Originally Posted by BobC
Pretty good analysis Ben, and I'm not joking or being sarcastic in the least. To try and start up to be a big-time card dealership overnight is virtually impossible, unless you already have more than enough money AND the cards to do it with. Even if you go out and hire a bunch of people to list, sell, handle, and ship cards, who is out there acquiring the cards to start with, and then continuing to acquire them to keep replacing the ones you're selling?
The competition to acquire more and more cards is already out there, and with the recent price surges during the pandemic, more and more people are aware of these cards increased/increasing values, and not as prone to just give them away. And as others had opined, when you buy cards at the right/lowest prices is when you actually make your money. To me, the way to go about becoming a big card seller/dealer is to start out small, maybe just by yourself to begin with. And as others have said, use that trial period to figure out your own system/way of doing things, and see if you can be successful (ie: profitable). And if you succeed to that point, try expanding and going forward and building up the business.
Otherwise, if you insist on being a bit-time seller/dealer right out of the gate, be sure to have a boatload of money (or a hell of a credit line) and be willing to spend it to acquire a big, desirable inventory, pray you can find (and retain) good, honest, qualified people to work with/for you, be sure to also find some good/ qualified support professionals to help set the business up and keep track of things going forward (attorney and accountant/CPA at least), and then hope to God that nothing drastic or bad happens or changes the economy, the hobby, or anything else you could have never reasonably predicted or expected, and that you otherwise have absolutely no control over. Not sure any of this is exactly secret. A lot of effort, desire, hard work, dedication, and especially a lot of luck, is the formula for pretty much every kind of business out there becoming a success.
Possibly the easiest (but certainly not cheapest) way to go about getting into a successful, big-time card selling business is to find one that is already successful and operating, and simply buy it (if you even can). And then just pray you don't do something stupid to screw it up, or have something beyond your control happen to screw it up for you.
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