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Worked pretty well for the smammer :
buy it for $181.50 on 4/19/08
crack it out of that nasty slab saying its cleaned, and artificially toned.
sell for $457.69 on 5/4/08
all with no feedback under his present username !
the world of sports trading cards is completely out of control. if you are unfamiliar... the valuable "autographed" cards are no longer obtained by fans directly from the athletes. "hey sign my card !!". Nope, those kinds of autographs are worthless.
the autographs are now obtained by the manufacturers like "Topps" and "Upper Deck" on designated labels which are then certified and applied to the tradings cards and packaged randomly in sealed packs. Sealed packs can run anywhere from $1 all the way to $100+ per pack, but the buyer is never guaranteed an "auto" inside (by the manufacturers anyway). Sealed "hobby boxes" containing multiple packs often guarantee 1 "auto" inside one of the packs, but you don't know WHO you'll get. These boxes can cost anywhere from $40 to 1k depending on the product. People buy this stuff, get a crappy auto and then come right back for more looking for a big score.
Buying these boxes or sealed packs and hoping for a nice auto inside is somewhat to akin to gambling. The buyers will straight out tell you they are addicted and they often over spend their budgets looking for a good auto.
What to sell on ebay ?? Well... selling unopened and sealed cases/boxes of cards seems like a nice propostion. The market is way way up. I'm not sure how you get licensed to buy the stuff directly from the manufacturers at bottom dollar, but that would be the way to go if possible. If you can't buy from them, then you have to buy from a place that is when the product is first released and then hold onto it and let the value go up. With certain products, the box values do nothing but go up as a season progresses. So even if you're buying from a middle man licenesed shop, you can still make nice money by just sitting on the sealed case or box.
Of course their are scammers too ... there are wholesalers or shops that use micro instrument scales, open a sealed box and weigh each pack looking for the one which weighs a tiny bit more which is of course the autograph label. These packs can either be opened by the shop getting an instant autograph or they can sell it on ebay literally guaranteeing an an unknown auto. You'll see some addicted buyers drive the auctions as they search for a holy grail auto, like adrian peterson for example. These scammers can also misrepresent and sell those packs that are known NOT to have an auto (after weighing) as a pack that MIGHT have an auto to unsuspecting buyers. Or they can display an opened box of high quality material in their actual brick and mortar store where people walk in hoping to get an auto (which was already taken out). The sellers can even reseal the boxes after swiping the auto inside and replace it with a dud which is really sick.
Again, I'd recommend buying sealed cases of a good product upon it's release and then wait for it's value to jump. It's all pretty much wide open.
the autographs are now obtained by the manufacturers like "Topps" and "Upper Deck" on designated labels which are then certified and applied to the tradings cards and packaged randomly in sealed packs. Sealed packs can run anywhere from $1 all the way to $100+ per pack, but the buyer is never guaranteed an "auto" inside (by the manufacturers anyway). Sealed "hobby boxes" containing multiple packs often guarantee 1 "auto" inside one of the packs, but you don't know WHO you'll get. These boxes can cost anywhere from $40 to 1k depending on the product. People buy this stuff, get a crappy auto and then come right back for more looking for a big score.
Buying these boxes or sealed packs and hoping for a nice auto inside is somewhat to akin to gambling. The buyers will straight out tell you they are addicted and they often over spend their budgets looking for a good auto.
What to sell on ebay ?? Well... selling unopened and sealed cases/boxes of cards seems like a nice propostion. The market is way way up. I'm not sure how you get licensed to buy the stuff directly from the manufacturers at bottom dollar, but that would be the way to go if possible. If you can't buy from them, then you have to buy from a place that is when the product is first released and then hold onto it and let the value go up. With certain products, the box values do nothing but go up as a season progresses. So even if you're buying from a middle man licenesed shop, you can still make nice money by just sitting on the sealed case or box.
Of course their are scammers too ... there are wholesalers or shops that use micro instrument scales, open a sealed box and weigh each pack looking for the one which weighs a tiny bit more which is of course the autograph label. These packs can either be opened by the shop getting an instant autograph or they can sell it on ebay literally guaranteeing an an unknown auto. You'll see some addicted buyers drive the auctions as they search for a holy grail auto, like adrian peterson for example. These scammers can also misrepresent and sell those packs that are known NOT to have an auto (after weighing) as a pack that MIGHT have an auto to unsuspecting buyers. Or they can display an opened box of high quality material in their actual brick and mortar store where people walk in hoping to get an auto (which was already taken out). The sellers can even reseal the boxes after swiping the auto inside and replace it with a dud which is really sick.
Again, I'd recommend buying sealed cases of a good product upon it's release and then wait for it's value to jump. It's all pretty much wide open.
They are worth something, but the ones that are authenticated are worth more. I am close to completing a set of '84 Donruss signed by everyone. I will not buy any of the deceased players unless they are authenticated. It is just too easy to forge a bunch signatures. Many people fake Certificates of Authenticy items too. Many items that were in charity auctions were fakes too.
The stuff at the shows, I am not a big fan of. The dealer price is way too high for the signatures. Just because you paid $50 for someone to sign something, does not make worth $50. That player could sign 5000 more, making your item rather common.
One nice thing - There are some great deals in the vintage sports cards the last few weeks on eBay.
the certified autographs obtained by Topps (for example) are of a known quantity. In many cases the autographed cards will even be numbered. The fewer autos they release, the higher the value of the card. I got extremely lucky last year. I was driving home from a casino flush with cash and stopped at a store and bought a box for $150. I pulled an Adrian Peterson number 1 of 25. That means there are 24 other cards just like mine somewhere in the world. Mine has a little extra value because it's numbered 1/25. Collectors absolutley go crazy for that stuff.
As an ebay seller, you can try to pull nice autos like I did and then sell them at a profit, but you will inevitably lose money as most autos are of worthless players equating to a worthless card. the real money is selling the dream to the collectors. Buy cases of well known quality product and hold onto it. For example : Let's say you bought a case of 2007 "Topps Finest" football cards containing 8 boxes inside for $400 total prior to the start of last season. If any rookie does anything noteworthy during the season, you can expect the value of that case to go up even though no one has any clue what's inside !! AP breaking the single game rushing record was like gold man. People suddenly are willing to pay much more for a box or a pack trying to score his auto so they can in sell it for a big profit. Will they get an AP? Probably not. They are gamblers. you want to be the casino man. You're sittin on a case with 8 boxes inside that people are slobbering to get their hands on.
Oh... and about paying athletes... well. That's usually done if you are a true fan for your own personal collection that has value to you. Collectors like that offiacial numbered stuff. there are even cards numbered 1/1, meaning it's the only one of it's kind.
ebay has recently become like a D- sportsbook, they are only into the vig, (listing fees), and cannot be trusted highly.
My example of the early half is only an example, seller was clearly knowledgable, to be able to "cherry-pick" the right stuff to re-sell as raw, just no doubt on it.
Every seller of anything should be considered "iffy", IMO !
My example of the early half is only an example, seller was clearly knowledgable, to be able to "cherry-pick" the right stuff to re-sell as raw, just no doubt on it.
Every seller of anything should be considered "iffy", IMO !
Yeah, my eBay experiment continues and the overhead that it adds is WAY too high. Right now all my eBay and PayPal stuff is about a 20% overhead to sales. So, I'm in the process of building my own web site and marketing that to my past eBay customers. That's the only way I'm going to make real money at this.
here is the best thing to sell on ebay...amazing
http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-Kentucky-D...goryZ429QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
the belmont stakes purse will be made up for in uncashed $2tickets
http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-Kentucky-D...goryZ429QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
the belmont stakes purse will be made up for in uncashed $2tickets
People are idiots. I give up
$130 bid for a $2 derby win ticket on BB?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...BIA&itu=IA%2BUCI&otn=4&ps=42#ebayphotohosting
W T F ????
$130 bid for a $2 derby win ticket on BB?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...BIA&itu=IA%2BUCI&otn=4&ps=42#ebayphotohosting
W T F ????
How it has gone is that the bid on three $2 uncashed win tickets as of last night was $1,247.22 with just under 24 hours remaining. Not bad for a win ticket that would have paid only $5 on a $2 bet at the Derby.
Unger said he sold a few of the tickets on the 30th anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown victory five years ago when his son Jason started college. One set, he said, fetched more than $5,000. He plans to use the money from this week's sale on eBay for a belated wedding present for his son and daughter-in-law.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps...=/20080507/COLUMNISTS04/805071100/1008/NEWS01
Unger said he sold a few of the tickets on the 30th anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown victory five years ago when his son Jason started college. One set, he said, fetched more than $5,000. He plans to use the money from this week's sale on eBay for a belated wedding present for his son and daughter-in-law.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps...=/20080507/COLUMNISTS04/805071100/1008/NEWS01
people arent idiots...people love that animal and want some kind of keepsake as if its a bond between them and the horse...
if he wins the belmont $125 for the churchill ticket is gonna look CHEAP in a couple years...
like i said above, everyone who goes to the belmont in 3 weeks regardless of who they bet will place a $2 win on BB and not cash it...there will be a GLUT of those available...the derby one is gonna be the toughest one to obtain once all the BB lovers gobble them up...
if he wins the belmont $125 for the churchill ticket is gonna look CHEAP in a couple years...
like i said above, everyone who goes to the belmont in 3 weeks regardless of who they bet will place a $2 win on BB and not cash it...there will be a GLUT of those available...the derby one is gonna be the toughest one to obtain once all the BB lovers gobble them up...
Here's a steal a coin collector got on ebay, due to bad photos, guy took a chance. You can't see much from these photos.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260237878825
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260237878825
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Lot sold for $345, may be worth 5k
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>Lot sold for $345, may be worth 5k
