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Starting my sports card online business with a goal $150-$200 Day ...

by discrat
21 replies
Just starting my second side hustle . It's my own online sports card biz....

Actually last week was when I kicked it off. I was spurred on because of the large inventory I have of baseball cards from collecting as a kid in the 60s, 70s, and 80s..

Thursday (Aug.8th)-Tuesday ( today) my Sales on EBAY have been $712.61 with a net earnings after ebay fees, advertising, etc...etc.. of $425.59, yeah I know that is a big chunk taken away. But after establishing my Brand on the platform and with EBAY algos getting used to me... well I should be able to slash advertising.

Here is what I plan to do :
Put up 3 NEW listings for sport card offerings EVERYDAY for a total of 20 NEW card offerings each week.

My first goal is to net a bare minimum (after all costs) of $7 with a sweet spot of $15-$20 per card.

My second goal is to avg. selling two cards a day for a NET Profit of $400- $600 per month.
I will slowly work my way up to where I set a goal of selling 20 cards a day a.k.a full time living !!


My main challenge is to build up my inventory. My "kid stash" will eventually deplete to zero.Here is what I plan to do :

1. I plan to build up my inventory by buying Lots and card collections on EBAY
2. Go to collectible expos and card shows here in SA and surrounding areas to buy inventory.
3. Frequent a few shops right near my house to find good deals.

This little side Biz will be solely operated ( Selling) on EBAY. It's simply the best around


I will post a minimum of 2 to 3 times a week.
#business #card #online #sports #starting
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  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    It's good to see you starting on this path! Do you plan on going to garage sales or estate cleanouts to look for sports cards? When you begin depleting your original supply.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by DWolfe View Post

      It's good to see you starting on this path! Do you plan on going to garage sales or estate cleanouts to look for sports cards? When you begin depleting your original supply.
      Yeah maybe garage sales, Don. But it would seem like it would be hard to find those GS that are selling them.
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  • Profile picture of the author ellen panadero
    Is this type of venture are newbie friendly?
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by ellen panadero View Post

      Is this type of venture are newbie friendly?
      If I were to be quite frank I would say you need to have a little experience in sports and know basic info. on player and team recognition , and it is a HUGE plus if you have dabbled at least a little in sports card collecting.

      Probably not newbie friendly for the typical "newbie" that we have come to know around in these parts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jamell
    So you have a. Ebay store and you plan on launching your personal online business as,well ? Is that correct?

    You have an outlined plan and ambitious targets you can and want to meet .

    My only advice to you is that you focus on 1 goal at a,time and when demand builds up shoot for the next 1 ..
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Thanks Jamell, good advice

    Iam finding the sales to be fading a little bit since last week. But that is understandable since I put my most coveted sports cards as Listings when I first started
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Got offered $1,200 for my Ty Cobb autograph. Asking $2k so I turned it down. Sales are still coming in but much slower now
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  • Profile picture of the author waseemclick
    I sincerely appreciate that the administrator of this website shared this wonderful discussion here. https://blacklimo.ae/
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Sold my Ty Cobb autograph for $1,000.00 today !! Let me clarify ; those Offers I got above were individuals who thought I had it authenticated. It is not so they were not even going to offer me a couple of hundred.

    This individual thought it was authentic by an appraiser as well. I told him it wasn't and he went ahead and took it.

    I will ship it off to Ebay's authenticator down in Florida tomorrow and if it passes I get paid. If it doesn't the money goes back to the buyer.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Sales on EBay for 2 weeks have been $1,827.00

      I am developing a system to do this business. Will elaborate as time goes by.
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        Thanks Max. You know for once in my life I have to admit to something that earlier I scoffed at I.e. find your passion and what you love to do and make money doing it and it is no longer work
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  • Profile picture of the author max5ty
    Hey Discrat...

    I don't know how I've overlooked this whole thread up until now.

    Anyway, congratulations on your new business venture. You seem to love sports and know a lot about them so I think you'll do fine.

    Coincidentally, I was in Goodwill a couple of months ago and saw some sports cards. I don't know anything about them so I really didn't pay much attention.

    Maybe the whole Christmas shopping season coming up will also give you a big boost? Then again, I have no idea about how the sports card market operates.

    Good luck with your venture. I'm sure you'll do good.
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Been averaging around 2 sales per day. So its going pretty strong.

    I just need to brainstorm how to make my sales have larger profit Margins. Right now with ebay fees and promotional costs it's about $7 net earnings per order.

    P.S. My "kids stash" of baseball cards has nearly depleted. In the next few days ,though, I will get delivered over 6,000 new vintage cards. Really excited about this inventory. Managing and making sales from it will determine how far I can take this business.

    P.P.S. Sales in three weeks have been $2033.05

    NET Sales ( And this is Net Earnings as well... as my Cost of Goods Sold is essentially zero since all my cards sold are from my "kids stash" where I paid pennies for them 40 and 50 years ago) $1,238.37
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Sorry, it's been awhile since I posted. My bad.

    Here is the status of my sports card business : Sales have trickled down to almost nothing. Last sale was Monday. And the profits per card are razor thin. I mean razor thin. Cards that I thought could be sold for premium ( think Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, etc..) are lowballed by huge wholesale sports cards establishments for as little as $.99 per card with FREE shipping to customers. Making about .20 profit per card !!

    This realization is really a big blow to me.So my market plan has changed somewhat.

    I just bought and received inventories of over 7,000 cards. Mostly mid 80s to early 90s players. Many of them are Hall of Famers and All Stars but here is the thing ; this period of time(mid eighties to mid nineties) is known as the junk wax era. There was simply a way over- production of sports cards diluting the value of them. Hence giving them the value of junk !!!

    So my approach is to sell 'lots' of two to three at $3.99 a pop with FREE shipping. The FREE shipping entices people to buy. But I have to pay the .69 shipping cost plus ebay fees bringing the profit per card to about $1-$1.5. Yep, you heard that right ...$1-$1.50. And that's a lot of work for peanuts !!

    But there are guys making a killing who do this on a large scale but they have 50,000 cards listed on Ebay. I have been working my butt off to hit 100 listings tomorrow

    There is software to get to reach the 50,000 listings. And it is not cheap.

    Anyway, thats about it for now. I will keep you better up to date on this process
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Sales have picked back up the last 5 days. Iam thinking this is a nice little side hustle where I put in about 20 hours a month with a net profit of $300-$500 per month. Not full time by any means but still nice. Plus, I absolutely love the hobby
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  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    Have you incorporated any of 'savidge4" methods into your attempts to sell on E-bay?

    $300 to $500 a month would be a nice supplement for any warrior wanting to earn money online. Even though you are aiming for a goal of $150.00. I would consider this thread a complete success at this point. Especially since you enjoy what you are doing. Nice job discrat!
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by DWolfe View Post

      Have you incorporated any of 'savidge4" methods into your attempts to sell on E-bay?

      $300 to $500 a month would be a nice supplement for any warrior wanting to earn money online. Even though you are aiming for a goal of $150.00. I would consider this thread a complete success at this point. Especially since you enjoy what you are doing. Nice job discrat!
      You're so kind, Don. Thank you!!

      Yeah I can't complain. I had 3 sales yesterday and 3 sales today. Here is my strategy now : To compete with the .99 cent heavy hitters who profit about .30 off each card, well I have been offering up lots of 6 to 9 cards priced a little over .99 per card each. So that way each order I have a net profit just over $6 for selling the 6 card lot and well over 9$ if I sell the 9 card lot. I cover shipping which is the most $1.25 for the 9 card lot of cards. That's factored into the net profit.

      So iam hoping I can move some cards using this new strategy and get my cash flow and profits increasing more and more.

      P.S. No, I have not implemented Savidges techniques. But I definitely will go check it out. I know that's some good stuff
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        One last thing: I have found it amazing the demand for crappy condition cards of HOF and all star players. People just seem to not mind paying for cards that are creased and worn . I did not expect this at all
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        • Profile picture of the author discrat
          Okay a little pivot. Didn't get a sale for 9 days. But I came upon a program from Founder Eric Michael who is all over social media with his commercials.

          Anyway, what iam doing is buying cheap "raw" cards ( ungraded) preferably rookie cards and getting them graded by PSA and then selling them at premium prices once graded.

          I bought and shipped 5 cards yesterday. I will let you know how it goes
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    It's impressive how you are able and willing to pivot and try new sources and new methods of getting and selling the cards. That you enjoy doing it makes it feel more like hobby and less 'work' which means it's easier to stick to it.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      It's impressive how you are able and willing to pivot and try new sources and new methods of getting and selling the cards. That you enjoy doing it makes it feel more like hobby and less 'work' which means it's easier to stick to it.
      It really is easy to stick to , Kay. Even if this day to day business does not work out I plan to continue to do long term investing in some major sports stars. One is Victor Wembanyama who I have spent over $2k collecting his cards. I plan to hold on to him and maybe pass them on down to my grandsons if my daughters decide to have kids
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  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    Discart, curious how you are making out with sales. I know you pivoted to a hobby on top of being busy in your personal life. Are sports cards still selling and approximately what have you earned on a monthly average?
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