3 Pete Rose Autographs - only $27

I have decided to start posting some of my items for sale here on my blog!  Keep a look out.  $27 takes all 3 of these beautiful Pete Rose autographs!  I'll post in the comments when they are sold.

How to Become a Part Time Dealer - Part One : Selling Tips

I'll never forget it.  I was in 5th grade, and myself along with some other baseball card loving kids pursuaded the school to allow us to put on a baseball card show at the school, and use the tables as dealers would.  My folks allowed me to buy a few boxes of cards to sell them by the pack to customers just like my local neighborhood dealer / hero would.  I was in heaven!  Well, that is, until the kids started guilt tripping me into selling the packs for much, much cheaper than I should have.  That was actually a very sour note in my shool career, but nevertheless, it gave me a taste of being a dealer.

When I got back into the hobby again, a little less than a decade a go, I started buying up cards to reclaim my youth.  Like many guys like me, I was married and knew that my new hobby was going to become a problem if I kept spending money, and potentially could cause issues with my wife.

Every week, it seems like the #1 concern from my "customers" who are ages 20 to 50 is "boy, my wife is going to have a fit ... I better find a place to hide these!"  I have felt their pain - it flat out sucks!  What I decided to do instead, is figure out how to make money on the hobby that I have loved so much for decades.

I'm happy to report now that sports card collecting is no longer a money sucking hobby that I feel guilty feeding.  Instead, it is a profitable business venture that has exciting possibilities around every corner.  In fact, the more time I spend searching means the more money I can possibly make, and the more fun I can have.

I would love to take some time here and write a little bit about how to help you make your cardboard obsession a profitable hobby too.  Could you imagine your wife excited about having you go to a card show instead of dreading having to bring it up to her?

I admit, I may have a little bit of an edge here compared to the average, everyday collector - I have run a website development firm for about 14 years now, so I know a good bit about business and sales.  The great thing is that I've been able to apply many business and sales practices to it, so my hope is that you will be able to learn from my findings here as well.

Here are a few pointers that you can put into action right away!

Test your ads - When using the internet to post an ad for sale about your cards, try several ways to do it to see what works the best.  Some people like to sort and sell by team, some like selling by set, others by player.  I personally have found that mixed lots do well for me.  I like selling reseller lots, so dealers can purchase from me to make money off of them and keep coming back.

Do NOT give up - Some people will try to post an ad, and give up if no one buys.  Don't do this!  Keep on keeping on.  Be persistent.  Just because your cards haven't sold in 2 days doesn't mean necessarily that a buyer doesn't exist.  It just means that he hasn't seen your ad!

Know when to change your approach - Sometimes, cards just will not sell for the price you want for them, no matter what.  For instance, that pile of beat up 1989 Topps you have online for $5 may not ever sell.  Consider adding it into a different lot, and sell that way.   

Buy Low, Sell Fair - The general make up of my customer is that of a part time dealer.  That is, they are repetitive customers.  Keep them happy by not gouging them - make your prices fair, and give them deals as an incentive to buy more from you in the future.

Check in with people who have bought from you periodically - I cannot tell you how many card sales I have had simply because I checked in with people.  I put my name in front of their face.  "Hey!  How are you doing?  I wanted to let you know I got in that special Danny Tartabull card that you were looking for."

Know thy customer - When you know what your customers like to buy, you will know what to keep your eyes out for whenever you are cruising on ebay, or partaking in a little local card show action.  The more you know what your customers (existing and future) could like, the better informed you can be for making purchases.

Expand your customer base - This may sounds a little too businessy for many of you, but hear me out.   It is a good thing to know what one person will buy, no matter what.  It is a great thing to know what five people will buy, no matter what.  It is an outstanding thing to know what ten people will buy, no matter what.  The sales will be easy from there!  This doesn't have to be rigid.  Just make relationships with those you sell to.  Talk to them and see what their interests are.

Expand your reach - The internet is far too powerful to just limit your sales to ebay, so use every avenue possible!  Craig's List, baseball card forums (I can name five off the top of my head right now!) your blog (post your blog in the comments here, by the way!) and various other places are a great way to gain more exposure to what you are selling, and give you the ability to meet new people.  If I just used ebay, I wouldn't be nearly as successful as I am.

Know your sweet spot, but work on diversifying - Are you most knowlegeable in vintage cards?  Wax?  Singles?  Graded cards?  Sets?  Bulk lots?  Most collectors have a good working knowledge of the value of some specific area of cards.  I personally try to diversify as much as possibly myself, so I can offer people things that they may not think of.  I have had many people come over to look at a few older cards I had for sale, only to find out that I also had a plethora of wax boxes as well.  Sales that would not have been there, had I not had the product!

Give freebies - Turning a profit on what you buy is not about the cards you are selling.  It is about your customers.  Don't focus on taking a $10 cut on a lot ... focus on the 15 future $300 sales to the same guy because he is happy.

Make it a game - I have spoken about this before.  This is NOT a business to me.  It is fun.  How?  I make it a game.  Aside from the other numerous benefits, keeping records allows you to see how profitable you are.  I love doing this!  Crack open an excel sheet and record each and every sale you make.  Here is how I do it as an example:

1/1/14 - Bought $4,000 collection
1/3/14 - Sold 3 boxes from $4,000 collection for $800 ($3,200 left to recoup)
1/5/14 - Sold 1 big box from $4,000 collection for $1,500 ($1,700 left to recoup)
1/11/14 - Traded 5 boxes from $4,000 collection for 10 autographed baseballs
1/14/14 - Sold 10 autographed baseballs for $900 ($800 left to recoup)
1/17/14 - Sold top 50 star cards from $4,000 collection for $825 ($25 profit + 12 Boxes Left)
1/18/14 - Sold rest of 12 boxes from $4,000 collection for $1,000 ($1,025 profit)
Game Over - I Win!

I hope this helps you out tremendously, and also hope that this puts some fire under you to start putting these into action to start selling right away.

I look forward to hearing your comments, blog links and other selling tips that I may have missed!

The Joy of Living in a Baseball Card Shop

Back in 5th grade, my folks saw that I was struggling in school.  They decided to give me an incentive by way of the all mighty dollar.  For each 'A' this hopeless scholastic mess would achieve, I would have $10.  $5 for a B.  My brain was churning a mile a minute when I heard this news.

"Okay, okay, okay...." I thought to myself.  "If I make straight A's, that is $80 to take to The Bullpen to spend on baseball cards at the end of the semester!

Guess who got straight A's that semester?  This guy.  The next semester, I followed up with all A's and a B. After 5th grade, my folks decided to pull the plug, because they had a mortgage to pay, and I was living in a cardboard palace. Unfortunately, my grades plummeted too.  Funny how that works, huh?

The end of the semester was magical for me.  $80 and ready to shop.  I spent hours (okay...DAYS) determining what I wanted to get.  With my cash, and list ready, my folks drove me to the shop, and I started off my list.  "I'll take 2 packs of 1982 fleer, 3 packs of 1989 Upper Deck, 10 1989 Score, 15 1989 Fleer....."

"Boy, it looks like it is Christmas for him!" Mike, the dealer mentioned to my folks.

Indeed, it was!

I stockpiled these packs.  I didn't run home.  Instead, I put them in a drawer and just savored them. I would arrange them, mix them up, open the drawer several times to look at them, display them as if it were my own card shop, etc.

The time came to hunker down and bust them all.  I was saddened by the fact that I would no longer have anymore packs to open, but it was enjoyable.  No Griffey rookies or Ripken rookies to my recollection, but I do remember the Christmasesque feel to it all.  The anticipation - the wonder of what could be in them, and the upcoming joy of opening them all.

Fast forward 20+ years later, I am sitting on well over 500 boxes of new sealed cards.  I have traded, sold and opened over 80 of them this past month, and it has been awesome!!!  Here is an update of some of the happenings:

- Opened some by myself, and several packs with my family
- Sold boxes and pack lots both locally and online
- Traded locally and online
- Sold boxes in such as way that I open for the buyer through you tube, they watch the bust, and tell me which cards to ship

Here are some vintage PSA beauties I have traded for:

These are already spoken for though so sorry - they aren't available anymore!

One particularly successful venture has been the small flat rate boxes of packs I have been selling.  On ebay, they are $33 shipped, but if you want one here, I can do $30 shipped.  Each box comes with 25 unopened packs from various mixed products.  So far, everyone has been giving them rave reviews.

The most fun I would say is when someone buys a box and I open it for them via youtube.  I generally sell the boxes for cheap, open online and they pick 5 cards per box that they want.  This keeps costs for shipping down for the buyer, cuts down on unwanted cards for them, and gives me the excitement of opening.  Plus, it is really fun for those to view the packs being opened on the web!

On another note, if you have been following me for a while, you know I am a Jose Canseco fan.  I sold my collection and am now rebuilding.  Over the past few days, I have done with my existing collection what I never did to my old collection:  I marked them in a checklist and put them ALL in holders!  My current count is 500 different Canseco.  Clearly less than what I had, but I currently have some many cooler Canseco cards than my old collection had.

I had some fire under me to finish up this check list because the baseball card show is just around the corner.  For the first time in forever, I will be looking at adding some items to my personal collection, instead of just to resell!  If you have any rarer Canseco, please let me know!  I am also putting together the 2011 Topps diamond legends silver set if you have any :)

...And even more of the haul

After (im)patiently waiting through a 3 day delay, santa claus dressed up in brown shorts knocked on my door last night with a trolley full of goodies.

 

I even busted open my first two boxes:  2010 Topps Hobby Update and 2012 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Rack.  It was fun - I hadn't done that for a while.  It makes me want to rip even more!

11,500+ Packs of Baseball Cards ... want some? (Buying Binge - part 2)

So, this has been the 4th year in a row that I bought out a boat load of boxes and cases.  The box total is up over 600.  While I didn't actually buy any loose packs, if you count them up from the boxes and cases, they total up to over 11,500!  This is the biggest wax acquisition I have ever made!

Why do I do this?

I have found out that I can have a blast opening a ton of wax while making a few bucks selling some boxes.  These should last me throughout the year.  I hope to be done with all of them by the end of the year though.
Would you like some?  Check out my deals page for a list of everything I have, as well as pictures below.  Here are a few details you may like to know:

• I can and will trade packs, boxes and cases for your singles, collections, etc.
• I frequently sell pack lots if you are unsure of what box you want to buy.  It is a great way to get a bunch of packs for cheap that cover a number of different types of cards
• Everything comes from sealed boxes and cases
• I also frequently do box breaks for people on you tube.  If you want to buy a box, but don't want to pay shipping on the commons, you pay me for a box, I open it for you on video, and you choose a certain # of cards you want.  This is super fun - if you haven't tried it before, you should!
• Coming soon:  This year, I plan on doing my first group break!

Please contact me tanmanbaseballfan@gmail.com if you are interested in some cheap wax!

Here are some pictures - this isn't nearly everything at all, but you get the idea :)

A Buying Binge: Part One

It feels like I have been complaining about not having any cards for a few months.  Work has been heating up recently, so that has kept my mind off of the dreaded cardboard deficiency.  Over the past month, I have had a guy that sells me new card lots bring me cards, which I flipped pretty quickly.  Aside from that, I have not been able to roll up my sleeves and dig in. 

The past few weeks have changed quite a bit.  I am not sure if I had mentioned this before, but ever since selling the last of my cards (which was my Canseco collection) I started asking the question:  "What if I could build up a fantastic Canseco collection using the money I got from my old collection?" 

I have decided to just step back and enjoy collecting Canseco cards again.  It has been a long, long time.  I have been so business minded for baseball cards, that I have not been actively seeking any Canseco cards forever.  The majority of my old collection was just throw-ins from other collections, and stuff I would find from bulk lots.  There was no rhyme or reason to it.  I would imagine my highest dollar card was worth $10, and that was probably a good clip higher than any of the other better cards. 

As I started looking around and researching Canseco cards, I noticed something:  A LOT of the cards out there - inserts, parallels, etc. never showed up in the millions of cards I have been through over the past several years.  That is what I decided to focus on.  From die cuts to gold signatures to refractors, etc.  I simply didn't have many of these at all!  For example - I would have the 1991 Topps Canseco (who doesn't?) but not the Tiffany or the Desert Shield.  I would have the 90's Donruss cards, but not the fractal matrix versions.  I had 11or so game used cards, but not a single certified pack pulled auto. 

Why? 

I guess there is something to be said about the Canseco collectors out there.  When they find one of his cards, they don't let go.  If they don't have it, they will pay dearly for it!  I'm assuming his fan based is a lot like me.  A male in his 30's with some money that grew up living on every swing of his bat, hoping to hear the crack that sends the ball over the fence for yet another home run. 

I have been fortunate enough to grab about 300 or so of his cards from various places online.  While the pictures below do not show all of them, they are my favorites.  I have decided not to focus on the base cards, because those are so easy to come by, it takes no work at all! 

So, while the collection I have now probably represents the same or more re-sell value of what I got from my old collection, I have spent about $200 less than what I got for my old collection, and have so, so, so many more cards that I am proud of - and that I have never had before!  They are truly exciting for me to own.  There are no BIG money cards ... that isn't my interest for now.  I think the highest dollar one is probably the 1993 Finest refractor that I got on the cheap because someone spelled his name wrong :) 

Without further adieu, here are some of my favorites:




A nice bowman chrome / international chrome refractor run




28 jersey / bat cards and 1 certified autograph buy-back




I always loved the 91 Elite.  So impossible to pull.  The 2 91's are Desert Shield, the upper right is a wood card, the bottom left was the most expensive card in my previous collection.  I love the looks of the others!




I am just a flat out sucker for shiny parallels and die cuts, etc.  These all look gorgeous to me.




I am a fan of runs / rainbows / etc.  These are all die cuts, serial # or both!




A nice run of Topps Chrome refractors




Beautiful run of Finest refractors - my favorites are the 93, 94 and 95 gold!




Gorgeous run of bowman's best refractors and atomic refractors.  I loev the '94 most.




His minor league cards from 1983, 1984, 1985 and maybe 1986.  3 of these cards I had from my old collection, which I kept.  My favorites are the 1983 and the 1985 Burger King autograph. 

There are probably 200 or so more that are gold signatures, tiffany's, press proofs, etc.  I am very much so looking forward to the card show at the end of January so I can pick up more Canseco goodness!

While I was cruising the internet, I found something else interesting.  A guy was selling 1,500 Canseco cards - mainly base.  It was cheap enough for me to take out the ones that I need (which is probably 1 of each, as I don't hardly have anything base at the moment!) and sell the rest for profit.  The cool thing is, I checked what else this guy had.  Here is what else I picked up:

700 Mark McGwire
550 Mike Piazza
800 Craig Biggio
800 Jeff Bagwell
1100 Frank Thomas
1300 Cal Ripken Jr.

An absolute incredible power house mega lot of super stars!  They, by the way, are all for sale. 

Stay tuned, as I will be making another post about the unopened box bonanza that I went on over the weekend - I promise you - the purchase dwarfs this post!  Won't you join me while I have a heart attack re-living how much I spent!?  It should be good fun. 

Jose Canseco PC 2.0

Over the past few years, I've gone from being an enjoyer and collector of cards, to a hardcore hustler of cardboard crack.  Anything I could get my hands on, I would flip for profit.  Not that there is anything wrong with that - we all have to make money somehow, and it might as well be doing something we love!

I have always kept aside the Canseco cards.  The collection had gone from going to card shows as a child and buying single Canseco cards that I didn't have, to, mindlessly tossing anything that had Canseco's name on it in a separate pile from collections I bought. 

It is funny how times change!  I remember vividly standing at a baseball card show at the age of 12, going through a big pile of Canseco cards.  An older lady and man who, in my memory, seemed to be in their 60's (they were probably in their 40's!) were carefully watching me go through the cards.  I put the pile of my carefully picked Canseco into their hands. 

"Would you accept $9 for these?"

The lady snorted and turned to her male counterpart "Did you hear that Rob?  He is asking if we'd sell these for $9."  She then preceeded to laugh, so I walked away with my tail between my legs, and not a single Canseco richer.

I'm not saying that was the turning point of when I stopped putting thought into the collection.  Heck, there was a good 12 years or so between the time I was a kid to being an adult who got back into cards.  I even remember when the big hurricane hit over here.  There was no electricity, and I ran out of things to do.  So for the first time in years, I pulled out my Canseco collection and started sorting.  What fun! 

I kind of envisioned myself in my golden years of retirement sorting baseball cards for fun, with the Canseco collection first on the list.  Well, after I sold out of pretty much everything, I sold the Canseco collection, as it was really not anything that I had put too terribly much thought, effort or investment into. 

Then, one day, it bit me ... hard.  I wanted to get back into collecting Canseco!  I thought to myself "what kind of collection could I come up with, within the budget that I had sold the collection for?" 

This idea is very intriguing to me, so I've been speaking with a few folks who are Canseco fans.  If it is one thing I know now, it is that while I used to almost apolegetically tell people I was a Canseco collector, there are fans who will pay BIG money for some of his rarer cards.  As a matter of fact, one Canseco card marked as a 1/1 with a normal bat piece in the card went for over $450 ... with 18 or so bids!  This was no fluke!  The card didn't look all that impressive, either. 

So sure, I have my work cut out for me.  Perhaps I'll focus on cards I enjoy looking at, instead of ultra mega rare cards of him.  I think my wallet will thank me.  I've decided to focus more on the rarer lower dollar cards though (for now, anyway ... ain't no way I'm gonna drop $500 or so on a 1/1 regular looking bat card!).  As I still have about 3,000,000 cards to go in my deal with my friend, I'm anticipating replenishing 75-85% or so of my existing Canseco collection for free.

Growing up, I was an avid reader of Beckett monthly. The articles would soothe me throughout the long, cold off-season. I would see articles of people who are "super collectors" of a certain player.

I remember seeing one kid who had 9 1989 Upper Deck Griffey rookies, and thought to myself "how the heck does that happen???" I dreamed that one day, my Canseco collection would propel me into the pages of my most beloved magazine.

That dream came to a screeching halt.

Enter:  AJ.  Check his site out at www.cansecoking.com - he boasts something called the "Perfection Collection".  Why?  Because it is, well, pretty much perfect.  After checking out his stuff, and realizing that he already had been in Beckett, I realized that I will never be magazine worthy.  That's ok though, it is great to be able to enjoy looking through his collection online.  Whenever you have a custom license plate AND a tattoo dawning Canseco's #33, you deserve the title.