Alright. We are back, back to back weeks, with the staging area, DC Sports eighty seven.

Excited about today's conversation. Tory, we don't often get to do these on back to back weeks, but now there's a lot of discussion based on last episode and figured, you know what?

Let's ride the momentum into this week and talk about some topics, talk about some cards, and, have fun.

Yeah. And, hey, your Colts are two and o. So, you know, like, I I figured we just schedule it this way so we could, like, keep that positive going up and going.

You know? We're riding the Daniel Jones high right now. Oh, yes. I I'm trying not to get over my skis, basically, is is what's happening.

Because, you know, when this drops, the Colts will have gone to Tennessee, which you look at it. It's like they're they're they're supposed to win that game, which likely means it won't happen.

I'm just I'm I'm I'm I'm trying to protect myself, Tory. It's like you can't get too far over your skis when you've been mid for so long, and then finally, there's something to get excited about.

But you brought up Daniel Jones. I'm curious. Like, do you have some Daniel Jones? Are the people who are holding on to their Daniel Jones? You're seeing more of that come through DC sports right now.

We're seeing we're seeing a good bit of Daniel Jones. I know we've got some some time later to talk about, you know, strategy in the market right now and spending and, you know, market swinging up.

So I'll put a pin in this topic, but we can definitely come back to the don't get over your skis.

That's a good, that's a good line for a sound hobby strategy these days. Not only as a fan, but as a, buyer of sports cars. I think it's it's a good, good operating principle for any of us out there.

But, maybe we just kick it off by I I wanna know maybe right now, and we I often throw these just general questions out at you, but things shift so so much from week to week.

Curious just like right now, what's exciting you most about what's happening in the hobby? Yeah. I mean, obviously, we know the market's great.

It's super healthy. We're seeing a ton happen. I know we talked last time about the the market as a whole and how, you know, the volume of the last couple months has just been crazy. For us, we're hitting record numbers.

That's super exciting. And just, I think, you know, kind of that sports hobby overlap, like I was talking about Daniel Jones, like, football really is exciting because it is Sunday is so action packed with so many things.

There's so many little story lines from a football fan perspective and a hobby, you know, insider, be it personal and business perspective that it's just fun for me to watch what unfolds each weekend and then know that's gonna be so influential in how our week goes here.

So, that's exciting. Just just riding the waves, they go up and down and sometimes they're calm for a little while, but, yeah, that that's an exciting exciting part about this time of year.

And, you know, at heart, I'm a baseball fan, so I'm also ready to just, like, get this last week or two out of the way and just roll into playoffs because that's a great time of year for me.

So, yeah, lots going on that I enjoy in the sports world right now. Can I maybe get some, perspective from you on on this this time of the year in baseball as it's wrapping up, heading to the playoffs?

Maybe I guess, generally, like, do you have any thoughts on what you think is going to happen in the playoffs?

And then, also, does anything change from a baseball intake perspective come playoff time? Maybe talk a little bit about that.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, what's gonna happen? I don't know. I'm an Orioles fan, so I thought we'd be in the playoffs, and instead, we decided to be terrible. So, you know, that's a little disappointing for me.

A lot of the teams, I think, from a overall, like, zoomed out view of the hobby that you want in there, you're gonna see the Yankees playing, you're gonna see the Dodgers playing, you're gonna see you know, we're gonna have the Blue Jays, who've got Blatt and some Stars in there.

I think there's some of the good teams that bring a lot of attention to big names, and that's what we'll see. Right? So, I think we kinda start to see a pause on prospecting a little bit.

It's a strange time of year because we've got by the time this rolls out, Bowman Chrome is just releasing. So we're gonna get a little spike, from all the new prospects coming out there.

But for the most part, I think as the minor league season wears down, we shift the playoffs. You're back looking at the Ohtanis and Judges and Vlads and those guys. So we will see more of that, you know, veteran star heavy stuff.

And then we're also gonna see a lot of things really timed. So, you know, somebody gets hot or a team gets down, it's you wanna sell before their team's out or you wanna sell while they're hot.

So, I think where you've kinda had a lot of flexibility with when to sell your baseball with some of these guys, that's gonna become the big thing.

And a lot of that too is look at like an Ohtani, and it's sometimes it's hard for us to say, like, what else can the guy do?

Right? Like, his market's already on fire. His prices are so high. But this is that time of year that they can do things. We know he's gonna win MVP again. So it's how's he performing the playoffs, how deep do the Dodgers go?

And I think you could say that for a lot of players where it's just this is that time for those established stars could take the next step from a pricing standpoint in the hobby.

So just watching what happens there, and people are gonna respond to it, and that'll really dictate what we see.

I guess I never really connect the dots that the new baseball boom and chrome product drops right around when the playoffs are getting ready to go, which is and you tell me because I don't follow this, but I would imagine a ton of the attention in that modern ultra modern baseball market while the playoffs are happening is probably centered around the the prospects in in Bowman Chrome, and this is what people are chasing, buying, selling.

Like, I don't know. Like, that seems interesting. Right?

Because you've got, like, these proven players on these good teams that are out there who've been around for a while, but it almost probably feels from a market perspective that they're a little stale even though that they're vying for a a a World Series trophy while you've got these kids that people are push putting all their hope into that has got all the attention.

It just seems like, an interesting dynamic that plays out. Yeah. It is.

And I think that's just the hobby so big now that I think it used to be you know, we used to always talk about just buy your baseball from, like, November to January because the market cools off and baseball is not happening and nobody watches it or, you know, buy your football in the spring and summer before training camp rolls around.

I think that's true a little bit, but I think it's really flattened out the seasonality a lot because there's everybody knows that.

There's so many eyes. There's products coming out all year. There's so many people buying. That's not quite as true anymore. So yeah. You know?

And I guess if you're tops, you've gotta spread out a little bit the Bowman, Bowman draft, Bowman Chrome releases. So, yeah, definitely true, obviously, prospects are the chase. In Bowman Chrome, at least you have vets in there.

You know, vets are on the checklist. You've got vet color and things like that from refractors and everything else. You've got some rookie autos. So there's a little diversity to the product, but, yeah, agree.

It's just we all want everything all the time. We're all overstimulated by everything happening in the hobby, so you kinda have to chase your prospects, know what you're after, watch what's happening in the playoffs.

You gotta you gotta lot of balls in the air, but just keep up the best you can and don't get over your skis.

One one more on Bowman Chrome. I just always think of in this era, I always think of Jason Dominguez and, like, the the hoopla from a hobby perspective that that caused.

Is there the is there this year, is there a player that we all like, for me, I know nothing, but will I know about someone based on that release and everyone swarming to a specific player?

Is there, like, one player out there in this year? Yeah. I mean, if we're talking about, like, Dominguez level, I I don't know.

When he came around, you had that perfect storm. He was so young. He had every tool. He was a Yankees prospect. I mean, that that first Chroma of his was in 2020, so this is five years ago now, and it's crazy that it's been that long.

The the closest comp that I can think of this year is Jesus Madre for the Brewers. You know, when he signed with them, I think he was 17. I think he's 18 now.

They just bumped him up to double a. So he's one of those guys, fast moving, tons of tools, got signed super young. Anybody who's a prospect person knows the name and he's one of those, you know, super high ceiling guys.

So as far as this year's releases, I think that's kind of the name when it comes like the premier prospect people are looking at long term and just kind of, you know, getting that dream scenario of what could this guy become.

That's awesome. Wanted to, like, pull on that a little more. I know there's a dedicated group of, baseball card collectors who listen to stacking slabs.

And any opportunity I could give, some baseball card, I'm going to. I wanna dive into every so often. I think this this is fun to do. Maybe dive into some sales that happened, at DC Sports eighty seven.

I picked three, and I think they're pretty diverse. But let me pull them up, and we can dig into kind of, let's see, share screen. Okay. The first one is a 2324 Topps Chrome, LaMigna Mall, Orange Reactor out of 25, PSA 10.

And I think even if you don't follow soccer, there's, likely, you've probably heard of Yamal, through his collecting and demand. I continue to see his cards pop up.

On Instagram, I hear people talking about how his prices are just as much as, some of the all time greats in some instances, which whenever I hear that, I'm like, that's just, like, how the hobby works.

That's what always happens. But I don't know what this thing sold on, obviously, on eBay for $8,100, September 13.

It is a pop six. What what do you see from Yamal, this card specifically? Anything you wanna get into? Yeah. I mean, I feel like he's kind of the guy of that, you know, obviously still super young.

He's, you know, a rookie that just came out two years ago. So, tons of people in on him. I think recently, his market's been flat. I in part say that because you said it's a pop six.

Here's one of the six, and I happen to know that another one of the six we sold in early July also for exactly $8,100. So definitely very, very flat and stable here the last few months.

But, yeah, just a guy everybody's after. Obviously, soccer, you know, like you mentioned, we're looking at some diversity across different different markets here, but soccer, the international market is absolutely huge.

And so I think this is one of those cases where it's, you know, short supply. Oranges are numbered to 25. This one's a 10.

So, you know, kinda checks all the boxes there and just a name everybody's after and I think has been one of those guys where it's kind of in that state of been around long enough, had enough buzz, and performed enough that it doesn't feel super risky anymore and yet knowing that at his age, there's still so much potential for growth.

So, you know, still invites some of those speculative investments for longer term holds. So, yeah. Gorgeous card, great sale.

I think, you know, right at what it should be going for, but absolutely understand somebody grabbing this and tucking it away for, you know, a few years and kinda see on how the rest of his career progresses from here.

What do you see on I mean, any news update on soccer card category that that, like, top line message is always, like, the World Cup is coming.

Like, get your soccer cards. Like, could is that, like do you sense that in what you're doing?

Are are you seeing more soccer, or is it pretty much the same? Yeah. It's it's felt pretty much the same so far. I know I hear that from everybody. It's the World Cup's coming. Be sure you buy before it gets here.

Buy it now. Hold it. Sell it then. I don't disagree with the advice. I think it I think it makes a lot of sense. I think a lot will obviously come down to how do different players perform when the World Cup actually happens.

And I think so many people try to follow that kind of schedule of let's get in on it now, sit on it till World Cup, see stuff, appreciate, and I think it will.

I think it's just gonna be a slow climb that we really don't see make meaningful impact until we're, you know, a month out and the buzz starts to peak around it.

And then from there, it's gonna be all, you know, kinda like we just talked about with football where it's, you know, Sunday, the game happens, and then Monday, the market moves, really Sunday night.

I think this will be the same thing. You know, every World Cup match is gonna be crazy moves right after it based on, you know, who's getting eliminated, who's staying in, what player had a huge moment, who scored a goal.

So we'll have to just kinda watch, but, I I like I said, don't disagree with the strategy of trying to get soccer and hold it now.

But from our mix of inventory, what we've been seeing sent in, it hasn't made a huge shift yet, you know, over the last three to six months from anything we weren't kinda already seeing.

Alright. We're moving over to baseball, and, we're turning back the clock a little bit.

We've got a 49 Bowman Satchel page PSA two selling for $4,100. You know, the when I'm in conversations around vintage baseball, this category, Satchel Paige always comes up in those conversations.

I would say, like, when also, I know DC Sports eighty seven, you know, you sell everything, but I I I don't necessarily think about vintage baseball, this coming through DC Sports eighty seven.

But that was cool to see in, digging into this sale. Maybe talk a little bit about that.

Like, I know you're a baseball guy. Do you pay a lot of attention to the the vintage side? Do you see it do I have it wrong? Do you see a lot of vintage baseball cards like this come through? Anything you wanna share there? Yeah.

We we see a lot of vintage. I will say we don't tend to auction a ton of higher end vintage, and I would certainly count this. You know, Paige is one of those unique guys because he was, you know, just a superstar in the Negro Leagues.

And then by the time he made it into MLB, I think he was already past 40 and kinda had just those couple years past his prime, but, just a legendary figure in baseball.

And it's interesting because we talk so much about what we were just talking about with response to World Cup matches or football on Sundays and the market moving so fast.

And I feel like with vintage, it's kind of the polar opposite. We see that slow and steady appreciation over time. To me, high end vintage baseball is like the blue chip stocks of the hobby.

It's just, you know, there's no reason any of these guys will depreciate, but as we bring more and more buyers in, more people collect, these cards kinda dry up and they're not easy to find and so they do appreciate in value over time.

And so a lot of times I think we don't see people selling them through us as much just because the higher ends aren't really looking to auction those.

It's people are kind of sitting on them as investments or they're holding on to them and kind of having those private sale moments we hear a lot of times on these, you know, big ticket items.

So, we do move a good bit of it, but when you compare it to what we sell in high end from cards from, you know, the last twenty years, obviously, it it pales in comparison to that.

But I do think vintage has its place. That place is not going anywhere, and it will just be a a slow appreciation over time.

So you take, you know, iconic guys like Paige, rookies, graded, you know, it's one of the safest investments there is in the hobby across all sports and all markets in my opinion.

I hear the guys talk and, you know, you hear stuff like centering, registration, eye all the things, and they can go on and on about the same card over for forever, which is I get nerdy.

I find it interesting, and I listen. What for you? Go ahead. Yeah. It's it's very interesting.

And I think it's it's interesting because if you take somebody who's maybe only been in the hobby the last few years, they can fall into this mindset of, okay, what's the multiplier from a seven to a eight to a nine to a 10?

Or they can say, well, I know an eight comps at x.

It doesn't work that way in vintage. You know, the the way a card is graded and the way a card looks in vintage aren't the same. It might be the same from cards we've seen in the last couple decades, but, I mean, this is a 1949 Bowman.

The centering of this card might match a PSA two and then you might see another that's on the extreme worse end or better end of centering for a two.

Color is a huge deal, you know, how crisp the color is on a card because as that color fades a little bit over time, that doesn't necessarily by the, you know, letter of the PSA law reduce the grade of the card, but the eye appeal and just the aesthetic of it moves drastically.

And so, you know, I think you'll see this. You look at, like, some mantel sails or maze, Ted Williams, all those guys from the forties, fifties, sixties, and you'll see one that's, you know, barely centered enough to be a six, say.

Then you see another six that is dead centered with great color but has some edge and corner wear that keep it at a six.

So you've got two cards that are both sixes. I mean, one can near double the other sometimes. Like, it's just crazy the jumps you'll see in.

So, it absolutely the way you have to evaluate a card, I think we're very used to these days. Everything's just ones and zeros. Right? I can look at a title and I can tell you, okay. 1949 Bowman Page PSA two.

We just wanna go bang. I know the number. You're gonna know a ballpark number, but without eyes on the card, it's completely unfair to try to compare it to anything else. Say it's just the comp and the comp is the comp.

It's not that simple. So definitely some nuance to it that I think some of the OG collectors and guys who've been around a while actually appreciate that there is more to it than just the number.

What what is the most important element to you in a card like this with all of them stack rank?

Like, what what what needs to be true? I think I think a lot of people say centering. I I get it. Centering definitely is one for me. I would be a a snob and stay away from any qualifiers.

So, you know, I would rather own a a five than an off center six, you know, things like that. But to me, it's all color. It it's just these cards are so old and some of the sets are just gorgeous.

My my favorite's 58. There's so much color on 58 Topps baseball, that that's one of my favorites. But it's all about how well that color has been preserved over time, I think, is what really drives the eye feel of the card.

So that's what I'm drawn to when I look at them. Awesome. Glad we could spend some time on that page. Last one I wanna cover here is this twenty eighteen contenders Josh Allen, no feat.

I love that, disclaimer, autograph. This this is crazy to me. And this is, like, where you have to get into the nuances of all these elements with cards and supply demand.

This card sold on September 14 through DC Sports eighty seven for $4,751, and it is a population two nineteen. And, I mean, if that doesn't tell you that the hobby loves Josh Allen right now, I don't know what is.

But he really feels like he is taking this step. And I don't I wanna maybe put, we'll put Patrick Mahomes in an on a separate conversation for another day, but it really feels like this.

We're entering this mode where it's like Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson for, like, best player in the NFL right now. And, Josh Allen, it just seems like with each week and I say this every year.

I'm always like, I wish I would've I love watching him. He reminds me of luck. I and every year, I'm like, I wish I would've bought Josh Allen cards, and I I never do.

But it feels like he's kind of entering a new territory because I think collectors feel like he's just so close to winning that Super Bowl, and that's what everyone's waiting for.

Yeah. For sure. And and I agree with keeping Mahomes separate. It's one of those where I think a lot of people would, on a given Sunday, look and say, Alan and Jackson are both better players than Mahomes is right now.

It's like, well, go check Mahomes' trophy case, and you can see why you can see why there's a difference in the markets. But, yeah, I think Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, very similar. So we talk about this card.

It's kinda like that, you know, we're talking about this with how people sell cards earlier and timing and that that's all about it with him is he's so established that it's it's hard to see anything happening barring, you know, severe injury or a sharp decline that I just don't see with the team he's on and the way he's playing to really drop his market.

But at the same time, it's that question of what needs to happen for his market to go up. And with somebody like him, you just, you know, alluded to it.

It's you gotta get over that hump, like, you've gotta get past the Chiefs, you've gotta get to the Super Bowl, you've gotta win the Super Bowl. And so it's interesting to look at the league and say, okay.

Well, we've got the Ravens, the Bills, and the Chiefs all in the AFC, and we can talk about Mahomes, Allen, and Jackson and say the only thing that could really move their markets meaningfully up is a Super Bowl win.

It's like, okay. Well, they can't all win it this year.

So it's, it's really about, you know, the playoffs. It's, you know, I heard Mike Geo and they were talking on the SCM podcast the other day about, you know, well, who would you buy if if you had to sell by January 1?

And Alan's one of those guys where in the next three months, I'm not sure much can happen to his market.

He could play great. He could have an off week, but he is who he is. The question is what happens in January and February? When when we hit the playoffs, does he have a huge performance in the big game?

Maybe that's where he differs a little from Lamar Jackson where I think people, you know, Lamar Jackson's kinda gotten a rep of he hasn't had his big games in the big games.

Whereas with Allen, it's, you know, he's lost some shootouts and and some tough things like that.

So, yeah, a little crazy that we see almost $5 for a pop, you know, $2. 20 almost, I think you said. But, you know, I think contenders are just so established in football, like, the way Chrome is in baseball and, and things like that.

But there's just there's always the demand, that, you know, it's hard to really see that going down. The anticipation for the playoffs, it's almost like whatever happens this season, like, doesn't matter.

It does, but then it doesn't, especially from a collectability perspective. I I was thinking about Josh Allen a lot and Lamar Jackson too, and I'd love to get your feedback on this.

But I don't remember another player since Peyton Manning, where it was like, Peyton Manning was established as, like, the best player in the league, and he was constantly winning games twelve and four every season, breaking records, MVPs, MVPs, and then playoff time would come around, and he'd lose.

And it's and and it happened and happened until he got over the hump and beat Tom Brady, then beat the Bears and won Super Bowl forty one.

And there was a moment where it was, like, even if you weren't a Colts or Manning fan, it was, like, yeah. Like, he he deserves at least one Super Bowl. Right.

Now I if if we don't want to have to have one of those players. It feels like we've got two with Allen and Jackson where you got MVPs, and you've constantly hitting a brick wall whether it's Mahomes or something else in the playoffs.

But I don't know. Can you ever it's been I think since Manning, but I could be wrong.

Have you can you remember a player since maybe that time frame where it feels like collectively as, like, a fan of a football fan base, like, collectively says, like, one of these guys, you know, deserves a a trophy based on what they've done.

Yeah. I not really. I mean, you know, if we talk about superstars with everything but the championship trophy, you know, my my brain goes straight to Marino if we're talking NFL.

But obviously, that's a whole a couple of arrows back. You know, in this last, you know, I guess fifteen, twenty years, I can't really think of another. I agree with Manning. Obviously, he ended up getting there and winning too.

You know, there's maybe some players like that in other sports like the Griffys and Troutts in baseball, the, you know, Barclays and Malone's in basketball, but it's like, yeah. I mean, when it comes to the NFL, yeah.

I think it's one of those guys where to your point, just where we go next with his market and the hobby and his career and the sport and his legacy just hinges so much on does he get over the hump and win one?

Like, there's not really much more much more to it than that.

And, fortunately, he's in what is seventh, eighth year in the league. So, you know, not a not a super young guy, but he's got time. It's just a matter of when does that finally happen.

Because I think we feel like it's inevitable, but at the same time, you never know. You know, teams can change around him and, and the league around him changes and other teams rise and fall.

So we'll have to, we'll have to see how it goes. Couldn't tell you. Yeah. It shows you how hard it is to win, and then when it makes it when you think about Mahomes, you think about Brady.

It's like, man, how did these guys do it this many times? Lot of lot of favorable things falling in their situations along with being great players.

But that was that that that was fun. I wanna maybe I wanna spend maybe the rest of our conversation talking about market health and what you're seeing.

And maybe as we kick off this conversation, DC Sports eighty seven's one of eBay's top sellers from a lot of different perspectives, and you probably are analyzing almost every sale and what's happening on a, you know, weekly basis.

How do you think about the overall health of the market on it can be on a day to day or monthly or annual basis, doesn't matter. And what does a healthy market look like to you in terms of, like, buying and selling activities?

Like, what are those signals? Yeah. Yeah. So I think there's a couple of things you can look at here, and the question's a little different maybe of, what's healthy in the market versus what's healthy in the way we do our business.

So, you know, when it comes to the market, I I think it's just is it transacting.

And and a lot of that is the same for our business too. Whereas in the market, I think we often look at, like, what are the big premier sales to get all the news and break the records.

And we've had a few of those, you know, with the the Kobe Jordan logo man that sold and and things like that.

So you kinda get those big buzzy sales. It's who's coming into the market. It's tricky because we look at some things like wax pricing, which is just absurd right now, and it's it's a little scary there.

So, you know, I have some of those things I worry about, like, is it really sustainable that I feel like nothing can come out where a hobby box is under 3 or $400 these days?

And it's just it's just nuts because you feel like that really limits who has access to the products right as they're coming out, and that can worry you a little bit.

It's a bull market and things are trending up. That's phenomenal. But like I mentioned earlier, you have to have that thought of are we getting over our skis?

And you have to when you're looking at a player's market, a product's market, a sports market, whatever way you wanna slice it, you can't just look at the price.

You have to look at, okay, how does this price compare to where the market was previously, and does something explain that increase or decrease?

You have to look for a player at what would it take to maintain or show increase, you know, in his market. Right? So we was talking about with Alan.

It's like, okay. That's a safe investment, but as far as seeing profit if you're investing in him, you're kind of banking on a deep playoff run-in a Super Bowl. And so you have to understand all those factors at work.

So it's exciting that the market's as busy as it is. It's exciting to see numbers up and records broken, but there has to be your own kinda homework and analysis done along the way to say, am I putting my money in places that's smart?

Not just because it's what everybody's doing and I gotta get in because I can't miss out, but why am I doing it? Is my goal to flip something or to keep something?

What's my timeline? What are the factors in the sport and how you're gonna drive it? So there's a lot to think about there. You know, that's that's, I guess, the, the zoomed out, like, what I'm thinking as you as you go market wise.

It's definitely a little different for us as a business because, you know, we're a consignor and we're selling at quarter million auctions a month.

And so the things I'm looking at are are there eyes and clicks and activity on eBay because that's where we sell.

So, like, I grabbed some of our numbers. All of these are up 11% from where we normally sit, and this is the last thirty days. So great to see that because that's that's a meaningful jump.

So, like, impressions, we were at right about 500,000,000 in the last month. Now by impressions, to put definition around these things, what I mean is somebody saw our listing.

So when eBay tracks activity on their platform, you know, what they're looking at, the numbers I look at are impressions, which is somebody was scrolling eBay or they had a search up or and they saw our listing.

So 500,000,000 times somebody on eBay saw a DC Sports 87 listing. Then I'll look at views. So within views, this was up about 10% too. How many times did somebody click into one of those listings to view our items?

In the last thirty days, that number's at 11,000,000. So 11,000,000 times we have buyers on eBay clicking into a listing and looking at a card that we're selling.

And then I'll look at unique buyers buying. You you know, we usually sit in the 36 to 38,000 buyers in a given month buying from us.

That just cracked 40,000 this last month. And so, you know, they're kind of all if you're not selling at our scale, those numbers sound outrageous and, like, way high.

But I think the important thing is if I'm saying it's about a 10% up, that's exciting to me because that means whether you're selling on your own, you're selling through a consignor, there are a ton of eyes on eBay.

The marketplace there is super healthy, and seeing more eyes and more transactions taking place is how I define, like, healthy for our business.

So that's the exciting thing to us. I love it. I was I was going to ask you about, taking off, like, a collector hat and putting on your operator hat.

What are you seeing? And you just got right into it. The, is there anything in those numbers that you feel like you or the DC Sports eighty seven team can control to make sure that they continue to increase or is a majority of that?

The undeniability of all the market forces pushing and pulling? Like, how do you think about that?

Yeah. Both. You you can't control everything. I I wish we could. I mean, if I could control everything, they'd all sell for more. And, you you know, I I don't know. That's that's kind of a cheat answer. But, yeah.

I mean, as a seller, you if you're gonna do it right, you have to be smart. You you have to optimize for search. You know, that that's an obvious one. So for anybody selling on their own, be smart about what you put in your title.

Don't think that by saving yourself three or four seconds of typing less, you somehow have become more efficient. You know, use the word auto, don't use autograph. Nobody searches autograph on eBay, they search auto.

Put full set and insert set names in there. Put the parallel name in there. If it's a chrome parallel, be sure it has the word refractor. You know, all this stuff drives search, and and you need to have that stuff.

If you have room, use the team name. You know, one of the things that eBay when they do, like, our quarterly reviews with us will look at is average title length.

And and the reason they measure sellers that way is because it's optimizing how many searches and saved searches and people dropping in eBay are gonna see your listings.

And so that's one of the big things you can do. And then just about when you end stuff. You know, don't don't end things at eight in the morning. Don't end them at 11:00 on a Tuesday morning.

Like, the best time is from 7PM to 11PM eastern any day of the week. You can use any day of the week. So, you know, yes, the the market and what's happening is the number one factor by a mile.

But the things we can do to contribute and to do the best, you know, provide the best service we can to our customers selling through us is those little things.

It's know the time of day to sell, know the way to title things, and and that's what you can do to try to boost that as much as you can on top of what the market's doing.

It always blows my mind when there's, like, a huge card that I need, and I'm, like, having to pull over on my way to picking up my kids at day care at, like, 04:00.

And I'm, like, why did this person list it? This could be advantageous to me, but it's always, like, yeah. Just sell it during that window that everyone always talks about.

Yeah. It's crazy. That that's true. And then it's funny though because there's just so many people on eBay these days. And look, like I said, we're selling about a quarter million auctions a month right now.

So if you have sold through us before and you've ever had a title with a mistake in it, I am not saying we're perfect, but I am saying we make a point of doing as good as we can.

But it's funny because we will every now and that, you know, something goes up and there's a word misspelled or something got left off of the title that you would think is just so important.

And sometimes we will let's say you've got an $80 card and something in the title gets messed up, some glitch happens somewhere.

Half the time, I see the thing go off for $90 because it's like somehow everybody saw that and thought, oh my gosh, something's missing. I'm gonna I'm gonna get a steal here.

So then a dozen of them jump on it and still sell. So it's, it's just crazy how many people there are, how busy that marketplace is. And I've had what you just described where that card sells, you know, first thing in the morning.

And I'm like, these fools, why are they selling it? And I think I'm gonna snipe it at last second. And then eight other guys are doing the same thing. And it goes for Reddit comps.

So it's, it's just crazy how far things have come, you know, in the in the last handful of years in the hobby. I wanna maybe hit on, like, you just talked about some data, which is great. Some data versus narrative.

So, like, you are seeing data around your sales that no one else is seeing, and you're sharing some of it here. But a lot of the times, we're very emotional in the hobby, and we we share narratives, and we position.

And when we talk about things like the market, it's it seems like there's no in between. It seems like it's either, like, hobby to the moon or, like, the sky is falling, like, get out of here.

Like, when you hear like, I guess, like, what are some of those, like, misconceptions you hear, whether it's on Instagram or through your conversations when in all actuality, like, you're looking at the data.

And you've probably have a better sense of what's actually happening than what people are saying, whether it's positive or negative.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think the thing too is, you know, you have to remember how much personal experience influences perception and narrative and word-of-mouth and things like that.

So if you're somebody who's really invested in a handful of players or one player and that guy's market moves at all, sometimes to you that feels like, okay, the whole market is diving or the whole market is skyrocketing.

And so you can sometimes take what's happening in like the micro or this little slice of the market and get the perception that you wanna extrapolate that into it's a macro trend in the market.

And and I don't think that's true. I think, you're gonna see ups and downs. The even with the market going up and we keep hearing, okay. This month broke a record, and the next month, we just hear we broke another record.

It is a volatile market. We we just all have to accept that. So when I talk about the health of the market and some of our numbers, I'm saying what I was mentioned a minute ago.

I'm seeing more people buying, more people on eBay, more people selling singles, more cards changing hands, and that is all healthy.

But when you start to make that size smaller and smaller and smaller and the sample gets tiny, tiny, tiny, that's gonna drive more volatility just inherently in what you're doing.

And so you have to understand that different factors move different things and, I don't think there's a lot of misconceptions. I think it's sometimes just what I said.

It's just taking a very small sample or a small example and assuming that means everything when it when it really doesn't. And and you just have to do that work like we talked about a minute ago of understanding, okay.

I see where price has been historically. I see where it is now, and what assumptions or conclusions or projections do I have that influence my decision of how I invest in it based on where I see it in the short, medium, and long term.

And you kinda have to repeat that process over and over and over.

There's not gonna be one thing you could look at that's a single number and go that number means the whole market's healthy and just roll with it. You know, it's, I wish it were that simple.

If it was, we would all just be, you know, buying cards and flipping them for profit and never work again. Right? It's it's not that easy, you know. And so it's just all about being willing to kinda do your diligence along the way.

I think I always try to, like I think about the hobby and I just think about I always say, like, the hobby has many different neighborhoods and it's it's very diverse.

And good things happen in one neighborhood, bad things happen to another. Generally, we hear individuals talking about the hobby as a whole.

And like you mentioned, they're they generalize everything when I think what happens is in each of these pockets or neighborhoods, like, really good things are happening during a certain time.

And in other areas, not they're not happening at the same level that, another pocket has. Maybe, like, what have you noticed I know it's a bull market.

I know we're seeing you know, I'm seeing card ladder, post on Instagram record breaking sales multiple times every day, and it's people are, you know, making a lot of money off of some of these cards.

But it's probably not all roses everywhere. Is there anything you're seeing, like, across categories that's interesting to you that maybe you're observing that you haven't really heard too many people dig into yet? Yeah.

You know, I think it's what I'm interested to see and some of this is tell you what I've seen, some of this I'm kinda waiting to see is what happens on some of the markets that historically, we don't have a lot we just don't have a lot of history on them.

So, like, I'll give you an example is when f one cards first came out, you know, the 2020 chrome f one set, the Lewis Hamilton stuff, just to the moon, and some of the other big names, the Verstappen's and other guys on those products.

And I feel like it just caught fire, and and for a while, it was really strong.

We've definitely seen that market cool off. And so, like, that's one, and it makes me wonder about some of the things that are a little bit newer relatively.

You know, I feel like tennis cards have been on on fire lately, and I know there's been some big events on the Alcaraz Chases and some of the big names there.

You know, Chromeboxxing just came out. And so it's interesting that there's some of these things that I didn't even think of as, like, really verticals within the card market before that have really made themselves known.

They're out there. We've got pickleball cards. We got bowling cards. Like, everything has a set now.

And so it's just gonna be really interesting because I think some of those have really good you know, look at, like, all those. You know, tennis, boxing, racing, some of those those sets in those sports are very international.

And so if we've got all this new, interest in the hobby across the world, seeing how that influences those sets in going up will be interesting to follow. But I think those are the kind of things that it's like it's not all the same.

And and we can look at baseball cards. We've got this crazy history. We know how we look at moderns, how we look at vintage and things like that, but, it's kinda different in some of those other markets.

So that's one of those things I think will be interesting to watch is how do those behave and trend in the middle of a bull market in the short, medium, and long term for something that hasn't been around as long to maybe give it that element of, like, predictability.

I like I like it when things are, on fire because I like the excitement.

I think better content, better conversations typically happen. But my to to bet on it being this way forever, it I I wouldn't make that bet because we see these shifts and and and ebbs and flows.

I'd be interested to to understand, like, you've been through this as an operator at DC Sports eighty seven for probably several different cycles.

When there are the highs that we're experiencing now and then the lows or the middle ground, like, is there anything fundamentally you do differently in each of those times with the business?

Any changes you make? Yeah. So, you know, not not a lot. I think what we've learned over time is, as a business, is just you have to offer a service for people in different situations.

I think, you know, historically, before we really got in and we started really growing the business just before COVID started, and kind of those years leading up to it. But, so like you said, we're around for that boom.

But for a long time, I think, like, with consignment, you kinda thought of it the way you thought of auction houses. You thought consignment was, I've got a big card I wanna sell. I wanna put a bigger brand behind it.

I want a better platform for it, and she kinda sent that stuff off. And part of the reason our business is set up the way it is is when we kind of entered the space, we wanted to offer that to everybody.

So you can send us whatever cards you want. We don't really care if it's $3 or $10 or $10,000. We're happy to work with you and be sure that we have services catered to each of those.

So we have our, you know, the premium service we do where it's you can pick your start date, your end date, the duration of the auction you want, the time you want, all that stuff, so that people have that control on the big ticket items where they feel better.

And then we've got people just sending us a thousand cards that average $7 because they just wanna get liquid and can consolidate into something else.

You know, and and we'll give very honest advice to people who will say, hey, if you wanna send us the $3 cards, you can, but realize your percent you're gonna net is a lot lower, but some people wanna do that.

And so that's been the thing for us is just being sure that as a business and as a consignment operation and not to make this all about DC sports and how we work, but is that something fits everyone on the spectrum of value.

And that's what's kind of helped it for us where when you see the market swing up and there's a lot more high end stuff out there, we've got something we can offer those people.

If the market swings down and for more people, it's about getting some money out, consolidating and liquidating inventory, we have something to offer those people. And so, you know, that's what we do as a business.

I think personally, you know, as a person who has their own collection and who buys cars, has things I want, it's just about looking at it and being sure, like we've said a couple times now, you understand why it's up as much as it is.

Do you think it's gonna come back down? Do you wanna buy in now? If you've got cards that have skyrocketed in value, you know, don't be that person that holds too long.

You know, be be happy with the profit. And so, a lot of that is gonna depend on your personal appetite for risk and, you know, you see some of those guys where you'll joke about, you know, their card rich cash poor.

Do you wanna be the other way around? And, you know, just understanding where you wanna put yourself. But you there's always options out there.

I think the first time we spoke even before this series, started, you used the word speed and trust quite a bit. I I picked up on those are some, core principles for how DC Sports eighty seven runs their business.

How do you think about, like or do you ever lose sight of that, like, the speed and the trust element, or are those always front of mind regardless of kind of what market conditions, we're currently experiencing?

Yeah. No. Those those are always number one. You know, I think trust we've we've earned over time.

I mean, we're gonna be at a million positive feedback on eBay soon. Like, it's a that's a big number. It's exciting for us, and we've sold for a crazy number of people. I think we're at, like, 15,000 active climate customers.

Like, we've we've got enough people that we really feel like we've cemented that, and so now speed is the big one because you take this away from bull market or bear market or whatever it is.

Take all the hobby stuff out of it. Like, just look at the world. Right? Everything is expected to be faster. We want our news through social media fast.

We want content we can consume fast. We want to communicate with people fast. And so, you know, the whole reason we've been building this app that we're a couple weeks here from releasing is because we know to make it faster.

You just pop an app open, you see your balance, couple taps to get a payout, a couple taps to check your last package, see your items on eBay.

Like, we have to drive, maybe to throw a word on top of the ones you gave. Trust is established, speed. We can always look at ways to get better.

Accessibility is the third one for us now. And it's really how do you make the content accessible and relatable? How do you make the platform to sell through us easy to access and easy to understand?

How do you make your information and the money you have selling with us easy to get to? And so that's just kind of the next, like, very related. It's in the same sphere.

There's a lot of, like, Venn diagram overlap there, but that's the next thing we have to focus on to be sure that business continues to improve, and we don't ever become just complacent in where we're at with the way we build things.

I was I was telling, my brother about a recent submission I had and the payouts and clicking a button, and it was in my account. And then I got a text, on Saturday morning when he had some free time, and he was me.

I could tell by his questions he was getting ready to submit a box of cards to DC Sports eighty seven. So, hopefully, peep who have that experience, you know, they come back for more, which is awesome.

And I part of this is we're doing content and kinda getting letting everyone get to know you and kind of what you Yeah. Think, and this is a lot of fun. And maybe before this has been an awesome episode before I let you get out of here.

Maybe just leaving either collectors, sellers, it can be both with overlap, but just, like, in this market where where it's a bull market, we're evaluating health, like, what sort of feedback do you have for anyone who's out there trying to get cards for their collection or trying to sell cards, to make an extra extra buck or 2?

Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, if you're trying to get cards, you know, just be smart about how you're getting them. There's there's so many places.

Be sure you're not, depriving yourself of any platform or opportunity. You know, go on eBay, have safe searches set up. Build a network on Instagram or Facebook or TikTok or wherever wherever whatever social media is out there.

Like, there are cards changing hands in so many places these days. Put yourself out there, get to know people because the bigger your network gets, the the easier it's gonna be to find cards.

And every time you make a purchase, just stop for a second and just think about, is this price right? Why am I spending this? Think about opportunity cost. You know, this card for $50, what could I have done with that $50?

Do I wanna, you know, do this 10 times or I wanna wait and have that $500 card down the road? Everybody's gotta understand budget, understand price, understand the market.

Be cautious with wax because my goodness, like, I just I know I've already said it, but it it just shocks me, especially the tops products we're seeing come out. Like, tops baseball is probably the worst one.

Just astronomical prices where you you've gotta hit a top five name low number Chase auto patch. Like, what you have to do to make your money back is crazy, and I know it's fun. You know, look at breaking as entertainment.

It really is. Don't have an expectation of I wanna make money when I do it. Absolutely enjoy doing it. There's a great community out there, a lot of great breakers out there, but, you know, just think, hey.

Is this $150 team in a break what I wanna do? Or if I'm chasing a guy whose card is $200, do I just wanna go buy it? Like, there's there's a lot of decisions you have to make along the way. But yeah.

And just ask people who've been around longer than you. You know, I think we've I've learned a lot of things from guys who have been in this game a lot longer than I have, and I feel like I'm ancient and I've been in it forever.

I just turned 40. I've been collecting sales probably seven or eight. So I've been around a long time, but there's always somebody who's got a different angle or a little advice for you.

So just, yeah, Community and network. Big ones. Lean on those heavy. I I, retweet, cosign, whatever you wanna say. Great feedback. Appreciate everyone out there for listening to another episode of the staging area. We'll be back.