A hobby “career?” - where might the puck be going?

[Smarti5051]

I also think some of the challenges are the mindset of the "average collector" vs the type of collector that gravitates to a board like Net54. I think it would be fun to be buying and selling (ok, maybe selling would not be as fun) great vintage sportscards as a business. But, realistically, I think it is pretty tough to find heavy "discounts" on vintage cards, because everybody is hunting for an underpriced Aaron, DiMaggio or Ruth. So, unless you are willing to gamble on raw cards and make margin by getting lucky on grading, you are basically just gambling the vintage card market will just continue to increase and you will make your money on appreciation.

I think the modern card market might be easier to break into, but it is a completely different business model. You need to be like a day trader, buying and selling modern players based on hype and/or daily performances. There are alot of folks doing this, and most are not successful. It also feels like the business of buying and selling modern sportscards is not really consistent with the romantic idea of running a card business where you are buying and selling cards of all time greats.

Otherwise, I guess you could try and develop a social media personality and build a base of subscribers that want to do box breaks or other types of gambling online. The one niche I do think would be interesting, given the hunger for gambling on sportscards and card breaks, would be to find good deals on graded cards from a "Top 50" type list in each sport. Once you have procured cards of all 50 on the list, offer up a "set break" and sell spots for your cost + whatever you feel is a reasonable markup. In the case of baseball, this means somebody is getting a PSA Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle, and somebody else is overpaying for an 87 Donruss Greg Maddux or 82 Topps Cal Ripken. But, it would be pretty fun for the participants involved, and everybody has something of value to show for it.

I actually think basketball would be particularly interesting for this type of break, as so many of the Top 50 would be from the past 40 years, so the prices of guys like Iverson, Ray Allen, McHale, Malone, etc. would be pretty modest, yet you could have a PSA 8 Jordan Rookie, a couple nice 61 cards like Wilt and West, and a 57 Bill Russell to draw alot of interest.

I think it would be tough to break into the auction house or consignor space, as there are already so many of those out there, it would be hard to distinguish yourself.