How too Make Money with Baseball Cards !

Buy the Cards that People Want!

One of the most important things that I have learned in business is to try to think like the customer. We all have our own favorite things that we like and people that we admire but these things vary from person to person. Red Sox fans love Red Sox players. Yankee fans love Yankee players. I understand that seems very simplistic but most of the simple ideas are the best ideas. When buying baseball cards you have a better chance of selling a Derek Jeter card faster than selling a Mike Lowell card. I will even take it a step further. Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies won the NL MVP award last year. This helped his popularity and improved his fan base but, with that being said, you can sell Derek Jeter cards ten times faster than you would sell a Jimmy Rollins card. This is true for a few reasons. One reason is that Derek Jeter is very marketable player and plays for one of the most marketable sports franchises in baseball. His sports cards are extremely popular and are sold on ebay in the thousands per week. This concept is something that needs a little practice. Our personal biases sometimes get in the way. I believe in time almost every card has a potential customer but you do not want to tie up your money in cards that are stagnant. Make a list of the most popular players from each team past and present. Take your list of players and fill in all the various rookie cards that they have. For instance, Alex Rodriguez has about 9 different rookie cards that you can buy. Derek Jeter have 7 different rookie cards that you can buy. Almost every card in the 80’s has about two or three different rookie card variations. I am assuming your getting the point. Once you have compiled the list lets move on to the next step and try to narrow it down a little.

Do Your Research

Ebay is no doubt the number one marketplace for people who are buying and selling anything from sports memorabilia to video equipment. It can also be an amazing research tool. If you have an ebay account you can view past sales, prices and popularity of almost anything that has been sold. You can view how many bids a certain card has. You can view how many times the card has been listed in the past 30 days. These bits of information can save you a lot of time and money. I definitely believe that time is money and that cliche is not used enough. One of the main purposes of making money and opening up your own business is to enjoy the freedom and time the money can give you. Use ebay as a tool to help you save time and make proper decisions on what to purchase. Try to keep your own personal opinions out of it. Numbers don’t have opinions, they are just numbers, but if analyzed correctly they can save you and your business from failing. See what cards are selling and at what prices. See what cards have bids and what cards are being listed continuously without any bidders. Make sure to monitor the prices so you can make informed decisions. If you see a Tony Gwynn Rookie card consistently selling for $25-$30 don’t be so surprised if you see one selling for $50 with no bids. This does not mean that Tony Gwynn cards don’t sell it just means that the seller has the card over priced. If your research is done properly you will be able to get a goog feel of what is good to buy and what is not. Once you have this information you can start narrowing down your list.

Money, How Much Do I want to Invest !

Every business has a start up cost and this business is no different. Come up with a sum that you are willing to invest and work around that. Do not use your life savings or your kids college tuition but try to come up with a reasonable sum of money to begin your venture. I use the word investment because you are investing in products that have monetary value. If you did your research properly the cards you have purchased can be re-sold on ebay for the price you purchased them for if not more. This is why the research part is so important. This lowers your risk and keeps your investment safe.

The Buying Process

Once you have the detailed list of the baseball card that you want to buy and the prices that you’re willing to pay for each one then it becomes time to start buying. This is definitely the funnest part of the whole process. You get to Rome eBay and spend money like it’s out of style. Feel comfortable that you have done your research properly your money will be well spent and you receive a nice return on the money invested. Make sure that you do your research and buy card lots of certain players that you are looking for to reduce your cost per card. Many times when you purchase card lots you can lower your cost per card 20 to 30%. This is a huge advantage especially if you have a budget and can afford to card lots. Don’t overdo the size of the card lots. Another words don’t buy too many of the same card. you want to make sure if you’re doing this is a business you have a large variety of cars to sell on eBay so you don’t get stuck with too much inventory. Just remember stick budget and do your homework. also don’t be afraid to buy more than one brand for each player you are looking for. Many times people will search for a certain rookie card but will like one brand over another. The larger variety you have to sell or offer the more sales you can generate selling on eBay. If you stick to the plan you’ll make money.

Selling Your Baseball Cards

selling your baseball cards can be a very lengthy subject so we will only touch on some of the key factors that you will be able to use to help you start the selling process on eBay and an easy timely fashion. When selling cards on eBay I would recommend that you use eBay’s software such as Turbo Lister or Blackthorne eBay selling software. Both these software tools can help you list auctions online and save you a lot of time in the process. I believe time is money and you can automate the process by using these listing tools. Automation is the key to everything if you want to make money on eBay. There is absolutely no point in selling a card and making three dollars on that card if it took you an hour to list. You might as well go get a paying job that pays more money. If you use a software correctly and generate templates you can create close to a hundred auctions on our. That might sound like an outlandish statement but it is true. EBay does a great job in supplying you with online tutorials on how to use both Turbo Lister and the Blackthorne software. Spend some time reviewing the software’s features to make sure you get the most out of it. The learning process is a lot faster than you think and will pay off with large dividends at the end. once you have learned how to list the car on eBay it is very easy to fill in the information of what prices as well is how long you want the auction to last. In a future post we would discuss different strategies to help you make your selling on eBay a much easier and time-saving process. Again just remember the key eBay is to try to automate everything.

Boston Red Sox Rookie Card Checklist

Here is a list of some of the best Boston Red Sox Rookie Cards. This list includes Boston Red Sox Rookie cards of past and present and are labeled as such.

Jason Varitek
1992 Topps Traded Rookie
1993 Stadium Club Murphy Rookie

Dustin Pedroia
2002 Upper Deck Rookie

2002 Upper Deck Rookie
2002 SP Authentic Rookie
2004 SP Rookie
2004 Just Minors Rookie

Jacoby Ellsbury
2005 Topps Update Rookie
2005 Topps Chrome Rookie
2005 Bowman Chrome Rookie

Manny Ramirez
1992 Topps Rookie
1992 Upper Deck Rookie
1992 Bowman Rookie
1992 Score Rookie

David Ortiz
1997 Donruss Signature Rookie
1997 Fleer Rookie
1997 Ultra Rookie
1997 SP Minors Rookie

1997 Topps Chrome Rookie
1997 Topps Rookie

Josh Beckett
1999 Fleer Update Rookie
1999 Just Minors Rookie
1999 Upper Deck Rookie
2000 Grandstand Rookie

Jonathan Papelbon
2003 Bowman Chrome Rookie
2003 Bowman Rookie
2004 Just Minors Rookie

Daisuke Matsuzaka
2006 SP Authentic Rookie
2007 SPX Rookie
2007 Finest Rookie
2007 Topps Rookie
2007 Topps Chrome Rookie
2007 Bowman Rookie
2007 Bowman Chrome Rookie
2007 Allen & Ginter Rookie
2007 Ultra Rookie
2007 Upper Deck Rookie of the Year Rookie
2000 UD Victory Rookie

Clay Buchholz
2005 Bowman Chrome Rookie
2005 Bowman Rookie
2005 Bowman Sterling Rookie

Jon Lester
2002 Upper Deck Rookie
2004 Just Minors Rookie

Curt Schilling
1989 Donruss Rookie

Ted Williams
1939 Play Ball Rookie

Wade Boggs
1983 Topps Rookie
1983 Fleer Rookie
1983 Donruss Rookie

Carlton Fisk
1972 Topps Rookie

Fred Lynn
1975 Topps Rookie

Jim Rice
1975 Topps Rookie

Carlton Yastrzemski
1960 Topps Rookie