Can you be a collector and successful seller also?
 

When you look at the big names in our hobby the big sellers such as Burbank sports cards and probstein, they almost never mention their PCs or what they collect. It seems they are only in the hobby to flip cards and make money, not really into collecting cards themselves so I ask, can one become a successful seller if they are collectors Also? Or do successful sellers only focus on making money and flipping cards? (No attachment to personal collections or collecting) I also ask because I noticed that when I sell on eBay, I spend all my money on buying more cards for my collection!

Well Burbank and Probstein, full fledged businesses for which this is their livelihood, of course have to be at least mostly sellers or investors. Probstein isn’t even selling things he or his business owns, they are consignment.

You can do both, you can do one or the other. Depends what you mean by successful, but if we’re talking full businesses like these, they are all going to be primarily or entirely sellers. Someone selling opportunistically or extras on the side is in another ballpark as someone who does this to pay the bills as their daily job for them and their family.

I’m meaning successful as in being a full time seller

Well, if your business is to sell a product and you have a personal interest in not selling your product but instead keeping it, I doubt you will find much success as a businessman.

I guess it’s hard to explain what I’m trying to get at. Basically can someone sell full time but also be a collector. Or should the focus only be about making money

If you have a product, and your livelihood depends on selling that product, then you can’t keep that product; you must sell it.

I find buying and selling things I don't like very much but have wide appeal is the best way to do it.
No attachments at all. Build yourself a niche collection that you love. Sell what you don't.

I believe it's certainly in the realm of possibility but whoever is successful at doing it would have to draw a really hard deep line in the sand between their business and their personal life and stick to it.

I know a few LCS Owners who have personal collections.
It's not finite to think card dealers never collect for themselves.
RayB

I think it's possible if you bought early and leverage your savvy buying into a business that allows you to trade up on the personal collection side of things. But I guess that's not a business for general profit as much as it's a business for personal profit.

Don't forget the #1 crack commandment

Or I guess a simpler way to ask it would be: have you noticed most big sellers don’t collect cards themselves!?

Number four, I know you heard this before,
Never get high on your own supply

Not sure what your definition is of a “successful seller” , but I know people who sell regularly as their main source of income or supplemental income and who have personal collections of their own, some whose names most would recognize in the hobby. You can find some on the Registry

Al is spot on here.

Al - way off topic. Just saw this episode last night.
In what TV show (syndicated) was the famous line "Al dances with Sally" uttered and who uttered it?

RayB

I have no clue Ray

Define the terms. Is a collector a dealer because he has to sell cards to finance his hobby? Is a dealer a collector because he enjoys owning his inventory? Is a collector actually an investor because he buys items with an eye towards eventual appreciation and sale? It isn't one thing only. There are lots of people whose habits are a Venn diagram between the three. I might put in 200 bids the first day of a major auction just to see if I can steal a deal for resale, while at the same time I hotly pursue an item I really want to own. There's a lot of talk about gender fluidity; maybe we are hobby-fluid?

Well, typed a whole thing yesterday and Edge crashed.

So another try....


The card shop I hung out at in HS was successful, supported a couple families eventually.
One time I asked if they collected and the answer was "sort of". When I pressed they showed me the binder of stuff that was not really for sale, unless someone wanted to make a crazy offer.
Lots of really great cards, and most in great shape. None of the big ones at the time, but plenty of very nice cards.

Andy Griffith Show Season 3, the episode is called "Convicts at Large".
Barney and Floyd the barber get themselves captured by 3 escaped women convicts.
One of the more classic AG Show episodes. Barney deserved an Emmy for this one.

One of the woman convicts is sure that Barney is an old flame from Toledo and insists on calling Barney Al. She makes Barnie dance with her.

Later in the episode Floyd the Barber must go to town to pick up supplies and gets entangled with Andy trying not to get himself in trouble with the cons.
In a verbal exchange between Andy and Floyd, Andy questions Floyd about what's going on and Floyd utters the phrase, "Al dances with Sally".

I'm telling you, if you haven't seen it, watch it on Youtube or Tubi. The whole episode will have you busting a gut. Classic AG!
RayB

Whenever I see a question like this, I always tell people to look at 707's registered sets compared to what they have listed for sale. IMO no reason you can't be a collector and a big time seller.

i don't know if this answers the exact question, but i'd consider myself someone that sells cards to support my collection. sometimes you get lucky and land a PSA 10 or whatever that's way more valuable than you need...ship it out and use the profit to fill the other holes.

I think that describes a lot of us.

On the extreme end when I got into collecting in the 80s I had a bunch of 60s cards I had been given as a little kid just sitting in a drawer untuched. I own and have owned some amazing cards and have never spent a penny out of pocket for any baseball collectable I own.

Of course
 

Of course, in fact, I would venture to say that most successful sellers are also collectors. In most cases, the best way to gain knowledge and pricing insights is by collecting yourself. That said, I know a local dealer who seems pretty successful who admitted to me that he has never collected and has no emotional attachment to the cards he sells. In that sense, he has an advantage b/c he doesn't hold back inventory to fill his own collecting needs. On the flip side, the seller who reflects an inherent interest/ passion for the card they are selling will likely be able to sell said card(s) to a true collector who wants to support that guy, not to mention, that seller can hold to a higher price with the knowledge of "if it doesn't sell, I can keep this in the PC".

I'd call myself a collector-investor at this point. I would like to make cards a component of my retirement income, so I collect with an eye towards what I think will appreciate in the next 5-10 years and become the inventory of a part-time retail enterprise. Some stuff is just for s**ts and giggles though, like my boxing type set. I know that a $5 South African cheese-maker's card of a local club fighter isn't going to turn a profit unless I sell it to the guy's mom, but it is fun to have it in the African section of my album. What's crazy-fun to me is when the two worlds intersect, like when a card I bought years ago as a fun item I just wanted to have skyrockets in value.

"Maude, Al; if the hamburgers are ruined, I won't be responsible"

One of my favorite episodes. Scott

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Guessing most dealers/serious sellers were once collectors. it's possible to enter an industry with zero interest and/or experience and become successful, though doing something like this makes the most sense to start out collecting. Eventually a collector decides they want to sell out and maybe makes some good money and decides they can continue to do this with something they enjoy.

Unless you had a very focused collection and some major restraint, I would think it might be hard to be a full time seller and still collect. Everything you own or potentially look to buy = potential revenue. Locking things into your collection = no revenue!

Personally, I have a hard time even imagining going about selling things I have hand picked over close to 45 years of collecting regardless of the offer, but I have stuff too that I'd sell in a heartbeat if someone offered me the right $ for them.

100% agree with this Curt!!!