4 ms·

I list trading cards (YGO, MTG) on Amazon, in addition to TCGPlayer. Amazon is very lucrative because I can list commons at $0.01 where there's almost zero com

I list trading cards (YGO, MTG) on Amazon, in addition to TCGPlayer. Amazon is very lucrative because I can list commons at $0.01 where there's almost zero competition and make all of my money on shipping. I do this at high volume and have a high amount of repeat business/trust. I aggressively price the more expensive stuff and it works out well. YGO in particular is very good on Amazon because the secondary market for non-rares is shit for that game. Players have a hard time getting the low-value cards they need without opening new product or doing bulk buys. I can often get 5x-10x what I would for some things (cheaper products that sell at higher volumes) on TCGPlayer because the market (customers & expectations) is different. Plus the feedback is a lot better. The fraud rate on Amazon is a fraction of what is at the card game sites.

someguydave 8y ago
How do you make money on shipping? Do you use first class mail or media mail? Whenever I sell used stuff on amazon I end up losing my shirt on shipping.
- hnal943 8y ago
  charge more for shipping?
- auto 8y ago
  Bulk purchases by single buyers perhaps?
- busterarm 8y ago
  First Class Mail. You set a shipping rate on Amazon that covers your costs and then some, for most shipping conditions. Free shipping is the sucker play (except for boxes/cases/etc) I do not bother with Media Mail ever (except internationally with certain repeat customers). It is too slow and makes buyers unhappy.
  - someguydave 8y ago
    Yeah I always do "free shipping" but I guess that's my mistake...
    - busterarm 8y ago
      Selling $0.01 cards kinda precludes me from doing that.
    - gwbas1c 8y ago
      I think this kind of market is the exception instead of the norm. It sounds like the cost of business is time, not inventory. Thus, charging for shipping instead of inventory makes more sense.
      - busterarm 8y ago
        You've nailed it.
bick_nyers 8y ago
I used to flip YGO cards at events (once made $25-35 per on Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, they were insanely undervalued when they first came out). Do you just purchase cases and resell?
- busterarm 8y ago
  I buy cases and I buy peoples collections. I sell at shows/conventions (I'm a vendor at big comic cons, etc) and that ends up being one of the best ways to buy collections. Last year I managed to pick up a huge (triple digit) volume of 1st edition Yugi/Kaiba/Joey/Pegasus starter decks for essentially original cost. If you know what those go for you know what an incredible deal I made. (They're all sold now)
  - bick_nyers 8y ago
    Yeah that's pretty bannanas, I think the Blue-Eyes alone pieced out are more than double the original price. I never operated at your level but I was able to break even on the whole habit while on the cutting-edge of tier 1 decks. I never considered Comic Con, that's likely where a lot of people who are not currently into YGO decide to sell their collections
    - busterarm 8y ago
      Mixed bag. From players I get better collections outside of the cons but I have to pay more for them. If someone brings their collection with them to a show they almost definitely don't want to go home with it and want to use the money to buy something else. This puts the pricing much more in my favor. There are a lot of casual collectors though and dealers of other products who have casually sat on some very valuable product for years. After years of doing the same show as us, they know we're going to be there, know that we'll buy and they're happy to get _any_ amount of money for it. That deal we got for those starter decks was from another dealer who approached us with "if you don't buy these, i'm throwing them in the trash". He didn't have the time or the interest to value and sell them himself and was just happy to make more than he paid on them and lighten his load packing up. tldr: being in a niche market at these shows occasionally is a huge (but inconsistent) boon to us.

someguydave 8y ago

How do you make money on shipping? Do you use first class mail or media mail? Whenever I sell used stuff on amazon I end up losing my shirt on shipping.

hnal943 8y ago
charge more for shipping?
auto 8y ago
Bulk purchases by single buyers perhaps?
busterarm 8y ago
First Class Mail. You set a shipping rate on Amazon that covers your costs and then some, for most shipping conditions. Free shipping is the sucker play (except for boxes/cases/etc) I do not bother with Media Mail ever (except internationally with certain repeat customers). It is too slow and makes buyers unhappy.
- someguydave 8y ago
  Yeah I always do "free shipping" but I guess that's my mistake...
  - busterarm 8y ago
    Selling $0.01 cards kinda precludes me from doing that.
  - gwbas1c 8y ago
    I think this kind of market is the exception instead of the norm. It sounds like the cost of business is time, not inventory. Thus, charging for shipping instead of inventory makes more sense.
    - busterarm 8y ago
      You've nailed it.

bick_nyers 8y ago

I used to flip YGO cards at events (once made $25-35 per on Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, they were insanely undervalued when they first came out). Do you just purchase cases and resell?

busterarm 8y ago
I buy cases and I buy peoples collections. I sell at shows/conventions (I'm a vendor at big comic cons, etc) and that ends up being one of the best ways to buy collections. Last year I managed to pick up a huge (triple digit) volume of 1st edition Yugi/Kaiba/Joey/Pegasus starter decks for essentially original cost. If you know what those go for you know what an incredible deal I made. (They're all sold now)
- bick_nyers 8y ago
  Yeah that's pretty bannanas, I think the Blue-Eyes alone pieced out are more than double the original price. I never operated at your level but I was able to break even on the whole habit while on the cutting-edge of tier 1 decks. I never considered Comic Con, that's likely where a lot of people who are not currently into YGO decide to sell their collections
  - busterarm 8y ago
    Mixed bag. From players I get better collections outside of the cons but I have to pay more for them. If someone brings their collection with them to a show they almost definitely don't want to go home with it and want to use the money to buy something else. This puts the pricing much more in my favor. There are a lot of casual collectors though and dealers of other products who have casually sat on some very valuable product for years. After years of doing the same show as us, they know we're going to be there, know that we'll buy and they're happy to get _any_ amount of money for it. That deal we got for those starter decks was from another dealer who approached us with "if you don't buy these, i'm throwing them in the trash". He didn't have the time or the interest to value and sell them himself and was just happy to make more than he paid on them and lighten his load packing up. tldr: being in a niche market at these shows occasionally is a huge (but inconsistent) boon to us.