Becomming a dealer for full time income.

[ullmandds]

manny...I understand your point here...but...it seems to me that larger lots of desirable items in major auctions seem to be selling at very high levels these days...near retail prices imo! 5 years ago it seemed easy to buy a large lot in a major auction for a discount reflective of economies of scale...and then sell the cards individually for a tidy profit...but I believe those days are gone?!

Sure...there are bargains to be found...but these are few and far in between.

Personally I'd rather buy a hot dog cart and sell hot dogs to blue/white collar workers every day...this would be a much easier...more profitable business model than vintage bb cards.

[barrysloate]

I wish you luck with it but I think it will be tough...as has been pointed out there aren't a lot of bargains out there and keeping a fresh inventory won't be easy. If you can accept parting with your collection it will improve your business prospects greatly. I say give it a try but no guarantee it will work out.

[mrvster]

LOL!!!that was funny!!LOL

[steve B]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

Personally I'd rather buy a hot dog cart and sell hot dogs to blue/white collar workers every day...this would be a much easier...more profitable business model than vintage bb cards.

I used to get lunch at a sub shop where the owner basically did just that. He was a big time chef, he had photos of him and the Kennedys with a 20ft long cold cut "platter"

He quit the high end stuff because in his words "When lunch is $100 a plate people feel obliged to complain and send stuff back. Here I can make 500 people happy between 11 and 1 "


As far as the card market goes, It would depend on the item. Certain stuff will do well NOW, and some won't. Unless your thing will be dealing in the very high end only it's a better time to buy. The upper mid range stuff will be weak for a while, and when it comes back it'll be great. (Assuming the popularity holds) The cheap stuff could represent a bit of a bargain, but will always be inexpensive.
If I had the capital, I'd be buying really nice condition cards of better players, stuff in the 200-1000 range. Maybe more for the bigger names. And I'd be planning on holding it for say 5 years. After that, I'd either have a nice collection or a nice inventory.

Predicting what's going to be big is nearly impossible. Over 30 years we've seen pretty much everything have its day. Inserts, variations, Ecards, Etopps......Only a few things have stayed fairly stable.

The efficiency of big price fluctuations cuts both ways.

Steve B

[HaloFan]

I've had a table for a few shows hosted by my local card shop and to give you an idea of how unpredictable selling can be, with roughly $500+ in inventory, I've made as much as $77 and as low as $1.40 in one day.

There is no way I'd even think about doing a B&M store with as well as I'm doing. I do it for fun and the experience. I enjoy meeting other collectors and dealers. Having a shop would be too advanced at where I am. But like others have said, start small and see where it goes. Carl Karcher started with a hot dog cart. If he had started into restaurants from the beginning we may have never heard of Carl's Jr. Hamburgers today.

As a part time dealer, I'd only buy things for sale that I would be okay in keeping. I've sold quite a few junk era cards at ten cents a piece but would not go out looking for more. As you can see, I'm not that serious. If you have a B&M, you'd have to hit more homeruns early and often to survive and that will make things tough. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Craig H

[Leon]

In 38 months of being registered on the board you have made a total of 1 post. You will probably need to be a bit more extroverted to do the hobby as a full time business.

[Jlighter]

Originally Posted by Leon

In 38 months of being registered on the board you have made a total of 1 post. You will probably need to be a bit more extroverted to do the hobby as a full time business.

Boom, and there goes the dynamite!!!

[jcmtiger]

If It was 1975 I would say yes. But 2012 NO! NO!!! NO!!!!

Joe

[packs]

I feel like you would have needed to purchase your entire inventory today in 1980 in order to make substantial profit on it. Or you can set up at shows, put ridiculous price stickers on your cards and show up every month with the same cards still on display. Sounds kinda dumb but every time I go to a card show I see the same guys with the same stuff telling me they aren't collectors, they're interested in money. Go figure. The guys who are interested in making money don't ever make any and the guys who are interested in collecting keep growing their collections buying from someone else.

[BlueDevil89]

Four words...KEEP YOUR DAY JOB!

Keep working to support yourself financially. If you plan on supporting yourself as a baseball card dealer, you'll need an inventory 10X your annual income expectations. Do you have that level of inventory or the cash to purchase that level of inventory? If not, don't bother. If you do have that kind of inventory / cash, go for it, and good luck to you!

A brick & mortar shop will sink you with rent. An online website will face fierce competition. Unless you've got the juice to be another 707, don't even think about it.

Keep working and use the money you save to buy baseball cards and build a bigger collection / inventory. Be a weekend online dealer through your eBay profile. Then, when you've made it to retirement, you'll have a fun hobby to keep you busy while adding a bit to your retirement income.

Don't bankrupt yourself thinking you can be a full-time sports cards dealer. The failure rate is 99%. Many people hate their jobs --- that's why they call it "work" instead of "happy fun time". You show up every day to pay your bills and support your habits (such as collecting old pieces of cardboard). Everyone wants to figure a way out of the grind, but being a baseball card middleman won't get you there. The market has too many sellers and not enough retail buyers.

Oh, and as your collection gets large enough, buy insurance for it.

Sorry to throw a wet blanket on your dream, but I'd hate to see someone lose everything on an unrealistic business plan. Figure out a way to be happy at your job, or get a new one...and keep spending that disposable income on vintage baseball cards.