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

 

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

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!