far apart on their appraisal (low print run so price guides and recent eBay sales aren’t very helpful ), they sure wanted it pretty enthusiastically . My price might be unreasonable but the desperation kept me in a pessimistic stance after the sixth attempt.
The younger guy even offered to trade me a PSA 8 1/1 Davis Mills Mosaic Black rookie card if I'd give up my card and another card. I said I wasn't comfortable in trading for anything Texans right now and he said, "yeah but what if he goes off when the season starts....?" I said, "well I hope you make a great deal off of that card."
Like there are maybe two people I’d give 75% discounts to and one I’ve known since childhood and the other is the shop owner down my street.
After the last time I saw the younger guy one of the actual retail sport vendors (and not some doofus just operating out of his bedroom like me) walked up to share his annoyance with the same guy.
Cliff notes, the young guy will buy from one vendor and walk directly to another vendor to flip it. All the time. And will tie you up for unreasonable lengths to negotiate you into submission. I said the dude outed himself on the flipping almost from the start but I didn’t realize he meant he was going to literally do it that same day . But I have one hobby virtue I try to keep: there’s no wrong way to collect. I’ll sit on a flip for years if I think I’m on to something. This guy is apparently on a much tighter schedule and I’ve got a good 20 year head start on him so not sure why he’s in a rush. So, the card is going to go back to the PC with its twin.
But as a whole, for a convention with maybe 3 advertised sports card vendors and a few booths having cards as a supplement to their normal wares, I did very well. And because it is broad spectrum collectibles and the organizer advertises each of us in advance, people will show up specifically for the card vendor, the toy vendor, the video game vendor or the special guest stars. And a lot of that I get. It is still a giant weird mind fuck that people paid $8-$15 to go straight to my table with their own cards to do a trade or offer to sell me their stuff. At least with "real" shop owners being there, it's less intimidating and I feel less bad about admitting to being small potatoes in comparison. But the November event when I was the only card vendor, I hated having to say "I'm not liquid enough to buy your $50,000 collection that you took the time and care to bring to us." But with people in house that are 7 day a week card professionals, I can do referrals. So that was nice.
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- Points
- 313
One good argument to use in "negotiation" with a flipper is to be frank and say, "I'm not here to make you money. I'm here to make me money so how is (X price they named vs. your tag price) going to do that for me?" Kind of the equivalent of asking a person interviewing for a job, "How are your skills/experience going to help my company?"
SFH
Integral Poster
Tagged for size
SFH
Integral Poster
Worked a popup in Baton Rouge on Sunday. Wonderful people hosted it, but they were hosting on behalf of an organizer that didn't show up until an hour after start time (and set up was 90 minutes before that). I was happy to have an outside space since the weather was nice and they had a little shaded overhang. The wind didn't really mess with my cards. The sun however quickly became an issue. I noticed while handling a graded card how warm the slab felt so I had to start rotating the stuff that was catching the sun beams into the shade for five hours. It also turned out that even though I was in the shade, I should have worn a hat as I am now sun burnt on the scalp.
I did make a few very small sales but not enough to cover the 80 mile drive. It's okay though, everyone was nice. A photographer (by trade) was there and took a photo of my glass case and posted it on his instagram and then a nearby resident saw it on instagram and power walked to the event with his kid to look over my stuff. He didn't buy anything right then, but did take down my contact information (at his request).
Around the 2 hour mark a few vendors started tearing down and by 5 it was me and the guy making frozen treats. I think they learned that they need to advertise. I live far enough away that me advertising to my town is pointless and my reach into Baton Rouge covers a total of three people (and two of them are my boss's kids).
Oh well, they can't all be big money days.
I did make a few very small sales but not enough to cover the 80 mile drive. It's okay though, everyone was nice. A photographer (by trade) was there and took a photo of my glass case and posted it on his instagram and then a nearby resident saw it on instagram and power walked to the event with his kid to look over my stuff. He didn't buy anything right then, but did take down my contact information (at his request).
Around the 2 hour mark a few vendors started tearing down and by 5 it was me and the guy making frozen treats. I think they learned that they need to advertise. I live far enough away that me advertising to my town is pointless and my reach into Baton Rouge covers a total of three people (and two of them are my boss's kids).
Oh well, they can't all be big money days.
SFH
Integral Poster
Also, a guy from the big convention randomly texted me a card he's trying to sell, $10,000 "or better offer."
I might be a lot of things but I'm not cold call/texting strangers to move five figure cards. I must have really put off the wrong vibe if he thinks I'm that guy.
I might be a lot of things but I'm not cold call/texting strangers to move five figure cards. I must have really put off the wrong vibe if he thinks I'm that guy.
- Messages
- 22,644
- Reaction score
- 2,146
- Points
- 313
I think a lot of those folks are starting to get a little desperate as prices continue to fall (with vintage being the next domino to tumble IMO) and are texting any dealers they see assuming everybody can just liquidate $5K+ like the big spenders.
I've heard of stories of sellers being haggled over card prices and telling buyers with $$ in hand, "I'm in too much to X card," so they can't go below Y price (which to a buyer doesn't mean shit tbh. Sorry you picked the card up so high and didn't sell it immediately but that's a you issue and a product of the market... buyers aren't beholden to saving the butts of sellers who are losing 75-90% on cards)
- Messages
- 22,644
- Reaction score
- 2,146
- Points
- 313
The big story over the past week is PWCC being sold to Fanatics, apparently for pennies on the dollar (compared to being sold even just 2 years ago at the height of the boom).