Speaking from experience as someone who sorta chose to step into the role of a dealer: you will have to work A LOT to be able to make a living at it. I was selling collectibles on eBay on the side while working my day job as a civil engineer. When all the real estate/economy issues hit full force, commercial construction basically stopped, meaning there was no demand for site design and I was out of a job with about zero chance of finding another in my field of training. At the time (and still now), I was very glad to have something to fall back on as that was when I ramped up my selling and began "doing eBay" full-time. And I'm still doing so nearly 3 years later, but still put in a lot of hours every day, week in and week out. I make ends meet, but often just barely
I would NOT recommend anyone try to jump into full-time selling of anything without prior experience, good contacts, and a back-up plan. I would also suggest that, if you're looking at starting a collectibles business as a means to "step up" in life, you need to think long an hard about it, and then think about it some more, and then probably not do it.
Keep in mind that it is much easier to buy than it is to sell, and if you refine that to "sell profitably" the gap widens further, and if you further refine it to "consistently sell profitably" it gets even tougher.
If you're STILL thinking about giving it a shot, how about doing a trial run first? Figure out what you want to sell (sounds like baseball cards are your thing, but could be anything). Find a good collection to purchase, or several smaller collections, buy it, and once you have it at home, take some time off from your regular job (preferably a month, if you want to make it realistic). Now, start flipping. Sell only what you've bought for this exercise (your existing collection doesn't count, because you can't depend on making a living forever selling your accumulated goods unless you're already of retirement age). At the end of the month, figure up how much profit you've actually made, deducting the original cost of the collection, eBay fees, Paypal fees, TAXES (good grief, don't forget taxes), shipping materials, all of that. Then take out your normal living expenses: mortgage, gas, food, utilities, insurance (figure in something realistic, not subsidized by your employer), all of that. Now, if you're still in the black, consider what you had to do to obtain the material you just sold. Is it realistic to expect to find that same kind of "great deal" week in and week out, month in and month out, year round? Were you able to work through all the material you picked up? Or did you blow through it quicker than you could replace it?
The point is, anyone can sell off a collection and feel good about the money they got for it. It's a whole other animal to be able to sell off the collection at a good price in a timely manner and find another collection to purchase to continue the cycle while still taking a chunk out of "working capital" every month for living expenses. Many many many would-be "dealers" have found out the hard way that it is not an easy process to maintain.
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