What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Passionate Profession brought to you by my good friends at eBay starting a brand new year of these episodes. We're unlocking a new character. I am joined today by Drew Hester, who's the chief operating officer at Greg Morris cards. We're chatting a little bit ahead of this, and I'm excited to learn more about Greg Morris cards, obviously an established brand in this space.

We're gonna talk about cultivating community and loyalty in the hobby, talking sports, cards, business. But without further ado, happy New Year, Drew. Welcome. How are you? Good.

Doing awesome, man. Happy New Year to you as well. We have to talk a little bit because in all of these episodes that I have, even from people who aren't in your area of the country, Ohtani comes up, and you're a big LA sports guy. Very lucky and fortunate based on your fandom and all the teams. I I would love to learn a little bit about just, like, what it's like right now as a fan of sports living in the same city with just so many stars and maybe, Ohtani being the biggest of the bunch.

Yeah. I mean, I kinda told you this prior, but, we're an extremely spoiled fan base of my own, views. We have almost multiple teams in each sport to choose from. We got, you know, contenders every year, and our franchises well, now, especially with new purchases of certain teams with the Lakers and the Dodgers, we have some of the most wealthy owners that are coming into play to be able to spend atrocious amounts of money to bring the entertainment to LA and keep it here. So like I said, we're we're quite spoiled.

It's absolutely awesome if you're an LA fan. Everybody else doesn't really like you, and it's I'm completely okay with that. I love the camaraderie. So, yeah, it brings a lot of joy, and it's it's fun. And then maybe before we jump into it, talk about, like, the the card scene because Yeah.

Everyone always talks about how strong and vibrant the card scene is on the West Coast in so many companies, so many different figures that people are familiar with are out of LA in your neck of the woods. But, yeah, maybe what what's it like, kind of operating in a scene as vibrant as LA's? Yeah. So, you know, I started here about four years ago. And one thing that I've learned just is really kind of the history of cards.

We're we're massive, huge players in the vintage community. We're making big strides in the modern community. But going back to the history and what I've learned, you know, having the nationals that used to be held here in Los Angeles right here down from the airport, and this used to be a huge staple here in Los Angeles when it came to the card scene. And knowing that I work in vintage, which is primarily East Coast, Midwest, is really where it kind of, like, started and and stayed. I've seen a huge growth out here.

It's wild. There's probably been about four to five new card shops that have opened since I've started here. There's been thousands of breaking companies, thousands of new, shows to go to and circuits that are coming into LA. The vintage presence isn't really as big as it is here as, say, a show I might go to Philadelphia or Texas or Chicago or New York, but it's growing, and it's growing rapidly. So, it's a great thing to see here.

I mean, we do have players that obviously play here in LA that are very, very desirable. So every card shop you walk into, you'd know you're gonna see 15 Ohtani rookies. You're gonna see endless amounts of Lake Lucas and LeBrons and things like that. So it it's exciting here. One thing I do love, like like I I mentioned, is is the show growth.

And I'm seeing local small shows pop up that are gaining a lot of traction. We have the the West Coast Card Show here that's gaining a lot of traction. So it's very promising, and and and it's awesome to see the growth that's happening. I've never thought about it up until you saying it. When I think about the West Coast scene, I think more maybe it's Kobe and, like, exquisite, modern, ultra modern, less the vintage side.

But when I think about Greg Morris cards, I think about vintage. And as maybe as your the business is forming and building, obviously, like, being established in one area and category and maybe trying to expand into others, there's probably a lot that goes into that. How how do you think about kind of maybe evolving as a business where more people in your neck of the woods who are maybe focused in on ultra modern or specific category? Like, how do you think about kind of getting getting into their workflows and their minds and the way they think? Like, what what what sort of things have you done in order to maybe evolve just the way the brand shows up?

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of questions that go into play with that. One question I mean, a of answers go into play with that one answer. But the thing is, in 2026, that's gonna be our primary focus. Like, we we have the stigma where everybody sees our brand.

And if you know vintage, you know who we are because we are we dominate the force when it comes to selling individual cards for set builders and, you know, those real old school collectors. So people see us and like, oh, they just do vintage. So we are trying to break that stigma to let everybody know, like, hey. It's much more broader than that. We have a full raw, modern account of ultra high end modern, mid modern, low grade modern.

We also have a graded card account that we that we use, which is high end modern, high end vintage, mid, low tier, whatever you want. Anything that's graded in the slab, we sell it. And then we have our GM cards, which is a staple of the raw card, you know, collector's passion, which is for raw vintage, and that's pretty much anything like 1980 and older. People that could buy singles, sets, starter lots, things like that. So we're trying to bring an awareness and a presence to all those other things there, especially because, like I said, we're here on the West Coast.

We don't get a lot of vintage shows. There's modern shows and things popping up all over, and we need more recognition. And we need to be seen because we are the one stop shop where you could bring us any card you want, and we're gonna make you the most regardless. Like, there's and we're gonna do it in a very orderly fashion and very organized compared to many other people. So we we really are gonna be jumping into it.

I don't have all the answers to it yet, but I'll tell you what, that stigma does kinda hurt us because, like I said, I thought I've had people walk up with Kobe exquisites and and Jordan rookies and all I mean, Jordan autos and inserts, and I'm they're just like, yeah. But you guys don't do this. Yeah. We do. We have and we have a sales history of it.

We have a sales history of being very, very successful. It's just that stigma that I have to get out there, to kinda crush to be like, look. We we are turning into a one stop shop for single cards, slabs, raw cards, and we'll do all the work for you. That's amazing. I'm excited to dig in more of that.

Maybe let's focus in on you, Drew Sure. In your history with cards. Maybe, like, how how did you first get involved? Was it, you know, collecting as a kid? Maybe share your origin story with collecting.

Yeah. So I was a kind of a a weird kid. I didn't watch cartoons. I didn't do that whole you know, I wasn't into video games very much or comic books or things like that. I watched sports.

I I remember as a kid, my dad's friends used to come over and be like, hey. I'm planning on going to see the angels game. They're gonna be playing the red sox. What's this matchup look like? And I'm seven years old being like, yeah.

This is who's starting first base. This is who's pitching. This is what I was just obsessed. Like, I was absolutely obsessed with sports, especially baseball primarily. That's where it really started for me.

And then it, you know, evolved to basketball and football and hockey. Huge hockey fan. But as a young age, I'd only followed that, and I was only into memorabilia. I bought cards, but I never took it serious. I never really gained any knowledge.

I just loved memorabilia. I loved my side. Baseballs, my jerseys, like the jersey collection I have. I really wish I didn't spend all that money as a kid buying all these stupid jerseys, you know, every week. But that's where my passion started.

And then I fell into an opportunity here where I wanted to broaden the modern department and kinda do breaking and do some fun things, do some on field breaking with with athletes since I have some relationships with them and stuff like that, which we are doing this in 2026. You'll see it start here in a couple weeks. But, that evolved into me taking this position with limited knowledge on vintage sports cards. Extremely limited. I just knew how to kind of run operations and run businesses, and, you know, I'm a I'm a hustler at heart.

So I've been able to progress crazy since then and really dive into these cards from modern to vintage to everything to learn the knowledge about it. And, it's even turned me into a collector. Now I catch myself buying stuff on eBay on the weekends or sitting on the couch at night, and I'm buying stuff, like, pretty wild to me. Because this wasn't this wasn't kind of what I saw ever happening. Just never was really a passion, but now it is.

I absolutely love it. See I the value in all these items. So it's it's it's completely changed my, you know, direction is what I do for passion and hobby and stuff like that off the side too besides just working here. I think about the way the industry is moving and especially on the manufacturer side, and it is undeniable that there is this push to get sports fans to convert to be collectors and, like, you talking through your story, it it triggered that in my brain. And, like, I think you see it everywhere, and this 2025 has been insane from, seeing cards in places that we've never seen before.

You talked about just, like, your growth in your career and moving over and eventually ending up being a collector and appreciating it. I don't think, like, one marketing campaign will translate into people who love sports to eventually become collectors. It takes a long while. I'd love to know, like, based on your observations of, like, last year in 2025 and just, like, the push from tops to, you know, do hobby rip nights, use athletes athletes to promote their product. Like, what what's your perspective on on that approach?

Because it feels like that is the way our industry is is moving forward with a fanatics and tops kinda at the helm kind of pushing it. Yeah. I think there's, like I think there's three drivers of that. One is the collector. There's still thousands and thousands of collectors out there that have the true passion for the person they might be following, the team, or just overall collection of whatever it may be.

Right? That that is one part of the hobby. The second one to me is kind of that dollar sign. Right? Like, you see, like, woah.

Somebody sold a 6 figure card. There's cards that are made of paper that are selling for 6 figures. Okay. That person starts to gain passion based off of that dollar figure to say, what? Okay.

There's either some investments here or some opportunity of gain for me in the future, and I'd love to divulge into this and learn more and things like that. And then the third one is that FOMO where you have, like you wanna be a part of this community. You wanna be a part of that athlete touching your card. You wanna hear them talking about how they collected their own cards as they got drafted or came up in in any type of professional sports that they're a part of. So I think those three kind of control this whole, movement that we have.

And it it's crazy because since I've started this job, is a is a great example, I have multiple friends that know where I work now. And they see me at these card shows. I'm like, what do you do? They're now buying cards because they think it's so silly. They don't really follow sports, but then they see, wait.

You just bought that Mickey Mantle, you know, 1963 Mickey Mantle for $500? I'm like, yeah. And it's yeah. To me, it's an investment. I'm gonna hold on to it for fifteen years or give to my kids.

Right? Because it's not gonna go anywhere. These are pieces of art and history and sports, and they're worth collecting. So, like, I think those three drivers, though, push this market, and they're gonna continue to push it. There's new people entering the hobby every day, and it is just growing and growing and growing and growing.

2026 is gonna be absolutely absurd. Yeah. I thought I thought I I'm not sure what I expected at 2025, but it it just looking at the analytics and the data, it's insane. So I I would imagine it's not gonna slow down anytime soon. And you mentioned, like, you identified yourself as a hustler, and I I wanna dig into that.

And and I wanna get to, like, you working at Greg Morris cards, but how did you get there? Like, what were you doing before you got into working at a company like Greg Morris cards that led you there? So I had, I had started a a golf company when I was 18. I dropped out of college. I was an entrepreneur my whole life.

So I kind of made my own movements, my own, you know, sales. Whatever I wanted to create, I kinda did. That's kind of how it's always been for me. This is the first job I ever took and worked for somebody. Like, I had never worked for anybody before, so it's very and I'm so grateful because Greg gave me the opportunity to kind of create my own schedule, create my visions, and things like that and kind of run with them.

It's like, hey. If it works, it works. It doesn't. It doesn't. Just keep trying and trying.

So that is, like, kind of the best of both worlds. It played the perfect part for this. But I did start a I was playing golf in college. I ended up leaving my first year because I would win all these golf clubs and golf things, and I'd be like, oh my gosh. I just wanna sell this.

Like, what if I just won these free giveaways, and I would just make this money in my summer? And, like, I was 17, 18 years old. So I started a a website that was purely tailored to the resell of golf clubs. And you could go on there and list your golf clubs from your house. You could buy somebody's golf club used golf clubs.

You could buy them new from the store. They were all listed on there. So it's kinda like not an eBay competitor, but, like, a a probably a more of a niche place to find your items. I ended up having someone purchase that from me. They ended up running into the ground later.

But I had a full sponsorship on the PGA tour. I was able to go to, like, events and really promote what I was trying to do to the public and have, you know, venue setups and, you know, all these shows and stuff. So it translated really easy for me when I got this job because I'm like, look. I've already done all of these convention centers and all these shows. It's just a different product.

It's like, know how it works. So I was very lucky in that spot. But, yeah, for me, it's it's kind of just this kinda just randomly happened, and I'm, like, so glad I did. I have the most awesome job now. I get to play with sports cards for a living.

Like, it's it's it's crazy. But, yeah, I mean, like I said, it's it's more random than anything because being an entrepreneur and always doing something that I wanted to do or create and then being able to join this has been, yeah, it's been life changing. What's your what's your observation in just growing your career by running your own business, trying to find money to support yourself and your family, and then moving and working for a company like Greg Morris cards and and analyzing the people and the behaviors, whether it's at shows, people selling online. Like, my big takeaway, especially as I've gone all in on this, is, like, one of the stories and I'm hoping we we tell it on shows like this, but, like, one of the stories that I think is really important to the the growth and the health of this hobby is, like, there's just so many people who, think like an owner, so many entrepreneurs in this space. And I think that entrepreneurial mindset from so many people, whether it's people working or starting their own companies or just people hitting the show scene, I think, like, that is the foundation that really keeps this industry growing and strong.

But as an entrepreneur who kinda sold the company and moved into working for a company, like, what's your analysis of, like, the entrepreneurial spirit of the hobby in general? I think that's why I really thrive in my position, because I am also head of consignment. So I am you know, everybody's got my cell phones ringing right now. We're talking of consignors that, you know, are looking to talk or have an idea, but that's all we do. I talk like I'm an entrepreneur when I meet them.

I talk about their ideas, what's their goals, what they might what might help them do better in their space. But also at the same time, I would love to work with them on what they do better with, you know what I mean, through Greg Morris, because that mindset here is, like will take you so far. In in this industry, like, people strive to look for people who are very transparent. And, I mean, I work for a company where my boss's name is the company. We are the most transparent people you could possibly be and up you know, we're we're as honest as we can be.

So, like, I went into this as an entrepreneur thinking, you know what? I'm in this space where a lot of people are doing this as a hobby to sell set up as a dealer to show, or they do it as a full time job, or, you know, they want they're retiring and wanna do it with their son, and they're it's family aspect. So my mindset going in was like, look. There is so much untapped opportunity for cards or people like you say like you say that are entrepreneurs who are trying to do things that we could all work hand in hand together, like, and all be very successful. Like, it doesn't need you don't need to be, you know, taking from this guy or doing one good deal to not be friendship be friends with this guy for the rest of your career.

So, like, I went in with that mindset as an entrepreneur. Like, maybe I could help these people because they're going to help me. Like, I don't have the knowledge here. I'm gonna have to learn either visually and doing it in repetition or constantly studying, or people are gonna kinda help guide me when I'm wrong as long as I'm transparent and honest with them, and I could help them too. So, like, that I came in here with a complete opposite mindset of most of these people who are long time collectors, and I think that's helped a ton.

And I definitely would be pointing towards me being an entrepreneur and a hustler that really kinda promoted that because it's more of like, hey. You're selling this money. I could see you doing very well. What can I do for you? Or maybe I'd be interested in some of your product to buy for my website or my sales and yada yada yada.

So there's everybody can work together here. There's so much room and so much space. So what's the origin story of how you, got pulled in to working for Greg Morris's cards? Well, I actually have a family friend that was, that knows Greg, and I'd always been kinda, like, spitballing ideas to him every now and then. Like, we would talk on the phone.

I'd be like, hey. Have you heard of this thing called NFT? I'm looking at it now. That was a terrible idea. But then, you know, I would kinda spitball these ideas and just have conversation.

And I was kinda transitioning. Like, what am I gonna do next? You know? Like, I had these ideas of what I'm gonna start, and I've been opening a new company. And Greg gave me that opportunity to do the case breaks.

And I was doing them live, and this was about, like, four years ago when it's all starting. And it was more or less just for fun. And I think some other items happened internally at Greg Morris where he kinda wanted to make some decisions of which direction he wants to go as a company. And I happened to be in the office downstairs, like, look. I'll try.

If you want me to try, I'd love to give it a go. And, literally, ever since then, it's been full speed ahead. It happened very quick and just had to adapt very fast. And I like I said, I'm I'm not afraid, especially in this space. I have a very, like, high power position in the industry, but I am not anywhere close to the knowledge that majority of these people have that have been in here for twenty years.

I just know what works for us, and I know what works for our clients. And, like, that is the most important thing. There's so many, businesses in this space that have been here who do similar adjacent things to Greg Morris cards. There's new companies that literally pop up every day in this space, and that's what happens, right, when an industry is ripping. How how do you describe kind of your operation, what you do at Greg Morse Cards?

Like, what you offer and, like, what are what's kinda, like, the secret sauce? Like, how why have you guys been able to stay in business for as long as you have? It's the consistency. The consistency and the transparency are the most important thing you could do, especially in this industry. The one thing, like, when I took this job, that I made very prevalent was like, hey.

If I'm gonna take this, I need a cell phone. That's a company cell phone. Because the way I'm learning and seeing how people actually move with their sports cards and their collectibles is sometimes they are more important to them than their children. So if you're going to hand me one of your cards and that holds that importance, once you wanna get to know me, once you wanna make sure that you feel a little bit safe to do this, once you wanna make sure there's full transparency and consistency and you know that you're dealing with someone that's going to take care of you and gonna show you everything. You know, not necessarily hold your hand, but kind of in a sense.

And I feel like that is, like sometimes that gets lost here. Because some some companies are more or less like, I wanna make it automated. How much more AI can I put in? You just fill out this form and send me your card. And you're like, alright.

This guy's sending us a 6 figure card. I think he should know where it's going. I should know where it's going. We should be communicating what we have. He should feel that sense of comfort.

And I think that is one huge factor in what we do. On top of that, we have great reporting. We also have unbelievable sales. And that just that's because we not only do I communicate or we communicate as a whole with our consignors, but our buyers. We have some of the best customer service, around.

And I I preach that all the time. It it takes a lot and a lot of effort, lot a lot of work, man hours, but our customer service is also yeah. It is the best on eBay, I think. There's a thread I wanna pull on with something you said. So much of this industry, especially at the on the mainstream at the top right now is very transactional.

It's like I think about just the like, a lot of the content is, you know, it's built for TikTok, Reels Yeah. Big hits, monster sales, and it's, like, all of these, like, quick dopamine hits and money, dollar signs. And sometimes I think what gets lost in the the the sauce is just the ability to, build and develop relationships and where that can lead you. And I've always as as an observer of this space, the the collectors and the business owners who I've always viewed have having the most success are those that are long game players that are building the relationships, building trust. How are you able or you and Greg Morris cards, how are you able to continue to focus on that, especially when we're in this space where so much of it is transactionally based?

Yeah. I mean, it's funny you say that. It's because our number one motto, especially between Greg and I, is that, we cannot have transactional thinking. Because transactional thinking doesn't get us to where we wanna go. We're it's more big picture than anything.

So that's one thing that we focus on a ton a ton. But the thing is, like, we kind of are a niche in a way. So far with our vintage, we are. Our modern, we're trying to kinda pivot and go a different way, to try and show that we are competing with the rest of these individuals that that do this. But when it comes to vintage, I think we are the only company that that's left, that tailors to the true collector.

There's nobody else around. The thing is everybody wants to sell high end graded cards and kind of like, hey. What can I what grade can I get? Oh, can I upgrade this? Can you get this?

There's still a tremendous amount of people out there in collectors who only want raw cards, who want the nostalgia of being a kid, who wanna go back to be like, man, I've been doing this since I was 15 years old, Drew. You won't believe the stories, and we sit down and talk about the stories. Those people get lost in a lot of this stuff. They get lost in that nostalgia. They get lost in, you know, all these, like you said, the quick dopamine.

That's they're not interested. They're interested in doing what they did when they were younger, and we are the only company that really is left that tailors to that. There's you know? And it's very weird because majority of the things that we sell are not to, like, one person. We're not a top heavy company.

We sell to probably a 100 of our top clients consistently. And that's because they really share those true value the same values that we do, which is like, hey. You guys are true collectors. We're gonna be here for you no matter what. Those what I love about this just as a marketing guy, and I love the approach I think about just like this level of service, and I think about this high touch focusing on less but higher quality and continuing to nurture those relationships.

Like, how how do you think about making sure that the individuals who think about Greg Morris cards and think about vintage, you know, have spent whatever thousands, with you all year over year because they know that they're gonna get the right cards, and they know it's gonna come with after, and they know it's gonna be an easy process. Like, how do you with the competition at play, with so many other players coming in, how do you make sure that those relationships continue to be solid year over year? I mean, the biggest thing for us is, like, from a from a buying standpoint, you buying from us, that transparency is what keeps that trust. We're human. We're not gonna we sell 5,000 cards a day.

We're not going to be correct on 5,000 cards a day. Like, let's just be realistic. If I said that to you, I'd just be lying. So, you know, we know that, and we we always wanna make it right. So if somebody's unhappy or they miss didn't receive one of the cards in the order or something, we will always make it whole.

And that's what makes us very, very, like, consistent in that way is because our curse customer service is built that way. And it it'd be very hard to get kinda not get close to what we do there, but it'd be very hard to replicate. And it's just something that we've done since the very beginning. So you got a guy who could spend, you know, a $4,000 on a card, and he's unhappy when he gets at home because he's like, I don't like the color blue in it. I wish the blue was brighter.

It looked brighter in the scan. Or just like, that's completely fine. Hand it on back to us. We'd love for you to continue shopping. Like, there's no questions asked.

And I think that has really built, like, this trust and gained a lot of, like, close supporters and things like that. Because like I said, majority of the time, we are gonna be very accurate. We we do put visualization grades on all of our cards, modern and raw. But look. We're gonna have mistakes here and there.

Like I said, we are human. It's bound to happen. Nobody's perfect. So as long as we're transparent in what we see and the mistake we had and we make it right, we could let's move on to the next one, and there hopefully, it'll be more and more inventory for you to search through. You mentioned you you you talked about the, you know, company cell phone up front, and you also referenced, like, you know, I'm getting calls now.

Like, if you were to pick up the call like, what do those calls sound like? Like, what are what do you what's coming your way on a on a daily basis? It it depends. It it ranges from people just asking how consignments work, really kinda understand what type of company we are. I think, like I said, these are goals for my 2026 as well.

But to show a little bit more more transparency on what we actually do, like, we have a whole IT team here, that built softwares through our company within eBay. So we have endless amounts of things that we can use that help you for your sales or your purchases and tools like that, and I think people kinda don't see that. Like, we have our own website. You could go sign up on there and submit cards right now if you wanted to. Graded cards, you print out a tab of the barcode, and it shows you everything.

You'll have your own portal where you can look at sales reports and fees and click auction links, and it's just it's nonstop data. And I think people don't know that. So I get a lot of questions like, what are you guys, or what do you even do? And then I show them. So, like, that is a very repetitive call.

A lot of a lot of the other calls, I I have built with, relationships across America, and those are people that are consistent consignors or maybe doing this as a hobby that just have endless collections, or they're car dealers that are at shows that wanna talk to me about the next show I'm going to and what they could try and give us for consignment. Or, hey. I'm completely open for this too. They call me with a I'm looking at this collection. I need some help.

I'm overwhelmed. No problem. I could guide you through it if you're gonna purchase it, and then, hopefully, you could use Greg Morris to sell some of the cards. So, like, those mat majority of those are is kind of what it consists of. We do have over 5,400 consignors.

So I can't answer every phone call because I am really only one guy. There's another individual here that I work with in the consignment department, but it's really kinda me. And I think I've become a little OCD about it because it's like, a lot of these guys are my friends now. Like, I'd be happy. You know, they're wishing me happy birthday and, you know, happy New Year.

And it's like, man, this is it's good, and it's great great to have. But I think yeah. There there's new things every day. There's new things every single day, but there there's just repetitive on how it works. And it's really they call me to build that trust.

And it's that same trust I described before is, like, look. I want you to get to know who I am if you're giving me $20,000 of the cards. Like, you don't wanna be just typing in the paper and sending it over to Joe Schmo. Like, that's not that's not fun. There's gotta be excitement in buying the cards, collecting the cards, and there's definitely excitement in selling the cards.

Like, you should be doing all three of those and having, you know, very good success in all three. I I couldn't agree more. The mentioned eBay, and I'm I'm curious. I think, obviously, eBay is the the largest marketplace and, you know, sponsor of this show. I think when many people think about vintage and selling vintage, maybe they don't think about eBay right away.

But I think, obviously, that changes with companies like Greg Morris. How do you see, like, vintage and the sales of vintage and on a platform like eBay? How have you seen that maybe evolve over the years in in terms of, like, oh, I'm not gonna send my put my vintage cards on eBay because there's all these other auction houses to now, you know, vintage cards that you can see huge cards on more of a regular basis. Like, maybe talk us through kind of that evolution and what you've seen working at a company that's been focused so much on vintage over the years. Yeah.

I mean, look, behind the scenes, nobody competes with eBay. Like, nobody. Because the physical, attention that they could bring to a single card is unmatched. Now I could put up a $100,000 card in any website, and people will be able once again, it's a dollar sign thing. Right?

Even the guy who can't afford a $100 card is going to look at it. He's going to come check it out and be like, man, I wish I had that. That's my dream. Yada yada yada. But eBay just I it blows me away every single time.

Like, we list three to 5,000 cards a day. I I don't even look at the cards that we list or nor am I able even able to track them. But there is people and eyeballs that are going through this constantly throughout the day to go look one by one to say, oh, they're listing items today that I wanna add to my collection. I'm very interested. Let me follow this, like, daily.

Three hundred and sixty five days a year. It it's crazy to me. And eBay is able to deliver that. No other company can. The closest I see is these people or certain big companies, you know, weekly auctions.

They do have success, but there's still plenty of cards that fall through the cracks, which to me just shows you that there's not enough views or, people out there getting to know that, like, hey. This card's available. But eBay does offer that, and I that's why I think they're the best, and they're unmatched, when it comes to that. Like I said, the I had my phone ring yesterday. A consignor called me, and he sells cards on eBay.

And he's just like, how does this happen? Like, I'm over here. I just I should have joined a long time ago on eBay. And I'm like, oh, yeah. You know, it's great.

He sells through us too, but he you know, he's an individual small store. He's like, I just don't get it. How have I not been doing this for years, and I've been selling through auction houses and giving them my card? And I'm like, I hate to tell you this, but a good portion of the people maybe that are buying from auction houses are probably relisting on eBay for profit. Like, in I I wouldn't doubt it.

Like, I would not doubt it. Like, it's it's just that powerful. What I know you've you talked about, like, the push and the focus in on, you know, more modern and ultramodern even though it's been something cards have done. But I would love and this is fun just as, like, a a kind of customer profile and maybe more on the vintage side. Like, since you've been in studying, like, the behaviors of the typical Greg Morris cards customer.

Like, what what do you what do you have to say about, like, the vintage card collector and why they might be different than the ultra modern collector? Like, habits, traits, anything you observe? And maybe how is that how is that change, or how is that evolving, over the years? Yeah. I mean, they do share a couple commonalities.

I do see a difference. One thing that I've seen a difference that's kinda off topic from that question is that I am starting to meet and talk with and become friends with a lot of younger people, younger than me, that are buying vintage. And that is happening over the past, like, six months because vintage is and we all know this. Vintage is a more stable market. Like, Mickey Mantle is not gonna get in trouble next week.

He's not going to tear his ACL. Unfortunately, he's not around anymore, so that can't happen. But the difference between the two is, you know, modern collecting has tremendous upside and probably sells way higher cards than we do vintage, in general throughout throughout the years. But it's kind of a hype market. And that hype market is controlled based upon what's happening in the public at the time or what city is winning the World Series or who's gonna win MVP.

Like, I'm stuck right now. I have a Matthew Stafford out of five rookie auto. I've had it forever. It's my favorite player. I'm a ransom.

I'm like, when the hell do is the right time for me to sell this? Right? Like, at some point, I don't wanna hold it forever. Like, he could win the MVP this year. He could win the Super Bowl.

Do I do it later? Like, it's all hype based to me. If I had a vintage card and I had a 52 manhole, I'd be like, let's sell them on Christmas day. It doesn't matter. Like, it it's just it's a whole different market and the way that the trends go.

Another question I get a ton is people will send me baseball cards vintage baseball cards, and they'll say, look. I don't wanna sell them right now. It's not baseball time, yada yada yada. Well, in our market, that does not affect it whatsoever. Like, I could sell a card at 2AM in the morning on a Tuesday, and it's gonna go for the same as Sunday at 7PM because vintage is just sought after differently.

It's not a seasonal thing. It's year round. These collectors are always collecting. Now when you go into baseball for modern, it's very different. Like, we're gonna start here in March, and the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna be looking at Bowman draft.

We're gonna be like, where's the biggest rookie? Who's gonna pull it? I want it. I want it. And I guarantee that card will sell March, April, May, June, and it'll be worth probably 30% less come September.

Unless something crazy has happened with an individual, the majority of the cards will fall on price because the hype will start to fade. They won't have good seasons. So, like, those are the big differences that I see consistently. Vintage is just it is more stable. And I think a lot of these people who are doing repacking or, reselling, they're starting to realize, like, the stability.

If they could go find that rare card, that rare vintage card or the super high grade or super high high appeal, there's more upside than me buying, you know, Shohei Ohtani Dodgers this year and hoping that he has a great year, which he probably will. But you know what I mean? Like, there's there's kind of a gamble to it when it comes to the modern, and then there's the natural collecting of it too. When vintage is just it's very stable. You just it's it's it's more of an art.

I think when most of us think about vintage, our minds immediately go to to baseball and to the mantles and the jackies and the roosts and all the sets. And and less of us think about, like, a category like football. Like, maybe talk to us about what you're seeing in maybe not baseball, but some of these other emerging vintage categories. Like, do you think there is there are people collecting that stuff, but it's high grade, but it it just hasn't it feels like, as an observer, it hasn't quite hit that threshold that, like, baseball has in that. But, like, maybe talk through that as a guy who follows multiple sports and is a fan of many different sports and sees a lot of different stuff.

Yeah. See I mean, it definitely doesn't. Right? The price the the prices that are fetched on, for instance, basketball and football comparable to baseball in similar years is very different. You know?

A 50 a 58 set of tops, the Jim Brown is, like, the only card that's worth a ton of money. Yes. There's other stars in there. Don't get me wrong. If we're talking about a thousand dollar card every time is Jim Brown, 58 tops baseball, I mean, I could give you probably 15,000 cards if they're in proper shape and, you know, good looking cards.

So it's like, I do see that there is different values. I mean, look. Baseball sets were built $3.04, $5.06, $700 sets back in the back in the day where footballs could be as low as 80 cards. You know what I mean? So there's definitely a different market, but one there's a couple drivers that I've been seeing recently in these other sports.

Like, we have huge non sport followers, whores of war, civil war, you name it. Like, there's there's things that I see every day, I'm like, what? Like, Gilligan's Island is very rare. I just saw it for the first time. I was like, those cards go for that much money because there is collectors out there.

And there's they're they're more niche, but, there's value in all of that. One thing I've been seeing grow a lot is basketball. Basketball has grown a ton. Like, we we tend to stop basketball breaking up sets and selling them one by one for every sport around 1975. But basketball is progressing further and further into the late seventies, early eighties where I'm seeing commons and set builders start to build these sets where I'm like, woah.

It's really picking up. Or for instance, 86 FLIR with Jordan, that. I saw that skyrocket. I saw it go down. Now I see it today, and I'm like, what is happening?

This like, these are now becoming worth more, and now people are buying 87 FLIR, and they're trying to build those to perfection. So I see growth in the other sports like crazy. I just think populations is what kind of controls it, overall. But basketball and football, to be honest, when I go to shows, those are the two things I like buying most. And I probably know more about baseball, but seeing basketball and seeing football, in person is you don't see it every day.

So, like, there's certain sets that I that I catch, and I'm just like, wow. Like, we have to have this. Like, it's unbelievable. We have to bring this to our clients and and and show. But, yeah, it's growing.

I think football is actually football and basketball are growing the most. Hockey has its pockets. You know what I mean? This is really kinda where you live and who collects what. Like, on the West Coast, I don't I doubt there's many hockey collectors out here.

I am, but there's not many. I love that perspective. Has there been maybe over is there a card that stands out to you that sold through Greg Morris cards that, you know, kinda blew your mind, whether it was something you didn't expect or just a incredible card. Let's spotlight just a card from last year that stands out in your mind. There was a a little offender, Karim Nadul Jabbar rookie that we had, a raw card that I was just absolutely shocked.

And I think I I learn these, though, almost every month because, like I said, I'm learning every day in the space. I don't know everything, and I kinda I'm trying to absorb everything I can daily based off of sales and cards. But, also, it's these obscurities that we get, of just, like, a really tough card to find centered. Like, a 57 man was, like, incredibly hard to find centered. You get one, and it's just like, you see the price.

It's mind blowing. A rookie is, like, really, really hard to find clean. And we had one of those that sold raw last year that I was just I'm still blown away by it. I'd love to know if the person got it graded or not. See, there's a lot things we don't know too.

So, like, they could just be putting it in their raw collection. They could be going to grade it. They could get a higher grade than what we graded Who knows? So some of these, like, I always tend to think, like, gosh. I wonder where that card came from.

There's two highlights that, like, now that my knowledge is way better, that blew my mind in the last two years where there was a Parker's Gordie Howell rookie that we got raw here. Unbelievable. I think it was, like, a six or a seven at the end of the day, and the guy got it graded. He got a 6.5, and he's still holding on to it. I know the gentleman that bought it.

But that card is just like to me, it's wild. This is why I say I love my job. Because cards like that come in here. I don't see them all the time. I'll see them through the computer.

But just be able to hold it and be like, this is 70 years old still in its original form. Like, it's just it's immaculate. Like, you know, who held this card for this long and made it this perfect? It's just it blows my mind. It blow it smells 70 years old, I'll tell you that much, but it's like, it doesn't look it.

You know? I love it. I love the story of kind of what brought you to where you're at, and there's there's always people who are tuning in here who are maybe card show weekend warriors or, you know, people sitting at their desk job aspiring to, you know, open up that card shop that they've always wanted to but just haven't made the leap yet. What maybe based on your experience, what sort of advice do you have for anyone out there who's thinking about pursuing a career in in it's not just a hobby, but this industry. Yeah.

I mean, to diversify is, like, the number one thing because there's growing trends that change monthly. I tell this to everybody. I I don't know if this is the correct number right now, but I believe every 10 cards that go in for grading, only two of them are sports related. So TCG has just been blow blowing up like crazy, which we sell a lot of TCG now. We've been doing very, very well with Pokemon.

It's the only thing that I kinda know, so I'm really sticking to that until I learn something else. But, yeah, you have to diversify. You know, the the clientele that you want to come to your shop or your store needs to know that they have what you were looking for, one. And then two is is the consistency of of your store or your shop. That guy or that kid that comes in after school, like, they have something you're looking for, and you better have it because the day that you don't have it is the day that you'll fade in interest for these individuals.

So, I mean, those those to me are the most important. One thing that I see, I go to a lot of card shows stores when I'm, like, specifically on that. When I'm across the country, I'll go to a show and I'll kinda say, hey. Where's the local card shop? Just go and kinda check it out, see what it's like.

But they're building that that it's not it's not Apple, but it's like that Apple experience, which I see that kind of changing throughout America. Car shops are used to being, like, you know, these glass shelves, and there's boxes piled everywhere. And you're like you're like, hey. Where should I walk and not walk? And you gotta go sideways to get through.

Like, those are gone. And it's that was your old school card collector who literally was hoarding every card in the world trying to sell it. Now it's becoming this wild experience. You know? Like, cool music, the display of the cards, history.

There's shows going up on the wall. That I'm seeing kinda take over, and that's what's draw driving this young crowd. And I think it's freaking awesome. Like, I think that's it adds a whole new flair and a whole new kinda swag to our industry, that's really, really taken off. As we close this out, this has been a fun conversation, Drew.

I'm curious. We we talked about kind of where your business is being pushed, where you're trying to get more exposure, but I'd love to know, like, five years from now, when people think about Greg Morris cards, what what are what is the thing or a couple things that you hope stays the same and what people remember Yeah. Morris cards brand by? I mean, our our goal overall is to be the number one. It it's the one stop shop for everything.

So if you have a sports card that you're looking to purchase, we might have it. If you're looking for a sports card to sell, we are the best outlet to do that. Not only will we be getting you the most, that is our goal, but we will also be the most transparent and the most honest and and the best communication you'll have out of any network to sell something. But our our our main goal now is to really dive into this to the modern market. We're in there with high end slabs and ultra modern and things like that, but I also want to be that spotlight for people that have cards that are over five dollars that are modern cards worth more than $5.

Most of them are sitting in closets. There's still collectors out there. There's still collectors that wanna buy the Buster Poseys or, you know, wanna buy Eddie Jones, you know, just random sports players that are true collectors, and we wanna be that company for Modern. And I want people to know that, and I I really wanna drive that, the most when it comes to the next next couple years is, one, we're the most we have the most competitive prices when it comes to graded cards, around, especially on eBay. And two, we we wanna be that that x factor when it comes to your raw modern as well.

This was a awesome conversation, Drew. Really appreciate it. We will have to do it again, sometime down the road in 2026. No. Sounds good, man.

I mean, I'm always interested in talking about cards all the time. Awesome, man. Take care. Alright. I appreciate it.

Have a good one.