Is there a secret to getting traction on BST posts?

[rugbymarine]

Originally Posted by wdwfan

Just curious if there's any tricks as my posts never get comments or any responses. I'm talking a variety of posts (buying posts, posts to move cards like what I just posted). Stuff like that. So, is there a secret? I was told by someone at a card show that it's hard to BST on here unless you're a long-time member, sort of a like a buyer's group. But that's just what I was told. So I am just curious. What is everyone's thoughts?

Again, it happens whenever I make a post to buy or a post to move (sell/trade). I know my cards aren't most popular (Mantles, etc), and I'm not looking for thousand dollar cards. And maybe people don't move cheap cards (like $100 or less). So that could be it too. But I'm just curious.

Here's some genuine feedback:

Improve the quality of your photos and/or scans. A photo with 4-6 cards, using a carpet as a backdrop is objectively awful. A scanner, with quality settings, and repeatable technique will yield improved sales results for you.

Selling low-dollar items is hard. When you're selling an item for $50, that means the costs of the transaction (payment fees, shipping, packaging, etc) are likely to make up at least 10% of the cost.

Low-mid grade (2-4.5) cards from the vintage era are tough to sell right now, unless it's a high-dollar, well-centered card (think: 1954 Mays)

This falls more under my own personal preference and strategy, but I've seen better results by either (a) listing individuals cards for sale or (b) being more strategic about how you group cards together in your post. "For Sale: 1962 Topps Manager's Dream SGC 4.5" is more likely to get a click from me than "PSA & SGC grade Mantles Roses and Banks" (I realize that this would require more time and effort to make separate threads)

Trading is difficult for the reasons mentioned above, but it is possible. I've had 30-40 deals on net54, including one awesome trade.

Hope that helps!

[JollyElm]

Touching on Ian's point, I'll add this:

236. Deceiviation
When someone is touting a major Hall of Famer card for sale, but when you look at the listing, you find it’s not the player’s ‘regular’ card, but a much-less-desirable combination card, World Series or league leaders card, a checklist or even a 1975 Topps MVP card.

An example of your thread titles is, "Who is looking for 1960T and 1962T Mantle? Moving with a pair of Banks too."
The title clearly says ('suggests') you have both a 1960 Topps #350 and a 1962 Topps #200 Mantle available (which 99% of Net54ers are interested in), but opening the thread shows the Mantles to be 'lesser' multi-player cards...and it's disappointing to anyone who decided to click on it.

Take it for what it's worth. Be specific with what you have to offer.

[wdwfan]

Thank you for this. I would think being specified would mean fewer eyes would actually see the post because it's only targeting people looking for that specific card. But I tried it yesterday on a new post. We will see how it goes.

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Touching on Ian's point, I'll add this:

236. Deceiviation
When someone is touting a major Hall of Famer card for sale, but when you look at the listing, you find it’s not the player’s ‘regular’ card, but a much-less-desirable combination card, World Series or league leaders card, a checklist or even a 1975 Topps MVP card.

An example of your thread titles is, "Who is looking for 1960T and 1962T Mantle? Moving with a pair of Banks too."
The title clearly says ('suggests') you have both a 1960 Topps #350 and a 1962 Topps #200 Mantle available (which 99% of Net54ers are interested in), but opening the thread shows the Mantles to be 'lesser' multi-player cards...and it's disappointing to anyone who decided to click on it.

Take it for what it's worth. Be specific with what you have to offer.

[wdwfan]

Thanks for this input. I don't have a fancy scanner or anything. I've got one I've had for like 15 years. But I know I have to do coind photos on other sites, and so I just crop out the coin and use that photo. And you can't do coined shots on the scanner. So that's why they're like that. Not sure where else to put them. Maybe the bed? Or a table?

Originally Posted by rugbymarine

Here's some genuine feedback:

Improve the quality of your photos and/or scans. A photo with 4-6 cards, using a carpet as a backdrop is objectively awful. A scanner, with quality settings, and repeatable technique will yield improved sales results for you.

Selling low-dollar items is hard. When you're selling an item for $50, that means the costs of the transaction (payment fees, shipping, packaging, etc) are likely to make up at least 10% of the cost.

Low-mid grade (2-4.5) cards from the vintage era are tough to sell right now, unless it's a high-dollar, well-centered card (think: 1954 Mays)

This falls more under my own personal preference and strategy, but I've seen better results by either (a) listing individuals cards for sale or (b) being more strategic about how you group cards together in your post. "For Sale: 1962 Topps Manager's Dream SGC 4.5" is more likely to get a click from me than "PSA & SGC grade Mantles Roses and Banks" (I realize that this would require more time and effort to make separate threads)

Trading is difficult for the reasons mentioned above, but it is possible. I've had 30-40 deals on net54, including one awesome trade.

Hope that helps!

[Leon]

This thread was moved to the front page as it's good for all members.
As far as "coining", you have been here for 10 yrs with hundreds of posts. LMK if someone doesn't trust you and I will enlighten them on how to look for scammers or trolls. This site is far different than other sites as there are far less rules. (on purpose, I hate rules)

You can't do coined photos on scanners? I have been doing them for about 20+ yrs. I think I might have invented it LOL...

Not my Texas Tommy any longer but it was probably scanned with that coin 15- 20ish years ago. I just do them to show the size of the card.

To answer the question specifically, as others have said, have a competitve price on something that is desirable and many times it will sell.

Originally Posted by wdwfan

Thanks for this input. I don't have a fancy scanner or anything. I've got one I've had for like 15 years. But I know I have to do coind photos on other sites, and so I just crop out the coin and use that photo. And you can't do coined shots on the scanner. So that's why they're like that. Not sure where else to put them. Maybe the bed? Or a table?

[Snapolit1]

I post unique nice things on BST and seldom get anything more than a random compliment. I think there are people here who will pounce if you list something absurdly cheap, otherwise stuff mostly sits. People here are educated consumers and monitor nearly every major auction. You won’t get the random customer base of eBay. A few times I have sold things to board members and seen them listed on eBay for $3000-$5000 more than what I just sold for. Most of the time they don’t sell so it doesn’t annoy me that much.

Unfortunately listing on BST has largely been a waste of time and energy for me the last few years. Probably all caused by wild market fluctuations Covid and post covid.

[BobbyStrawberry]

I could be completely wrong, but it seems to me that over the past year or so, the BST just generally has slowed way down from what it was 4-5 years ago when I joined here.

And here's another one for the "you know you've been on net54 a long time when...." collection:

...when you see a BST post of a card you want, but upon seeing who the poster is, you don't even bother clicking on it because you know the price is going to be too high

[packs]

Good scans and fair prices will lead to fast sales.

[tiger8mush]

Originally Posted by packs

Good scans and fair prices will lead to fast sales.

Agreed. Yet we occasionally see high dollar cards for sale with blurry / grainy pics of a card, or even better being held in a hand.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by packs

Good scans and fair prices will lead to fast sales.

"Fair prices". Yeah, there's the rub.

[iwantitiwinit]

Originally Posted by packs

Good scans and fair prices will lead to fast sales.

It's as simple as that.

[icurnmedic]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I could be completely wrong, but it seems to me that over the past year or so, the BST just generally has slowed way down from what it was 4-5 years ago when I joined here.

And here's another one for the "you know you've been on net54 a long time when...." collection:

...when you see a BST post of a card you want, but upon seeing who the poster is, you don't even bother clicking on it because you know the price is going to be too high

I don't know that I could agree more with this whole post!
I use to buy allot here, now I cannot justify paying MORE than I can find on eBay for.
As far as trading is concerned, I have traded for some big ticket items, which I usually have added cash for ( $10k for two of them) . That seems to get sellers attention and is slight more fun for both.

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

And here's another one for the "you know you've been on net54 a long time when...." collection:

...when you see a BST post of a card you want, but upon seeing who the poster is, you don't even bother clicking on it because you know the price is going to be too high

And in the FB card groups. Except there, it's the people who consistently price at about 20% above comps (and some people will pay that b/c it's easy shopping with a familiar name).

Which is fine, but a no go for anyone else.

[toledo_mudhen]

Originally Posted by rugbymarine

Improve the quality of your photos and/or scans. A photo with 4-6 cards, using a carpet as a backdrop is objectively awful. A scanner, with quality settings, and repeatable technique will yield improved sales results for you.

I would add that the acquisition of a "high quality" scanner (and taking the time to learn how to use it) will improve anyone's sales rather quickly.

I do know that Epson makes some great scanners -

I personally invested in a Canoscan 9000F Mark II Scanner and couldn't be happier with it.

[wdwfan]

Yea, I just told my wife last night that I need a new scanner. I'd like to get one that also prints the eBay labels (the sticky ones you just adhere to the package) so that I'm not constantly using tape to tape on the labels, lol. Not sure they make one of those though. But I do need a new scanner. However, as I've said, I have to have coined photos for other sites. So I just use that and crop out the coin since it takes 5+ minutes to do one scan (scan, upload, edit, download, upload to Flickr, change size, etc and post). Just takes a while.

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

I would add that the acquisition of a "high quality" scanner (and taking the time to learn how to use it) will improve anyone's sales rather quickly.

I do know that Epson makes some great scanners -

I personally invested in a Canoscan 9000F Mark II Scanner and couldn't be happier with it.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by wdwfan

...I need a new scanner. I'd like to get one that also prints the eBay labels (the sticky ones you just adhere to the package)...

Here's a nickel's worth of free advice:

If you want to get a good scanner, buy a good scanner. Don't try to get a piece of multipurpose equipment. Those all-in-one devices tend to do a mediocre job at multiple things. Their scanner (for example) typically lacks the technology to scan items with depth. Long story short: the scans of graded cards will look blurry and defeat the purpose of having a new scanner.

[wdwfan]

That's the problem of the one I have now. The PSA and SGC slabs are all blurry. The regular cards are pretty good (see below). That said, I just bought a ring light yesterday. So my weekly card budget is gone. And I plan on buying a new webcam next week with that week's allotment of $40, lol. So maybe the week after I can get a scanner at Walmart or something.

Originally Posted by Eric72

Here's a nickel's worth of free advice:

If you want to get a good scanner, buy a good scanner. Don't try to get a piece of multipurpose equipment. Those all-in-one devices tend to do a mediocre job at multiple things. Their scanner (for example) typically lacks the technology to scan items with depth. Long story short: the scans of graded cards will look blurry and defeat the purpose of having a new scanner.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by wdwfan

That's the problem of the one I have now. The PSA and SGC slabs are all blurry. The regular cards are pretty good...

For slabs, I believe you want a scanner with a CCD element. Fact check that, though. I'm not 100% certain that's what they're called.

[ricktmd]

To get good traction on mid to lower grade vintage post good scans, provide timely communication and competitive prices. Definitely lower than ebay. If there are examples of the same item on ebay for similar prices I dont believe you will get much traction at all
If you items are rare its a different dynamic.

[toledo_mudhen]

Originally Posted by Eric72

Here's a nickel's worth of free advice:

If you want to get a good scanner, buy a good scanner. Don't try to get a piece of multipurpose equipment. Those all-in-one devices tend to do a mediocre job at multiple things. Their scanner (for example) typically lacks the technology to scan items with depth. Long story short: the scans of graded cards will look blurry and defeat the purpose of having a new scanner.

Yes - I would tend to agree - Never had a whole lot of luck with the "multi function" devices.

[jh691626]

Hoping this isn't too off topic, but a number of people in this thread have mentioned scanners. Which ones do you use? I have a multi purpose thingee and long ago gave up trying to use it to scan cards for all the reasons that have been mentioned.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by jh691626

Hoping this isn't too off topic, but a number of people in this thread have mentioned scanners. Which ones do you use? I have a multi purpose thingee and long ago gave up trying to use it to scan cards for all the reasons that have been mentioned.

You need one that can pick up depth. Pretty sure that's called CCD functionality. There's one that's real popular around here Epson V something? I forget, because that's not the one I bought.

Personally, I also wanted one that could handle jumbo stuff, since I was tired of standard size scanners not accommodating a full scan of my jumbo pieces. So I picked up this version, which has worked fine. It is a beast, so you will need somewhere to store it, unless you want it to take up your whole desk all the time.

https://www.amazon.com/Plustek-Optic...dp/B08K993G24/

[gregndodgers]

I will echo what others have already said. If you are selling high demand (or even medium demand) pre-war cards at a reasonable price, it will sell. Knowing what is in demand and what is not is one of the keys to selling in any platform.

I’ve bought numerous pre-war cards here. It’s a great service!