Growing a Pokemon (+ general gaming) based business.

General
1

For those that order cards and related stuff online, would you order from someplace other than eBay, Troll and Toad, TCGplayer, etc? Basically would you order from an independently owned site that is trying to become established.

I ask because I hope to have a physical store location someday to hold events, but in the mean time I want to start a web based presence. I know eBay has way more traffic than I would if I started my own site. But that being said I don’t feel that selling anything but more valuable singles or large lots would be practical on eBay. Where if I had my own site I could sell all types of singles allowing me to target to serious collectors looking for graded items, the guy looking for a few cards to complete the Ancient Origins set, or the guy looking for the last few card to complete his deck for his next tournament.

The only way I could even see selling cheaper cards on eBay would be to create a pick any 10 (any number really) fixed price listing with all available cards for set X. Then having the buyer message me the 10 cards the buyer wants, then re-list once that transaction is completed.

I know the previously mentioned stores didn’t grow overnight, so I know that by doing my own site I would essentially be accepting the fact I need to grind like crazy for the next couple years to become established. But I think with all the potential marketing avenues like instagram, youtube, Facebook pages, etc available today I can slowly grow my own site over the next couple years into a full time operation. I also realize that by going this route I will mostly likely not be able to sell sealed product until I open a brick and mortar location and I’m ok with that.

Comparing store prices on eBay vs other places like shopify are pretty similar. Really the only difference is the fees, shopify being much lower than eBay, about half of what eBay is by the time you figure it all out. But you loose the marketing and exposure that eBay offers.

So would you buy from a site like I’m trying to establish? If you were trying to grow into a full time Pokemon/Gaming operation would you just grow an eBay store or try to build your own, then after a few years if it doesn’t work switch to eBay?

1 Like
2

I would start with ebay as it get tons of traffic and your exposure would be much better. Starting with an online store would involve heavy advertising and being able to target people effectively. If you start on eBay you are able to grow relationships and eventually branch off.

3

You could take Derium’s Pokemon route and start some sort of Youtube channel. They don’t even use their store anymore except as a league HQ and storage facility. Poketoubers are really popular these days and all you need to do is open product to gain a following and do a bit of giveaways. If you spent even a fraction of the cost you would starting a physical store on youtube the benefits directed to any sort of online store you set up. It’s the best advertising around.

I’ve considered this route myself, but I just don’t think I have the right personality for it.