In 2001 I started buying on ebay and buying out show dealers with the goal of finishing all Topps sets from 52-present. I purchased partial sets, lots, etc and began piecing together these sets. At this time I had some "extra" income and I used it to buy with. As I started amassing dupes, I began to use ebay to sell them off.
By 04, my selling evolved into monthly auctions of around 500 singles. I sold off larger groups of doubles also. I used the proceeds from selling to continue buying cards to fill holes and upgrade my sets. At this point, I realized when buying vintage cards in groups, I could make a profit by selling them individually.
By 06 I had finished all of my sets, except for half of the 52 hi #s. At this same time I began really disliking my job. I realized that the monthly auctions would not support my lifestyle, so I began to experiment with different selling formats on ebay.
In 07 I opened my ebay store and focused on buying (still upgrading my collection, but primarily for resell) to stock my store. Then in 08, I sold 10k singles, in 09 15k singles, and in 10 I sold 22k singles on a part time basis (evenings, weekends).
So in late 10 I decided that 2011 would be the year to go full time. The things I had in place were an established customer base, a system for efficiently listing and shipping cards. I felt that I had worked out all of the kinks and was ready for full time.
About 16 months ago, my long time boss was let go and I knew my time had come also. Last June I began full time. I had about 12k cards in my inventory with another 10k ready to list...so that is what I started with. I listed and shipped, listed and shipped 10-12 hours a day. I used my extra income to continue to purchase cards to ramp inventory. That was still not enough. Good thing my credit cards both had $20k limits and were both running 10 month interest free with no extra fee promos. I used all $40k of this free money to build my inventory. So far, I have built my inventory to over 35k singles with more inventory to still list and have completely paid of these two credit cards without paying a dime of interest. As far as sales, some months are busier than others, but I have continued to pay myself, every week, the same amount I was paid at my previous job, including the dreaded taxes and retirement funds. I put in 10-12 hours a day, but that is what I worked before. I have continued to improve my efficiency with listing and shipping so I am still listing (growing my inventory) more cards per week than I am selling. Currently I am on pace in 2012 to sell around 75k cards, which means I will turn my inventory 2+ times this year.
What have I learned from all of this is it is possible to make a comfortable living selling vintage singles by starting slow and developing an efficient system to sell/ship cards. Depending on how quickly you want to start and ramp your business, having access to capital to help grow your business is a factor. I am still constantly looking and listening for new ways to operate the business in more efficient and cost effective ways. However, the most important part of making this happen is to consistently treat other collectors as fairly as possible and quickly fix any mistakes. I have also worked to develop connections with various sellers to ensure a constant supply of reasonably price inventory. The best part, is I have not touched any of my own collection to start this business...it is there for severe emergencies only.
Many of the estimates of costs in this thread are quite accurate. All of my costs equal approximately 25% of my income (ebay, paypal fees, shipping supplies, shipping, etc). My COG sold averages out at 35%, in other words by buying in bulk, I pay around 35 cents for every dollar worth of product I sell. My wife has excellent health care so there is no expense there. It can be done.
|