5/16/21 – 5/22/21
Whole objects in retailer: 2375
Gadgets offered: 47
Product sales: $2779.59 (up 34.7% from one yr in the past)
Web gross sales: $1973.14 (up 33.4% from one yr in the past)
Highest worth offered (web): $144.19 — autographed 8×10 print of former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham
Lowest worth offered (web): $6.17 — 15 yr previous autographed card of former Vancouver Canucks (hockey) Daniel Sedin
My highest worth merchandise offered this week occurs to be an merchandise with an attention-grabbing again story as a result of it actually illustrates how the buying and selling card market has modified in the previous few years. I’ve talked about earlier than in these posts that I purchase virtually all of my stock from eBay auctions and relist utilizing purchase it now or greatest provide. However one other technique I’ve to choose up new stock is thru redemption factors with one of many most important producers, Panini. Here’s what their rewards web site appears to be like like.
https://www.paniniamerica.web/rewards.html
These redemption factors are initially present in packs and containers, normally as an alternative choice to an autograph the place the participant couldn’t signal their card on time or to make “card math” work by way of the variety of sorts of playing cards (autographs, jersey, inserts, and so on) in a field. The factors playing cards vary in worth from 150 all the way in which as much as 15,000 and 25,000 that are clearly a lot much less plentiful. Panini provides new playing cards to their rewards web site on a weekly foundation, and in case you have the factors in your account, you may pick the cardboard or playing cards you need and “purchase” it. How they decide their values is a thriller to me, and sometimes there are huge discrepancies between “factors” worth and greenback worth.
The resale marketplace for rewards factors had all the time been fairly constant at round $5 per 100 factors. Till, in fact, the early levels of covid final yr, when the world (and card manufacturing) mainly went on pause and costs for rewards factors bottomed out. I had all the time tried to maintain just a few thousand factors in my account, however these bills actually add up! However when the market bottomed out, I began checking saved searches every day and acquired tens of hundreds of factors, as many as I may afford. And I’ve been consuming off these factors ever since, which has been significantly helpful as the costs for factors has risen considerably.
Anyway, to the merchandise I offered. A daily autographed photograph of Cunningham, who was a star quarterback within the 90s, would in all probability price $20, however this was an 8×10 print with a background in Panini’s shade blast design. Colour blast playing cards are solely inserted in just a few particular units and they’re very extremely wanted, with costs that may in all probability shock you.
I don’t perceive the mindset that may compel somebody to spend tons of of {dollars} on any collectible, however I can see the aesthetic attraction of this set. It’s a pleasant design. And so the colour blast autograph prints have a reasonable following, too. Particularly as a result of they have been solely launched on the Rewards web site one time and by no means once more. I bought just a few others with the Cunningham and had offered all of them, typically for my full asking worth. I had not seen one other Cunningham listed apart from mine within the final two years. Predictably, the itemizing had numerous watchers and lowball provides over the past two years, however I couldn’t move up the provide I obtained this previous week and the client mainly obtained a one in every of a sort merchandise.
Coincidentally, Panini launched a brand new spherical of Colour Blast autographed prints just a few weeks in the past. I had been eagerly ready for them for the reason that first batch have been so common, however issues have modified so dramatically within the card world in the previous few years. I couldn’t add any to my cart, not to mention buy them. They have been offered out inside minutes — seconds actually — on the rewards web site. It’s because the buying and selling card world has turn into infiltrated with the strategies that resellers of different restricted version objects use — bots, cook dinner teams, the sorts of issues related to sneakerheads. These resellers are mainly enjoying a very totally different sport than scavengers. They purchase and promote virtually instantly to allow them to use the funds from that sale to purchase the following factor that continues the cycle. A few of them in all probability get fortunate and come across one thing that’s significantly priceless that they’ll make $5000 on in sooner or later. Possibly that’s sufficient for a few of them, perhaps that’s all they need.
However I’ll recover from the hurdle of 2500 objects this summer season– hopefully to 3000 — and it’s so rewarding to see the stock develop and see this degree of gross sales maintain. This was a extremely satisfying week after just a few slower weeks. A number of good excessive greenback gross sales and numerous objects which offered in a short time. Had three $100+ objects go to the identical purchaser inside a day of itemizing them. There’s no bot you should purchase or Youtube course that may educate that degree of information.