Buying collections - can this work?

[Exhibitman]

Bob, I am speaking from experience taking tables at card shows and attending hundreds of them as a patron, and even running a few of them. With that many dealers in the room, it is a seller's market unless you are trying to move junk. I set up at the first large show in LA in years this past summer and even though the place was mobbed, the walk-ins were in line with what I stated: mostly crap, with a smattering of decent items in there.

I wasn't aiming at your prior posts; several other members posted similar misgivings and comments regarding the best routes to actually buying stuff besides sitting at a show.

With regard to the walk-ins' knowledge level, I stand by my view. The occasional clueless walk-in happens but is a rarity, especially as compared to the past.

My friends who actually do this for a living set up at shows but do far more buying through web presence, referrals and leg work than via walk-ups. it just isn't an efficient paradigm.

As for outside the show buys, maybe you have not waited in line to get into a show, but it is not unusual to see someone working the line before a show opens. If someone is there to sell, getting that first shot is a viable strategy. I got one of the best deals of my life doing that in the 1990s.

Am i saying that the OP shouldn't try it? Of course not. How he spends his time is his choice.

As for content of my post, I mentioned my blog in passing (and it is free, so no monetizing there; I like to pontificate there rather than here because I can cuss freely and editorialize as snarky as I want). Most of the post was devoted to offering some concrete examples and suggestions for what it takes in this tech-savvy age to effectively promote a card business, I even went to the trouble of posting links to articles about finds that illustrate how major hobby-fresh strikes go to those with strong online presences and networks of referrals, not people who sit at a local show.

One last point: while you may pat yourself on the back for telling the walk-in to "maybe not just talk to REA, right in front of the REA rep", if you'd done that to me at a show I would have asked the promoter to throw you out. It is called "intentional interference with prospective advantage" and it is actually grounds for a lawsuit. People who set up at shows pay substantial sums to transact and walking up and suggesting that people dealing with them go elsewhere is tortious interference and bad card show etiquette, IMO. How would you feel if you were set up and some know it all came over and started telling your customers to go elsewhere? Not cool. As Guido the Killer Pimp said: