Thoughts on a new job in the hobby...

[HammerHawks]

Hey all, I need a summer job. I have been considering a few things, but of course I'd love to do something with cards. I had the idea of buying stuff low and selling high either here or eBay. Another one, which of course I'd have more fun doing, would be buying boxes and hoping for big hits.

Thoughts?

[RGM81]

It's tough to make money in this hobby. You really have to have some luck up front in your breaks or else you're putting yourself behind the 8-ball early. Say you start up with $500, break 6-8 boxes of various product and don't hit a big RC or SSP'd auto-jersey thing. If your total return on those breaks (and of course you won't be able to sell everything right away) is only $250 you're already operating in the red, and can only buy half as much product as your original round could produce.

If you've got an LCS around see if they need any weekend help.

[marekschwarz33]

Only way to have any potential to make any profit opening wax would be opening multiple cases. Unless you have some incredible luck.

As for re-selling, I actually did quite a bit of it last summer. But the key is getting cheap inventory and having enough capital to make large purchases. I wasn't very successful because I was a broke high school student! I live in Kansas City so I was able to find shop owners and dealers at shows who were just looking to get rid of their hockey cards so I was able to find some good deals. Something else to consider is that hockey cards tend to sell lower during the summer months.

After PayPal/eBay fees and shipping costs, the window for profit closes even more. It's not impossible to make a decent income, but it's a challenge. Good luck!

[comfortably9numb]

i agree with the above posts...unless you have a couple thousands laying around for a case (in assuming not cause you need a summer job job lol) you are more likely to strike out...of course its always a gamble anyway...check out to see if there is a local card store that is looking for help...or maybe a store near one and then you can spend your breaks/lunches there to build a relationship with the owner

[Estovia]

I concur with above.

If you want to make money and be in the hobby see if an LCS needs a set of hands for the summer.

With the economy being the way it is there is little market for singles, and even some of the things you might THINK would net you some money just.... don't. I bought trilogy Ice Scripts of Luke Schenn and Jordan Staal for dirt cheap, thinking I could flip them. Six months later I still have the Staal and wound up trading the Schenn.

As for boxes, look at the odds you have of pulling something worth money and what is sells for.

For example, a box of 10/11 SPA has less than a 1% chance of breaking even, let alone turning a profit (pulling 2/3 hits with resale value)

Artifacts this year? In 3 boxes I've hit

Double Patch parallel /15, Tim Thomas
Double Patch Parallel /15 Martin Brodeur
Tundra Tandems /225 Gretzky-Sakic
Tundra Tandems /225 Crosby-Malkin
Tundra Tandems Patches /50 Toews-Kane
Frozen Artifacts Patch/Stick /10 Dino Ciccarelli
Rookie Redemptions: Nugent-Hopkins, Colton Teubert, Zack Kassian.

And I'm still in the hole.

[Bauldie]

Best way to turn cases into $$ imo is to open large amounts and, I think this is the most important, get it on Ebay asap. First cards of a new release always seem to sell for a silly premium.

[Codylu]

Bauldie is 100 percent right! If you even want a shot of breaking even or making a profit on regular basis you must break the product brand new, the day it was released. Also strong rookie class helps too (I.e. 05-06 rookie class)

[tuukkatime]

Dont be fooled, Boxes and cases will never generate sustainable profit. If it did, people would just open cases and use their profits for another case and so forth and so on. You might make money on one or 2 but never sustainably.

The only 2 ways to make money is to work at the LCS or try being a reseller/prospector. You can either do boxes and wax or singles. With regards to boxes, it's Just buying from a supplier and going to shows to sell em. Very tough.

For singles, it's easy to make good money and you don't have to rip anyone off. Buy large lots of say 1000 dollars and flip for 200-300 at a time. Combine that with prospecting (holding cards and waiting for trends in prices I.e. jeremy Lin) and you can do quite well. For me, a uni. Student, it's replaced a part-time job.

[g-force]

There is no way that you can make money consistently opening wax, the margins do not exist anymore. If you're willing to put the time and effort in, you can find some good bargains on ebay and flip them for a profit, however as a full time job your best bet is to be employed by someone, not try to support yourself off of this hobby.

[howethegreat]

my piece of advice, look for good resale lots whether hear or ebay because those are alot safer then ripping.