The Quest for an Authentic 1991 O-Pee-Chee #333 Chipper Jones

sportscardtheory · January 1, 2010 11:34AM

(1/1/10) It's about that time. I'm going to start the quest to take a $2.75 or less purchase and flip it all the way to a really great Chipper Jones rookie card... any condition and back will do. It is going to be a long and arduous journey that will most assuredly take years, but it's all in good fun, and we have all the time in the world. First off, NOTHING will be set in stone. I can not give myself limitations. I need it to be an open ended project so as to keep it as simple and easy as possible for myself. I will start all the flips on eBay so the project can be tracked by any and all interested parties. I will also do my best to keep everything on eBay throughout the entire process, but it IS eBay and problems can certainly arise when dealing with them. I will most likely start off with BIN/Best Offers too, I just seem to do well with them. Clearly in the future, I will most likely be doing auctions as well, if only to keep the project rolling along steadily. Any and all help, advice and/or constructive criticism will be MUCH appreciated and I will do my best to keep things moving along at a pace worth keeping up with. I have not purchased my initial investment yet, but I will be scouring eBay for a deal starting now. Please remember that this is not a sprint, but a marathon... it WILL take time in-between buys/sells and I will not be posting progress until all purchased items are IN HAND and ready to be sold. And just so you all know, I will not be wasting my time with naysayers and/or negative Nancys, so please, don't even bother. This is ONLY for fun and profit and there is absolutely NO reason for arguments or negativity. For the record, this is not for charity, although if anything leads to a situation where that becomes a possibility, I will CERTAINLY consider it. This is for my own personal gain and for any future children I may have. I also know this will not be easy (nearly impossible) and I will not hesitate to ask for help with the decision making... I'm no genius. : ) With all that said, let the fun begin.

Here is photobucket to help anyone interested follow along.

Item #1 - Paid $2.74

Item #1 - SOLD $13.05 Net

Item #2 - Paid - $10.99

Item #2a - SOLD - $7.89 Net (2a/2b/2c/2d)

Item #2b - SOLD - $7.89 Net (2a/2b/2c/2d)

Item #2c - SOLD - $7.89 Net (2a/2b/2c/2d)

Item #2d - SOLD - $7.89 Net (2a/2b/2c/2d)

Item #3 - Paid - $9.08 for 2

Item #3a - SOLD - $?

TNP777 · January 1, 2010 11:41AM

Good luck with your quest. This should be a very interesting and fun thread. Looking forward to seeing the first step.

MBMiller25 · January 1, 2010 11:45AM

Good Luck, I will enjoy monitoring your progress!

sportscardtheory · January 1, 2010 11:47AM

<< Good Luck, I will enjoy monitoring your progress! >>

Thank you very much. I will desperately NEED luck to ever complete this. lol

sportscardtheory · January 1, 2010 12:05PM

lol How perfect would it have been if I could start it off with this beauty.

Amazing Card

If I could make a profit on it, I definitely would.

DrJ · January 1, 2010 12:08PM

SMR for a PSA 1 Wager is 300K.

All I can say is you better have patience, because turning $50 into 300K is not something even Madoff would dream of doing. As a matter of fact if you were able to make such a return on the original $50, you would be better off taking the last move before obtaining the Wagner and setting the money aside for retirement or to pay off your house. That would truly help out any future children you may have.

That being said, good luck and have fun.

Your best bet would be to accumulate money throough individual smaller sales and have the discipline to roll over all profits into a paypal account you will not touch. If you try to move up to bigger and better high dollar cards you may find yourself in a situation where one bad auction wipes out the entire proift accumulation of your efforts.

divecchia · January 1, 2010 12:29PM

Good luck, this should be a great thread to follow...

Donato

nightcrawler · January 1, 2010 12:38PM

I think your quest will fail... take that as a challenge and prove me wrong.

Good luck to you.

WinPitcher · January 1, 2010 2:40PM

IIRC the Wagner only comes in 1 back.

150 sweet caporal.

I at least think it does.

Steve

sportscardtheory · January 1, 2010 2:50PM

<< IIRC the Wagner only comes in 1 back.

150 sweet caporal.

I at least think it does.

Steve >>

I didn't know that. I figured they all had different backs. lol I'll take the Sweet Coporal then.

sportscardtheory · January 1, 2010 2:50PM

First bid is in... obviously no guarantees on winning though.

WinPitcher · January 1, 2010 2:56PM

No, it does not work that way.

Some cards are on just certain backs.

Ted over net 54 has made a complete checklist.

Steve

NickM · January 1, 2010 3:05PM

Wagner has also been found in Piedmont.

Nick

Morgoth · January 1, 2010 3:14PM

I am sorry but I don't understand how you are going to do this. Are you going to sell things on ebay and then take the money buy more stuff, and then flip it for profit?

The reason why the guy with the house or the Mantle RC got so far was people were willing to bend over for them to help them out and give them basically free equity or money. I doubt Ebayers will be so generous.

bbcemporium · January 1, 2010 3:33PM

This thread should provide some entertainment for 2010, good luck with your quest.

csmtampa · January 1, 2010 3:59PM

<< IIRC the Wagner only comes in 1 back.

150 sweet caporal.

I at least think it does.

Steve >>

No

jzimmerman85 · January 1, 2010 4:08PM

dude u should start w/ a felix potvin rookie card lol

csmtampa · January 1, 2010 5:02PM

Good luck on your quest. It would take a long time, but I would still like to see the progress.

Do I think you can do it? Most likely not. But I'm sure you can get some nice collectibles along the way

hammered · January 1, 2010 5:17PM

I'm not trying to discourage you, either.
But my opinion you're starting too low and aiming too high.
This would take many, many years of very good fortune in your trades and purchases.
And in IMO it is not a possibility.
But why don't you start with $100 and go for say, a '68 Ryan in PSA 8?
You could actually do that in a matter of months - that would be interesting.
Just my opinion.

shagrotn77 · January 1, 2010 11:13PM

Good luck, but I just don't think it's remotely possible.

WinPitcher · January 1, 2010 11:34PM

Yeah it's gonna be tuff, but he claims he profits on every deal so it is possible.

Steve

sportscardtheory · January 2, 2010 12:47AM

<< Yeah it's gonna be tuff, but he claims he profits on every deal so it is possible.

Steve >>

That's with BIN/Bets Offers. I will be doing a lot of auctions to keep things rolling, so there are no guarantees. I'm sure I'll break even or even lose out on some stuff.

KbKards · January 2, 2010 6:02AM

The phone ringing is Ebay calling begging you to go for it. According to my gross miscalculations, assuming you pull a net profit of 20% on the sale of every purchase you make, and being able to buy a Wagner at some point for about $220,000, the sum of all the individual purchases necessary to hit that will be about $1.2 million. The sum of all the individual sales will be about $1.5 million. When the last cards sells on Ebay you'll have about $220,000 to buy your Wagner. Over that time Ebay and PayPal collected fees on about $2.75 million in sales you were involved in. Good luck.

1989FleerBillRipkencollector · January 2, 2010 7:02AM

Paypal fees on 2.75 mil is $79,750 !! Wow.

NickM · January 2, 2010 8:07AM

Don't forget the taxes you'll have to pay on the income. You will end up a PowerSeller somewhere along the line if the flipping works well, and there's no good way to hide that from the IRS.

Nick

DrJ · January 2, 2010 9:49AM

<< The phone ringing is Ebay calling begging you to go for it. According to my gross miscalculations, assuming you pull a net profit of 20% on the sale of every purchase you make, and being able to buy a Wagner at some point for about $220,000, the sum of all the individual purchases necessary to hit that will be about $1.2 million. The sum of all the individual sales will be about $1.5 million. When the last cards sells on Ebay you'll have about $220,000 to buy your Wagner. Over that time Ebay and PayPal collected fees on about $2.75 million in sales you were involved in. Good luck. >>

I am not so sure how you derived your numbers, but if he is looking at a multimillion dollar venture, that almost be default needs to become a full time enterprise if he wants to do it in any reasonable amount of time.

I think Sportscardtheory's first move should be setting up a LLC.

proofer2 · January 2, 2010 10:25AM

I really wish you all the luck in the world. I believe, however, you will tire of the quest after some time and abandon it. But it should be fun for a while

vladguerrero · January 2, 2010 11:01AM

highly overrated and overvalued card, i bet you don't get 10% of the way there... $20k expendable for cards.

RoarIn84 · January 2, 2010 3:38PM

you might as well gamble your way there- for $50, buy a 1983T (or Fleer) vending box. you have 5 key cards: Boggs, Sandberg, Gwynn, Ripken, Ryan. if one or two come back PSA9 or 10, you are ahead. or buy a factory set with a few key cards and do the same (83D, 85D, two 87D, or 89UD).... you should still have enough money left to submit a few..... but, there are some real steals out there on Ebay. Some hard work lies ahead to successfully buy/flip, buy/flip.....

sportscardtheory · January 2, 2010 4:21PM

<< you might as well gamble your way there- for $50, buy a 1983T (or Fleer) vending box. you have 5 key cards: Boggs, Sandberg, Gwynn, Ripken, Ryan. if one or two come back PSA9 or 10, you are ahead. or buy a factory set with a few key cards and do the same (83D, 85D, two 87D, or 89UD).... you should still have enough money left to submit a few..... but, there are some real steals out there on Ebay. Some hard work lies ahead to successfully buy/flip, buy/flip...... >>

Tell me about it. I am having a hard time finding item number one. Normally I can daily spend more than I have... but now that I started this I can't find anything. lol

Allen · January 3, 2010 4:46AM

The only way I see this working is if you google "how to make meth" and go shopping.

sportscardtheory · January 3, 2010 9:03AM

I finally won my first item. I will post the won item and the new listing as soon as it arrives and I create the listing. Let's just say my initial investment is far less than I was expecting.

DrJ · January 3, 2010 9:38AM

<< I finally won my first item. I will post the won item and the new listing as soon as it arrives and I create the listing. Let's just say my initial investment is far less than I was expecting. >>

You were talking about starting at $50. If you go any lower, you will get your Wagner come retirement.

swartz1 · January 3, 2010 10:08AM

It aint a sprint...

CrimsonTider · January 3, 2010 10:23AM

This should be interesting.

I personally believe that it is impossible, however i am pulling for you. I will read this thread on a regular basis and looking foward as to how you fare.

Best of luck to you!

sportscardtheory · January 3, 2010 11:04AM

<< 

<< I finally won my first item. I will post the won item and the new listing as soon as it arrives and I create the listing. Let's just say my initial investment is far less than I was expecting. >>

You were talking about starting at $50. If you go any lower, you will get your Wagner come retirement. >>

I did say $50 or under. Is $2.74 under $50? lol I hope this purchase works out.

sportscardtheory · January 3, 2010 11:19AM

I appreciate all the well wishes. For all the nay-saying Cheerios pissers (which I knew there would be), I'll post what I said to someone in another forum. "What's the difference how high I set my goal. If I get to $5,000, did I fail."

Allen · January 3, 2010 11:22AM

<< I appreciate all the well wishes. For all the nay-saying Cheerios pissers (which I knew there would be), I'll post what I said to someone in another forum. "What's the difference how high I set my goal. If I get to $5,000, did I fail." >>

Yes.

ripkenintheminors · January 3, 2010 11:47AM

Have you figured the price of the card by the time you get the cash possible?

sportscardtheory · January 3, 2010 11:59AM

<< Have you figured the price of the card by the time you get the cash possible? >>

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean.

ripkenintheminors · January 3, 2010 12:06PM

<< 

<< Have you figured the price of the card by the time you get the cash possible? >>

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean.

>>

I think I read something about the neighborhood of $300K. Will the card be available for $300K when you have the cash?

DrJ · January 3, 2010 12:06PM

<< 

<< Have you figured the price of the card by the time you get the cash possible? >>

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean.

>>

Everytime a Wagner goes for sale it seems to go for more than the last auction, meaning your total fund goal will be constantly changing and may be possible to keep up with.

Morgoth · January 3, 2010 12:08PM

I sold a bunch of my old rare heavy metal cds from when I worked at a radio station and used that and my MTG collection to fund a purchase of a Malcolm Young Model Gretsch guitar.

I can see someone doing that but even if you were flipping houses on ebay you would have a hard time coming up with a quarter million very quickly, let alone sports cards.

sportscardtheory · January 3, 2010 12:12PM

<< 

<< 

<< Have you figured the price of the card by the time you get the cash possible? >>

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean.

>>

I think I read something about the neighborhood of $300K. Will the card be available for $300K when you have the cash? >>

Why would it matter. The point is to flip until I get it. The cost is of no importance, really.

ripkenintheminors · January 3, 2010 12:20PM

For me a difference of $300K to $500K would be a big deal.

sportscardtheory · January 3, 2010 12:24PM

<< For me a difference of $300K to $500K would be a big deal. >>

It's a big deal if I'm close. It's not a big deal right now. I am not going to waste my time thinking that far ahead. It's one transaction at a time.

DrJ · January 3, 2010 12:49PM

<< 

<< For me a difference of $300K to $500K would be a big deal. >>

It's a big deal if I'm close. It's not a big deal right now. I am not going to waste my time thinking that far ahead. It's one transaction at a time. >>

I got to see this first $2.75 item you are going to flip. At least post a picture of your win.

sportscardtheory · January 3, 2010 12:53PM

<< 

<< 

<< For me a difference of $300K to $500K would be a big deal. >>

It's a big deal if I'm close. It's not a big deal right now. I am not going to waste my time thinking that far ahead. It's one transaction at a time. >>

I got to see this first $2.75 item you are going to flip. At least post a picture of your win. >>

Not until I receive it. I will post the eBay listing and my new listing ASAP. I think I'm going to start with a BIN/Best Offer... although I could change my mind.

Underwraps · January 3, 2010 1:21PM

<< Have you figured the price of the card by the time you get the cash possible? >>

Good luck on this quest. I think you can do it because deflation will be your best friend for the next decade Japanese style and I think by the time it comes to buy the Wagner the card will be about 200K instead of 300K

Littletweed · January 3, 2010 4:19PM

buying/selling cards for profit?

great idea!!

good luck with your quest!

sportscardtheory · January 7, 2010 5:53AM

And so it begins.

Item #1 - Paid $2.74

Item #1 - Sold $?

The Quest for an Authentic 1991 O-Pee-Chee #333 Chipper Jones

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