what's the best way to start making money in the hobby?

[twinsfan48]

what would u guys consider the best way to start making money right away when selling cards on naxcom, ebay, etc.? I am hoping u guys will be able to help me start out on the right foot by making some money, not getting into a huge hole of losing money. My main problem is i don't have a big budget, in fact, I have a very limited one. I'd appreciate any advice on maybe a set to buy, boxes, packs, players, etc. I know this may be a pain since I'm a beginner, but it is greatly appreciated.
thanks
brady

[sHiNo]

if your looking to make a profit i wouldnt call it a "hobby", maybe a business.

[golfermatt91]

Really most people are on here for just collecting cards but if you want to start a small buisness ebay has the buisness thing 19.99 a month and you can sell as much as you want

Matt

[vikingfan101]

Well, something I do to enable myself to bust boxes, buy pc cards, and packs etc, is buy and resell off ebay. Buy big lots of autos and jerseys that average less than 2.00 per card if your lucky. Buy low numbered auto cards, or jerseys going cheap. Stuff like that. I just search auto and patch on ebay, and see what I can find. Good luck!

[Dillywill]

buy cards from your home towns team off here and sell to your card shops or stores around you

[rayny1]

Don`t bother trying to make money(rather a profit)in this hobby. You would really need to move many, many boxes at cheap prices to actually make it profitable. I don`t think anyone here does that. I know I wouldn`t be able to. There is no way I`m moving boxes without opening too many of them.

I think buying in huge lots would be the best way to make some cash, but don`t expect to get rich from it. It takes money to make money. Good luck anyway.

[twinsfan48]

thanks for all the help...i'll try some of the stuff u guys mentioned
brady

[Star_Cards]

if you are trying to make a profit, NEVER bust a pack. That's rule #1.

I'm not sure what you have to spend up front, but it is best to buy in as much of bulk as you can. Even if you have $200 to start with, I would recommend spending it all at once with the same person...whether it by on here or at a local weekend show. As an online reseller myself, I would tell you that ebaying is the best way to start. You do have to pay fees but it affords you a great amount of exposure for that fee.

Also, another important rule is to never buy what's hot. For example, if you would have been buying around the super bowl, you would have wanted to stay away from Ben Roethlisberger stuff. If something/someone is super hot, you won't be able to get it at a great price to resell.

You'll also want to beat the collector out of you. If you have something laying around that gets hot, sell it. Another example, last year before the NFL season, High end Autos of Kevin Jones, Stephen Jackson, and Julius Jones were going crazy. I ran into some in a collection I bought and got lucky with them getting hot. If I still collected, I probably would have kept them.

I'd also recommend starting small. Don't drop 14.99 on an ebay store per month. Just run auctions. Try to find the best deals on packing supplies as well. Do research on the completed ebay auctions. That will give you just about a perfect idea of what you can get for things...even before you buy them. It will be tough to find lots of stuff online that you can get to flip on ebay, but if you buy enough stuff from a single person, you can put in some time listing and turn a bit of a profit. By far, shows are the best place for me to buy collections or smaller groups of cards for resell.

be patient above all else especially if you are working on a very small budget and ALWAYS reinvest your profits back into more inventory. If you are spending that on personal collection cards or whatever else, that just leaves you with that much less to get more cards.

m

[asujbl]

if you want to make money then stop collecting right now and invest in a CD or money market...if you are already collecting then sell everything you have a refer to my comment above. It's a fun hobby...you won't make any money doing it.

[Star_Cards]

You can definately make money buying and selling cards if you do it right. There are a lot of people that collect cards that try to make it a business and don't get it to work out. I've been doing it on the side for about 8-10 years. It started out small, doing shows to get rid of unwanted cards in my collection and to fund my collection. Eventually I stopped collecting and in the last 5-6 years, I have been doing it pretty strong with the last year doing even more.

I don't make a living doing it as I have a regular full time career. However, I do very well with the it considering the time I have to dedicate to it.

mark