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Selling during the shutdown?

ndleondleo Posts: 4,064 ✭✭✭✭✭

I wanted to see how other sellers are doing during the shutdown. For me I have fewer BIN listings up, around 30 or so. I usually have 50-70 at any given time. I have a few graded and modern (2000+) boxes up right now. I have pulled my high dollar singles and BBCE boxes. No specific reason, I have sold quite a few BBCE boxes lately and decided to slow down for a while.

The modern boxes are selling very well. Mainly football and a couple basketball. The buys are coming in bigger with people buying multiple boxes at once. I just sold 6 today. I was concerned about shipping but so far the Post Office and FedEx are open. I think ebay is giving sellers a free pass on ratings for the shutdown.

Also I haven't run any auctions. I haven't tracked prices for raw modern football cards lately, so I don't know of prices have held. Has anyone seen any difference in auctions for raw modern singles?

Mike

Comments

  • remedylaneremedylane Posts: 330 ✭✭✭

    I have an antiques business. I have a booth in a very large antique mall and I sell some stuff on eBay as well. Cards included. My business was pretty good up until last Friday. Then it just stopped. It's not my main source of income so that's good. I feel a lot of folks are scared to spend money, understandably. I can see boxes selling. Gives folks something to do while quarantined I suppose. I'm not sure what the end result will be. One day I'm optimistic it will pass sooner rather than later, other days I think it's gonna get worse and worse for a long time. Strange times.

  • stevekstevek Posts: 27,571 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Sales on Ebay off by around 25% the past few weeks, but picked up very nicely today for some reason.

  • countdouglascountdouglas Posts: 2,270 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stevek said:
    Sales on Ebay off by around 25% the past few weeks, but picked up very nicely today for some reason.

    There was a flash sale coupon code today for 10% off trading cards, coupled with a current 3 day eBay Bucks offer of 5%. That likely spurred a few sales.

  • jordangretzkyfanjordangretzkyfan Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @countdouglas said:

    @stevek said:
    Sales on Ebay off by around 25% the past few weeks, but picked up very nicely today for some reason.

    There was a flash sale coupon code today for 10% off trading cards, coupled with a current 3 day eBay Bucks offer of 5%. That likely spurred a few sales.

    Yep...those two deals were what triggered a purchase for me.

  • pab1969pab1969 Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I like the 50,000 free listings for fixed price items eBay just initiated. I am listing more buy it now/ best offer than auctions. Auctions have been lower than usual but some of my best sales have been to repeat customers.

  • sayheywyosayheywyo Posts: 443 ✭✭✭✭

    As a buyer I'm not seeing very many "good" deals out there. When searching auctions ending soonest you can scroll page after page and notice zero bids on items. BIN prices are still high (30%-50%) over what I would pay. I'm now more cautious, not pulling the trigger and holding onto cash. 401K which has taken a beating is much more important than my hobby. High end quality items will still perform well----- just not seeing them on eBay.

  • ndleondleo Posts: 4,064 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 25, 2020 8:22AM

    Interestk
    G> @stevek said:

    Sales on Ebay off by around 25% the past few weeks, but picked up very nicely today for some reason.

    That explains it. I had one listing with four boxes sell out to multiple buyers a few minutes apart.

    The sweet spot seems to be $150 or less for boxes. The mid-2000's boxes are just about sold out.

    I might try to run 20-30 auctions this week of raw modern singles to test the market. With NFL free agency open, there has been some activity. I sold out all of my Teddy Bridgewater RCs after he signed with Carolina. I didn't think I would ever sell that many Bridegewaters after his knee blew up.

    Mike
  • stevekstevek Posts: 27,571 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Very busy again today.

    Hopefully the tide has turned. 😊

  • ArtVandelayArtVandelay Posts: 645 ✭✭✭✭
    edited March 25, 2020 2:37PM

    The economic impact of COVID-19 will not be instantaneous. Right now most people are living off the high of having too much time with nothing to do. Buying cards on eBay is a great time killer.

    Expect to see the true impact on the card market beginning in May. That's the time when people pay their rent, mortgage, and other large expenditures for the second time during this shutdown. That's when it starts getting real to people and that they need to cut down on everything. I'm thinking by June we will start to see people selling off cards/collections.

  • orioles93orioles93 Posts: 3,463 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 25, 2020 2:56PM

    I have not been able to sell anything really the past few weeks. I don't have much for sale, but what I do, I'm not getting much action on.

    On the flip side, I was able to find a Leaf Larry Walker RC PSA 10 for a pretty good deal for my HOF RC registry.

    What I Collect:

    PSA HOF Baseball Postwar Rookies Set Registry- (Currently 77.97% Complete)


    PSA Pro Football HOF Rookie Players Set Registry- (Currently 19.26% Complete)


    PSA Basketball HOF Players Rookies Set Registry- (Currently 6.02% Complete)
  • coolstanleycoolstanley Posts: 2,416 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have great deals on cards right now but no one is pulling the trigger. Seems like only Probstein and PWCC get the good prices.

    Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!

    Ignore list -Basebal21

  • pab1969pab1969 Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I just sold a couple of odds and ends for decent profit. Hopefully this trend continues.

  • RookieWaxRookieWax Posts: 1,066 ✭✭✭

    @ArtVandelay said:
    The economic impact of COVID-19 will not be instantaneous. Right now most people are living off the high of having too much time with nothing to do. Buying cards on eBay is a great time killer.

    Expect to see the true impact on the card market beginning in May. That's the time when people pay their rent, mortgage, and other large expenditures for the second time during this shutdown. That's when it starts getting real to people and that they need to cut down on everything. I'm thinking by June we will start to see people selling off cards/collections.

    I don't see this happening...unless you are selling very modern cards to younger collectors. The majority of the layoffs are among younger people in the service industry...and I don't think many older card buyers are among that group.

  • ndleondleo Posts: 4,064 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 26, 2020 1:17PM

    I agree with RookieWax, I don't see a mass panic selling hitting the hobby. Plus there is $2 Trillion of fictional money that is about to flood the system.

    EDIT: That being said, I have pulled back my buying. Some speculative buys I did last year, I'm not doing now. If I find a really good deal, I won't hesitate to pull the trigger. But as another member posted, there aren't many deals out there. Modern Panini football product has gotten insane.

    Mike
  • NJ80sBBCNJ80sBBC Posts: 720 ✭✭✭✭

    Hi All,
    I’m in NJ, so pretty much in what will be deemed within the epicenter of the pandemic. I am strongly considering unloading product, but concerned how to ship it.

    How are others dealing with shipping? I won’t leave my house so it would have to be via USPS, FEDEX or UPS pickup.

    I’m considering a 20-30 box sale to raise some cash

    Join.

    Conundrum - Loving my unopened baseball card collection....but really like ripping too
  • NJ80sBBCNJ80sBBC Posts: 720 ✭✭✭✭

    Lol.

    JOHN

    Conundrum - Loving my unopened baseball card collection....but really like ripping too
  • flcardtraderflcardtrader Posts: 788 ✭✭✭

    USPS will pick it up when they deliver your days mail. For packages, I usually leave a note on the mailbox that says, "outbound packages for pickup at front door". You can also go on the USPS website Postal Store and order priority boxes free of charge and have them delivered to your home.

    I believe FEDEX and UPS charge for a driver dispatched pickup. You would need to use your own boxes or purchase them from UPS/FEDEX.

    @NJ80sBBC said:
    Hi All,
    I’m in NJ, so pretty much in what will be deemed within the epicenter of the pandemic. I am strongly considering unloading product, but concerned how to ship it.

    How are others dealing with shipping? I won’t leave my house so it would have to be via USPS, FEDEX or UPS pickup.

    I’m considering a 20-30 box sale to raise some cash

    Join.

    flcardtrader@yahoo.com
    Website
    Shopify Store
    Ebay Store
  • swish54swish54 Posts: 687 ✭✭✭✭

    I haven't really noticed much of a slow down yet. January/February was brutal slow as expected, but picked up late February and hasn't slowed yet. I've got about 850 items listed and sell something every day. I'm sure if baseball was still going, it would be more, but it all adds up in the end and I'm happy. Nothing too high priced, so maybe that's it. A lot of stuff I sell is less than $50.

  • 80sOPC80sOPC Posts: 1,226 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The first group of layoffs were to front line retail and hospitality staff but thats just the start. Anyone that has exposure to retail, restaurant and travel is in trouble. And that is tens of millions of people. When consumer spending evaporates, everyone gets hit.

    Professionals will be getting laid off in waves over the next few weeks. This thing is going to be brutal and hasn’t even started.

    @RookieWax said:

    @ArtVandelay said:
    The economic impact of COVID-19 will not be instantaneous. Right now most people are living off the high of having too much time with nothing to do. Buying cards on eBay is a great time killer.

    Expect to see the true impact on the card market beginning in May. That's the time when people pay their rent, mortgage, and other large expenditures for the second time during this shutdown. That's when it starts getting real to people and that they need to cut down on everything. I'm thinking by June we will start to see people selling off cards/collections.

    I don't see this happening...unless you are selling very modern cards to younger collectors. The majority of the layoffs are among younger people in the service industry...and I don't think many older card buyers are among that group.

  • 80sOPC80sOPC Posts: 1,226 ✭✭✭✭✭

    To give everyone an example, the industry I work in has huge exposure to this shutdown. Client volume has evaporated. I would guess there are 100k high paid individuals in my industry and no one is going to make plan this year. 100s of millions in missed compensation and likely 5-15 percent of us will be out of work. No one has ever seen anything like this, it makes 2008 look like nothing.

    The downstream effects of full closures are catastrophic. If restaurants are closed folks selling or servicing equipment, food, cups, software, napkins are in trouble.

    If airlines are grounded, mechanics, airport staff, fuel suppliers are all impacted. These are all high paying jobs.

    I am consistently surprised to read card forums and see how casually people are taking this. This is a once in a lifetime economic event that is going to result in long term unemployment and a deep recession. I have access to merchant data, SMB is getting wiped out. Most businesses can’t sustain 2-6 months of reduced/zero activity.

    I hate being “that guy”, I am an eternal market optimist but this event is brutal.

  • clayshooter22clayshooter22 Posts: 727 ✭✭✭

    I think the overestimation of the financial impact is likely due to your personal perspective. At some point, admittedly no one knows when, this virus thing will pass. When it does the world may look a bit different but it won't look entirely different. Ok, if Olive Garden closes, I might just go to Red Lobster, so actually Red Lobster is in a better position with more customers....see where I'm going. Business can be helped just as easily as hurt. Ask companies who are making masks, sanitizer, and ventilators how business is today. The uncertainty is just as likely to sow fear and less spending as it is to encourage investment outside of the stock market, metal, jewels, coins, cards. I'm not calling the death of consumer spending and cards just yet. Maybe a hiatus for a few months but death...not yet.


    Kirby Puckett Master Set
  • 80sOPC80sOPC Posts: 1,226 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hope you are right. FWIW my perspective is based on insight into merchant processing data.

    And prominent analysts are predicting 20-30% GDP retraction, and 20% unemployment. For perspective, GFC saw 10% peak unemployment and GDP retreated by 9% peak.

    Enough gloom from me for one day

  • clayshooter22clayshooter22 Posts: 727 ✭✭✭

    I'm not sure they allow links here but I trust Ben Bernake...this was two days ago.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/25/former-fed-chairman-ben-bernanke-sees-very-sharp-recession-followed-by-fairly-quick-rebound.html

    Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sounded an optimistic tone on the longer-term state of the economy, predicting in a CNBC interview Wednesday that while the U.S. is facing an acute recession, it shouldn't last.

    "It is possible there's going to be a very sharp, short, I hope short, recession in the next quarter because everything is shutting down of course," he said on "Squawk Box."

    "If there's not too much damage done to the workforce, to the businesses during the shutdown period, however long that may be, then we could see a fairly quick rebound."

    During the financial crisis that exploded in 2008, Bernanke guided the Fed through its efforts to save the economy. He was the first central bank chairman to pull its benchmark interest rate down to near zero, and the Bernanke Fed implemented a slew of programs that have been resurrected to deal with the current crisis.

    While he guided the Fed through the financial crisis and accompanying Great Recession and is recognized authority on the Great Depression, he said the current situation bears only minor resemblance to those two periods.

    "This is a very different animal from the Great Depression" which he said "came from human problems, monetary and financial shocks. This is has some of the same feel, some of the feel of panic, some of the feel of volatility that you're talking about. It's much closer to a major snowstorm or a natural disaster than a classic 1930's-style depression."

    In fact, he said, the current situation is almost the opposite of the financial crisis, where problems in the banking system infected the broader economy. This time, issues in the broader economy brought on by the coronavirus are infecting the banks.

    He stressed the important of getting the coronavirus itself under control so that policy can do its work.

    "Nothing is going to work, the Fed is not going help, fiscal policy is not going to help if we don't get the public health right, if we don't solve the problem of the virus, of the infection, so making sure that the risk has declined sufficiently before put people back in the line of fire," Bernanke said.

    "So I think the public health is the most important one," he added. "If we can get that straight, then we know how to get the economy working again. Monetary and fiscal policy can do their thing and we won't have anything like the extended downturn we saw even, I don't think, in the Great Recession, much less the Great Depression of the '30s."

    Earlier Wednesday, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard expressed similar sentiments about the economy, telling CNBC he expects a big short-term hit but a strong rebound.

    He praised the work being done by Chairman Jerome Powell and the rest of the current Fed.

    The Powell Fed has pulled benchmark borrowing rates down to near-zero and implemented a slew of programs aimed at keeping liquidity flowing to the financial system and businesses.

    "I think the Fed has been extremely proactive, and Jay Powell and his team have been working really hard and gotten ahead of this and shown they can set up a whole bunch of diverse programs that will help us keep the economy functioning during this shutdown period, so that when the all-clear is sounded, we will have a much better rebound than we otherwise would," Bernanke said.


    Kirby Puckett Master Set
  • ndleondleo Posts: 4,064 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Sales ended the week on a high note with 5 boxes sold, 17 total for the week. Most of the boxes were under $75, but people bought multiples.

    I think a lot of it could be cabin fever buying. I used to be that way when I lived in wintery Detroit.

    Mike
  • rcmb3220rcmb3220 Posts: 1,108 ✭✭✭✭

    We just finished the easiest two weeks of this. We’re just getting started.

  • Dpeck100Dpeck100 Posts: 10,910 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I was bored today and listed a few cards. Two of the four listings are already sold at full asking price. I must be pricing them too low.

  • mtcardsmtcards Posts: 3,342 ✭✭✭

    Had a couple of auctions I was watching end last night. These were some harder to get inserts from the 1990's and almost every one of them went for 25% over what they had been averaging the last couple of months. I think the harder to get and rarer things will still draw the bids, but things that are available regularly might see a small drop

    IT IS ALWAYS CHEAPER TO NOT SELL ON EBAY
  • 80sOPC80sOPC Posts: 1,226 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Rare items are not a good proxy for the overall market.

    The stuff I chase is heavily sought after by a small group of collectors. There are probably 25-40 guys that are looking for the same cards and I doubt anyone is collecting for investment purposes.So I’m not expecting anything other then status quo.

    The true test will be on the heavily trade cards like flagship rookies of Acuna, Sota, etc. 50s mid grade baseball rookies. Gretzky and Lemieux rookies. The high pop stuff that is always moving and has broad interest.

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