How much would it cost these days to have a "Nationals Worthy" booth?

[timber63401]

Me and a buddy was talking yesterday about the skyrocket prices of cards in the last 10 years and we got to talking about what it would take to buy enough good cards to have a "Nationals Worthy" booth starting from scratch. Now I understand there will be booths with 7 figures of inventory, and I understand I can rent a booth and put out all 1988 Topps cards but you all know what I mean. I put it at 100,000 on the low end and he thought about the same. Just a fun discussion to see if we are way off on our thinking.

[Fred]

These days it would only take a few cards to hit the $250K level. I guess $100K of cards isn't that much inventory for a huge show like the National.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

There will definitely be dealers there with less than 6 figure inventories.

[JollyElm]

This is reminiscent of a chat I had with a dealer at a show recently.
He told me that all of his graded cards (standard Topps-era stuff) were bought by him personally at shows and whatnot (basically at market prices).
So, he basically has to way overcharge on everything (and hope 'knowledgeable' collectors still bite) just to turn a profit.

My point being, whatever amount of money a person pays to stock a 'Nationals Worthy' booth, he has to somehow make sure he buys everything at a serious discount.
There too many other options for collectors at such a large show to be successful with overly-stupid pricing.

[Snapolit1]

I'd be curious to hear from some of the dealers here what the number is they figure they need to hit in sales just for the trip to be a break even. Travel, rental space, paying for help, meals, etc.

Obviously different for the AH guys, who are there to drum up publicity and interest.

[Jewish-collector]

Not sure of the answer, but a really good idea I suggest is for a long time collector (who wants to sell their entire collection) to set up at a National to sell it all. They will do great, especially if they have unusual material. Oh hell yeah. beer chug.gif

[Fred]

Just curious - how much does it cost for a table at the National? I can figure out the rest (approximate travel costs, hotel, food). Edited to add - if any dealers want to provide their break even number, please do so. Maybe next time the buyer may have a better clue that there is a cost of doing business at the show.

Another question - an assumption is that most dealers drive to the show because flying would require relinquishing card inventory to the airlines baggage handlers (oh yeah, let's do that...)
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[Leon]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I'd be curious to hear from some of the dealers here what the number is they figure they need to hit in sales just for the trip to be a break even. Travel, rental space, paying for help, meals, etc.

Obviously different for the AH guys, who are there to drum up publicity and interest.

I don't know the magic number but I have to think if a dealer sets up, with all of the associated expenses, from Wed-Sun....with lots of variables, there might be around 3500 in total cost...

So, anything in profit over that, depending if you count your time as a cost, would be that break even point. I think it could be a 1 card sale or 100 cards sold....When I set up, I just looked at the profit I made, not how many sales. Everyone does it differently.

I voted 50k-100k because it could be done on that, but you might not have higher end sales.
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