Question:

I have a card #219 of Courtney UpShaw from 2012 Panini Prestige Football in a suit but he is not holding up a jersey. Is this the actual shortprint?

Answer:

Yes - you have the Sp version. I will update my page to include that they may not all be holding up the jersey. Nice card!

Question:

I acquired 3 1999 Topps Football Mystery Chrome cards.  All the mystery chrome cards on eBay have a single picture on one side and four pictures on the other. the ones that I have have the four pictures on one side and is black on the other. Do you know anything about these.

Answer:

Thank you for the e-mail. I believe that yours still have the original 'mystery' coating still on them ... which off the top of my head was like a black film over one side of the card. When you peel it off, it reveals one of the four players on the back.

You can keep them as-is and they would be more interesting to collectors as time goes on, or peel them off to revel a player, that is up to you. Those were interesting cards.

Question:

I have been going crazy trying to find an official answer to whether Topps actually printed 2012 Topps Series 2 Gold sparkle card #391 - Barajas.  I know they fixed it for the base set, but do you happen to know if they did the same for the gold sparkle base set?  Thanks

Answer:

I did some looking around and asked someone who I knew opened a bunch of this stuff. No gold sparkle for Barajas #391 in 2012 Topps Series 2 Baseball. Hope that puts your mind at ease :)

Question:

Can this card fairly be considered an error? He never even came close to signing with the Bucs. He tweeted that he was signing with the Bucs and then 5 hours signed with the Broncos. Bowman, in its rush to get the product out, must have never noticed?

Answer:

Un-corrected error I guess is the actual term some people use - when they don't issue another card with Broncos on it. Interesting - could be they got it off twitter. Broncos and Bucs might be right next to each other on the alphabetical chart and I could see something getting messed up there, I'm not sure - but I haven't heard too many positive things about 2012 Bowman Football.

Question:

I recently bought a couple of packs and got a blue border auto of Robert Griffin III. I can't seem to find one listed anywhere. How rare are these and about how much would this be worth. Thanks.

Answer:

It's a nice card and I do know they are real hard to get. At least 5x as hard as the red versions. One on July 25, 2012 sold on eBay for $88. It's probably in the $80-120 range for the most part (as of July 2012)

Question:

I have been collecting the 2012 TOPPS series one and two.  I opened a jumbo pack of the series two and in with the special cards part i got a Gio Gonzalez card.  On the back the card has the 519 number on it but on the front it is a 1/1 and has a silver boarder.  I am trying to find anything on this card but haven't found anything.  Just curious if it is a card worth anything or if it is just more nothing too special card.

Answer:

I believe what you have is the Platinum Parallel - each card in the base set has a platinum parallel. They are obviously very rare cards.

Congrats on getting such a rare hit. I can't really tell how much the card is worth, but you can see what others have sold for here:

http://www.ebay.com/csc/Cards-/212/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=2012+topps+1%2F1+platinum&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc

Looks like at least $30, but possibly more to a Gio fan.

Question:

I have a Dwayne Wade 10-11 donruss production line game used card #7/10. I was wondering the value of this card. Its in mint condition.

Answer:

That's a very nice card, a similar one sold (with a nice patch) for $77 and the one pictured here sold for $21.50 on September 11, 2012. Yours should be in the same ball-park. With this card, the better the patch, and maybe selling during basketball season - the more it will be worth. Hope that helps.

Question:

Hi I have a question. I am going to the National Sports Collectors Convention Friday and Saturday and this is my first one and was wondering if this is a cash only event or how do you go about purchasing the more expensive items?

Answer:

Thanks for the question, a few places have options, including Blowout Cards, Atlanta Cards - and a few others, but it's mainly a straight cash environment. The auction houses with big-tickets items should be able to accept other forms of payment as well. If it's a high 4 or 5 figure buy, I'm sure most booths will have options for you to pay securely with a credit card.

Question:

I purchased a 2012 Topps Tribute hobby box and I pulled a Albert Pujols Superstar Swatches #2/2.  I was looking through your checklist and I could not find this particular item. Could you help me out?  I'm just trying to figure out how much its worth.

Answer:

As far as value - a World Series jersey card #/2 from that set sold for around $90. The card pictured here sold for $143.50 on July 23, 2012. My guess would be your card would fall in that range. Hope that helps.

Question:

So i opened a retail box of 2012 sage hit cards the other day. I purchased them from target. Upon opening one of the packs it had a RG3 card in it with 10A on the back of the card.  The card looks identical to the number 10 card except for the A next to the 10 on the back and also; on the front of the card instead of saying "10" it says "1-2". I did search eBay and few other places with no luck.. My first inclination was that it could be a short print. My second was that it was supposed to be auto card that never got signed. What a bummer if that is the case. Any information you might know will be extremely helpful!

Answer:

Question:

I was just wondering why there is no Donald Driver card made? I've been spending lots of money on the cards im not a happy customer!

Answer:

Hello, I wish I had a good answer for you - given that Donald Driver is one of the most popular players in the game - I'd think they would always want to make lots of cards for him. Maybe as the season goes along they will start making more cards. Maybe let some of the people know at Upper Deck, Topps and Panini you'd like to see more of Driver on social media.

Question:

I would love to start my own online card business. I very very little capital, and not enough of my own personal cards to start a true inventory. My thought was to go on places like eBay and buy wholesale lots of cards from people either moving on or just trying to make money. I figured this would be a much cheaper way to acquire a ton of cards at a low price and still be able to make a little money off of them. Do you have any experience doing this, or any advice going forward?

Answer:

There are quite a few ways you could go about it. I like the idea of buying lot's and re-selling them. I do that quite often myself - more for fun. Although I think one could work their way up to making good money.

The things I would consider:

1) Start slow. Real slow. You can definitely find a deal on a 'lot' of cards on eBay for $500-1000.  And if you decide to start your own website - or just re-list the cards individually on eBay - I would do so at a slow pace.

2) Be organized. This ties into #1. You want to start slow so that you get a feel for all the time it takes to sell a card. The shipping process, the listing process etc.

3) Write down and keep track of how much money you earn. It's a tedious process best done on Microsoft excel.  You need to know how much money you make off each card. Include all your costs, from the bubble mailer, the tape, the gas to the post office if possible, everything. If you don't know how much $$$ you are making you will have no idea if it will be worth your time to continue the business.

4) Be patient. This is very important. Especially if you start your own website. It takes a lot of time to get people to start coming to a website. You could work everyday on it for 6 months and maybe still not make a sale on it. People give up very quickly on websites because of this. The people who stick around and consistently work on their site usually end up being rewarded. You could start by selling on eBay and/or Check Out My Cards and having a website/blog that promoted those listings.

Probably have a few more things to add. But digest that and see where you are. Let me know if you have questions. For me, it's all about starting slow, thinking long-term, and being patient. There are great opportunities for deals out there on eBay and elsewhere.

There are some other avenues. Depends what market you are in. A Craigslist ad could yield some results if you live in a populated area. It might be mostly people trying to dump off some 1990's commons but you might come across someone with decent stuff. I know of a guy who recently bought about 10,000 comic books for around 6 cents each. He did real well as some of them were valuable.

I use Check Out My Cards a lot. They have an option to sell your 'entire portfolio'. http://www.checkoutmycards.com/Classifieds/Port_Sale/  This is where I come in and buy them and re-sell the cards on that site. Easy for me cause it's just clicking buttons. Have bought and sold about 40,000 cards, have probably at least doubled my investment, maybe more, but have never withdrawn any money. The site is set up in a way that it's better to just keep re-investing profits into more cards. Great for me cause it's fun and not something I need to earn income from. But it does limit what you can do on that site. As there maybe only one or two sellers who can "make a living" off that site. At least as of now. He is expanding his business to include comics, coins, magazines, other collectibles which could open things up for someone like me who has some $$$ to spend on inventory. I'm always quick to promote his site because I've met him several times and I think in a few years there will be some people who can make $2,000-5,000 a month by just flipping merchandise over - or sending in cards/stuff they get a good deal on. Look into the site and let me know if you have questions. I know that site very well. It's also going to change a little bit in September. Changes which I think could help bring more buyers onto the site with simplified shipping fees. The Beckett Book Value will also not be listed - which has been a key factor to that site since it launched.

eBay is a great source though. Even for other things. Back in the day I bought hats, other little collectible things in huge lots and re-sold them usually right on ebay. Obviously just know what you're buying from a trusted seller. I've picked up tons of graded cards in the last few weeks on eBay - I may sit on them for awhile but eventually I'm confident I will sell them for way more then I paid. eBay is incredible in that way. And with sellers now able to list free in the sports mem category till the end of the year look for even more deals to be had.

feel free to shoot me any questions. There are very few resources for stuff like this. I am always happy to help.

Question:

I was looking at the list for the 2012 Topps chrome. I noticed that the odds for the parallels have retail pack odds and hobby pack odds. What is the difference between the two, and where can I find the different types of packs?

Answer:

Thanks for the question.  Here is the breakdown.

Retail Pack = a pack you will find at Target, Walmart, Toys R Us etc. Usually with these packs it's harder to get autograph and some of the rare hits. BUT - these packs tend to be cheaper.

Hobby Pack = packs sold at a hobby stores or online at places like DACardWorld and Blowout Cards.

Sometimes there are less cards in retail packs compared to hobby packs. Usually it's easier to get autographs and such out of hobby packs. That is why hobby packs and boxes are also more expensive then packs and boxes at Target and WalMart.

Question:

I listed to your Fleer Retro podcast on itunes and I thought I would give my two cents on selling on Ebay full time.

I have been doing it since June of last year when I got fed up with my job and quit.  I thought I was only going to do the full time thing for about 6 months to a year before I sold it all off in bulk.  After the first four months I started to realize that I could make some real good money doing this.  I had a Beckett Marketplace store for about 12 years and did that full time before shutting that down and moving to my own site/ebay selling full time a year ago.

Here are my tips to success.

Fixed price over auctions 95% of the time.  If it is something that is super rare, or if it is a ebay promotion, then I will use the auction feature.  Set an item at a price you would be happy for and if it sell that is great.  If it doesn't, that means that the right buyer was not on Ebay at the right time.  I have had some cards that have gone unsold for weeks/months only to be listed at a higher price and sell.  I can't explain it.

Do not use the "Best Offer' feature on your fixed price auctions. - As soon as you give the perception that you are willing to take less for an item, it won't sell.  People want a deal and as soon as they see a best offer they will expect a deal.  It is not your "deal" that they want.  They want "their deal".  The first offer is almost 20% of the asking price, even if the card has sold at 80% the original asking price.

I agree about buying low vs selling high.  I put out buy posts like "Have $20.00 to spend on a lot of cards" I specify what I am looking for in the body of the subject and watch the offers roll in.

I have a few other things I am keeping to myself, but I think you get the point.  It can be done...but it is a lot of work.  My wife is out of the house at 6 AM and gets home at about 5 PM.  I am on the job as soon as I wake up and usually sorting cards for uploading the following day when she comes home at night.

Answer:

Thank you so much for this insight, I'm not sure if you listened to podcast #106 yet but I basically tried to give out this advice. I remember the days when fixed price was a different fee structure ... but certainly now with eBay making it 'free' to list the fixed price is the way to go.