I’m a night owl, so a late numbers thread feels like a good “excuse” to get a jump on my own numbers. My packages and SCAN form were ready to go this afternoon, too. Good start to my week!
I hope to take a short vacation by the end of the summer, and your experience is another piece of evidence that “Time Away” might slow down sales. It will be interesting to see if your eBay numbers tick upwards next week as your store returns to “normal” active status in the search algorithm. I think the old method of changing the handling time and messaging buyers is still the best way to approach a vacation or time away, as long as it’s feasible.
It makes me so happy to see that your coffee shop continued to flourish while you were away, and you had a nice equipment sale as well. Your businesses remain a huge inspiration.
4/3/2022 – 4/9/2022
Total items in store: 2373 (down from 2451) I am still listing every day, and still purging my inventory of low-dollar, slow-moving listings.
Items sold: 46 (23 via best offer, 4 via seller initiated offer)
Gross sales: $2649.31 (down 18% from one year ago)
Net sales: $1903.80 (down 19% from one year ago)
Lowest price sold (net): $11.16 — DeVante Parker 2015 autographed draft rookie card
DeVante Parker was traded to the Patriots last week, and no surprise that led to a few sales of his cards to New England addresses. I have been trying to find and list more low-dollar items which I think will sell quickly, and it’s still gratifying anytime one sells.
Highest price sold (net): $133.53 — Dwayne Haskins autographed jersey rookie card #05/14
I sold 6 autographed cards of Pittsburgh Steelers QB Dwayne Haskins on Saturday morning at full price, and another 2 later that day. Sadly, this was because Haskins died unexpectedly early Saturday morning in a highway accident. He was just 24 years old and had barely started his life, never mind his quarterback career.
My card inventory has been built on finding bargain cards. Once or twice I bought cards when sellers incorrectly spelled his name “Haskings” but mostly I found good deals because Haskins was finding his way in his pro career. He had been released from his original team (a bad fit) just one year into his career before catching on with Pittsburgh, where he was working to find his place in the lineup. Since Haskins was a 1st round draft pick from a top football school (Ohio State), I figured his card prices would rise eventually. I was correct about that, but (obviously) wrong about the reason why, and I felt sad as these sales rolled in one after the other on Saturday.
Part of those feelings were definitely existential. Seeing a person (especially a young person) die in a strange and unexpected way is always a reminder of our own mortality, and the people in our lives who we lost too early. The card market is also irrational around in how it responds to a death. Prices spike dramatically, especially for autographs, and then after a few weeks or months those prices (mostly) return to whatever normal was for that player. The exception is for players who had a limited number of autographs, but Haskins was a 2019 rookie and high draft pick quarterback. So, he had autographed cards of all types distributed across 40+ sets — some more valuable than others depending on quality of card and set, but significantly more autographs across the board than players who only had an autograph in one or two sets.
Some of these sales are undoubtedly a nostalgia factor or emotional purchases. But I’m just as sure that part of the spike in prices after a death is from people who are purely in it to profit off the tragedy. Obviously there are a lot bigger things to worry about than sellers who put RIP in their titles, but it’s still tacky to see it happening in real time. At least those sellers are late to the party as far as selling at the peak. And wasting valuable characters in their titles, as well.
One of many things that I love about selling on eBay is that with one search and a few clicks of a button, I was able to send a small donation to Haskins favorite charity. I’m usually cynical about how much donating money really helps, especially in small amounts. But it felt better than doing nothing.
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