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Posted by: osufan2383 Jul 23 2012, 08:48 AM

So I setup at my first card show and it was a great experience..

First set up was at 7:00 AM and arrived there at that time period. I set up fairly fast and was ready to sell but no one was coming through the door. I thought OH NO!!!!! However, I had Tiger Woods on my iphone to keep me entertained lol.....

My first customer was another dealer who had asked if I am willing to go cheaper on my .50 box and with a dealer I was so I told him .25 and he actually agreed and bought 5.00 worth of cards which was my first sale.

It was interesting to see at first people were avoiding my table because I had no vintage and I guess that is what they wanted. Also, I was sitting down in the beginning and decided to stand up. Once I stood up, people started flocking to the table and wanting to buy. I had a few interesting customers. One guy was looking at four of my cards. One of them is selling for $40.00 on ebay and I told him it is going for $50.00. He still did not want it. I mean come on I am selling it below ebay price anyway. Someone ended up buying it for thr $40.00 and he came back wanting it.

The show was pretty tame and no annoying customers like the ones in the stories. But later on I had an older couple come in and ask if I can go even cheaper on my .50 box and I obliged to the tune of .25 each. They only bought 8 cards and I was like you could not spend $4.00. Either way it got rid of some cards. I had made significant room at my table and decided to put away my $3.00 box and move some of the non used-auto into the .50 box and than display all of my autos and game used. One guy ended up buying every single Dual jersey auto from Anthology I had because of this. Towards the end had the biggest idiot of the day!!!!


This guy next to me was selling certain cards and they were a little bit over Ebay price. So this kid was telling him that and he was like alright and knocked off ten dollars. still over ebay price but by 3.00. So this customer was saying that it is still not cheap enough and was trying to haggle him to go cheaper and he was not budging. I almost stepped in and said that when all is said and done 15 dollars here is still the same as paying 12 dollars on ebay because of shipping and fees. The idiot would have still said no. I do not get how people are so addicted to ebay prices. I mean some cards can sell over ebay prices at show because of their rising value. Either way I was happy and ended up trading two of my cards for a sick Breygent Dexter two piece used memorabilia card

Posted by: tyrodsports Jul 23 2012, 09:10 AM

Nice, sounds like u did well

Posted by: northicehero99 Jul 23 2012, 11:11 AM

Nice, sounds like you had a good day. I would have taken those Anthology dual jerseys (assuming not autoed if hockey) all day at $0.50 each too.

Posted by: 5toosweet Jul 23 2012, 11:16 AM

Not bad for your first show!!!

Posted by: dodgerblue38501 Jul 23 2012, 04:07 PM

Man, I love it when this happens! You offer some one a fair deal and they still want to haggle with you just so they can "win" but in the end they lose out on the item to someone that actually appreciates the deal. Justice was served. I'm also not surprised that people wanted to haggle on the steep steep price of .50 for GU cards. Blowout gives $1 per card credit toward unopened boxes. I sent them over $250 worth a month or so ago and picked up some extra boxes for my shop. If I can't get at least $1 for a GU card, I'll quit the industry! Sounds like you had a great time and picked up some stuff you liked so it was a win-win situation.

Posted by: 19th Century Indiana Jones Jul 23 2012, 05:59 PM

Do you have a picture of your table with its "warez"?

Posted by: aceecards Jul 23 2012, 06:31 PM

love dickering with other dealers..

Posted by: osufan2383 Jul 23 2012, 06:39 PM

I should have taken a picture. I also had DVD's and people were looking but none bit at it. One guy bought all My RGIII's so I was happy but he was not as hot as I thought he would be an neither was Luck

Posted by: sschind Jul 25 2012, 02:53 PM

Honestly its one of the things I hate most. Most of them want you to drop your price so they can take it back to their table and sell it for the same price as you had it priced at originally or even more. What's even worse is many of them expect it. I can't count how many times I've had other dealers ask me what my "vendor discount" was. I'd much rather give a customer a 20% discount on a card for his PC than give a dealer a 20% discount so he can make more money off of it.

If its the end of the show I can see it as some people would rather deal than take stuff home but before the show even starts... don't ask.

Posted by: sschind Jul 25 2012, 03:00 PM

I don't even know why I bother making suggestions if people aren't going to take them to heart. Didn't I tell you not to sit down. Just kidding folks its a little joke.

Glad you had a good time. To me its one of the best parts of any hobby. I've sold at card shows, antique shows, breweriana shows, fish shows, reptile shows and a few flea markets and not much beats the interaction with like minded hobbyists I'd do it every weekend if I could (and I didn't have to work during the week because face it, everyone needs a day or two off now and then)

Posted by: Gadsden86 Jul 25 2012, 04:11 PM

Congrats man. I love selling the lower end stuff. Its what i sell each time at shows i have yet to sell a single card for more than 5 bucks and i'm ok with that as i have people come look for me every show.
You will get a nich and as long as its good people will return all the time.

Posted by: osufan2383 Jul 25 2012, 04:33 PM

I was sitting at first because many of the early guys are vintage collector's and never even came to the middle since no one in the middle really sells vintage. Once more of the younger collector's came I stood up and made my money that way. I also was sitting because I was exhausted the excitement had me up all night.

Posted by: tyrodsports Jul 25 2012, 04:42 PM

Awesome perspective

Posted by: northicehero99 Jul 25 2012, 06:05 PM

Me too. Its even worse when you know that as a collector and they snag up a card you would like for your PC and then mark it up.

Posted by: dodgerblue38501 Jul 25 2012, 08:12 PM

I deal with that attitude constantly at my shop. I know the market both locallly and the dreaded online market. I know that I have a better selection and lower prices on singles than the other shop in town. I also know that when you factor in wait time, shipping cost, and the hope that the seller actually packages your card to protect it, I can compete with eBay within a few bucks on most cards. I purchased a large collection of sports memorabilia, music memorabilia, and comic books a couple years ago. I had about 6 of the "long boxes" of comics. Some were silver age, most were early 80s era. The majority of them were popular titles. I pulled out 8 or 10 books that were valued above $100 each. Then I spent over $100 on bags and boards for the rest of the comics. I priced them out at $1 each. I thought that was a heck of a deal. I had tons of Spiderman, Superman, Batman, X-Men, etc. I had a guy stop in about 6 weeks ago and ask me, "If I buy several of your comics can you do better than $1 each?" So I tell him, "If you buy them all you can have them at .50 each" thinking that was more than fair. They way I look at it, if you want a discount on a cheap item that is already priced to be a good deal you better be willing to spend some money. I had around 500 comics or so. The guy says, "I don't need them all. There are some there that I would have trouble moving." Honestly, that got me a little hot. So I say, "Let me get this straight, you want to pick through my comics, get all the best titles to re-sell, leave me with nothing, and you expect a discount?" The guy just looked at me. I wasn't born yesterday. I've been dealing in this stuff for 25 years. I told him again, "Take them all at .50 each or else they are $1 each. I'm not responsible for stocking your store and losing money to provide you with stuff to re-sell." The guy grumbled under his breath as he left. He then had the nerve to stop by again about 30 minutes later to see if I had "changed my mind". He's lucky I didn't slap him. I had about 4 boxes of comics at that time. Now I am down to about 1/2 a box. I've been selling the heck out of them at my new location for $1 each.