MONEY IN SPORTS
MEMORABILIA
MONEY IN SPORTS
The popularity of sports trading cards and memorabilia has never been greater
than it is today. Collection
of such items is not limited to youngsters either. Adults
have discovered trading cards
as a lucrative investment field. Prestigious auction
houses in New York dedicate
entire sales to antique baseball cards. Autographs,
bats and balls, team clothing,
ticket stubs, and game programs are bought and
sold by sports fans worldwide.
You can cash in on the growing interest in sports
collectibles by opening your
own sports memorabilia shop or mail order
operation.
You can choose to open a retail
facility in your city, or you may decide to operate
a mail order business specializing
in sports keepsakes. Both can be established
for a small investment, and
run for minimal costs. If you choose to open a retail
outlet, you will need an adequate
supply of stock to draw customers into your
store. If your stock is low
in the beginning, offer to sell merchandise on
consignment. You will display
a customer's item in your showcase, handle the
sale, and pocket a pre-arranged
percentage of the amount. The advantages of a
mail order operation are many.
You can begin as a trading club with a monthly or
bi-monthly newsletter, featuring
the items other members have for sale or trade.
Once you have personally gathered
a large number of items to serve as a stock
supply for your business,
you can branch out and begin a retail outlet.
Establishing a retail outlet
can be relatively simple. Find a small, inexpensive
location in a neighborhood
strip-mall. You don't need a lot of interior amenities
either. Several glass showcases
can serve as your sales counter and display
area. Place some shelves on
the wall behind your counter to display larger items.
Framed pictures or plaques
featuring autographed items that you have for sale
can be hung on the walls around
the room. Other counters or table space can
feature collecting supplies
such as binders, card cases, storage boxes, pages for
holding cards, etc. Sports
posters can fill up any bare spots on your wall.
Contact a local magazine distributor
and arrange to have a wide assortment of
sports magazines and newspapers
for sale in your shop. Include magazines
featuring sports news as well
as those that pertain to collecting trading cards and
keepsakes. The magazine distributor
will also be able to put you in contact with
the publishers of pricing
guides for sports memorabilia. These price books will
sell especially well, because
they are updated on an annual basis and will create
repeat purchases by customers.
If your city has a minor or
major league team, check with the front office about
having one or more players
visit your store for special autograph sessions. Fans
can come and have the players
autograph their cards, programs, etc., or they can
purchase some of these items
to be autographed from you at a special
discounted price. While folks
are in the store to get their autographs, they will
have the opportunity to browse
through your stock, make some purchases, and
get to know you better. While
many teams charge for these special appearances
by players, you should be
able to recoup your expenses through the added sales
the event will generate. Also,
having an opportunity to become acquainted with
your customers and their likes
and dislikes will serve you well further down the
road.
Getting employees to work in
your shop will not be difficult. Teenagers are wild
about sports collectibles
and would be willing to work for minimum wage. Of
course, you will want to have
at least one adult on duty at all times to handle any
problems that might arise.
This type of job is also a great second job for many
adults. Many collectors would
enjoy part-time work of this sort simply because it
will pay them for time spent
with their hobby. Don't worry about getting help. You'll
be swamped with folks applying
for work in your store.
As mentioned above, you will
want to serve as a consignment shop for folks
looking to sell valuable items
from their own collections. Have a sales contract
written up that specifies
that you are taking the described merchandise on
consignment for sixty days,
and that the seller will receive X amount for the sale of
the item. Of that sale price,
you will subtract 25% for negotiating the sale. If the
item does not sell within
the allotted time, the seller will have the option of
removing it from your store
or lowering the asking price. You should be able to
greatly increase your available
offers and make a good profit from consignment
sales.
Place an advertisement in your
city newspaper or local shoppers' guide informing
readers of your location and
that you take merchandise on consignment. Your ad
might look something like
this:
Keep your ad simple. Don't
overload it by telling everything about your store.
Simply include enough to let
the reader know that you have a shop that offers
materials in which he will
be interested. Also remember that your ad should be
simple enough to attract teenagers
as well as adults. Younger collectors will see
your ad and prompt their parents
to take them to your store. Allow the reader to
come by and check out your
offers for himself. Once he gets to the store, then you
can determine where his interests
lie and what items in your stock will appeal to
his desires. Your ad is designed
to capture interest--not close the sale.
If you choose not to start
out from a retail facility, but opt instead to sell through the
mail, there are a few things
to keep in mind. Decide first how you will market
collectibles by mail--will
you sell exclusively from your own collection, or will you
serve as a clearing house
to bring buyer and seller together by mail? If you plan to
sell only your own materials,
you will need to develop a catalog listing of what
you're offering. Divide it
by sport and item type. List all the trading cards,
autographs, and other collectibles
under separate headings. Briefly describe
each item. You may want to
develop a code for describing the condition of the
materials to include in the
description: M=Mint Condition; E=Excellent; VG=Very
Good; G=Good; F=Fair. Cards
can be listed by player name, year of issue,
company issuing the card,
and condition, with the price out to the side. If a card
also carries a players autograph,
include that information as well. A typical
description might read:
Ruben Sierra, 1991, Topps,
M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 12.00
Ruben Sierra, 1991, Topps,
E, w/ autograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 18.00
If you don't have a large enough
collection of your own, start a trading card and
collectibles newsletter. While
you will want to include two or three short columns
describing recent trends in
collecting sports items, price trends, or forthcoming
collectors items soon to be
made available, the main feature of your newsletter
will be the traders' section.
Much like a shoppers' tabloid, your newsletter will
include classified ads from
folks selling their own items or seeking others who are
selling items they want to
buy. You charge a small price per word, line or ad to
include the listing in your
newsletter. Readers will contact each other directly. You
will make your profit from
subscriptions, your personal sales of memorabilia
offered in the newsletter,
and the sale of classified advertising and any display
ads that readers may wish
to place in your newsletter.
You can establish a reader
base by advertising on local bulletin boards, in school
newspapers, or a small notice
placed in the classified section of national sports
or trading card magazines.
Your ad might read:
Free issue Sports Memorabilia
Newsletter. Brings buyers and sellers together.
Latest news. SASE to: Collectors,
Box 11000, Anytown, USA 10001
Along with the first free issue
of your newsletter, include a subscription coupon
and instructions on how to
place a classified ad. You will also want to leave a
stack at each of the retail
trading card outlets, at the neighborhood newsstand,
and in convenience stores
that sell trading cards. The ads in the first issue can be
placed free of charge by friends
and acquaintances with material to sell. Offer to
let a retail memorabilia store
place a display ad in the first issue for free. The
response to their ad will
encourage them to buy an ad in a future issue. The
important thing is to fill
up your first issue, making it look attractive and
professional.
Your newsletter can be easily
typed up on your personal computer. Many software
packages are available with
templates (sample layouts) of newsletters of two to
eight pages. Simply choose
a format you like and type your information into the
existing columns. You can
even plug in your own graphics for a professional
touch. If you don't have access
to a laser printer, visit a local print shop and have
your newsletter printed out
on a laser. The quality will be excellent and will only
cost around $2 per page printed.
Published bi-monthly in a four-page
format, you can have 1,000 copies of your
newsletter printed up for
about $80. Charge $15 per classified ad or $75 for a
one-third column display ad.
If you feature two pages of classified ads, three
columns wide with ten ads
per column, you'll have space for ninety ads, bringing
in $900. Add to this $150
income from two display ads placed elsewhere in the
newsletter, and you have generated
a total of $1050. Plan to leave 200 copies at
various locations in town
and mail the remainder to prospective subscribers. The
first issue will be mailed
to prospects in the self-addressed, stamped envelope
they provided in reply to
your ad. However, subsequent issues will be mailed at
your expense through paid
subscriptions. Mailing 800 copies via Third Class
would cost $160. Your gross
profit per issue will be approximately $810. This
doesn't include any sales
generated by your own advertising.
Selling sports memorabilia
can be highly profitable. A trading card purchased for
pennies can bring profits
thousands of times the original cost. More than ever
before, youngsters and adults
alike are collecting sports keepsakes. You can
grab a share of this lucrative
market and parley your position into a profitable
part- or full-time income.
The decision is yours. Step into the batter's box and take
a swing at success, knocking
one out of the park! Good Luck!