Where do I go?

[steve B]

I can't imagine trying to run a shop while studying to be a lawyer. Just trying to do my prototyping stuff and taking care of the kids is plenty hard enough for me.

As far as marketing goes, just having a presence on a number of venues will be a help. Facebook, twitter, Ebay, youtube, maybe other's? It's a load of work. It can be as simple as "hey look at the new product that just arrived" or "a peek at the collection we just bought"

The shop I go to locally does Ebay, and even before Ebay used the internet to sell stuff that was good somewhere else but not as saleable for them. The day after Curtis Martin went to the Jets they sold nearly their entire inventory to a dealer in NJ. Not at retail, but for a decent price. They got rid of an entire showcase of stuff that wasn't in demand anymore, and the guy in NJ got an instant inventory of the local teams new star player. A win for everyone. The same would go for Ebay, locally, cards from non-local teams don't sell as well, but will bring more faster on ebay.


I like the angle, but I'm not sure how it would work as a business. It just might, but the biggest group of customers probably won't be into it. New cards vs vintage, totally different groups. If I were a customer and there was a bit of focus on taking care of rare items I'd expect to see a really good line of supplies.

I can share what the stamp dealer I go to told me when I wanted to get into dealing with a goal of eventually doing it full time.
1) Always learn more
2) you can't know everything but you an become a good guesser. Meaning you'll run into things that aren't typical, and you need a good feel for what's "good" and what's not.
3) don't marry your mistakes, move them along for whatever is reasonable and try not to make the same mistake again. In card terms, lets say you buy a collection based on bulk and estimate wrong. Maybe half the monster boxes are only half full, or the 100,000 cards don't really include any better cards but are all commons. Don't store the stuff, send it to someone else, and check the next collection a bit better.
4)Don't obsess over making every last dollar, if you buy a $60 card for $20 and can sell it almost instantly for $40 that's better than holding it a year waiting for 60. And the person who got a deal from you will probably buy more stuff over time. (especially if it's a dealer and you've got a steady supply of stuff they do well with)

I worked a show with him, and he made more selling to other dealers before the show opened than he did the entire rest of the show. Everyone specializes a bit, and he would set aside things for someone else who specialized in that area.

There's so much more, the balance between lowballing and overpaying, How much space to commit to a category, Probably a ton of stuff I don't even know about.

Steve B