Dear Sports Card Radio:
As a brick and mortar store owner in this already f***** up hobby, I would like to personally thank you for promoting wholesale pricing on your website for every customer to see in addition to where to go and how to get the product. What a genuine way to preserve any integrity left in this business. I know, I know, you love the hobby and only do what’s best for it! With hobby friends like you who needs enemies?
Love,
Tim Stewart
The Dugout Cards & Games
336 Lenoir Rhyne BLVD., Suite 7
Hickory, NC
Hello Tim,
As a former shop owner myself I can feel your frustration. Emailing me might make you feel better for a day or two, but I would direct any sarcasm and angst you have against the people who are really “preserving the integrity in this business.” Do you also email the wholesale distributors, Panini, Topps, Upper Deck, Blowout Cards, Atlanta Sports Cards, DA Card World? Or do you just email website owners who are shining light onto what a “f***** up hobby” this has turned out to be?
I will continue to publish wholesale prices – funny thing is, Blowout Cards and DA’s prices are often lower. Imagine how many emails I get from people asking me to explain that!
Save your love – you’re in a tough business. I am sure you are just frustrated. Glad I closed my store years ago.
Sports Card Radio
Dear Sports Card Radio:
To answer your question, I direct my sarcasm and angst to whom I feel deserves it, and yes that includes the manufacturers that over produce and proliferate this product to internet dumpers like the scums you mentioned in your reply.
The liars at Topps will say all day long that DA Card World and Blowout Cards pay the same prices that I do? What a crock of s***. Would you sell the person who buys pallets of product the same price that the guy who buys 1 case? So, from the tip top of this f***** up hobby it is short sighted and corrupt.
Emailing you by the way didn’t result in me feeling anything. I don’t do things to draw reactions or glean a feeling from it. I have recommended your site for years to customers only to see more and more and more of you telling my customers where to go for cheaper product. Your time and talents seem on our side of things to be misplaced and you are promoting the sickness that oozes in this hobby.
You closed your store for whatever reason and now you carpet bomb the rest of us with this wholesale propaganda, further eroding the hopes of stores surviving. I hope that whatever endeavors you are in now or will be in the future, that your customer can buy those products and services cheaper than you can, and you get some of your own medicine. Either way I will survive and prosper even in a whore market like the one you perpetuate, and I am sure despite my hopes you will find your calling too.
Now let’s go about our respective chores, you doing what you need to do to feed your family, and I will do what I need to do to feed mine.
Tim Stewart
The Dugout Cards & Games
336 Lenoir Rhyne BLVD., Suite 7
Hickory, NC
Tim,
One of my favorite TV shows is Shark Tank. On the show, business owners state exactly how much they make a product for – and how much they sell it for. The next day, these businesses are flooded with orders & sell millions. Knowing the wholesale price doesn’t effect demand for a product one bit right?
As a shareholder of Apple – every 3 months they get on a conference call and brag how they raised margins a few points. Last time I checked, Apple is selling billions of dollars worth of product and anyone can figure out exactly how much their iPhone really cost. Doesn’t seem to stop anyone from buying Apple’s latest product. I invest in dozens of other companies where this is the case including Nike, Victoria’s Secret, Exxon, and AT&T. Knowing these companies rake me over the coals every time I buy a product doesn’t seem to hurt them does it?
There’s a supply & demand problem with the business you’re in. A small collector website isn’t to blame for that.
I realized this over 7 years ago. Instead of blaming the internet, manufactures, Blowout Cards or a blog for my store closing/struggling – I blamed myself. Selling overpriced stuff people don’t need is a tough business – in good times or bad. Not to mention the seasonality and fickleness of customers makes it one of the worst businesses I’ve ever been involved in.
After closing in 2008, instead of blaming people or feeling sorry for ourselves – we picked ourselves up and found better ways to earn a living. Today, the only worry I have is if my tee shot will find the fairway tomorrow morning at the country club. My brother travels the country chasing women, including a trip to Las Vegas where we were guests of eBay 2 weeks ago. I haven’t sold a thing on eBay in 7 years so I’ll let you figure that one out. Bottom line is there are better ways to make money than buying/re-selling goods. You’re at the bottom of the food chain as a store owner – and I thank God everyday I recognized that and figured out ways where I would never be in that situation again.
Instead of trying to send sarcastic e-mails my way – you should be asking me how to get out from selling boxes of cards for a living and actually make some real money. It’s not that hard … and blaming others for your troubles is certainly not a way to turn things around.
Good luck, you need it.
Buying Sports Cards Wholesale requires a state re-seller ID or Permit in most cases. Visit your States Tax Board to find out the steps needed to obtain this. Keep in mind this is a competitive business and prices are going to be similar across the board for the most part. Find a distributor that gives you the best price and the best service and you can make money. The better relationship you have with your sales team, the better deals they may be able to offer you down the road.
