Flipping vintage baseball cards

[jcmtiger]

A little history, I have been buying and selling baseball cards and baseball memorabilia since the 1970's. This was done to build a Detroit Tiger collection. I know those days are gone. I'm not really building my collection anymore, actually have sold off quite a bit.

But, with the interest rates on Certificate of Deposits or whatever the banks are selling so low, is it feasable to make more money flipping, buying and selling. For example why put $10,000.00 into a CD and receive maybe a couple hundred dollars for the year. How about just buying and selling items you can make some money on for that year. Any thoughts.

Joe

[autograf]

Your mattress is as good as a CD..........all about what you buy, how you buy it and where you can sell it. Should always have better margins if you can find stuff and sell it. A matter of risk though.

[Exhibitman]

It isn't just return, it is liquidity and speed of return. I think right now is a great time for card buyers because prices on lots of nice stuff have dropped markedly. However, I think you are in for a bit of a wait in terms of flipping. If you can hold for 5-10 years, I think you will do very well but I don't see there being a lot of quick money out there. Unless, of course, you happen to get lucky and find a virgin collection to buy on the cheap, but that's a winner in any economy.

[glchen]

It's not easy to flip because ebay/paypal take ~20% cut, and auction houses are similar with the buyer/seller premiums. So basically, when you buy a card, you need to allocate that % when you sell the card in order to just break even. And cards are not nearly as liquid as CD's, stocks, etc. When you sell the cards on ebay, you can run into buyer problems like they don't pay, they open cases, return cards, etc.

Saying all of that, it is possible to flip and make money. You just have to be very selective in what you buy and the prices that you are buying at. And you should be in good financial position where you shouldn't be forced to sell these cards you bought when the timing or prices aren't right.

[bbcard1]

I don't think you can do it on a big scale, but I think you could parlay $1k into $2 k every now and then.

I don't get the complaints about ebay taking 20% as fees. By the time I accounted for table fees, travel and lodging in my show days, I'll bet I had more than that in it, percentage wise.

[rhettyeakley]

Most of the complaints about the ebay fees are because in the beginning days of ebay the fees were so miniscule that it was almost an afterthought. Now, however, the above poster is correct that you do have to take into consideration their fees but I've never paid anywhere close to 20% fees on ebay items, more like 8-15% depending on the size of the purchase,etc.
-Rhett

[Matthew H]

I think that if you have enough money to purchase complete sets and break them apart, you have a better chance of positive return. I have seen good deals on complete sets over the years. You have to be patient though.

If you have a wide knowledge of collectibles, you also have a better chance. I know a couple here in Los Angeles that pays for their BMW just by selling stuff they find at garage sales on the weekend. They call it their hobby.

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by glchen

And you should be in good financial position where you shouldn't be forced to sell these cards you bought when the timing or prices aren't right.

I bet the above fact will be the most important -- and sadly quite often is the most ignored -- posted in this thread.

[vintagetoppsguy]

If dealers are making money in this economy, so can you. After all, isn't a dealer the same thing as a flipper?

The profit margin may not be what it once was, but it's probably better than that CD that's only paying 1% (or less).

I like the idea that was posted above about buying complete sets and breaking them up. It's a lot of work, but there's definitely some money to be made. You may even run across a few high grade cards within a set that you're able to grade and make even more money.