Starting an Instagram to give away PSA graded vintage baseball cards

freebaseballcards

I have this fun idea to give away loads of PSA vintage baseball cards on a regular basis via random drawing, trivia, or a combination of the two. I’d love some feedback and thoughts since you’re the first ones I’m sharing this idea with.

**WHERE? ** My Instagram account: freebaseballcards

**WHEN? ** I’m thinking of starting on January 1st, 2021.

**WHAT? ** Only PSA graded baseball cards and mostly vintage
I’ve got loads of PSA vintage baseball cards that I bought for around $1 or so and was thrilled to get them at that price. Instead of posting them on ebay, I’d rather just send them to people who would be excited to receive them. Yes, I’ll throw some nicer and more expensive cards in the mix to keep it interesting and keep people engaged. If I get enough followers, I'll give something away worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars!

**WHY? ** It’ll be a fun, creative outlet for me as a baseball card collector
Sometimes the best part about collecting is the hunt, especially if you got a great deal! Holding on to a card and perhaps looking at it once in a while is probably the second best reason. The worst part is getting rid of them. You either have to sell them because you need the money, or you're just ready to move on or trade up. Selling them on ebay (especially with all the fees) is a bit of a pain for an average collector like myself.

**HOW? ** Why would I give away my cards for free?
I think that if enough people are interested and engaged, I may be able to get some advertising dollars to help sustain my hobby and get better cards to give away. It can’t hurt to try, and I’ve been having a great time coming up with post ideas, etc.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! I appreciate any feedback or questions.

Dave

mrmopar

Wish you the best. Not sure exactly how all the likes, followers and advertising works for someone on those social media platforms, but it sounds like you need to have A LOT of people involved for it to become "worthwhile".

I was always intrigued by the dutch auctions that promised the chance at big hits for low $, yet never seem to pay off for anyone. Endless numbers of $5-20 lots, promising big hits, vintage, star autographs, HOFers, yet the feedback was usually something like "I got my money's worth, but no big hits" or "Nothing but commons, not worth it".

I always thought it would be fun to liquidate my collection someday, using this method and actually randomly awarding people with good cards. Of course, for that type of auction to work if you are looking for a certain amount of money out of a large collection (i.e - Not giving your stuff away or you don't care how much you earn back), you have to package up a lot of crap too. It comes down to a gamble and with steep odds, and these tend to fail quickly because the feedback makes it look like a scam.

In theory, someone could sell a collection for a certain amount that they needed/wanted and still provide a value to the buyers, even if the worst lot was only "worth" what they paid, but there was still a chance to get a Cal Ripken Jr autograph or a vintage Willie Mays card for a fraction of the value. The key is getting the volume of sales to cover you, otherwise you chance sending off $100+ cards for $10 and nobody buys the rest of the lots that would help cover the cost of the big hits.

I have seen raffles that do this, but a lot of times there are legal issues with that sort of thing. Box breaks are the same theory, but you still get something even if it is nothing near worth what you paid.

freebaseballcards

@mrmopar Thanks for the post and feedback!

I'm still learning about how all this stuff works as well, but from what I'm learning from my research so far is that if you can get 10,000 or more followers, you'll be more likely to attract advertisers, etc. and then it'll make more sense. Based on what I've seen on other pages, it may not be that hard to get to that number. I'm sure it'll be slow going at first, but I once people see that I've committed to offering a couple thousand dollars or more worth of cards in the first year, it'll pick up.

The advantage here is that it's totally free. No one has to buy anything at all and it's not a raffle. They just have to participate! I'm not worried about feedback since it's not really at thing on Instagram and people will know what card they are going for based on their participation.

I'll post for the first time tomorrow and will offer a pricier card if I can get 10,000 followers by the end of the year.

Thanks,
Dave

Nathaniel1960

Giving away free cards is not enough of a differentiator for you to be competitive in a VERY crowded industry / space where new entrants are well capitalized (six digits plus) for marketing and promotion purposes. But I wish you luck and hope you pull off your end of 2021 goals.

blurryface

@freebaseballcards said:
@mrmopar Thanks for the post and feedback!

I'm still learning about how all this stuff works as well, but from what I'm learning from my research so far is that if you can get 10,000 or more followers, you'll be more likely to attract advertisers, etc. and then it'll make more sense. Based on what I've seen on other pages, it may not be that hard to get to that number. I'm sure it'll be slow going at first, but I once people see that I've committed to offering a couple thousand dollars or more worth of cards in the first year, it'll pick up.

The advantage here is that it's totally free. No one has to buy anything at all and it's not a raffle. They just have to participate! I'm not worried about feedback since it's not really at thing on Instagram and people will know what card they are going for based on their participation.

I'll post for the first time tomorrow and will offer a pricier card if I can get 10,000 followers by the end of the year.

Thanks,
Dave

welcome aboard and happy new years!

since you are new and considering your advertising goals, are you really wanting and open to honest feedback?

freebaseballcards

@blurryface - Happy Hew Year to you as well!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to give me whatever feedback you have. I've been in and out of the hobby for about 35 years and respect the opinions of those who are more entrenched in the hobby than I am.

It's been slow going so far since I posted my first card that I'm giving away on January 1st (a 1955 Leo Kiely PSA 6 (MC)). In the same post, I let everyone know that f I get 10,000 followers by 12/31/21, I'll give away my 1955 Topps Ted Williams PSA 4.

I've also uploaded the majority of my inventory the Set Registry so people can see what will be coming up.

Thanks,
Dave

blurryface

sounds good.

first is warning signs or red flags. personally im pretty weary of anyone coming on to the scene promising to give away free stuff. not just in cards, but anything really. with that being said, maybe a more detailed disclosure of who you are, what you collect, personal stories of collecting way back when, what brought you back and so forth.

next, is the instagram thing. great choice, i think. i just got on there a while back and i would point anyone there who's looking for online card content. i dont have a facebook page and took the plunge. took a while to grasp, but so glad i did.

now, i dont do insta for advertising purposes. however, i only have 2600 followers and have already been approached by 2 "companies" to post do a monthly post on their behalves. i think the offers where $100 and $135. i declined.

with that being said, with only 2600 followers, the amount of time to properly answer/respond to posts can take some time. i probably do a horrible job, but again, im not getting paid. it's a hobby. i can choose who i respond to and in what time frame. however, it's called "insta"gram. alot of follks expect INSTAnt replies. i get TONS of direct messages a month from kids/folks asking me about this card/that card/what do i think about investing in this card etc. however, i also get a few dm's a month from folks asking "why are you ignoring me" or getting publically tagged to "check your dm".

if your goal is to make money via advertising, you might want to take a little more time and figure out just how much advertising dollars you stand to make vs the amount of time it would take to properly service said account. i have seen several scenarios where things werent handled properly or in the proper amount of time and a pr swarm blows up instantaneously. are you prepared for that?

finally, your content. i mainly collected vintage until the last year or so. the median age on instagram is probably a good decade or two younger than you or i. from the cards youre interested in giving away, it seems most are vintage. i think it would be pretty hard to obtain 10K followers with the cards you are referencing. while there is a decent amount of primarily vintage guys on insta, id say 95% of accounts set up for hobby purposes are more modern geared. and even then modern doesnt even necessarily mean baseball cards. or even sports cards these days. not sure how up to date you are on modern, but if youre goal is to obtain 10K followers, you may have a very hard time until more of the old fogies take the plunge.

again, id be happy to follow you should you get going and just giving you some constructive criticism based off my time on there.