THWC 408: Going from Buyer to Seller- Fast!

Let's get it. I'll make it a fun one. I'm with Cage. Episode 408 brought to you by Arena Club by card ladder use code Cage and by the Phillies show. I'll try to make this a quick one. Monday morning, the 22nd of June. Hope you dads out there recovering from your Father's Day weekend. Maybe you got to relax. Maybe got a dead charcuterie board. Like I got a couple nice presents and you know, you're slowly gonna get back into the swing of things on a Monday morning. For me, Sunday night, it's a fun night because it's, it's auction night. Always looking for fun stuff. And not only did I get to play a little catch yesterday, hung out by the pool, but Father's Day ended after a full day of soccer, World Cup, a little baseball, Yankees lose. You know, know, typical auction. The Sunday night auction has become a fun, interesting thing for me. You know, the, the, the PWCC fanatics weekly collect auction because it's, it's now something I do with my son, which is pretty funny. And we're able to do that because it ends pretty quickly, you know, I mean the auction ends at 10, goes to a half hour extended and then five minutes per, you know, per card. And you know, we wound up winning 41 cards last night and we're done by 1055, you know, a couple of extra ones went, you know, a few rounds of extended biddings. But nice to be able to like be done and he doesn't have to stay up till three in the morning and he has a final today, you know, I mean he's gotta go, he's gotta wake up and take a test. So you know, so that's fun for weekly auction. Definitely, you know, definitely the best format. Sorry Alt, you know, I gave you our time last week and you know, I will continue to. Although I will give all some credit. After I posted that everybody within the company that I know or right up to the top reached out to me. We're having conversations about, you know, suggestions, things to change. You know, I even heard from Lior and you know, says their change is coming and you know, we talked about kind of like, you know, the payments and you know, process of it and just you know, kind of the, the nuance of auction ending and you know, it sounds like there are some changes coming there too, which is, you know, it's good to hear because I, I mean I buy a lot of cards. I buy a lot of cards. So you know, I want, I Want as many auctions out there as possible. And, and you know, the, I want the, the variety of, of auctions and you know, I sometimes sell cards and, you know, I want to be able to have, you know, the flip side to it, right? Like, you know, when you're a buyer, you want to have ease of buying and you want to be able to know you're getting the card. But on the flip side, when you're selling, you know, you want that auction house to maximize how much money you're getting for the card that you've consigned with them. So, I mean, you do have to take that into account, I guess as well. Now. Funny stuff. So, couple things to talk about today. What I'm buying, selling, you know, when I'm buying, when I'm selling, we talk about World Cup. I'm gonna throw this one out there for you. I see a lot of World cup talking and today is going to be an interesting day too. By the time you listen to this, there probably be some of these games already played. I do this early, you know, I do this early in the morning before the business day starts. But today is that day again where just like last week, you have three huge names playing all at the same time. You have Messi playing at noon and then you have Mbappe playing and then Holland playing late at night. Last time that happened all in a single day. You had, you know, it was, it was reversed, right? I mean, I think Mbappe scored two, then Holland scored two, and then, and then Messi went out there and scored three. We'll see what happens. I don't know whether or not those guys could repeat that, but, you know, it'll be fun to watch you get all the, all the stars shining. And that's following yesterday where, you know, Laminal scored, you know, in like the first 10 minutes. Put Spain back in, you know, on the, on the leaderboard, put them in the win column. They look pretty good. You know, one of the favorites to win this whole thing, if not the favorite to win the whole thing. So the stars are shining. But one of the questions that I had is, you know, when it comes to soccer cards, and you guys know I have some pretty decent soccer cards posted my Lamina Mall yesterday. I only have one card. I posted it then. You guys know, like a messy or two. They're on the page. Soccer, football, what happens after the World Cup? You know, you got a lot of excitement about it right now. A lot of excitement about it right now. Card selling for big numbers. You know, people Moving cards, people talking about soccer more. And you know, it's, it's, it's big in the U.S. if the U.S. is successful and the U.S. team has won two games in a row for the first time since I think ever and you know, made it 2 to 32 and you know, they, they have a chance to kind of, you know, really make some noise in this tournament. I, I don't think they can win. But if there was ever a time to kind of dream, you know, this team might be it. And a successful US Team, it does bring more eyeballs within the country to the sport and the sport is growing. But there is nothing like the World Cup. This is, this is it. You know, you have all of the biggest names on the biggest stage and they're here, right? So the question that I have for myself and for other, you know, soccer collectors in the world is what's next? What's the catalyst after this? I can understand why people were buying before this, because this was the catalyst, this was the event, this was the thing that people were going to be talking about. This was the thing that put your guide on display. You know, if you were a Mbappe buyer, which a lot of people were leading into this, you know, you had this talking point of, here's a guy who is young and has already won a World cup and his team is favored, you know, Spain, France, England. You know, his team is favored or in the top favorites to potentially win again. You know, he wins a second World cup, is still playing, is still young and you know, really, really puts his name up there as, you know, as, as a potential all timer. But then what, how many of you guys listening to this now can tell me what team he plays for, what club he plays for, what league? You know, where does he play? A lot of people don't know. I mean, Holland seems not going to win the World Cup. I mean, Norway is a great team. You know, I don't even think they qualified in the last one and they qualified this year and that's great. And he's a great player and scores goals, but the team itself is probably not going to advance much further. And what happens then? How many of you can say what club he plays for? Oh, it rhymes with Dan Chester, everybody. How many of you guys can, can say what, what team he plays for? And, and we'll watch a single one of his games? Not many. And maybe that changes. You know, there are people out there who like soccer who are talking about it's a, it's a global sport, it's a global sport. But I even think a lot of the big money that came in for soccer cards came in because of this. Because of this, as the catalyst. Thought it was cheap, thought it was a bargain, thought there might be some eyeballs on it. I mean, listen, Messi's a different story, Ronaldo's a different story. These guys are, you know, they're all timers already. But Yamal, I mean, hopefully you guys know what team he plays for. Maybe you don't. I'm sure a lot of you don't. And even if you do, how many of you are going to be watching Barcelona games after this? Now, the flip side to this is something that I saw yesterday, which is, while the World cup is not until 2030 after this, and you don't have that, that, you know, that craziness, I did forget the LA Olympics. So the Olympics were in LA in 2028, and soccer is part of that. So I guess you do have that on the horizon. But it is two years away. And when you have people talking about, like, being nervous about buying a Bobby Witt or a Julio Rodriguez or, or a baseball card of a young star because there's a potential work stoppage, you know, next year in baseball, and, you know, they might not play a full season. Well, think about that. If you're worried about buying baseball because they may have a delay in next season and might not play a full year, I mean, what about not playing anything meaningful until 2028 or 2030? And that's what you get with soccer, right? I mean, it is a very disjointed sport. You know, football, you have the NFL, somebody's gonna be playing for a championship. You know, the NBA, great. We're not really collecting, you know, the best player in the European league until he comes over to the NBA. These soccer players, there's different teams, different leagues. It's a very disjointed, you know, setup. I mean, Messi, who is the name everybody knows, does not play in the same league as these other guys. He plays in the mls, which is in America, which a lot of people, you know, consider an inferior league to the leagues that play over in Europe. There are varied soccer leagues, and that makes it a little tougher to follow as well. You will have a champion next year, but it won't include Messi. Ronaldo plays in a completely different place as well. So that makes it a little bit, you know, different. Right. You don't have, you know, the same thing you have with. Is it going to be mahomes burrow. You know, is this Drake May's year to move forward? There is going to be somebody crowned. There isn't somebody else who's, you know, pretty good also playing in the Canadian Football League. If they were that good, they'd come over and play in the NFL. That's the difference. And it really is a big difference to me. And, you know, it, it, it gets into the, you know, the, the theme here of going from buyer to seller. I wonder how many soccer buyers for the last year, year and a half who were buying for this event have become sellers or will become sellers. And if trying to sell after the World cup becomes selling too late, and I don't know the answer to that. I don't think it's the case for, you know, the, the top, top guys. I don't think you have to rush to sell your Messi or Ronaldo and those guys. And I have a feeling whoever wins the World cup, you know, it'd probably be better to be a seller on his stuff then, especially if it's one of these youngsters like an Mbappe or Yamal, because that will probably have, you know, a good impact on their cards that's not yet baked in because it is a pretty wide field. You don't know who it's going to be. I can't even tell you the favorite because I don't know if it's Spain or France. I think it could be even odds for those two teams. But it's just, it's an interesting thing to think about. And it also has me thinking, you know, going from buyer to seller, I have. It's a fun story, a story from last night. I have so many fun stories, but a fun story from last night. I was just talking to somebody on Instagram about a card that they owned, and it was a card that I sold a similar card of. And, you know, I like theirs a little bit better and like, oh, maybe I'll buy theirs. You know, maybe I use the money I sold my card for and buy theirs. And I have some other, you know, similar ones. And then about a week goes by, I see the card we were talking about. We never really got into details. I said kind of what I would pay approximately for it. And they never really countered. And I saw that exact card posted by, you know, let's call it an influencer. Let's call it somebody who, you know, goes to shows and, you know, flies around and buys cards. I saw it posted and I reached out to that person. I said, hey, interested in that card. What are you looking for on it? As a matter of fact, I'll just give you an offer. And I made an offer the same amount as what I offered to the person who owned it, figuring, you know, that's got to be a good starting point. And I reached out to that owner and kind of got an idea of how much they sold it for. And I offered a little bit more, you know, and I said, all right, this person is someone who's known to be a quick flipper. I'll. I'll make an offer that is, you know, gets them a decent chunk on top of what I believe them to have paid. And they came back and said, no, no, I'm into it for more than that. Which is fine. Everybody has to negotiate for, you know, the way they want to negotiate, even though I kind of know that they're not into it for more. And I said, all right, well, how about this? And I even increased it more. And they came back and said, no, no, I'm gonna need this for it. And it was like, double what they paid. So, again, everybody has their own negotiating and the whole deal. But what was funny about it was, as we continued to talk about it and, you know, they tried to explain why they think it's worth what they think it's worth. I went like this in my brain. I just. I went from buyer to seller on the card, and I had a bunch of people who were interested in. In my copy of the card, and I said, you know, what if. If this card now has that type of value potential out there? I do not value it that high. I don't think it's worth that much. And very, very quickly, I went from a buyer at this level to hearing it being discussed at this level and saying, now I'm a seller. It just doesn't make sense for me to own that card at that price. And within an hour, it was gone. And that was an interesting thing for me, because, I don't know, maybe it makes me not a collector. Sorry, you guys out there, I don't know. But a lot of cards have gone up significantly in price in the last year or two years. And this is a card that I've owned for longer than that. And it's a card that I bought for a lot less than, you know, what the going rate is now. And I don't see a catalyst for it other than just continued market upswing. I don't see a. A World cup or a Super bowl or an NBA championship for this particular car. I'm not going to tell you what, what it is because person who's buying it may not want you to know what it is and maybe they're going to try to flip it and who knows, you know, and everybody has the ability, once they pay for the car, to do whatever they want with it. But it was just an interesting, I don't know, you want to call it the psychology of it. It was interesting to kind of go through that and in one moment be looking to add the card to my own collection of this player and, and add a second very similar card, same numbering, same year, same player, to hearing somebody talk about, I'm gonna be getting, you know, this for the card. And it could be just bluster. And obviously when I sold mine, I didn't sell crazy of a price. But once you hear that and you're like, all right, well, there's not that many of these. And you know, this person thinks it's worth this. And I've seen another person who owns it ask for a pretty high price also. And I said, this is a card that the value that the world seems to be putting on it is higher than the value that I'm going to place on it within my own collection. And I can use that money elsewhere to buy other cards that fit my current collection better, including, you know, buying some Pokemon cars last night in the vwcc, the fanatics collect auction that I, that, you know, we bought my, you know, building up my son's collection, you know, he was. It was a lot of fun to kind of go through it because he's gotta like, prove it out. He's got to go on card ladder. He's got to show me the comps. He's got to show me that it's not like one crazy high comp. And the last four was significantly lower. You can't just look at the one last sale. He's got to go through them all. He's got to see how many sell. I got to see how liquid it is and make an argument and say, okay, if we're able to get this one for this much or less, then that's a good buy. And we did that on three different items last night. He's got it. It's funny, he's got to almost make a case for it or make him put a PowerPoint together soon. And what's funny is he'll say, all right, this one, one more bid and it's no longer a buy. And somebody else bids on it like, okay, take that one out, you know, Don't. Don't bid on that one in Extras anymore. That one's no longer one that we need to grab at that price. There'll be other ones. And it's conversation to get him in, because, I mean, sure, it's about the Pokemon cards, and it's about winning auctions and about adding stuff to his collection and buying things that he thinks are valuable, but it's bigger than that. And that was a fun little Father's Day, you know, moment for me. You got to put in the work sometimes, you know, you got to put in the work, and you. You can't take shortcuts. And, you know, a lot of stuff that we talk about here with cards going up in value. And, you know, people message me all the time, wow, you're on a great run. And, you know, you're this card. I can't believe you've hosted that card. How long have you had that for? You know, how did you know to buy that card? And there's a lot of research that goes into it. You know what I mean? I'm even forcing my son to do the research. You know, you can't just say, I like that card. It's got Pikachu on it. It's green in the background, and there's leafs. He called one card a tree kachu last night. I guess it's got a lot of trees behind Pikachu. It's a tree kachu. We end up buying one of those. And. But there's a whole process that goes into it. Why he was telling me what sets they come from. And, you know, why this set is rarer than this set and how much the sealed boxes of this one go for. And because of that, you know, you think the cards are gonna go up. It's an important and fun little thing to do. It's not just, you know, throw a dart and say, okay, I'm gonna buy this crazy card. Although I'll wrap it up with this. There is a lot of that going on right now, too. I bought a lot of Michael Jordan's and a lot of Kobe Bryant's last night's auction because it just seems like they have rocket ships strapped to their butts. And every auction, those cards go up more and more. So if you see me at Fanatics Fest, you see me at the national, you see me anytime between now and then, you're likely to find me holding Kobe and Michael Jordan cards and a whole bunch of Jackson Darth Downtowns as well. Guys, It's Monday the 22nd. I hope you guys are having fun in the hobby. I know I am. Hope you enjoyed Father's Day and, you know, hope you have a good start to this this week. Coming up, you guys have a good one. That's brought to you by Arena Club. By card ladder, use code cage. Save some a couple bucks. And by the Philly Show. Talk to you guys soon.