Advice: PC vs Trade/Sell
 

I purchase exclusively for my vintage PC but admittedly pretty picky. I’ve recently thought about fishing for undervalued cards in auctions/card shows that I could then flip for a card on my PC list. However I’ve been too gun shy so far. Does anyone else do this and have any tips when bulking up their collection for trade/sale purposes?
Thanks for any input-Zach

I've personally found that it is hard to consistently get deals on the buy side that would allow me to flip quickly and make a profit after factoring in transaction costs and fees. Maybe it is because I'm not a professional dealer and don't cultivate supply as my day job.

I find there's a lot of transparency in the market for the more popular, accessible cards (the cards where you'd be more likely to find an easy buyer on the other side of the trade). I've noticed that for higher end cards (over $5,000), there is a bit more variability in the pricing in auctions, but buying and flipping at those levels requires more working capital...

The area where I’ve had some success here tends to be on the postwar oddball side for the inner circle hall of famers in our world.

Often pieces like that can be had for a relative bargain at auction, but will retail for a lot more, simply because they are so rare and come to auction so infrequently.

It does require that you be very patient when selling. I could take months or years to find the right buyer who really needs the piece and is willing to pay your price. I have used some of these pieces as trade bait, although it’s more common for me to just sell them, and use the proceeds to further my collection.

If you do find a deal at auction, you need to make sure it's an in-demand item or you might be sitting on it longer than you want. That could prevent you from making a move on a card for your PC if you don't have the free cash. But in-demand items don't fall through the cracks as often of course. Just be really on top of what the market where you hope to sell will pay for it.

Like was mentioned above, it's helpful to have a little war chest of money just for this so you don't sweat the times when it's tied up and not available for PC opportunities.

It can be done, but if you don't have a little cushion of funds for just that purpose it can cause some anxiety. And sometimes you'll think you've scored a great deal but will eventually just be satisfied to get your money back out of it if it doesn't sell quickly enough and then you need to move on to the next opportunity.

The concept is good but execution would be difficult
alot depends on where you buy and sell it.
IF on auctions there is the buyer fee for buying it and then the reselling fee for selling it.
I is also tough to find deals anymore because of the internet and apps that make it easier for everyone to know the "Comps" on cards thus hard to buy low and sell high.
But if you do
1. stay within a pre determined budget
2. Find sites like Net54 or Facebook groups where you can sell/trade/buy to minimize the fees
3. Do not buy to much to start so you do not tie up your money in to many cards and loose your liquidity for other cards for your PC or day to day needs
4. Be prepared to sit on cards for a period of time so you do not take loses or minimize them

I would think looking for larger lots of cards or sets that sell for lower prices and then breaking them up and selling the cards individually would be one approach. However, I imagine you would be bidding against dealers and others looking to do the same thing. Plus, you need to make sure there are enough significant cards in the lot that can help you quickly get back what you paid for the lot and then be prepared to be stuck with the less desirable cards or plan on selling them pretty cheap just to get rid of them.

I love this thread because I think a lot of people are curious if they can use their hobby knowledge and experience to help further their collections or even make a little extra money when opportunities arise.

What Jay said above can be a successful strategy.

I just recently bought a complete set, that I genuinely love and collect, and am going to have to break it up because it's too expensive for me to keep.

My end goal is to keep some cards from this purchase that I don't already have and also take ones from it that are upgrades to my existing collection and sell my lesser copies.

Ultimately, by buying the set and selling some individually, I hope to end up with a result of little to no cost to me for this collection improvement.

I will sell my duplicates and likely even some of the nicer cards from this purchase that I don't currently have but can later acquire more affordable copies of. I'll keep selling until I have all, or enough, of my money back and then be left with the rest to add to my collection for cheap/free. Hooray.

It will tie up a big chunk of money (for me) for the next month, but I'm hopeful I will come out where I want. And if not, I will gain some insight and experience.

Man, that all sounds like a lot of work. You should just get a job.

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Advice: PC vs Trade/Sell
 

Work is for suckers. Wait, jobs are for suckers.

I do some casual buying with the idea I'll cash it in later for something I really want. But my game is the long game, unfortunately. However, I have been pretty successful after putting in the time.

I bought a 2018 Topps Chrome Ohtani Rookie Auto for $275 after his disaster pandemic season. Doing pretty well with that one now, five years later.

I also picked up a Perucho Cepeda Toleteros on eBay maybe 8 or 10 years ago for $35. One just sold in the recent Hake's auction for $1,600.

Good Luck either way and tell us how it works out

Big determination is how much you think you will make for the effort to put in and the time it takes to make the flips and/or willingness to hold on to the cards and for how long.

No wrong answers and WE hope it works out