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Thursday, August 21, 2014

Holy Ripping Ginter Batman!

   I ran across a decently priced box of 2014 Allen and Ginter on eBay recently, so I picked it up. I figure it was an early birthday present that I paid for with some of the money I've been making lately selling off junk from around the house.


   That box came in yesterday and yielded two of the best hits I've had in a long while. The first hit is a pair of guys well known to me as a Yankee fan. It came three packs into the box and I was absolutely thrilled when I pulled it. I didn't think anything else in the box mattered at this point.


Say hello to Yogi!

 


 Say hello to Whitey!


 


After I calmed down a little, my son and I resumed opening up the rest of the packs. About eight packs further in, I pulled a Miguel Cabrera bat card. Nice looking card of a really great player, but nothing out of the ordinary...until I looked at the mini card sitting behind it.




A quick peek at the back shows it as a true 1/1 and Freeman is a great young player!



I am almost hesitant to sell these, as they are really neat cards. However, I don't collect Freddie Freeman and while I am a Yankees fan, the rip card isn't really something I see as a PC item for me. Both have been listed on my eBay account (shameless self promotion there), but feel free to contact me about them if you are interested!


Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Getting Started as a Seller on COMC

   When people ask about COMC, the biggest question they have is how selling works on the site. I've answered this question for people in forum threads, private messages, e-mails, and in person. I thought I would use this blog post as an opportunity to give people an idea of how to get started.


Your Port


   Your port, in the most basic terms, is where your cards are located. Your port is your storefront or display case for any cards you have for sale. Your port is also where any cards your purchase end up when you are shopping/buying on the site, as well as a resting place for any cards you are holding back from sale for any reason. There are three ways you can add cards to your port.



Submit Items for Processing


    This is the primary method I use for populating my port with good stuff for all you lucky buyers. This method involves selecting cards you have at your location, packing them up into a box, and mailing them to COMC. 

 

   COMC charges .25 per single for the basic processing service and $1.00 for the premium processing service. Basic is the most cost effective way to get cards added, but it is also the slowest as the process can take 2-8 weeks. Generally, you'll see most of the cards go live within a 2-6 week window, with only the most difficult to identify cards taking the full eight weeks. Premium processing is fast...like usually the next day fast. This service covers the higher end material and oversized cards that you may want to submit. Processing time is stated as 1-3 days. 

 

   You can find out more about submission fees here. There is more to submitting that I will cover later - selecting cards, shipping methods, etc.

 

Purchasing Other Ports


   This is the most cost effective way I have found to get inventory for your port. Basically you are buying up all of the cards in someone else's port (usually for a hefty discount). The good news is that there is usually plenty of room for profit on the higher end stuff as long as it was priced decently to begin with. The bad news is that you are buying everything that was in the port - good, bad, and ugly. 

   It's important to be thorough when you are looking through the port determining it's worthiness and also whether you can get it for a price you can deal with. Some unscrupulous people will hide cards in the middle of a port - assuming that you will only check the highest and lowest priced items - that are over-priced, garbage, or both. Remember that you are getting the best and worst out of each port you buy, which means you will end up with some awful stuff that will likely sit in your port for infinity and beyond.

   Another thing to keep an eye on are the cards from non-major sports, especially racing. A quick check on eBay will reveal a truer idea of a card's value than relying on someone's price in their port. Just do your homework and make a reasonable offer and you should do fine! You can check out COMC ports for sale here.

 

 

Buying Individual Cards (Flipping)

   The final way to add cards to your port is also the easiest and in my experience the most efficient way. Flipping occurs when you snap up a card from another seller and then deftly re-price it for an amount that was higher than the previous owner's listing price. 

 

The reason I call this the most efficient way? 

1 - The cards are already listed, which means no waiting period - which beats processing.

2 - You are hand picking the cards you flip - obviously the more popular the player, the more likely a card will sell - which beats bulk port buying.

3 - If you do your homework, you are buying something that was either under-priced or on sale for a considerable discount from it's true market value.

   There are sellers who use flipping as their bread and butter method. Including this guy who I know as SpastikMooss on the Blowout Forums. His COMC account is chock full of cards he has purchased and is flipping for a profit.

 

   When you look for flips - try and find newly listed items, items that are on sale, or you can even resort to prospecting a little and buying low on guys you think are going to sell big at a later date (my biggest success was Manny Machado using this method). You also want to make sure you can make a profit if you sell this card - my general rule is that I want to double my money, but I'll accept any offer where I make money.

 

  One final note, is to make sure you are in Advanced Re-Seller Mode on your COMC account before you start flipping. In Basic Buyer Mode, you have a .25 shipping fee attached to the card, which is removed in Advanced. You can check which mode you are in under your user settings.

 

  My most purchases for flipping? Here you go:

 


  2013 Panini Elite Extra Edition #93 - Jose Abreu - Courtesy of COMC.com

Friday, August 15, 2014

Steal of a Deal!

   I haven't posted for a few days, mostly due to that whole real life thing that is always getting in the way of my creative writing. School starts in about three weeks, so we've been busy buzzing around town getting uniform shirts for my son, school supplies, and I'm on the lookout for some classroom supplies I need for the year. That being said, not a lot of hobby time for me...though I was pretty pleased to find a pretty good deal on what I think is a really cool looking card just a little bit ago.


Just grabbed this one from a guy running a pretty nice port sale - Greatvintage - check it out if you have the time.



2013 Topps Archives 1998 Gallery of Heroes #GH-LG - Lou Gehrig - Courtesy of COMC.com 

 

   I paid $2.45 on this bad boy, which is really good considering recent sales on eBay in the $7-10 range. Love finding great cards like this for a good deal. It is the Lou Gehrig edition of the 1998 Gallery of Heroes insert from last year's Topps Archives offering. That may be one of the only products I haven't opened any packs of from last year. Maybe I should take another look at that set.

 

   I'm working on the first how to/tips post for COMC - look for it to be popping up tomorrow sometime depending on how the day goes.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

I Can't Believe No One's Bought It!

Our next installment of our regularly scheduled program features this majestic beauty:


2004 Leaf [???] #10 - Chipper Jones /46 - Courtesy of COMC.com 

 This card is from the 2004 Leaf Exhibits Set - numbered 16/46.

Very cool old school black and white card featuring Chipper.

Ask price is $3.74, but with my discount you'd be looking at a cool $3.00 to make it yours. That's a really good price on a Chipper that's numbered out of less than 50 copies!

 

Saturday, August 9, 2014

The Warrior

   As I alluded to in my previous post...I am a big fan of Paul O'Neill. My very first ball games came when I was between two and three years old and we were living in Billings, Montana. It just so happens Paul O'Neill started his professional career at Billings. Go Mustangs!

 

   My dad is a lifelong fan of baseball and minor league baseball in particular. Wherever we lived, we went to as many games as we could during the summer months. We rooted for the Mustangs, Emeralds, Beavers, and Indians over the course of time. We had favorite players aplenty - Bob Hamelin is one that sticks out for the Emeralds. Mr. O'Neill was probably our all time favorite. Today is his day, so I'll just leave you with a quote from the man.

 

"You play the game to win the game, and not to worry about what's on the back of the baseball card at the end of the year."

- Paul O'Neill

 

1999 Topps Gold Label [???] #73 - Paul O'Neill - Courtesy of COMC.com

Friday, August 8, 2014

What Do I Want?

   I think most conversations I have with people about COMC focus on the "what do you sell" or "what should I sell" aspect of the marketplace. Very rarely do people ask me what I buy for myself. Quite honestly, I haven't been purchasing cards to PC very much anymore. Not for a lack of interest necessarily - I rip packs, buy and trade on forums, occasionally will purchase on a certain auction site, etc. Up until recently, my PC had literally five cards in it. Kind of sad.

Here are those lucky five cards:









   Obviously as a Yankees fan (queue the hissing, booing, and A-Roid jokes) you can see why I would pick up these cards. The Mick is...Mick. The other four are Paul O'Neill rookies I've held onto for a while. He was the first major league player I was able to watch live as a little boy in Billings, Montana. I'll probably talk more about my love for The Warrior at a later time. The Mantle is actually a really nice card. It grades out at a BVG 2 because of the mark on the front...otherwise it is a very nice card with excellent eye appeal.

   The past two weeks have brought three new cards into what I consider my PC. The first card I picked up at Northwest Sportscards, which I consider the best card shop in the area. The owner is Jim and he is a fantastic guy and I always enjoy visiting the shop and him.

I saw this guy in a stack of jersey cards and the price was right.


   As I was paying for the Posada, some packs, and supplies I noticed Jim had a bunch of stuff on the counter to price. Including some of the Masterpieces 5X7 framed portraits. In the stack was a Lou Gehrig...and again...the price was right.



   The final card I've added recently is of another Yankees legend. I picked it up from a seller on COMC who I have purchased from a number of times - Chaddie84 - he has some nice stuff and is currently running a sale at 40% off. Click on his name to go to his port. He had this one listed...I've never owned a game used of his...and I had funds. So this one will be coming home in my next shipment as well.



    So, obviously there is a theme to my collection...just not sure it has a direction. It seems more often than not, I will add a card to my cart on COMC to purchase, but then remove it later after thinking it over. Just having a tough time pulling the trigger on things right now. I haven't really had this problem before.

   I think I'm hoping to add a couple of Jeter rookies before they go too crazy...maybe some other stuff over time. I'm not sure exactly what fits in the PC right now, I just know when I see it.

   I guess a fitting way to end this blog post is to pay tribute to former players that I have collected over the years.

- Shaun Marcum
- Xavier Nady
- Melky Cabrera
- Gary Carter

   The closest I've probably ever come to super collector status was with Shaun Marcum...who I collected because our last name's are pronounced the same. To give an idea, I had twenty seven of the 1/1 cards produced for him. Just lost interest at the end.

I Can't Believe No One Has Bought It!

Hoping to make this a semi-regular segment of this blog - highlighting a card I am selling that I think is priced well and is still for sale!


Today...some guy who has won a few golf tournaments this year. I believe they consider these his rookie cards. This particular card is very SSP as it is the blue border version of the card. 

SOLD



2014 Upper Deck SP Retail [Base] Sapphire #53 - Authentic Moments (Rory McIlroy) - Courtesy of COMC.com

Thursday, August 7, 2014

A Basic History of My COMC Experience

 

   A good while back, I found an amazing site for buying and selling sports cards online. At the time it was known as CheckOutMyCards.com and I signed up for my first purchases in 2008. A few years later, I began using it as a source to sell cards that I had in my collection. It quickly became my "go to" source for this and I have basically stopped selling items on my eBay account because of the service they provide.

 

   On eBay, I'm required to do all the work up front. I need to scan, describe the card, and get the listing prepared to sell. On my best days I could rock through maybe 50-100 auctions before my mind began to melt. After the cards sell - I have to package them, print a label, ship them, and then deal with any customer issues as well. I was also paying eBay 10% of the winnings with a further thirty cents and 2.9% of the proceeds headed to Paypal as well.

 

   The way COMC works, is that they do all of the work to get the card listed and they host it on their site. They charge an up front cost of .25 per card to create the unique spot where your card goes. Each card is separately scanned front and back, so you know exactly what you're getting. If you choose to use the credit you accumulate on the site to purchase new cards (which I often do), there is no fee associated with the sales. If you do need to cash out, they do charge a 20% fee for that. Some people consider it steep, but I still see it as reasonable considering all I do is price the cards. They scan, create a listing, deal with customers, and finally handle the shipping as well. On lower end cards, which make up the majority of my sales, the fees aren't actually a lot different than those I pay on eBay/Paypal.

 

 

As of today's blog post, my statistics with COMC are as follows:

Cards Added to Site: 9,607 (Currently 600-700 more being processed)

Cards Purchased: 3,089

Cards Sold: 9,186 for $12,075.40

 

You can view my cards for sale here: XFactor

 

I actually sell cards on Amazon through the COMC program as well, though the sales are automatically conducted at 20% off my asking price. So, I actually offer that same 20% discount on all of my cards and will listen to offers a little lower as well. Just depends on what the card is.

Now that I've finished plugging my port, we can move on!