The BEST Place to Buy Singles?
On Sports Cards Nonsense, a discussion about sourcing singles for live selling. Where is the best place to buy?
Video Transcript
Chris, can I ask you as far as you said you have buyers in mind when you're buying a card that you're gonna flip to somebody else.
Do you have it where you are focusing on a particular sport as opposed to, say, all sport?
Like, this is what I have found personally, and I know Mike has always been a baseball guy first and then he goes football and basketball.
I, I am finding in my world- Sold a curling card last night, by the way, Jon Schuster.
Curling?
Jon Schuster.
That's pretty cool.
Thank you.
Literally?
I, um- Yep.
I am- Go ahead I'm finding myself being more and more pulled into, like, oh, well, because of the eBay lives I've been doing a lot more Disney cards 'cause that's what Funko has had, and it's also been a point where I'm like, "Oh, well, this is just the hotter market," so I've been pulled into doing Disney a lot more.
And then, but what I've noticed is, like, Marvel and Star Wars, there's still, like, a few that want it, but I am not I'm finding I'm not as knowledgeable in some cases because I've been focusing so much on the Disney market and, like, oh, what is that reselling for and could I find a better deal here or there?
And I feel like I am probably just stumbling into the same position that maybe others in the sports side of the world have been in for a long time, where it's like, "Hey, I know the baseball market better."
The guys who come into my room are baseball guys, 'cause I do more baseball even though I might also do basketball and football occasionally.
So I'm just curious, and this is actually to you too, Mike, i- this is this something that you guys experience as far as you need to focus on a specific lane so that you can do the best, or do you think more of a buckshot approach, hit as much as you can, is the better way to be successful?
Go ahead, Chris.
I, honestly, Jesse, that's a fantastic question because I think that's- I know a, that's a, what was that?
Nothing.
No.
A, a fork that a lot of people come to- Yeah in the road.
Because if you try to be everything to everyone, you end up being nothing.
and at the same time, if you are so niche and so, like, I only do the most modern Disney Chrome product, right?
Then you miss an opportunity to service a lot of other buyers.
And so I think finding that niche that is, within your card knowledge is really, like, the place to start.
Yeah.
And I, I'm always a fan of, like, scratching your own itch first to, like, what are the things that make me excited, that I enjoy, that I enjoy following, and start there.
And I think most of the time you'll find that your tribe finds you that way.
So I mostly stick to baseball, basketball, and football, but with the World Cup recently, you know, gaining steam, I know Mike hates to hear that, but it is true.
I bought Messi.
I bought my Messi card.
Dude.
You did.
Good.
It's, it's real.
And that, that US game on Friday was electric.
I am a soccer fan, but even if I wasn't it was cool to see just the fandom that surrounded that.
But I've been g- be getting asked a lot about soccer stuff, so I try to have a little bit for everyone, but really my niche is focused on the big things that I know.
Yeah.
If that answers your question.
Yeah.
50/50 for me, so it's two different approaches.
Breaking, I think me and Eddie could both agree at this point in our Breaking career- Mm-hmm we boxed ourselves into the baseball market too much.
Oh, really?
So now when it comes to football, basketball, it's a bit of a struggle.
Yeah.
Still good.
It's okay.
Your buyers just aren't there necessarily.
But Correct, 'cause they knew forever.
It's like, "Oh, we're not gonna take any."
Like, and there were even years I would strike deals with distributors or, or make trades where, "Hey, I don't want any bas- basketball, football."
So you can get more baseball.
More baseball.
It was good short-term.
Long-term, it's probably hindered why we haven't hired a full-time guy.
Yeah.
Like, 'cause that's been a discussion.
We've had some discussions about selling the allocation.
Mm-hmm.
We had some meetings about this.
The alternative is if we don't sell, we have to start actually focusing on, on growing.
We would have already done that a year or two ago had we invested more time, and maybe taken a little bit of an L on basketball, football.
Yeah.
So in the breaking instance, I think it's- Mike?
Yes.
Can I ask you about that?
It, you, you said we would have to focus on growing.
Is that a, a Fanatics allocation is saying, "Hey, we need you to..." Or, or is that you and Eddie saying, "Okay, we're just stagnating."
Like- Yeah talk, talk us through that.
Yeah.
Just real quick, writing on the wall.
And Jesse knows this.
He has a, we, we both have a Fanatics account, a direct account.
it is getting to the point where we are offered so much product, we don't have enough ti- I, I've really pulled away.
I'm focused more on the content and the singles side and the other stuff.
Eddie still works like a horse, but it's difficult to move all that product.
And so for us to keep maxing out and rebuying and, like And I, I, I try to be a good partner to them.
Like, "Hey, you guys are gonna give us a bunch of wave one, w- we should also buy wave two, buy wave three if we have to, and max out those rebuys."
And recently it's like, man, this is actually not moving like we thought.
What do we do?
So do we slow down ordering?
That's not good, 'cause that's gonna affect your numbers long term.
Or do we find, s- say, "Hey, somebody else buy..." And quite frankly, I don't mean buy the thing and walk away.
Buy this and let SCN kind of work as the media part of your Breaking company.
Like the company I spoke with- like, you guys take the account and go crazy.
You sell 10X what I do anyways.
Let, let us do content about it and help promote and do, do live stuff.
But yeah, to me, like to Eddie's point, like Jesse had to bring on Ray.
Like, I, I think that was a good move.
You've probably gotten more product now- Mm-hmm 'cause you've been buying more.
Absolutely.
We're to that point of, like, "Hey, we need somebody to come in so then it's not even a question.
We're just continuing to rebuy."
That, that is for sure the Breaking scenario.
the singles though, like, is weird.
Like to let your question, it's like I, I stick to the big three, and when I go outside of that, I just try to keep it to super high, high well, super well-known stuff.
Oh, yeah.
So, like, if I sell a hockey card, it's Wayne Gretzky or it's a young gun of somebody people know.
Yeah.
When I sell this Marvel stuff from the Phoenix collection that I got- Mm-hmm in April, it's a Hulk Jambalaya.
Yeah.
That thing has, like, 100 watchers already.
Like, it's, it's a pop- or they're PMGs of those things.
Sure.
I, otherwise I just send it to eBay 'cause I don't wanna deal.
I send it right to DC.
So yeah, I, I think it but there's more, more room there.
Yeah.
I think I try to s- but I try to tailor it to my market as well.
Okay.
Yep.
Yeah, I think something you said in there made me think, like, another great thing as a business owner is to know when the opportunity is right for you and your business, and when it's one you should pass on.
Sure.
And, and you may be coming, you and Eddie may be coming to a head with that.
Like, is this the opportunity that's still worth pouring into?
is it something that we need to shift our resources, which is your time and your money, into something else and let someone else have that?
And that's, that is not a W or an L. That is a, again, charting the path.
That's, that's making that choice when you're in that fork in the road that's gonna continue to benefit your business.
