I have, however, been pretty active on Ebay. After selling a few cards and building up some Paypal, I picked up some REALLY cool cards, including the following 10 relics from 2011 Goodwin Champions. Now, while these are really cool-looking cards, of course, the key for this group, was combined shipping and the time of day.
Shipping charges are a necessary evil for Ebay sellers. They have to charge an extra 2-3 bucks for an item, which can really hurt sales, but when you can combine a few different items and the dealer combines shipping, it could average out to just and extra 30-40 cents per card. Being a hockey fan living in Houston, I just consider that a kind of "import tax" if you will.
The biggest factor that gave me such a good deal, though, was the timing. After putting some items of my own up on Ebay, I discovered that the best way to increase your prices was to have them end in the evening on a weekday, when people are home from work, and most likely, not going out. These 10 cards ended at around 1:00 PM CST. Most people were at work. I was not.
Anyway, here are the goods.
I'll admit, I'm not the biggest soccer fan, but for the price I got these for, why not? Landon Donovan is a soccer player I've heard of, which must mean he's pretty good, and Dwayne De Rosario won the MLS Cup with the Houston Dynamo, and the orange swatch is CLEARLY from the jersey of my local team.
Speaking of Houston, I also picked up a relic card of NBA hall-of-famer Hakeem Olajuwon.
There's also relic cards of current NHL superstar Alexander Ovechkin and former NHL superstar Eric Lindros.
Here are the hockey hall-of-famers: Ray Bourque, Mark Messier, Cam Neely, and Patrick Roy. Is it just me, or does Roy look like 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer?
And, of course, Sidney Crosby. The card the brought me to all the rest. And at $4.25, by far, the most expensive card of the lot. The total price ended up being $15.07, plus $4 shipping.
10 relic cards for 19 bucks? Not bad at all.
I thought about building that set too. Nice haul.
ReplyDeleteNice grabs! I'm found that most dealers end their auctions Sunday evening. Is there something special about the next five hours or so that makes this evening such a golden opportunity? I certainly agree that evening-ending auctions sell better, and I generally have better luck winning daytime auctions.
ReplyDeleteI think the theory with Sunday evening is that most people have work the next day, therefore, people will be home with access to their computer to bid on items before heading to bed.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it makes sense. I just wonder if there's any research that proves it works. I think having auctions end mid-week during the evening might be better since you're up against less competition (all those Sunday night auctions) but still get the evening views.
ReplyDeleteFantastic.
ReplyDeleteThat Ovechkin is a beauty.