Quote:
Originally Posted by Jewish-collector
I love at shows when the dealers say, "Let me see what I have into it"  |
Having worked at card shows and in sports collectibles stores for roughly 20 years I think that's a legitimate statement to make. We would have to purchase our older cards at shows to replenish our inventory and dealers weren't always generous in discounting their prices for the competition, us, to resell. If it was an out-of-state show, there were extra expenses added on to what we purchased. Our markup wasn't exorbitant, so we did have to consider what we paid and if we could afford to offer a discount.
For newly released cards if the wholesaler didn't have what we needed, we would go to the confectionary stores to buy as many boxes as they would allow. However, they were loyal to the ice cream sellers and we were limited to 2-3 boxes, which meant driving to several locations in search of cards. From each box, we probably made $5.00 after all of the packs were sold. Why go through all that hassle? Many of our sales were for newer material and if we didn't have the cards the collectors were looking for, they would go somewhere else, thus potentially losing a continuing customer to a competitor. Southern California in the 80s through the mid-90s had tons of card shops and shows, (how I miss those days), and the competition was tough. So, if someone wanted to buy an entire box, we would certainly have to consider what we would have into it as even a .50 difference in price could win or lose the sale.
Now, if I'm at a yard sale and the seller tells me what they may have into it or they have to see what it's selling for on Offer Up, I tend to say no unless it's a deal.
Happy collecting.
Phil aka Tere1071