I was very productive last week. I reloaded my 1957 and 1958 Topps baseball binders along with 1953 Bowman football. I've been watching the Stanley Cup and I figured it would slow me down, but not so. I also watched a bit of the NBA championship. I hate the Heat. I can't believe they won it again. Guys today at the Bloomingdale show were talking fix. Another guy at work mentioned fix. It sure seemed a bit fishy to me. Regardless, I was quite pleased I got so much work done. Reloading these binders is a beast of a job.
I was hoping to have my cheapy boxes reloaded for today's show at Indian Lakes Resort but the '58s took me longer than I anticipated. I was able to reload my 50-cent box and sold quite a few cards out of there today. In general, I had a nice show today. Larry, Randy and Willie and a bunch of other guys bought a nice amount of cards which was much appreciated. I picked up all sorts of stuff. There is one guy I want to mention. He showed me some T206s that he was looking to sell. He had two raw ones and one graded. All the cards were creased and had common Piedmont backs. The raw ones also looked slightly trimmed. One of the raw ones was White Sox Hall of Famer George Davis. I forgot who the other raw player was. The graded one was Doc White. The seller wanted $150 for the pair of raw ones. I just saw a comparable George Davis in eBay with a BIN at $53. Commons generally sell for $15 to $25 in creased condition. So in the real world, these cards would retail at $75 for the pair. I tried to tell the seller that I'm buying the cards for resale and can't pay $150 because I can't sell them for $150. Realistically, I could only pay $40 to $50 for the two raw cards and hope to sell the pair for $75. The Doc White was an SGC 2. A "2" SMRs at $32, he wanted $38. Needless to say, he took those cards home. It boggles my mind how many guys regularly try to sell me cards for much more than I can resell them for. All I can do is thank them for showing me their cards and send them on their way.
Next up, is the book guy. I'm not quite sure if I mentioned the book guy in any of my previous blogs. If I have, ignore this portion of the blog. If not, read on.
I've seen this guy now for a couple of months. He self-published a book which basically consists of a list of all the things that has happened in the world since the Cubs last won the World Series in 1908. I don't know, it doesn't sound like something I would be interested in reading. I don't really like to read lists or statistics. I like anecdotes. If he interviewed Cub fans and got some tales about their take on the Cubs woes, that might be interesting.
So, I've seen this guy set up a few times in Schaumburg, Orland and now Bloomingdale. Up until today, I haven't seen him sell a single book. It was only by chance he sold a book today to an old lady who was at the hotel for a graduation party. While I'm not interested in his book, I do have to give him credit for coming out regularly and at least trying to sell it. It's tough to self-publish a book and sell it. I know first hand. Here's my book. I hustled that thing for a few years then gave up because it didn't really sell. Though, I did at least sell a few every time I set up at a book fair or some other event. This guy today, he rarely sells a book yet keeps on coming. Good for him! Oh, if you want my book, don't buy in on Amazon. I'll give you one for free, just ask. I also suspect the book guy from today will be giving away his book as well somewhere down the road. There's a reason there's hardly any book stores any more. Books don't sell.
Anyway, it's my last week of work before I start my new job. I'm not going to be doing a whole lot of shows this summer. I am in need of a break and I also want to see how the new job goes before I start scheduling my usual array of shows. I may have to work more hours than I've been accustomed to which would cut into my prep time for the shows. I'm not setting up at shows if I can't bring new stuff out. I don't have the patience to be like the book guy and bring the same old stuff out that nobody wants. I work my tail off getting thousands of new cards out at each and every show and it's very time consuming. So, I've got to know ahead of time that I can set aside portions of my evenings to sort and price cards before I schedule a show.
I'll have a good idea by the end of July how things are going play out. If this turns out to be a normal 40-hour a week job, I'll probably go back to my full schedule of shows in September. Though, I think I may take some more weekends off to give myself some much needed breathers. Don't get me wrong, the shows are generally pretty fun and I still enjoy them. The problem is, I no longer have the energy to work a full-time job, spend all night after work prepping for shows, then spend every weekend at shows without any free time in the mix to relax. I still plan on being around, just not as much.
In the meantime, I started reloading my 1959 Topps baseball binder tonight. My next show won't be until July 13 at Orland -- about three weeks from now. I should have quite a few binders reloaded by then. The Gonzaga show is also that weekend on July 14. Come on out and say hello. I'll bring FREE books!
I was hoping to have my cheapy boxes reloaded for today's show at Indian Lakes Resort but the '58s took me longer than I anticipated. I was able to reload my 50-cent box and sold quite a few cards out of there today. In general, I had a nice show today. Larry, Randy and Willie and a bunch of other guys bought a nice amount of cards which was much appreciated. I picked up all sorts of stuff. There is one guy I want to mention. He showed me some T206s that he was looking to sell. He had two raw ones and one graded. All the cards were creased and had common Piedmont backs. The raw ones also looked slightly trimmed. One of the raw ones was White Sox Hall of Famer George Davis. I forgot who the other raw player was. The graded one was Doc White. The seller wanted $150 for the pair of raw ones. I just saw a comparable George Davis in eBay with a BIN at $53. Commons generally sell for $15 to $25 in creased condition. So in the real world, these cards would retail at $75 for the pair. I tried to tell the seller that I'm buying the cards for resale and can't pay $150 because I can't sell them for $150. Realistically, I could only pay $40 to $50 for the two raw cards and hope to sell the pair for $75. The Doc White was an SGC 2. A "2" SMRs at $32, he wanted $38. Needless to say, he took those cards home. It boggles my mind how many guys regularly try to sell me cards for much more than I can resell them for. All I can do is thank them for showing me their cards and send them on their way.
Next up, is the book guy. I'm not quite sure if I mentioned the book guy in any of my previous blogs. If I have, ignore this portion of the blog. If not, read on.
I've seen this guy now for a couple of months. He self-published a book which basically consists of a list of all the things that has happened in the world since the Cubs last won the World Series in 1908. I don't know, it doesn't sound like something I would be interested in reading. I don't really like to read lists or statistics. I like anecdotes. If he interviewed Cub fans and got some tales about their take on the Cubs woes, that might be interesting.
So, I've seen this guy set up a few times in Schaumburg, Orland and now Bloomingdale. Up until today, I haven't seen him sell a single book. It was only by chance he sold a book today to an old lady who was at the hotel for a graduation party. While I'm not interested in his book, I do have to give him credit for coming out regularly and at least trying to sell it. It's tough to self-publish a book and sell it. I know first hand. Here's my book. I hustled that thing for a few years then gave up because it didn't really sell. Though, I did at least sell a few every time I set up at a book fair or some other event. This guy today, he rarely sells a book yet keeps on coming. Good for him! Oh, if you want my book, don't buy in on Amazon. I'll give you one for free, just ask. I also suspect the book guy from today will be giving away his book as well somewhere down the road. There's a reason there's hardly any book stores any more. Books don't sell.
Anyway, it's my last week of work before I start my new job. I'm not going to be doing a whole lot of shows this summer. I am in need of a break and I also want to see how the new job goes before I start scheduling my usual array of shows. I may have to work more hours than I've been accustomed to which would cut into my prep time for the shows. I'm not setting up at shows if I can't bring new stuff out. I don't have the patience to be like the book guy and bring the same old stuff out that nobody wants. I work my tail off getting thousands of new cards out at each and every show and it's very time consuming. So, I've got to know ahead of time that I can set aside portions of my evenings to sort and price cards before I schedule a show.
I'll have a good idea by the end of July how things are going play out. If this turns out to be a normal 40-hour a week job, I'll probably go back to my full schedule of shows in September. Though, I think I may take some more weekends off to give myself some much needed breathers. Don't get me wrong, the shows are generally pretty fun and I still enjoy them. The problem is, I no longer have the energy to work a full-time job, spend all night after work prepping for shows, then spend every weekend at shows without any free time in the mix to relax. I still plan on being around, just not as much.
In the meantime, I started reloading my 1959 Topps baseball binder tonight. My next show won't be until July 13 at Orland -- about three weeks from now. I should have quite a few binders reloaded by then. The Gonzaga show is also that weekend on July 14. Come on out and say hello. I'll bring FREE books!
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