That OldSkoolPokemon Guy sounds really smart 
Haha
THANK YOU!!! I’m glad to hear you enjoy my content!
I was actually just reading this thread and planning a response - stay tuned…
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You can literally sell ANYTHING (within reason) on eBay and turn a profit. It’s just a matter of timing - how much value you place on your time with re-selling and how much time you actually have available to spend with re-selling. OP (like most people here) are collectors almost exclusively - occasionally selling items here and there to fund collection goals. So, the “time-factor” involved with re-selling can be very substantial. However, the “time-factor” from a re-seller perspective isn’t as relevant. For Example… Monday is almost always my slowest day on eBay in-terms of sales. Last Monday (09/16), I only made $97.99 on eBay (Sales Figure). Comparatively, Friday Night, Saturday, and Sunday (the weekend) are almost always my busiest days on eBay in-terms of sales. Last Friday (09/13) through Sunday (09/15), I made $362.06, $477.92, $442.61 on eBay (Again, Sales Figure). My “time-factor” during the week (Mon. through Fri.) is conservatively 8-10 Hrs. / Day. My “time-factor” on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) is much less - maybe 2 Hrs. / Day. If you just view the “time-factor” on a day-by-day basis (Monday); I’d be better-off picking-up a part-time job flipping burgers. However, when you view the overall “time-factor” (entire week, month, year…); eBay is a nice secondary source of income. Having that viewpoint / mindset - bigger picture as opposed to a snapshot - when you’re running a business is very important!
Now, regarding purchases - collection purchases vs. re-sale purchases… If you’re purchasing single-cards (or maybe a handful of cards) for a collection goal; you’re most likely purchasing those cards at (or around) the retail value - there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it’s something everyone (myself included) does for cards that we’re planning to collect and cherish. You just need to accept the fact that you’re not going to be able to turn a profit on these cards within the short-term (long-term “investments” are treated differently). However, when you’re purchasing cards for re-sale, you’re not purchasing those cards at the retail value. Personally, I don’t really have a set-rate that I utilize for every re-sale purchase - it’s based-off many factors. Generally Speaking, I don’t usually like to pay more than 50% of the retail value when purchasing cards for re-sale.
Going along the lines of re-sale purchases; why would anyone sell something for 50% Off when they could create their own eBay Account or FB Account to sell themselves? Personally, I don’t normally make re-sale purchases off people who actively collect - it’s very tough negotiating a price-point that allows me to purchase and re-sell for a profit (it’s possible though). I’m looking for those people who collected for awhile and are now looking to get out of the hobby or just need the money - the emotional attachment isn’t there anymore. Secondly (and more importantly); I’m not purchasing individual cards - I’m offering / purchasing their entire collection. They’re getting paid immediately and I’m taking the gamble and time to re-sell everything individually. For Example… I semi-recently purchased a real cool collection for $10K. After everything is said-and-done, I’ll probably make $10K Profit (Roughly $20K Value on Collection). However, it’s going to take me forever to sell-off everything individually within that collection.
Now, getting back to the original post on whether or not it’s worthwhile selling anything on eBay for less than that $50.00 price-point… Yes, Absolutely!!! My eBay Listings / eBay Sales are 99.999% $50.00 or Less. I sell very few cards priced above $50.00 - currently only have 35 Items out of 1,490 Listings that are actually priced above $50.00! LOL My bread-and-butter sales - majority of my business - are actually cards priced between $1.25 (Unlimited C. Cards) and $15.00 (Unlimited Holo Cards). It just goes back to the two points that I mentioned above - time-factor and cost.
I’ll even take this one step further and say Sub-$2.00 Items are GREAT! I’ll focus on my $1.25 Unl. C. Card Listings and $1.75 Unl. Un. Card Listings for this - which I did record a YouTube Video on as well (see above post if you’re interested in the deep-dive). Basically, my initial cost on those cards is always around $0.10 / Card. eBay Fee is 10%, PayPal Fee is $0.30 plus 2.9%, Shipping Cost is $0.40 via PWE Stamp, and Packaging Cost (Supplies) is something like $0.07 - broke it down within my video; I actually forget the exact cost on per-item basis for everything. After factoring-in all of my costs, if I sell a single-card for $1.25 I’m really just breaking-even - profit is basically nill. And, you’d be surprised on how many people actually purchase a single C. Card for $1.25 and call it good - I know I was when I originally started-out selling individual C. / Un. Cards! Haha But, when someone purchases 2x $1.25 Cards, my profit-margin increases astronomically - I’m now going from breaking-even on that single-card sale to making $0.50 or $0.60 / Card! And those margins just keep increasing with the number of cards someone purchases. I frequently have people purchase 20-30 C. / Un. Cards at $1.25 / $1.75 Ea. - my largest C. / Un. Sale was actually around 50 Cards! Obviously, this business-model is relying upon people purchasing at least two cards at once - with the hope of people purchasing a bunch of these cards at once - as with the number of cards increasing, the cost increases at a rate much slower than your profit.
With all of that being said, it’s all based-off your personal preference and available time. Everyone wants to be able to purchase a single item for $100.00 and immediately re-sell for double, triple… But, how realistic is that in actuality? Sure, you may get lucky once or twice and have that circumstance; but that’s just not feasible as an actual business-model unless of course your Gary or Scott! LOL
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Yes but my argument is for certain items that you can sell for $10 each you would be paying about $2.19 in fees ($1 ebay, $0.59 paypal,$0.60 p.w.e. shipping) to sell 1 or you can lot 100 of them together and get only $400-$500 for them. Sure your fee percentage went down, but you also halved the total gross sales amount.
E.g.
Certain $10 items you can get away with lotting 100 of them together and selling for nearly $900-$1,000. Most you cannot however. Some are better than others. Certainly the fees on selling 1 $10 item could be $2-3 or 20-30% which could reduce all the way down to ~10-12% all inclusive, but if in the meantime you’ve sold at 50 cents on the dollar you are still better off splitting if you have the time.
Very helpful post I will definitely be checking out your videos as well! I do have two questions though. For PWE shipping do you have to weigh it or can you pretty much always send it with just one stamp as long as you have like 5 cards or less? My other question is if you are looking for these lots of cards that are 50% off or so are you mostly not locating those purchases on ebay but elsewhere? I am not sure, other than ebay, what efficient method you would be able to consistently find cards highly discounted that are not on ebay. Outside of you being a big name youtuber/seller who gets active clients coming to you because of your reputation.
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Why don’t you ask TCA Gaming, the most successful Pokemon seller on eBay, if it’s worth it.
Short answer? Yes.
If you sell 50 of those cards in one day, you’re netting $100. You don’t think that’s worth it?
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1.) There’s no need for weight with PWE. I use Forever Stamps with 1-2 Card Orders. I use Non-Machinable Stamps with 3-8 Card Orders. Anything that’s 9+ Cards - or valued greater than $10.00 - are packaged and mailed via First Class Mail with Tracking. I’m not sure how many cards you could actually get away with with Forever Stamp (it’s all based-off the thickness). However, I really don’t want to risk send 3+ Cards with Forever Stamp when I know Non-Machinable Stamp will prevent damage for those larger orders. Plus, you’re only talking an extra $0.20 for Forever vs. Non-Machinable Stamp. Quick Tip… If you’re looking to grow on eBay with PWE Shipping, I would highly recommend purchasing your Stamps off eBay!!! Retail on Forever Stamps is $0.50 - I’m able to purchase those same for $0.40 Ea. Granted, I do purchase those stamps in larger quantities (100+ is where you start to see good savings).
2.) I actually have another video where I discuss purchasing for re-sale. I’ll provide a link to that video if you’re interested in viewing (below). Basically, eBay is still a great option for re-sale purchases - you just have to be diligent about browsing through thousands of eBay Listings on a regular basis. I’ve always (even now) have good luck making re-sale purchases directly off eBay. However, I’ve also just recently gotten into Pokemon FB Groups ($10K Purchase was off a FB Group). There’s A LOT of “junk” within FB Groups; however, there are also some real good deals that pop-up! I’ve also had some limited luck with FB MarketPlace and CL - although, not nearly as much as eBay and/or FB Groups. I’d also recommend checking-out Let-Go and Offer-Up - personally haven’t ever purchased anything off those Apps; however, I know some people have good luck with them. I’m not sure where you live; however, I also LOVE Flea Markets and Yard Sales! We’re winding-down on that season here in Mass. but over the summer months, it’s a BLAST! I’ve never scored anything massive, but have had some good luck with smaller purchases for dirt-cheap. Those are most of the “public” sources I utilize - listed some others within my video.
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Thank you very much! I am going to watch your video and check it out now thanks for all the advice! Lastly, do you still put cards in a toploader when sending in PWE?
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The average person is not selling enough volume to make it worth it, no. We are not Rusty.
No Problem!
No, I use Ultra-Pro Graded Card Submission Holders (Semi-Rigid) when mailing PWE. Everything is always individually Penny Sleeved, Penny Sleeved for Grouping of Cards (keep everything together), and then Semi-Rigid and Team Bag to “Seal”.
I use Top Loaders when mailing via Bubble Mailer. The thickness of Top Loaders plus Cards gets to be to much when mailing multiple cards via PWE. Plus, Semi Rigids are cheaper compared to Top Loaders
Uh, I have done it on decent volume, and I can tell you from experience that it’s worth it. @oldskoolpokemon is doing it, and he will also tell you it’s worth it.
You also seem to be under the assumption that the people who sell $3 cards are ONLY selling $3 cards when in fact they also have higher-priced items that get sold on top of that.
So yes, it’s worth it, and if you have no experience with it, you really can’t speak on it.
Saying “we are not Rusty” is just an excuse and a cop out to say “I’m not willing to put in the time.”
You can absolutely, positively make money with effort, and the effort is not nearly as daunting as you are making it out to be. You can churn out a good profit doing this while STILL working another job on the side, which is what I have done.
It’s about work ethic. Some people have it. Some don’t. Rusty is Rusty for a reason. He didn’t just become a dominant business overnight. He has been doing this for years and it has paid off for him, and a big part of his business is selling cards for $3 or less. Always has been.
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You are pretending that thousands of cards worth $3 just magically appear in your collection without any cost to you, that your time and effort doesn’t have any value and that you are selling Pokemon cards as a primary job while having a secondary job on the side. Again, that is NOT the average person, and that’s not even the average person on efour. Just because you can name three people that have become successful high volume small value sellers doesn’t mean it’s worth it to 99.9% of the population.
I also like that you added assumptions in there to make your shaky argument seem valid. I was very clearly not talking about Rusty, Troll and Toad, DACA, Old Skool etc
Thank you so much for all the great knowledge you’re sharing here!
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Do you get any complaints about cards being bent up or damaged in some way when using the semi rigid?
I have been shipping semi rigid with 2 pieces of cardboard on either side in bubble mailers for my cards.
I’d be afraid to put a semi rigid in a PWE, knowing what USPS does to packages I receive. I’d be more concerned about negative feedback than giving the person their 2 bucks back.
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Funny Story…
I’ve been using Semi Rigid with PWE for awhile now and have only ever had one issue where I mailed a single-card via PWE and it arrived absolutely mangled - it was really, really, really bad!!! LOL I wish I could still find the image that the eBay Buyer sent me upon delivery with his eBay Message. He was really nice about it; just sent me a message saying that the card got damaged during shipment and was no longer within the condition advertised - it was super obvious from the image that this card had gotten stuck within a sorting machine or something because the card was destroyed! However, I sent the buyer a super “professional response” asking him what “damage” he was referring too and that the card still appeared NM/M in my professional opinion being in the business for 10+ Years - immediately followed with my actual response offering refund or replacement. Hahaha Fortunately, he got the humor within my initial eBay Message and was completely satisfied with my resolution.
Seriously Though, that was the only time I’ve ever experienced an issue using Semi Rigid / PWE (Knock on Wood).
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Very awesome!
I recently bought a lot of cards on goodwill and the lot has a nice stack of WOTC cards. Nothing crazy valuable but there is a shadowless red cheek pikachu in there along with a few holos, some first edition commons and uncommons.
Condition of the cards are played to heavy played. Very few in good to excellent, and maybe one or two manage to fall between exc and nm. So I was planning on selling as a lot. But it may be worth it to break them up and sell them individually. Had the condition of these cards been better, I may have kept some for my own collection.
I’ll certainly be buying forever stamps now, and sending cards via regular mail to get some 1-10 dollar cards out. It will certainly help make the profit margin a little more appealing.
Again thanks for the wonderful advice! It’s refreshing to see someone discuss things in depth like you do in your videos and really get into the details in with these posts. Not everyone is willing to give up that kind of advice!
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Great job on the video. I’d like to add that my biggest purchases are made from my biggest customers. I always tell them if they ever want to sell I’d love to get the cards back…the ones I just sold them. Sometimes a year later, sometimes a decade later, I get that call. It goes along with what you said, be friendly and build relationships.
Keep up the good work my friend.
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So cool to hear that this method works consistently! Last question haha. Would you say team bagging the Semi Rigid is a necessity when shipping PWE? Also I am new to this method of mailing, do you have to bring the PWE to the post office, or could i just drop it in the outgoing mail slot at my apartment complex/USPS blue drop box. Also do you have to include the packing slip/transaction confirmation with the card in the PWE or is the Semi Rigid the absolute only thing you put in the PWE? (I know I asked more than one question, Im ashamed of myself)
Team bagging the semi rigid with a sleeved card inside is nice and looks professional. Plus they’re cheap. Now are they necessary as far as keeping the card inside? Nah. Those baby’s aren’t going nowhere if they’re tucked inside well.
The PayPal minimum $0.30 charge is a big killer for small price volume.
If you have no store for a $2 sale you would net $0.37 after fees and shipping (not including card cost and other material to ship card.)
If you have basic store ($24.95/month + 10% GST) net would be $0.44
If you have featured store ($54.95/month + 10% GST) net would be $0.51
So in Australia you are pretty crazy to want to sell low price volume, even if I got the cards for free I would struggle to see the value in operating at those margins, obviously you do better if multiple cards are bought at one time that would offset the shipping ($1) as you could quite easily send 10 cards at that shipping price.
Also to get the $2-$5 card inventory at the prices you need to make a profit you would need to tie up thousands of dollars.
Also fun fact on eBay if I were to sell a $25 PSA graded card (after fees, grading etc.) the net would be around $6.5 not including: card cost, taxes and random diggerydoo related expenses that crop up from time to time
I don’t have a store and am not focusing on selling $2 cards but more cards in the range of $5-10 that would be put in PWEs. Also for grading I would not grade cards unless I’m grading 50+ cards at a time to get a discount and the cards would be more expensive than $25 or i would not grade them. I was just posting my above question because I am looking for more information on shipping correctly and efficiently.