eBay Trade Secret #1 - tnolan0816

Market
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So, @not Zelda Gilroy challenged me to begin participating in E4, and this is my first attempt to add some value.

People are always asking me how it is that I obtain my PSA cards that I list on ebay (user: tnolan0816).

I often try to link connections from past sales and bulbapedia to see where I can source items that are selling well in PSA 9/10 and have cheaper supply alternatives than what the market is paying.

For example, here is one of my Trade Secrets:

The Jessie/James theme decks in the EX Team Rocket Returns sets contain some lucrative holos. The Dark Dranite and Dark Tyranitar holos sell for $200-ish in PSA 10, and $40-50 in PSA 9. Of course you can spend thousands to acquire these cards from Booster Packs/Boxes… OR, you can buy the theme decks.

For example, here is a listing that I just purchased today: www.ebay.com/itm/Pokemon-TCG-EX-Team-Rocket-Returns-Theme-Deck-Display-Box-Set-of-8-New-Sealed/292523814260?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I paid $242.50 for 8 theme decks, averaging just over $30 per deck. Not counting the theme deck exclusives, and the Dark Pokemon that are also worth grading to make $2-5 per card (or trollandtoad buylists), I only need to have 2/8 of these cards graded as 10 to turn a profit.

It’s basically a zero risk investment at this price, because the 9’s break even overall and the other cards turn the profit.

The Jessie/James Theme Decks have consistently been a money maker for me when grading at PSA for a year+ now. Of course, this is assuming that you don’t factor in the value of your time, and the opportunity cost of PSA taking 5-6 months to provide a bulk return nowadays, but that’s another story.

As always, if you’re wanting to collect the higher end cards that perhaps your daily income won’t let you afford, you’ve got to begin getting creative in looking at things that will scale and that will consistently drive a net positive gain of $1-5 per item at scale. It also helps to pay for your items with a fantastic rewards credit card (and immediately paying it off once the charges post – and also paying your eBay fees with said credit card also). (More about this later…)

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I don’t know how to tag people in this, but if someone can hit up Not Zelda Gilroy for me, I’d certainly appreciate it. I’m old…and this technology stuff is hard…

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Haha, thanks! I’m not worried. I’m happy to give everything I do away to add value. Competition keeps me sharp. I’m really only a dick to people over on the ebay platform where there are fools abound and everyone loves to absolve themselves of personal responsibility lol.

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Seems like card rush does a similar thing! They always have psa rocket cards listed

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Yeah, they do the same with the SM60 Charizard. I’ve graded 100+ of these at a time and I think 95 came back as 10. When this happens, all the packs = free, and then all the Ultra Rares graded are profit.

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I agree with this. It really adds up more than most people realize. I use a citi double cash so I get 1% when buying and 1% when paying. 2% on everything I do adds up to a few grand a year very easily. The only reason this exists though is because loads of people pay that god awful 20%+ interest rate. I’m glad for those people giving me the opportunity, but don’t like to see friends/family fall in that group, and I hope nobody here on the forum does either.

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I just recently got my first C.C. and have been using it for basically everything - paying the bill in it’s entirety well before the due-date obviously. I don’t know why, but I’ve never even considered using that to pay eBay! GREAT Advice - THANKS!!! I’ll be sure to have that set-up for my April Bill. I feel stupid now… LOL

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Those sm60s came in PACKS?? Knowing that the sm60’s grade psa10 95 out of 100 times interests me when thinking about the RR GX Charizard which seems very similar (just not a promo). I’ve been watching the psa10 pop scale up weekly and the bubble seems set to burst soon. If the card just grades that well, everyone’s gonna get what they want sooner rather then later leading to a shift in demand (I’m guessing).

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Welcome to the forum @tnols

I appreciate that you have taken the time to join and are sharing your knowledge with the pokemon tcg collecting community.

I hope that you can continue to contribute and i think considerate of the sheer volume of great cards you have, you will become respected and a main source for purchases.

If you wish to discuss the shill concerns i had and any of the rude remarks i received on ebay then please message me.

I hope my future dealings on here/ebay aren’t met by snark remarks and that i and the rest of the members here can develop respectful relationships.

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The SM60’s come in the Charizard GX Collection boxes. They are ~$27 wholesale if I remember correctly. As long as the SM60 stays above the $30 mark, it’s generally profitable.

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Thanks, but I think we’re seeing things from different perspectives with respect to me attempting to eliminate inefficiencies on ebay. If you have shill bidding concerns, my offer still stands to provide you with unredacted bid history for the item numbers you’re concerned about. I’m all about transparency, but there is a limit and I’m not willing to engage with asinine conspiracy theories as it simply just becomes unproductive at that point.

As far as the rude remarks on ebay, I’d ask that you take an unbiased look at your expectations on that platform. I’m not a retail store. I run auctions. The buying & selling environment and decision making considerations are vastly different for auctions than they are for outright purchases. We deal with thousands of transactions every year that are uneventful. The way that occurs is if:

  1. Read the item description thoroughly prior to bidding.
  2. Think about the bid amount that you want to bid.
  3. Factor in the $3.50 shipping charge into the bid you are considering to determine the total amount and if it is within your budget.
  4. Place your bid.
  5. If you win, pay promptly and don’t force me to open an unpaid item case.
  6. Receive your card and contact me if there has been any damage during shipping so that I can resolve the issue.

Honestly, there really aren’t many other reasons to initiate contact with me on ebay other than questions about the description. I strictly stick to PSA cards the majority of the time to eliminate condition discrepancies though. This is how you have a problem free transaction with me on ebay.

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I have picked up some cards from you on ebay. Definitely someone I look to buy from as you have a nice variety of cards! One thing I have wondered is do you grade most of these cards yourself? Have you picked up collections to grade or are your stocks from things you have opened yourself primarily (like your example in the OP).

Either way you have super cool stuff

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Thanks! Previously everything I’ve been grading has been from sealed product that I’ve purchased and opened. I’ve recently purchased a couple loose collections and they are at PSA for grading now. Unsure how they will come back. Should know around August, given PSA’s excessive delays recently.

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For someone like me who funds their collection through ebay, learning all these extra tips are awesome!
@gottaketchumall i have a similar cash back card, and it really does add up slowly!

Another tip which most people probably know here but I will just share it just incase someone isnt aware:

Activate Ebay bucks on ebay. It is 1% cash back on all purchase and they always have some promotion that pops up like 8% back or 10% back of purchases!
The most recent one was giving 8% back on both purchases and items sold! Take advantage of this!

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I kinda appreciate these kinds of TC’s. I know “flipping” is frowned upon by some, but simply grading some cards to fund your own collection doesnt sound all that awful to me personally.

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I’m sorry I missed out on replying to the other thread but I have bought a lot of cards from Tnolan on eBay to include a 1st edition wotc box. I have not had any issues with our transactions at all. Of course the penny pincher in me wishes I could get combined shipping as an option when items go for market price but I can respect the honesty up front and I don’t sweat it either way.

I appreciate anyone that is willing to share tips on here and improve this EFour community! I’ve always been intrigued with your decision to go with auctions over BIN/Offer listings so it’s good to hear some of the reasoning behind it.

Thanks!

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Appreciate the response. I could go into detail about the unwarrantted rude remarks but i’ll remain positive and hopefully things are smoother sailing here onwards.

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@1by1collector I get accused of being rude on eBay myself. Very rarely am I ever intending to be. (I admit that sometimes I can’t help myself after a few beers with a really pesky buyer I may intentionally be rude but again that is rare) It really gets frustrating for a seller like myself to answer the same questions 10 times a week which are all answered just reading my listings.

You just need to remember that plain text isn’t the best communication method as far as getting across intent behind the words. They can be read so many ways and without the cues and tones you may pick up in person a simple message can be read in a more negative fashion than it was meant. That is the primary source of most of my eBay negatives. I send a short reply notifying the buyer of the answer to their question or where they can find the answer and they just read it as if it had the most negative intent possible which to reiterate is very rarely the case.

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I completely understand, especially when the queries are not appropriate. However when your query is actually helping out a seller (offering higher than their last sale price for a card they have a duplicate copy of and their response is laughing at you) then the opinion and respect for that seller can be tarnished quite rapidly.

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I gotta agree with this lol. I try to be as positive and respectful on ebay as possible because I see it as a reflection as myself. But man some people really love to push buttons. My most recent one was when I received an offer of $2700 for a PSA 9 1st edition shadowless charizard by a person who constantly low balls me. Just got fed up and said something along the lines of, “dude you’re honestly just embarrassing yourself” followed by a decline of the offer lol. I usually try to not resort to this, but I feel he was just trying to take advantage and deserved it. I didn’t get a reply back after that lol.

And also welcome @tnols