Attempted Ebay and online selling tips please?Pokemon wise

General
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Good Evening, Afternoon or Morning!

I am seriously wanting to try my hand at online selling. I am starting off selling things I no longer need along with extras of Pokemon cards.
I was wondering if anyone has some tips and hints for trying to go self employed, full time online selling.
I have done masses of research, read blogs, watched videos, done the math etc etc.There are several places I can sell my items Amazon, ebay, gumtree plus explore social media and forums.
However I am not a professional seller of Pokemon cards…I know there are many people here who do it full time.Would any of you, along with casual and other sellers have any advice please?

By no means do I expect or want to earn mega bucks…but ideally 250-400(NET) a week is the goal to reach when possible.
I will not be a volume seller as I dont have the capital however, would you suggest selling:-

singles on Ebay

Bundles for non serious collectors

New sealed products(not booster boxes as too expensive and very little ROI for price)
^such as single boosters, sealed tins, collection boxes etc English

Sets such as commons, uncommons, trainers, non holo rares and so on

buying cards, grading and selling the PSA

Buying PSA and other products that stand out to me and hold for x amount of time then sell

Buying joblots of cards/collections(conservatively of course and only if I am sure) then breaking them down

Or none of the above :blush:

I know flipping cards is generally a poor and inconsistent way(the profit for new sealed is also minimal, it cant hurt to have a few things though), plus I will be selling plenty of other non Pokemon related items aswell.

The main reason for this thread is for any general tips like ebay for multi listings, singles on ebay if you have the time/quick and worth while
any other websites to use and just other general help please :blush: Ive put in the time to work things out blah blah hwoever I dont have the experience of knowledge in the field :stuck_out_tongue:

Any help would be appreciated and feel free to critisize…constructively ^.^ It wont be easy …I do want to give it my best shot!
If it all fails in the end, hey…I tried!

Thank you for reading

Greg

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Quick side note,

I have about 10k bulk, plus a few hundred non holo, reverse holo,holo and ex/break/fa… plus pokemon tins,pins,folders,PSA cards, sealed promo cards(GAME 20th ann exclusives mainly) handful of packs from each set next destiny to sun and moon.

A bunch of other random items aswell like japanese oldschool cards and holos up to more recent ones.

EDIT:- aswell as cards I would maybe try get sleeves, folders and accessories for collecting(if the profit margins exist etc)

***Any tips on maximizing the profit on what I have, to free up capital would be most useful please :heart_eyes:

I know I can just bulk sell it all for quick monies! Im not looking for that and if single selling is best then im fine with that for now aha. Maximum return then I can really sit down and assess my options.

(I am by no means asking anyone to divulge their business plan or specific cards…just general tips based on what I ahve said above…plus personal tips and hints you wish to give)

<3333333333333333333333333333***

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My constructive criticism (don’t take this personally):

You will fail. If you try, you will overall lose money and more importantly, time. Everyone seems to have this idea that full time Pokemon selling is something anyone can hop into and make the type of profits you’re describing. It’s simply not true and you’ll make much better money at a regular job. Full-time sellers have access to large amounts of capital and/or decades of experience in Pokemon, none of which I think you have.

On sealed products and singles you will not be able to compete with sellers who have access to distributor prices and order hundreds if not thousands of each new product.

eBay prices are already close enough to market value that flipping cards and/or collections is volatile and generally unsuccessful.

Buying mint ungraded cards and PSAing them will not bring the type of profit margins you are looking for, not even close. It can bring in a few hundred here and there, but it’s not consistent nor reliable.

Unless you’re willing to stash cards for 15-20 years, the whole “I’ll buy this as an investment” is not feasible either. Everyone jumped on the Evolutions hype train cause CHARIZARD!!! and expected boxes to double in value in a few months when the set won’t even go out of print for at least another year. Any small rise in value will be wiped out by eBay fees. The only Pokemon product rising at a serious rate is 1ED/shadowless base and I don’t think you have the capital to invest in that.

Liquidating part of your collection that you’ve been holding on to for awhile is standard, but honestly I’d advise just sending bulk in to a store and listing your singles on eBay for fair prices. You won’t make money being a full-time seller.

Sorry for the tough love, but as I noted earlier I feel like this is a misconception a lot of people have. Becoming a full-time Pokemon seller is a process that involves years of learning, ideally a business plan and loan, and some serious dedication. Even if you were to do all that, the market is flooded with people thinking exactly the same thing.

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This question comes up about what seems like every 4-6 weeks.

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Thank you, I dont mind ha I asked for advice :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I guess the main thing is liquidating my current stock of pokemon items(and other stuff) to generate some capital. Actually going into Pokemon selling full time is not feasible and would take alot of time money and experience.
Also your comments on the list I wrote and pretty much what I was expecting to hear. I wasnt under the illusion I can just walk into it at all, my main aim was for tips on how to sell what I have.Once ive tried that and sold other things of mine non Pokemon I can get a feel to whether I even want to pursue online selling.
Also it would be a combination of as many of the listed ideas plus other non pokemon related sales and revenue.There is nooo chance I can be Pokemon full time but as its a Pokemon forum I asked the Pokemon side ha.
Maybe a side project for extra money now and then if done correctly, alongside my other items I will sell.

Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it!

“Liquidating part of your collection that you’ve been holding on to for awhile is standard, but honestly I’d advise just sending bulk in to a store and listing your singles on eBay for fair prices.”

This is probably the main part I wanted to know. Selling as job lots is easy but yields very little return, selling singles/bundles/sets is tedious but the return is so much better(multi listings seem to be even better imo based on my findings).

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Keeping you on your toes! I didnt really need to ask it, however I like to have my findings validated :blush:
I should really have said, best way to shift my current Pokemon items…ebay, amazon, social media? bundles and singles, bulk etc
how can I maximize the return on them ;D

I like to make mountains out of Mole hills :grin:

Any general tips for selling Pokemon cards is still welcome…not full time and solely Pokemon though :wink: I am still 99% collector…but want to shift my excess for maximum FMV rather than get rid cheap.

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I’m 18 and get regular jobs for summer, part time during school, but what I’ve had some success in is buying large orders of cards and merchandise form Japan, and selling in the US. I prefer to sell at tournaments and stuff (I play too), but do ebay and Virbank FB too. I’m often busy and often get carried away with stuff, and by the time I have a chance to sell stuff from my last Import, months later its already gone up in price…

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If you want to generate money from your current stock it’s easy to figure out value and list to eBay.
My advice then is:

  1. get the buyers email addy off his payment. Send a personal email thanking them and offer other cards via a prepared list of like items as an “add on”. Include a hard copy of that list in the mailer along with personal contact info.
  2. FIGURE OUT A WAY THAT YOU CAN SHIP SAME OR NEXT DAY. This is important in nurturing repeat business…much of it off feebay.

There’s a thousantd tidbits of advice out there, much that you’ll figure out on your own, but start with the above.

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Thank you :blush: is the ebay postage and trackin worth doing on items above a certain value please? if anyone uses :stuck_out_tongue: they give a tracking number and apparently the cost is roughly standard price if i sent normally.
I was thinking under 10 quid ish normal stamp prices and over tracked?

Cheers

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Postage is the main issue for larger items as it pulls the price up a bit! For singles and several singles it will be a standard envelope with standard stamp but packaged and secured so the cards are safe.I can post within 24hours aswell so no problem there :blush:
Ill have to deal with the returns and scammers etc when they pop up, like we all have to! ^.^
I read ebays postage terms and there is no cover for sellers unless it has a delivery receipt. Thats how most people claim unfortunately as there is no confirmation it was received…proof of postage means jack to ebay(can claim through the post office if the buyer confirms it wasnt received within 5 days or something I believe)
One tip I have been told is to contact the buyer and tell them if they are lieing it is fraud and once I put a claim in it is out of my hands.If they are found to be committing postage it is a serious offence(and for a few quid…its not worth it).Several sellers mentioned the packages magically appeared :wink:.

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My advice would be to track anything that you aren’t willing to lose the money for. If you don’t send with tracking you can easily get caught up in fraudulent item not received cases. From maybe 200 eBay sales I’ve had around 5 which I know to be false as I sent the items but had to just take em on the chin because I never had tracking for them. Proof of postage from the post office isn’t enough appatently.

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yea its good enough to claim from the post office if the buyer responds…but not good enough for ebay? is that correct?
The tracking costs for lower priced items makes the sales pointless due to the cost. I guess you have to just hope the untracked are decent honest people…and if it genuinely doesnt arrive then contact…

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My pieces of advice… Don’t do this full-time unless you really really really love it, and no you probably don’t. Get a full-time job and do something like this as side-business.

I myself am into grading Mint copies of cards to preserve their collectible value for other collectors and also to generate me some extra cash. But most importantly I’m doing it for fun! No, I definitely don’t want to lose money over it, but I can afford it, and I really want to earn a little bit to cover my efforts, but it’s just a playground for me.

I’ve had success with offering free shipping and calculating it in the price and never sending tracked on relatively cheap things, but again be able to afford a hit.

Also I’ve broken my head a few times the last months on how people are making money selling singles from recent sets from boosters. I simply don’t think it’s possible with the pull rates of Pokemon cards, and I’m really starting to think that all the cheap Mint cards we see on eBay is from people who had this idea and failed it, or I’m still missing part of the picture that they are seeing. Anyway I think I’m even doomed before I start because I love in Europe and our booster boxes are way more expensive so there’s no way we can even compute with US eBay sellers for singles of recent sets.

Most importantly, I’d advice you to have fun and not to turn it into a job where you are really relying on the income and things start to get sour if you have a few bad weeks in a row.

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Thank you :blush: I lost my job recently and have a large inventory of cards,coins,collectables and more.Had a shit time like we all do at somepoint…and figured itd be nice to do something I actually enjoy…have a passion for. Ive always loved buying selling, calculations, writing stats and figures down and researching. Plus my love for Pokemon, collectables and coins has been revitalized over the past 2 years.

Im looking for something but in the meantime I want to sell what I have and see how it goes. I do have the drive and passion to try succeed(again not solely with Pokemon, all manner of items)
Its more than likely a dream but Im happy to try and fail chasing something I want to do, and enjoy.

Anywhoooo rant over :grin: Id better start listing tonight as I have a ÂŁ1 max fee promo to use.

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