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+--- Thread: Making money from sports cards? (/thread-1604086.html)
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Making money from sports cards? - crolsky - 09-16-2016
Hi all,
I have been collecting sports cards my whole life and adore it but am only now throwing them on Ebay to sell. Maybe there are too many contingencies with this one but it seems like when buying a new hobby box, it's tough to just break even after selling the good cards pulled.
Maybe the money lies in buying a huge box lot or doing the whole bidding thing for certain teams/players/numbers but I just wanted to get the Beckett community's view on this. I usually buy one NFL hobby box at a time and sell the better cards (serials, autos, RCs, etc) that I do not want in my own collection (Patriots).
Thanks for any/all input! I love collecting regardless of money coming back from selling cards, this is just for my own curiosity.
Charles
RE: Making money from sports cards? - kerryandbeth - 09-16-2016
I think most would say the best way to make money is to purchase a case, open all or portion, and sell, sell, sell. But, you end up with a ton of copies that are worthless unless for your PC.
RE: Making money from sports cards? - bojesphob - 09-16-2016
even buying cases doesn't mean you will necessarily break even. I bought a case of 2014 Prizm Jumbo for about a grand and one of the hobby cases I had bought of the same thing ended up with about 5 times the value. I will be lucky if I get back 200 bucks from that Jumbo case.
The way I look at it now is that there is no short term monetary gain collecting cards. If you've been doing it long enough, no matter how good a pull you get, you'll still probably be thousands in the red. Best to collect to collect and enjoy and maybe hopefully the extra stuff you get buying boxes will help you at least partially pay for the hobby.
RE: Making money from sports cards? - coltsfansince85 - 09-17-2016
From what I can tell, on ebay it's about volume and it's hard to compete with the big boys. You'd need to have some capital to buy fairly well established collections at a decent price (hard enough to come by) and part it out, which will cost time, fees, shipping/handling. Like bojesphob said, you may get one case and triple your money then another and lose your arse.
RE: Making money from sports cards? - c squared - 09-17-2016
At the risk of sounding snarky, simply buy low and sell high. Jump on players you think will rise and sell when you think they peaked. A few years back, I turned $20 into $300 inside a month flipping two Ryan Fitzpatrick rookie cards after that comeback win vs. NE. If you are looking to profit, busting wax is a waste of time.
RE: Making money from sports cards? - jeremy7269 - 09-17-2016
If you're trying to turn a profit with wax, I think you have to stick to high end. It's high risk and high reward. Even then, I don't like the wax approach.
Every couple years, I will get an entrepreneurial itch with this hobby. Whether it's buying singles or team breaks, I try to stick to the teams with national fan bases. I target the Packers, Steelers, Cowboys, and Raiders, Patriots, and Bears. I have had some success of buying big name redemption cards from high end products from these six teams. I redeem the cards myself and then sell.
Everyone will have their own strategy. In my opinion, buying cases in hope of turning only works with Bowman Chrome baseball.
RE: Making money from sports cards? - altz11 - 09-18-2016
(09-17-2016, 09:11 PM)c squared Wrote: At the risk of sounding snarky, simply buy low and sell high. Jump on players you think will rise and sell when you think they peaked. A few years back, I turned $20 into $300 inside a month flipping two Ryan Fitzpatrick rookie cards after that comeback win vs. NE. If you are looking to profit, busting wax is a waste of time.
+1
The last few years I've been buying Jordan rookies and second year cards and am now going to sell a few as I've more than doubled my money on many of them.
This is probably the best info so far, aside from the fact that you shouldn't really buy sports cards expecting to make money. If it happens then GREAT, but just don't get your hopes up.
RE: Making money from sports cards? - djohn - 09-19-2016
Buying a single wax box and hoping to make your money back is very foolish and unlikely. Even when buying cases, there is no guarantee that you'll end up ahead. Buying packs, boxes, or even cases in hopes of making money is essentially gambling (sometimes you win, but most of the time you lose). If you're looking to make money, your best bet is to get educated about different trends in cards and buy and sell individual cards. Most card investors are in one of these categories: long term, short term, and flippers. Sounds just like the stock market, as you have long term (years), short term (months), and flippers (days). Typically long term investors go for vintage (especially graded vintage), short term investors and sometimes flippers go for HOT rookies and breakout players, the flippers are simply buy low / sell high as quickly as possible (usually that's for HOT players, but sometimes it's simply stuff that's underpriced and they know they can buy and relist for a quick profit).
RE: Making money from sports cards? - jonathani - 09-19-2016
(09-17-2016, 09:11 PM)c squared Wrote: At the risk of sounding snarky, simply buy low and sell high. Jump on players you think will rise and sell when you think they peaked. A few years back, I turned $20 into $300 inside a month flipping two Ryan Fitzpatrick rookie cards after that comeback win vs. NE. If you are looking to profit, busting wax is a waste of time.
As you note here, C Squared, eBay is all about timing. When a player has a good game, put him up on the 'Bay. A card that was worth 25 cents on Saturday night is suddenly (and temporarily) worth $5 Monday morning after he earns a bunch of fantasy points. There are some stupid people in the world, but a lot of them have money.
RE: Making money from sports cards? - jacobystealshome - 09-19-2016
boxes, even cases, are for the most part, break even or lose.
the key is buying collections wholesale, and selling for good prices that keep sales going, not trying to soak every penny out of it.
i ran my own auction for 12 years,and normally i doubled to trip-led my investment on stuff i bought, not factoring in labor, time, etc. i didnt gamble with prospect markets, i didnt take huge risks. i think i bought 1 case the entire time i ran my business (i got lucky, decided never to do it again).
i ran a niche business in what is already a niche business, but i did well enough that i didnt have to have a 9 to 5 job for a dozen years