Anyone go to the White Plains show this weekend??
Fabfrank
Posts: 2,312
Missed this show again. Would love to hear a show report from anyone who attended
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Also, wanted hear about any experiences with the autograph guests.
Steve
Steve, I went to the show religiously. I would always find something to buy and would drop 1-2K every time I went. I understand Glorias son/children were running the show the last few years before the sold out to JP. He's been trying to improve the show with free and low cost autograph guests. He really needs to either bring in some fresh dealers, or designate an area of the show for just collectors to sell or swap. Offer them a 1/2 size collector/swap table for free or full size for a discount. After 2-3 shows, you than have the choice to move onto the dealers floor or downsize to just the collector/swap table.
The biggest hurdle to a collector wanting to become a dealer is the table cost. This would allow a newbie dealer to get a taste of the biz without laying out to much expense. It would also bring in some fresh material to the show and allow collectors to establish some trading partners.
It's just sad how over the last few years the NY show market went from 2-4 shows every weekend in the Tri-state area, to 1 show every other month
Specializing in Certified Autograph Cards, Rookies, Rare Inserts and other quality modern cards! Over 8000 Cards in stock now! Come visit our physical store located at 1210 Main St. Belmar ,NJ
Because the times have changed. There are no small shows any longer. There are hardly any big shows. Read the post and you'll see I state "Offer them a 1/2 size collector/swap table for free or full size for a discount."
The show is stagnating because it's the SAME 50 dealers, with the SAME merchandise.
I also state "designate an area of the show for just collectors to sell or swap". I should have been a little more explicit by pointing out that this area should be separate from the dealer area. I shouldn't have assumed.
Since there are no smaller shows and this is 1 of 2 tri-state area big shows (I'll assume you are not from the tri-state area. This area encompasses the boros of NYC, middle to northern NJ, lower Westchester and upward towards Yorktown Heights and CT out to Stamford. This geographic location has an approximate population of over 20 Million residents...roughly), it's virtually impossible to start at a small show and work your way up.
My suggestion wasn't about fairness, it was about trying to find a creative way to re-invigorate the White Plains show. My suggestion was a way of addressing the problem on 3 fronts. #1 Trying to incubate new dealers/collectors #2 which would bring a varying degree of different inventory and selection to the show #3 re-new interest and increase show attendance.
Finally, by making the collector/swap table a 1 or 2 time offering, a person can determine quickly if it's worth upgrading to full dealer status.
You might be right on this point, but again, this is 1990 thinking. Show attendance is down. Way down. Why are these dealers always bringing the same material to these shows? It's because they are not buying fresh collections. Why are they not buying fresh collections? Because most collectors are selling their dupes or other material on Ebay.
There is a new business paradigm and if card shows are to survive, promoters and dealers need to experiment and try different things to bring back the collectors.
What is the biggest complaint we hear about Ebay? Rising fees.
Show promoters can use this to their advantage as I illustrated in my earlier post.
As for dealers boycotting a show because a non-dealer might get a smaller discounted or free table in the back somewhere? I say, let them. It's the dealer that attends who will be able to get access to this new material. Whether it be by trade or not.
My suggestions were just a way of getting attendance up at shows and getting people back into the hobby on a face-to-face basis.
<< <i>Remember years ago when it was upstairs and packed! Its been a long time. >>
Wait, it's only downstairs now? That show used to be absolutely hopping with activity, both upstairs and downstairs. I haven't been there in about 12 years or so. I used to have to wait in a long line just to get in the place!
Specializing in Certified Autograph Cards, Rookies, Rare Inserts and other quality modern cards! Over 8000 Cards in stock now! Come visit our physical store located at 1210 Main St. Belmar ,NJ
Jp has to charge a lot for a table at white plains...it must be a sick amount of money to rent that place.
I live in long island,and he usually has one to two shows a month at hotels/colleges....I would guess that the table price for those shows are 100 dollars or less...so a collector can do a show on a sat/sunday for a pretty resonable cost.These shows get a fair amount of traffic.Recently at a Hofstra show my little guy points out a 58 WS batting foes card (Aaron/Mantle)..it was marked 99.00 and it looked really nice..."When something is to good to be true it probably is"...I figured the card was trimmed....I took the card over to GAI for a 5 dollar pre grading fee...It measured correctly and was given a 7.5...needless to say I bought it.It is probably a psa 6 maybe a psa 7....You can find some good deals at shows and your not going to find that on ebay too much....cash talks and dealers deal.
As far as cards go, JP himself has about every topps card from 50s on up to the last 70s..and his prices are great
If you collect pre war, John Goodman is always there selling a wide variety of cards. And then there is Ricky selling a lot of oddball issues from the 50s to 70s.Granted I see the same cards over and over,but eventually new cards appear.
Hey at least some one is doing shows and it gets you out of the house...you get to meet other collectors, touch the cards, rummage through bargin bins...
Scott In Long Island
Consider the benefits of setting up a table that are distinct from whatever profits you might make via selling.
a) You get out of the house for the weekend. I don't know what that's worth to everyone here, but to me that alone is worth at least a hundred bucks.
b) You give yourself the opportunity to make a decent score if somene walks in with some decent cards that they really want to sell.
c) At most shows you have a chance to poke around before the doors open and buy anything that appeals you to from other dealers.
With all this in mind, how much would a guy have to make at a show (net, not gross) in order to make it a worthwhile weekend? $500? $700? If these numbers are at all correct then you should easily be able to make this by just buying some lots on ebay, marking them up 30% and letting it rip. You'll still have the most inexpensive stuff at the show (by far), and you would only need to sell about $2000 gross or so to hit your magic number.
From what I've seen and heard that $2000 mark would be no problem. We have a guy at our local monthly show at Gibraltar who tripped into a lot of 2,000,0000 cards--all stars--from the four major sports which set him back about $.05 a card, and he sells this stuff all day for a quarter a card. At one show he grossed $600 on Friday alone, and a 'usual' weekend for him sees about $1000 in sales from those quarter boxes. Tack on whatever he sells from the showcase and he has to be making close to a grand a weekend.
If a guy jmade a decision to spent 4-5 grand on lots of GU, auto and insert cards off of Ebay and sold it all for $2-$5 a card I would think he'd have a great chance to have some very strong results at the average show. But nobody seems to do this, which seems puzzling.