[poorlydrawncat]

Not sure how relevant this will be to your situation, but I figured I might as well make a post about my own experiences as an ebay seller. About 6 months ago my father asked me to sell his collection for him, in exchange for his '52 Topps Mantle. I had always coveted the Mantle (I used to collect when I was younger) so I agreed. In the next few months, I learned a lot about cards and ebay. After it was all over, I had developed a taste for collecting myself. I'm currently in college and have absolutely NO disposable income. Yet, since February I have been able to amass a collection worth around 8-10 thousand dollars, without spending a dime (that's a lie, I'm currently $200-$300 in the red, but I'm working on it). I should also mention that I only buy cards that I know I'll be able to make at least $20 on, and generally I look for a return of at least 30-50 percent. Here's what I've learned so far:

Learn how to search for items that are below market value. I personally keep about 20-30 tabs open on my computer of ebay searches that I constantly refresh throughout the day. Most of these are in non-traditional categories where uneducated sellers commonly list their cards. The easiest way to find these categories is to do a search for what you're interested in WITHOUT selecting a category. Ebay will show you all the categories where your search appears. I've been very surprised at what I've found using this method (I once found a lot of Mickey Mantle cards listed under the "Masonic and Fraternal Coffee Mug" category--GO FIGURE).

What you are searching for is just as important as where you are searching. Uneducated sellers don't use the same vernacular as card experts, so searching for T206 is unlikely to get you anywhere. Instead, search for terms like "tobacco card", "piedmont", "Old Mill" etc. Use the term "sports card" or "trading card" instead of "baseball card". There are many more useful search terms that you'll discover along the way. Also, learn how to use shortcuts to consolidate your searches (using commas, parentheses, minus signs, etc.). I usually max out the search bars character limit for each category.

The best deals, however, will always be BINs, regardless of what category the item is posted in. This requires CONSTANT refreshing of your searches and a lot of patience, but it pays off big time. You can easily make 500-700 dollars off of a single card.

If you can learn how to accurately grade cards through pictures, you can find raw cards and then flip them once they've been graded. This one is probably the most dangerous method, but there are steps you can take to reduce the risk. First, look for auctions that accept 14-day returns, in case the card comes back lower than you were hoping (usually PSA's turnaround fits within this time-frame for high-end cards). Also, if the card comes back altered in any way I have never had trouble getting refund from the seller once I provide the PSA slip.

Finally, learn as much as possible about a wide variety of cards. I recently picked up a complete set of first edition Pokemon cards for $500 (a quick BIN purchase) that I flipped for $1200 within 48 hours of receiving the package. Deals like this are few and far between, so having a broad knowledge base helps you find them wherever and whenever they pop up.

Anyway, I hope this helps in some way. If not, I'm sure there's someone else out there like me who's looking to build a nice collection on a nonexistent budget.

EDIT: Forgot to mention a few things. Keep an eye out for sellers who don't crop their scans. In other words, look for auctions with small pictures or large pictures with lots of empty white space. These are almost guaranteed to flip for higher when you upload quality scans of the item. Lots are always a good bet too, but as it has already been said before, a lot of times lots will go for the exact sum of what the cards would be expected to go for individually. Look for lot listings that lack a lot of common keywords (such as lots titled: BOX OF CARDBOARD SQUARES :P).