What’s the secret to selling cards on a large scale?

[homerunhitter]

I look at all of these big time sellers like Burbank sports cards, deans cards, 2bros collectibles and cardcollector2 and think how did they get so big listing cards on eBay. Seems like they always pull the”big cards” from boxes. I think it comes down to two things.

1. Buying dozens of cases of cards at a time! I say this because every case I ever bought, I only got a $5 autograph or a $5 relic!

2. And maybe the most important step is to hire a team of 20+ people and pay them minimum wage to do the grunt work? I saw this because anyone that has scanned, listed and packed a box of $1 cards knows it’s tough and tedious work that most of us can’t do or dont want to do.

If I had a team of 20 people doing all of the grunt work , I could be a million dollar business too! It’s not that hard if you pay people to do all the hard work.

What do you guys think?

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

I look at all of these big time sellers like Burbank sports cards, deans cards, 2bros collectibles and cardcollector2 and think how did they get so big listing cards on eBay. Seems like they always pull the”big cards” from boxes. I think it comes down to two things.

1. Buying dozens of cases of cards at a time! I say this because every case I ever bought, I only got a $5 autograph or a $5 relic!

2. And maybe the most important step is to hire a team of 20+ people and pay them minimum wage to do the grunt work? I saw this because anyone that has scanned, listed and packed a box of $1 cards knows it’s tough and tedious work that most of us can’t do or dont want to do.

If I had a team of 20 people doing all of the grunt work , I could be a million dollar business too! It’s not that hard if you pay people to do all the hard work.

What do you guys think?

I think you should give it a try and let us know how it works out.

[homerunhitter]

I think not!

It’s just a question I always wondered! Thanks anyway Sherlock!

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

I think not!

It’s just a question I always wondered! Thanks anyway Sherlock!

Just trying to help.

The businesses you listed use very different business models. It is far from a one size fits all and I am really sure just hiring 20 minimum wage employees is not the way to go unless you are trying to lose a million quickly.

[homerunhitter]

No worries, it came off to me that you were trying to be a funny guy or smarty pants! (Instead of trying to be productive and help/answer the question)

How do you figure? Do you know how many cards 20 people working 8 hours a day can list/process? A ton!

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

No worries, it came off to me that you were trying to be a funny guy or smarty pants! (Instead of trying to be productive and help/answer the question)

How do you figure? Do you know how many cards 20 people working 8 hours a day can list/process? A ton!

Being a business owner of many years. You get what you pay for in product and employees. 10 decent workers getting 1.5X min wage will usually out work 20 minimum wage morons. Your milage may vary but that is my experience.

[swarmee]

Some of those large ebay sellers probably are consignment firms, which are selling other people's cards.

COMC already has the model you're talking about. Hiring a staff of workers to scan, identify, store, and pack cards for sale. There are currently 30 million cards for sale on their site.

[lowpopper]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

I look at all of these big time sellers like Burbank sports cards, deans cards, 2bros collectibles and cardcollector2 and think how did they get so big listing cards on eBay. Seems like they always pull the”big cards” from boxes. I think it comes down to two things.

1. Buying dozens of cases of cards at a time! I say this because every case I ever bought, I only got a $5 autograph or a $5 relic!

2. And maybe the most important step is to hire a team of 20+ people and pay them minimum wage to do the grunt work? I saw this because anyone that has scanned, listed and packed a box of $1 cards knows it’s tough and tedious work that most of us can’t do or dont want to do.

If I had a team of 20 people doing all of the grunt work , I could be a million dollar business too! It’s not that hard if you pay people to do all the hard work.

What do you guys think?

you're on crack if you think training non card people to do card work (correctly) is easy

[Mike D.]

Just from my personal experience, I bet you could list a lot of cards in not a lot of time. I have an eBay store. But I have a full time job, and this is just a hobby. It's not even my primary hobby side hustle. Yet I have over 2,500 listings.

If you owned a card shop, in just the time you were sitting around between customers I bet one person could list hundreds of cards a day. Granted, that's not going to make you rich, but if you keep doing that every day, it adds up.

[dodgerfanjohn]

Two things.

#1 your assessment of unopened wax is wrong. Most huge shops don’t get most of their cards from breaks. And despite increased costs, hits are not as difficult as you make it seem. I never bought a case of any product until 2021 and I’ve been collecting modern since 2012(and a little in the mid 90’s and also early 2000’s. I’ve hit multiple nice cards in the $50-600 range, even just buying 8-10 boxes every year. Allen & Ginter X has been the best product I’ve pulled from with 2018-2020 being years I totally killed it. Best cards were 2020 Ohtani Gold /5 auto, 2020 Trout /20 auto, 2019 Tatis Jr. Gold/5 auto. I’ll note I’ve only bought one box of chrome my entire life. I’ve never ever bought the major expensive boxes with only a few cards per packs. Nearly all my modern purchases have been Heritage, Allen & Ginter, and Archives.

#2 I first went to Burbank Sportscards in the mid 1990’s. No internet presence at the time. Los Angeles area had hundreds of card shops just a few years prior and Frank and Sons had opened up only a few years earlier also with a large Sportscards presence. Burbank had by far the best selection of vintage I had ever seen and also had the ability to fill sets like no one else. It was awesome. By about 2001/2002 I was able to bid on eBay on my ancient cell and Burbank had already established an online presence. Soon thereafter they had employees on eBay nonstop, both selling and looking for buying opportunity. They 100% built that business from the ground up, they still grind away looking for deals everywhere. I assume the same of all similar business. Simply work hard, retain a staff, buy at a discount, sell at retail.

[homerunderby]

Originally Posted by dodgerfanjohn

Two things.

#1 your assessment of unopened wax is wrong. Most huge shops don’t get most of their cards from breaks. And despite increased costs, hits are not as difficult as you make it seem. I never bought a case of any product until 2021 and I’ve been collecting modern since 2012(and a little in the mid 90’s and also early 2000’s. I’ve hit multiple nice cards in the $50-600 range, even just buying 8-10 boxes every year. Allen & Ginter X has been the best product I’ve pulled from with 2018-2020 being years I totally killed it. Best cards were 2020 Ohtani Gold /5 auto, 2020 Trout /20 auto, 2019 Tatis Jr. Gold/5 auto. I’ll note I’ve only bought one box of chrome my entire life. I’ve never ever bought the major expensive boxes with only a few cards per packs. Nearly all my modern purchases have been Heritage, Allen & Ginter, and Archives.

#2 I first went to Burbank Sportscards in the mid 1990’s. No internet presence at the time. Los Angeles area had hundreds of card shops just a few years prior and Frank and Sons had opened up only a few years earlier also with a large Sportscards presence. Burbank had by far the best selection of vintage I had ever seen and also had the ability to fill sets like no one else. It was awesome. By about 2001/2002 I was able to bid on eBay on my ancient cell and Burbank had already established an online presence. Soon thereafter they had employees on eBay nonstop, both selling and looking for buying opportunity. They 100% built that business from the ground up, they still grind away looking for deals everywhere. I assume the same of all similar business. Simply work hard, retain a staff, buy at a discount, sell at retail.

I remember Rob writing articles for SCD's dealer publication in the early-90's. It was clear to me that he had vision where the other dealers of the time, thousands of them, didn't. Most dealers then (and now for that matter) want the easy money, are undercapitalized, and don't know how to build a collector (as opposed to a flipper) clientele.

Amazingly, he's avoided the scandals of other prominent dealers. Maybe not so amazing, since all you have to do is not be smarmy and not defraud collectors. I'm sure he has a few disgruntled customers in his 35 years, but overall he gives collectors what they pay for.