Attention All Kansas City (KC) Area Collectors - Request For Advice Concerning My Decision Sell @ a
Meatloaf
Posts: 1,308
I live in Lincoln, NE and I am considering traveling to the May 19th, 2012 sports card show at the Embassy Suites near the MCI airport (7640 NW Tiffany Springs Pkwy, 9am-4pm, 40T) to participate as a seller. I am not a dealer; I am a private collector looking to sell in order to reinvest elsewhere in the hobby. It is a 3 hour drive for me; factor in the costs and time to drive + $$$ for 4 tables, I am looking at $200 fixed costs to sell there. I generally sell post-1980 stuff and PSA/DNA autos (see my Ebay store link in my signature for a sample of what I sell). I do VERY well on ebay; it is easy for me and the market place reaches a wide audience. I would pretty much bring everything in my Ebay store to sell @ the KC show + about 1000 other low end, raw, modern relic/auto/pathc/jsy cards of semi-stars and commons; I generally reduce prices from my ebay store at shows because I won't have to take fee hits. I have only participated in Lincoln and Omaha shows previously. Generally these have been total busts because the people attending wanted to spend $1-2 on junk cards vice $700 for a PSA 8 MJ RC or $225 for a PSA 10 KGjr UD RC. Also, the people attending the shows simply wanted to talk and not spend. Because of these experiences, my conern is dumping $200 in the KC venture only to lose time and money doing it. Like I said, I have never done a show in KC; may be I should expect difference results there. So I have some questions to help me decide on what to do...
Questions:
1) Please attempt to generalize the tastes of KC collectors and people who attend KC shows: Do they prefer graded vs raw cards, junk vs high end cards, vintage vs modern relic cards? Do they buy PSA/DNA autos or stay away from autos? I know this is difficult because each collector has different tastes, but please do your best (may be KC dealers have insight here?).
2) Do the collectors in the area that attend shows spend $$$ or are they there to shoot the sh!t (spend nothing)?
3) What would be the general turn out for a show at an Embassy duties near the MCI airport on a Saturday in mid-May? High? Low? Does the location impact turn out? Date?
4) Has anyone had experience working shows in the KC area? Did they do well? If so, was it recent and can you give me tips on what was moving?
5) Based on what you see in my store, should I stay away or make a move to sell at the KC show? I simply want to do more than break even. I am not greedy, but I don't want to waste my time.
I thank you in advance for your advice.
Meatloaf
Questions:
1) Please attempt to generalize the tastes of KC collectors and people who attend KC shows: Do they prefer graded vs raw cards, junk vs high end cards, vintage vs modern relic cards? Do they buy PSA/DNA autos or stay away from autos? I know this is difficult because each collector has different tastes, but please do your best (may be KC dealers have insight here?).
2) Do the collectors in the area that attend shows spend $$$ or are they there to shoot the sh!t (spend nothing)?
3) What would be the general turn out for a show at an Embassy duties near the MCI airport on a Saturday in mid-May? High? Low? Does the location impact turn out? Date?
4) Has anyone had experience working shows in the KC area? Did they do well? If so, was it recent and can you give me tips on what was moving?
5) Based on what you see in my store, should I stay away or make a move to sell at the KC show? I simply want to do more than break even. I am not greedy, but I don't want to waste my time.
I thank you in advance for your advice.
Meatloaf
0
Comments
I understand that you have to make money and I appreciate that. But I do want to say that "shooting the sh!t" is half the fun at shows. I have an EXTREMELY limited budget but I love to look at cool stuff even if I can't afford it and talk to the dealers about their cards. I'm more apt to buy from someone that isn't just there to make a few dollars. Interaction is a must if I'm going to spend my hard-earned money on your cards.
Good luck in whatever you decide. If anyone else decides to go to the show let me know and maybe we can meet up.
My small collection
Want List:
'61 Topps Roy Campanella in PSA 5-7
Cardinal T206 cards
Adam Wainwright GU Jersey
Motel 6 will never forget the noise we created over that.
the card show we did was directly next to another show hall where they were holding a..........gun show.
some of the gun show guys dropped by to look at our cards. it was pretty awkward.
we went out for ribs. my fingers got greasy.
that's all i got for ya.
Good luck whatever you decide,
Mike
For all the KC area people, I originally found the show at this Beckett show calendar link. I searched for KS, MO, and NE. Matt Myers runs shows in Omaha, so when I saw his name on the 19 May KC show, I immediately called him for more info. He runs very good shows, so I think I might take a gamble here and make the push to KC. I shall also keep returning for others' advice and feedback about shows and KC shows via the forum. I shall keep you posted on my decision...may be we all can hook up for a post-game beverage? Thanks for everything!
Alex
May 19 - Kansas City Embassy Suites, 7640 NW Tiffany Springs Pkwy, 9-4, 40T - Matt 402-677-4210 mattmyers77@gmail.com
Meatloaf