October 20, 2025 • 46 mins
@CardsMax on Twitter and IG was dealing cards in college when he was pre-med and decided to go into cards full-time instead of pursuing becoming a doctor. Listening to him talk about cards and it's easy to see why.
Episode 2 of So You Wanna Be A Dealer
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey everybody, it's Mike, Junk Wax Hero.
I'm joined by Max, also known asCards Max on Twitter and
Instagram. Max, how are you?
I'm good. I just came back from a quick
trip to Nashville for their local for I guess their national
card show. I know they spelled with an Nash
national. Their national card show was a
(00:21):
fun weekend, and now I'm back inFlorida and I'm ready to talk to
you. Yeah, this is exciting.
So the National, I have never been to the Nash National.
Tell me a little bit about it. I know it's a big deal.
So I've done it. This is not my second time doing
it. I did it this past February.
So I mean time flies I guess. That's like 8 months ago.
(00:43):
From my understanding, people love it.
It gets a lot of local turn out.I didn't love it that much.
The room is progressively growing with Pokémon a lot.
There's a lot of tables, which is a blessing and a curse.
George, my dog, I don't know if you can hear him too well, but
he's trying to enjoy the podcast.
Yeah, he'll calm down in a little bit.
My apologies about that. But it was a an effective
(01:06):
weekend of buying and selling sometime mostly familiar faces
that I've already known, which isn't ideally what I want when a
travel show, but it was an overall fun weekend.
Nice, I should probably introduce the podcast here since
I didn't at the very beginning. This is the new podcast called
So You Want to Be a Dealer, and I'm interviewing a dealer every
other week. The first one was with Chris
(01:26):
Sewell, Baseball card collector investor dealer, and this one is
with Max. And Max, tell me a little bit
about yourself as a dealer. So I guessed I'll keep the give
the Cliff notes on myself from acard perspective a little bit,
which is I think integral to getting into how I became a
dealer, bought cards as a or hadcards bought for me as a kid.
(01:49):
5-6 years old was cool. Everyone has that phase, blah
blah blah. I had this phase as a teenager
where I'm really getting in the cards and which is abnormal for
a teenager in the 20 tens. I consumed blowout forms,
probably 12 hours worth of doomscrowling a day, seeing
those back pages and others thatstill interact a little bit,
(02:13):
posting their thoughts and everything.
But I didn't have a debit card, I didn't have money.
So it was just non-stop constantinformation.
And then I got out of that when I was like 1516 because I wasn't
really buying much aside from stuff at a drug store because it
got me more connected to the sport of baseball without
needing to purchase memorabilia.That's partly why cards are so
cool. And then I got out of that for a
(02:34):
little because cards were not cool or not mainstream like they
are now back then. And then when I was 2021 years
old, I had some college kid money and I'm like, OK, I can
buy some Yankees autographs for my basement.
Went down the rabbit hole with that.
And I never looked back since then.
And from that point, I think during COVID, I was Uber eating
(02:55):
cards from like labor Torres personal collection.
And I'm like, OK, well, if I, I'm like, I'm not blind.
I have eyes. And like, if grading costs $8
and if I get Apsa 9, I break even.
And if I get APSA 10I double with the triple my money and it
takes six months, I'm like, thatis a good decision to do.
So I started doing that during COVID a little bit, and then the
(03:16):
buying and selling was a naturalprogression from that.
And then I graduated College in 2022.
COVID was 2020. I guess with buying and selling
2 or so years under my belt, I just was indefinitely.
Yeah, I'm still on the job hunt.Until cards just continued
proliferating into what this is now for me.
And so you're 25 years old, roughly.
(03:38):
I turned 26 in August. Nice.
I've got 20 years on you. So that's actually one of the
main reasons I wanted to talk toyou because the main sports card
audience on YouTube is like my age guys, a bunch of old guys,
really 35 and up. And it really concentrates
between 45 and 65. And when I'm on Twitter, it's
(04:02):
just a lot of people like me. And then there's like you and
Casey and a few others in their mid 20s that have a completely
different perspective than what we're seeing on YouTube.
And it's I don't, I don't know that the refreshing is the right
word for it, but it's definitelyintriguing to me whenever you
tweet out certain things like you talk a lot about just work
(04:24):
harder. And that's not something that
people my age necessarily say, but talk to me about that work
ethic that you bring to it. I will say the and I'm not just,
you know, trying to be too much of A young and the work harder
is a little bit of satire and that's why I sometimes for the
trademark emoji with it. And I know there's some other
(04:45):
talking heads on Twitter that, you know, oh, just work harder
and you get to be a big full time breaker.
And I I kind of stoked that firea little was yeah, you know, I
what a great day to just work harder.
I'm laughing at myself a little bit with that.
I think that's an interesting scope and lens that you're
saying as someone who's viewing it like me or someone who is
(05:05):
viewing it like younger because I personally like divide the
perspectives, not necessarily byage bracket, which I guess is
for the most part pretty accurate.
But I try to divide it by like when the person got involved
with cards. And although I got into it again
as an adult the same time as Gary Vee, I like I was not a
byproduct of Gary Vee. And, and I think people got in
(05:29):
during COVID. Have no recollection of him
tweeting about Ronald Acuna Junior and US two 50s going from
$40 in APSA 10 to $80.00 in APSA10 and Juan Soto's first ascent
with that 2018 update set. So I view it as like, OK, you
either got in before COVID or got in during like an
intermediary time before COVID or you got in after.
(05:50):
And peeps, people just have no idea what this landscape sort of
was. But I yeah, I guess in terms of
the content side, I consume likea good healthy bit of YouTube
sports cards content. I think Christy Wall is an
absolute legend. And I get like and even though
he doesn't know who I am, I get like an interesting
understanding of his scope as the more old fashioned dealer
(06:12):
who may again, not specific to Chris, but maybe focus entirely
on making sure a margin is therein a big deal rather than just
volume, volume, volume. But and even then, I think
there's people that have gotten in post fanatics and post not
like I've been guilty of trying to, you know, assemble some home
field advantages for myself, butlike, oh, you know, oh, you're a
(06:34):
fanatics show. Oh, you're this or you're that.
But I'm like, oh, this person hasn't had an involvement in
sports cards pre fanatics. So like they don't know how cool
tops, you know, tops gold waterswere before they came like Pooh
Pooh brown or how story tops blacks are.
And while removing that from topseries 2 with such like a
travesty until it was brought back.
(06:55):
So I got. I guess my point is like there's
so many different perspectives from when the person entered in.
Those back pages would be very proud that you mention the tops
blacks. I have to.
I have to. So contrast your style with
Chris's a little bit because I see I asked him last week, 2
weeks ago, where do you sell? And he listed like 8 different
(07:17):
places that he sells. Where do you sell?
I have some regular clients thatbuy from me on like a regular
basis that's not like on eBay and stuff like that.
And I do that generally for stuff that has crystallized non
ambiguous comps. And I think those are
relationships that you build at car shows or having an online
(07:39):
presence and coupling that with having a certain like amount of
volume that you bring each week.I think it's funny sometimes on
Twitter people are like, Oh yeah, where's where's the reef
pack? And why isn't he coming to me?
And I'm like, well, what do you bring to the table?
I'm like, how much volume are you bringing?
And of course, I'm not rhetorically asking these
questions in my own head, but I'm like, if and if you have one
(07:59):
car that's 500 bucks and you're going to fee your, someone has
to twist your arm in order to sell it below 500 bucks.
It's like, that's why the, you know, these wholesale buyers
aren't really working regularly on people that don't do that
much volume. But that's a rant.
I guess I can get into, you know, if the topic comes up.
But some of it is just wholesalemoving, right?
(08:20):
You know, to regular vendors weekly for live streamers or
shops or whatever. Some of it is like I dance a
little bit with just the traditional selling cards on how
they're supposed to be sold witheBay, with trying to find the
right collector, which I think is more how it's been for like
20/21/2023 then how's it been since like now?
(08:41):
But it's like I bought, I just for example, like I bought a
James wood pad for Dasha autograph, one of one his first
omen on public auction from Fanatics for I think 32,000 and
I gotta go find something to notdisturb.
I don't want to get those pings and I think someone's like, oh,
how much and I'm like 65 K and it's like, oh, well, you just
bought it for 32. I'm like, I'm not like actively
(09:02):
selling it right now. That's like more of a play that
I'm waiting for March. I might re auction it then or I
might try to find a, you know, James Wood big investor.
Because how I see it is that once they start getting once
these players are getting rookieautographs, people remember they
exist and then people start buying their cards.
But like some of them is just doing it, buying the car, trying
(09:23):
to sell for higher. Some of it is just selling based
off comps. And I think that's like on a
case by case basis depending on how cool the card is.
So you do a mix of quick flips and sort of short term
investments. I think short term investments
is a, whether it's for short term investments or just trying
to like set a high new sale. What are, you know, not out of
(09:44):
greed, but out of thinking, OK, the card was worth less here.
I can get it for more here. Yeah, I think that's a good way
of summarizing it. So if you set a new new high
sale for a specific card or specific player, do you then use
that to market yourself? In terms of as from a branding
standpoint or from A to look at the sale of other copies.
(10:06):
Both. Either one.
I used to be, I definitely used to do a lot more eBay and I
think that's a great method for people that aren't full time
because it's, well, I mean, if there's one, I graduate with a
degree in chemistry. If there's one thing that I
really try to apply from a business stands is that every
(10:28):
single reaction and really metaphorically every single
thing we do operates in an equilibrium.
And you know, there's a principle called the Chatelier's
principle and that when one sideof a product, every reaction is
2 sided technically. And when one side, the product
of reactants has too much stresson it, there is, it's alleviated
to then produce the reaction towards the opposite direction
(10:51):
to where ounces in an equilibrium.
And the way I see it, at least in the context of cards or
business or whatever, like we operate with either like too
much time or too much money. And then I guess there's also
buying leads. But for simplicity's sake,
there's too much time or too much money.
And if you're working cards fulltime, you probably have limited
money, but also more time per car to churn because your
(11:13):
money's a little bit limited. And I don't have like the the
time to turn out the high on every single sale.
Otherwise I'd be strapped for money even if the money's
turning well. So I mean, there's so many times
where you can just, you know, especially with vintage or rarer
vintage copies or rare modern cards and buy the card for 300
or buy the card at comp or whatever, then just throw it up
(11:33):
on eBay for $500. And if it's a good card, maybe
it eventually just gets pinned. And of course you can brand
yourself with that. The card is not worth $500.00 so
you can sell other copies at around 500 below that comp.
But I think it's the best way for people to get involved
rather as a someone who isn't asactive from a buying or selling
standpoint but still wants to make money.
(11:54):
It's like buy some cool cards, throw them up on eBay.
You probably get a bite eventually if it's cool enough
and then boom, you said an all time high sale.
I think it's like I have the OR had like the all time high John
McGraw T2O6. It was one of the variations.
It wasn't the portrait. And because I leveraged the I
appeal, I just threw it in my title and then it just
(12:15):
eventually got pinned. And that was like a $700.00 card
that wasn't much. But like, examples like this are
how people can get pretty deeplyinvolved when it's like, you
don't need to be turning on percentage all the time.
Yeah, I almost never sell cards,but I did sell a Caitlin Clark
2021 Sports Illustrated for Kidsautographed PSAI think the card
was authentic PSA 10 autograph before her TOPS cards started
(12:40):
coming out. And I sold it for right around
$2000 on eBay. It's still the high sale and
that was 18 months ago. Those SI kids cards are very
early in getting cards of players.
Yeah, yeah, that was my goal. There have been some that have
sold just shy of that, but that that one's still the the best 1.
So you're 2526. It's a tough time for somebody
(13:01):
to graduate from college right now.
Do you ever think back as a as achemistry major, what you'd be
making as a chemist right now inin some sort of field with that
degree and then compare it to what you're actually making?
Yeah, and it's it's cards do me well.
And what I've told like some of my, you know, friends that are
(13:22):
in like the corporate world is that like it'd be I'm at a point
with cards where it's like it'd be stupid to not look at it and
continue doing it full time fromlike both the financial
standpoint and I guess from likea nest building standpoint and
everything else. But I was at the time, I know I
was pre Med, I was looking at Med schools and I knew I had to
do an intermediary Med school program in order to plump up the
(13:46):
GPA little bit and further MCAT prep before looking formally at
MD programs. And the thinking with that is
was OK, before I'm going to lookat some biomedical master's
programs. I'm going to get a research job
at a hospital or at a small lab,further demonstrate that I'm
(14:06):
confident being able to do research and then continue doing
that. But cards are a lot more fun and
that and that was my hesitancy for the job search, you know,
and you know, and keeping expenses low at that point.
But it got to the point where the card, the revenue from cards
just got so strong to where became obvious to where I have
to continue seeing this through.So you were pre Med?
(14:30):
I think I found the headline here.
You were going to be a doctor and you dropped it for cards, is
that right? I don't, I don't want to say
going to be just because of how really like the stats amaze me,
but it's like, I think the average person applying to MD
programs applies to 21 schools and only about 60% get into at
(14:54):
least one school and 40% just get into 0.
So I definitely don't want to say it was going to be.
But yes, I was very much invested down that path and
seeing it through. Yeah, I love the caution.
I'm equally cautious about the things that I say.
And, well, that actually brings me to a good thing.
You and I had a very minor beef on Twitter.
Super minor. Yeah, I was trying to think back
(15:17):
on what it was. I think it was like I said
something and then you tweeted something out that was kind of
related to it and I maybe overreacted.
I I feel like it was mostly my fault, but I don't remember what
it was. It sounds like you're searching
for it now. Oh yeah, no, I tried to pull it
up. It was the 20.
(15:37):
The 2014 Stephen Curry Black Prism was pulled and I think
Fanatics Collect said it could be upwards of $500,000.
I tweeted on August 8th, so I guess three months ago.
Or 2 1/2 whatever. People that don't do high end
need to stop having an opinion on high end cards.
Rather values had subjective. This undoubtedly and most
(15:59):
conservatively is worth $100,000plus.
Anyone who's saying 50,000 to $70,000 is utterly clueless.
And you attacked the point lol. The first sentence is Wildman.
But the people that don't do high end need to have an
opinion. And I and I, I immediately
conceded I'm like, my father was, yeah, I woke up cranky.
But the premise of heating people being overly pinioned on
(16:19):
things is that they're not informed of is so frequent.
I said, you said, I literally asked someone to explain to me
how it's worth upwards of 500. Why not just help us understand
this instead of insulting peoplewho aren't as rich?
And also you ratioed the heck out of me to my 12 or something
like that. And I said, you know, you're
turning this into something. It's not like I'm operating in
(16:39):
good faith. I'm like, I'll write a few.
I'll write a dissertation of like, why I think it is worth
$100,000. And I'm not that.
I think I even, you know, you'relike, can you put my combat in
this? And I'm like, yeah, I mean, I
already conceded I was Moody. But I'm like, you're trying to
make drama out of nothing. But I'm like, not personally,
you are. I don't care if you own a dollar
(17:01):
a million. And like, and I was like sassy.
I was like, stop acting like it.But well, I hey, I can say I can
wake up cranky sometimes and I and if I do try to spew again,
because even going back to like the mythicals, like I don't want
to feel like I have hubris or ego or anything like that, but
like at this. But again, it wasn't again, the
fanatics collect social media account and I think Thompson
(17:24):
fanics do a great job pumping some stuff, injecting
conversations for us to talk about, whether that's like with
this new tops basketball or not.But I'm like, OK, we can.
We can tone down the clip to me a little bit, right?
But I'm like, I I think me and Ieven I know Royals cards who is
sometimes a tourist. I'm not, you know, someone
precision someone not I'm like, if that card walked up to me,
I'm buying it blind for 50K and I'm getting in the debt if I
(17:46):
have to. It's like, because that's just
kind of where the market is and thought of those comments were,
oh, this is just like a base card.
It doesn't even have an auto. And I'm like, yeah, but his
black shimmer, I think I was arguing with some this black
shimmer from 2022 sold in 2024 for 8000.
And I'm like it is not the same.Yeah, yeah.
(18:07):
Thanks for the recall on that. I think that we both woke up a
little grumpy that day. Yeah, and I, I, I still, I
apologize for the crankiness. No, I apologize too.
It was silly. Sometimes my Sunday videos, I
don't know if you watch any of my videos but on Sundays I do a
a series. Where I I just I have what you
have some interesting names you bring on.
(18:27):
But yes, the Sunday videos. Well, the Sunday video, I cover
all these weird things that happened in the past week and it
tends to like today, it can attract commenters outside of my
normal ecosystem. It can attract viewers like I
today I'll probably get 5000 viewers, which is probably 2000
more than I would normally get. And those 2000 can bring about,
(18:48):
I don't know, 8 to 12 people whojust watched to get mad and they
comment. And I sometimes can kind of Stew
in those comments. And so that's, I think it was on
a Sunday, if I remember correctly, or there was
something happening with my channel and commenters that made
me go at you at that tweet. It was silly of me.
(19:11):
But yeah, I mean, so I'm trying to get Jeff Wilson on too.
And Jeff, I have had way more beef with Jeff Wilson.
And he kind of alluded to comingon and also alluded to the beat
one of the beefs that we've had in the past.
And I was like, come on, we'll talk about it for sure.
It won't be a big deal. And I don't think he's going to.
Yeah, that's a bit disappointing.
(19:31):
Yeah, to put the capsule on the tangent a little bit, Lebron's
Black Prism 1 of 1 from 2022 is at Golden right now and it is at
$75,000 with two weeks left of bidding.
And that is a car from eight years later.
So I just thought that was interesting.
I wanted to put that Tibet before we get into the beefs and
not I know I just attacked his job, but I do have to and I
(19:55):
absolutely respect how to give the what is it the the hot with
the the the cold or the hot or the the roses with the I gave
the thorns. Now here's the roses.
I think Ben Haynes is great at his job.
I've had Twitter beef with him in the past.
Me and Tommy were both, you know, throwing punches at him a
little bit, saying that he's just engagement baiting, saying
this is this and. Hey, we gave him the heat and he
(20:17):
came in the kitchen and I think we had like an hour, 30 minute
episode with him on our podcast when we ran it and he came into
the lines and then people said like the conversation wasn't as
aggressive enough against him. But I my response to that, I
know JP specifically doesn't listen like that I was wasn't
(20:37):
harsh enough to him. Was that like if he's coming in
in good faith to talk about some, I will come in with good
faith as well, even though again, Ben's a great guy, but
his comparatives of the Jesus Christ, which will always be
funny. But yeah, it's a little
disappointing with Jeff that especially since like I again,
part of it is like with content creation, part of it like isn't,
but like one of my Evergreen sort of topics.
(21:00):
I don't view Twitter as like a content vessel because like I
just don't care. Like I just think it's fun to
tweet and I tweet a lot of things on my mind and I'm like,
I was tweeting someone in Pokémon like every it's I know
I'm getting into a lot, but likeI feel like sports cards are so
like five to seven years ahead or maybe from like literal
standpoint, we're like 40 years ahead.
(21:20):
If like tops 52 came out in 50 in 52.
Obviously there's cards before that a lot more to an extent as
a young person. But if tops 52 is like the birth
of like pack gold sports cards and Pokémon came out in 1999 in
English or 96 if for Japanese, it's like they are quite
literally 40 years behind and it's like they're just like
(21:41):
they're discovering fire and reinventing the wheel or
discovering the invention of thewheel when they find out what
PSC up charges and I'm like, no,like they make sense.
And part of my arguments was that was like, no, like I make
money with it. It's great.
I I won't shove it up on it. If you're like, Oh, you're
saying you make money off. I'm like, you can make one with
the two. But Jeff then like started
tweeting more about up charges. I guess as I like pivoted that
to sports for the day as like the Twitter topic and Jeff can
(22:05):
be a little again, I don't have a personal relationship with
him. I saw him at Atlanta collector
Con, I think 2-3 weeks ago. And I'm like, hey, Jeff, I like,
you know, yeah, you've been making some good tweets lately.
And he's like, thanks. Just kind of walked away.
And like, OK, I'm like, I tweet.I tweet a lot actually.
But yeah, I think it's beneficial for the growth of
these topics, especially when we're talking about discourse in
(22:26):
good faith and everything like that, to like, hey, you know
who? If we're truly not to get like
Elon Musk, but we're in like, the battlefield of ideas and,
like, the truth, you know, risesto the cream of the crop, then
like, yes, everyone's time is valuable.
But like having these conversations I think is fun and
important and good for everyone.Yeah, I saw you in the
background of a Jeff Wilson video couple weeks ago.
(22:47):
Did you see that? I didn't, which I don't.
Remember, it was you were at a show and it was just him at A at
a table negotiating with the dealer, and there was nobody
else at the show. And then you walked past him in
the background and there's like literally nobody else nearby.
And you kind of looked at what Jeff was looking at, and then
(23:08):
you just kept walking. And I was like, there he is.
Yeah. I think that might have been
culture collision because I knowhe was set up there pretty and
I, I think that might have been my entire interaction, me
looking at me like, oh, those are cards walking away.
Because I'm like, I don't want to interrupt the deal,
especially if it's like a video recording for its content or
whatever. Sure.
(23:28):
Yeah, people are interesting. And that's not a site at Jeff
Wilson because they don't want to start a war with people.
But I guess everyone has their own idiosyncrasies and I have
mine as well. Yeah.
So let's say somebody comes to you with a collection that they
would like to sell to you. Do you buy entire collections?
Do you just buy single cards? I mean like I would buy entire
collections. It's usually just like such a
(23:49):
big process and I, I haven't formally done the Chris C wall
with miss, you know, with the snowman travelling like on a
four hour flight to like Arizonato buy someone's entire
warehouse. I haven't done that.
Probably just use the logistics and I don't know how to discern
which leads are really great leads that are like realistic
(24:09):
and people are realistic on price and which ones aren't.
And especially when you're taking a lot of junk or unwanted
goods to an extent. Obviously with junk and unwanted
goods, sports cards, I love them.
There has to be built in a building to discern like what
the price range is. And some people have like, have
a lot of experience with that. Some people don't.
(24:29):
And another pure person I was getting into a beef with was, I
think Chasing Cardboard, the guywith the YouTube channel.
Yeah, Ty Wilson. Ty Wilson and hey, hey, I mean,
he's clearly specializes at buying collections and it seems
like he's great at it. And that's just another thing
that I have to improve on my, you know, repertoire.
But at the very least, I have buying singles.
(24:51):
That's the vast majority of whatI do and I have it refined just
because people for the most partknow what they want.
And if they know what they want,especially if they're a dealer
and they know how how it works, then it's just the recurring
relationships are just make things easier.
So let's say somebody comes up to you and they offer you a a
show. Hey, it's worth you.
You find comps, you figure out it's worth about $2000.
(25:13):
OK, What would you say this show?
Hey, very hot, very liquid. What would you say you would
offer to pay for that? I guess to give like 2 examples
of cards I know show Haze Goldman Chrome 2018 batting PSA
10 not auto before the 300 run game was spying and selling
consistently for 1800 to 2200. And I know it sounds a little
(25:38):
bit like ironic, but that's a little bit of a more that's like
a bad $2000 card just because there's so many of them and at
least the people that I buy and sell with like may have them
often. So if I, and also the it's like
with 2017 patch Mahomes Optics and that like I think of Mahomes
optic PSA 10 is like $1000 in any given point, but there's so
(26:00):
many sales where there's one listed lower than what the last
sale actually is, which is just dumb.
But I know whether that's organic or not, you know, I
don't know. But like on the case of the
Shohei, I'd probably like look at the lower end of that
spectrum, maybe pay like 1600 when it's paying like doing 1800
to 2200. But on like another end of the
(26:21):
spectrum, if it's a Shohei Otanicard and it hasn't sold, like
again, Shohei is a good example just because how dynamic it is
and it's easy to disable. Like everything is up.
But like, OK, if his show, if it's 2017 Megabox purple, the
250 and the PSA 10, which was consistently at $6000 card the
(26:43):
few times it sold. And that card last sold in
January for like 6000 and there is no other data and it's
October. I mean, of course, the old you
know, thing is like, of course Iwant to try to do as well as
possible on the card again and as a competitive of a price as
possible, especially if it's someone that is unlikely to be
procurring. But like if like I my arm was
(27:05):
twisted regardless, you know, onit, it's like I may pay that
full value or slightly higher just out of me knowing that even
if the valuable isn't like quantifiable, it's like the
value is definitely worth more than 6000 and I have confidence
I can sell it more for 6000. OK, so you've just bought a card
for $6000 and somebody walks up to you.
You buy it from somebody at A ata show, somebody walks up to you
(27:28):
immediately after and says I want to buy that from you.
What's the lowest you will sell it to them for right after
you've bought it? Is it a card with a comp or
without a comp? It's that.
It's that example that you just.OK, it's that example.
Then I would try or when I'm buying the card, I try to like
have a card, you know, value in my head of what it's worth.
(27:48):
But like if like, let's say the PSA 10, that's 6000 and like, I
don't know, the PSA 9's at 4:00,I'm making that example up, even
though it's a card that like gems all the time.
But whatever I'm getting into like different little anecdotes
at the PSNS at 4, I'd probably stick with that at like 8, You
know, and I probably how I operate with cards and values is
that like the more defined the value is, the less room I
(28:10):
probably have on it, but the more subjective the value is,
the more I'm able to work on it.And sometimes it goes in my
favor. Sometimes it doesn't like OK,
but if that card's like 8000 andyou know, and I'm usually
getting closer to full market onit, I may let it go for 7:00
just because it's like, OK, if we're saying PSA 10 is double
the PSA 9 and it's 8, but there is insecurity and whether it's
(28:31):
actually worth 8, I'm going to adopt that insecurity in my
ability, in my value that I'm good letting it go at.
So it's way less like, again, like maybe doing this
quantitatively, but like the buying point and the selling
point are two like entirely independent variables.
And like what I'm into it for doesn't have to do with what I
think it's worth. But like in that case, OK, I'll
just say I, you know, if it hadn't sold since January, OK,
(28:52):
maybe I like, I would even be a buyer of it at 6500.
Maybe I would even pay the initial buyer 6500.
And sometimes they break even oncards, sometimes they lose on
cards. But that's just kind of how it
works. So, OK, it's very interesting.
Thank you. So let's say same question, same
card, but now you've tried selling it for two weeks and no
(29:13):
bites on it from your normal customer, normal clients and
somebody comes up to you and says I'll give you 6100 for it.
I think that'd be that'd be in those situations like, or at the
very least like cards that are more risky with that.
Like I would be depends on how much I need to buy or like if I
(29:34):
have a big show coming up or something like that.
But like in that case, it's likeif the variable in that case is
like, do I still believe in the play?
And like if it's Otani heading in the postseason, I probably
would hold on to it. If it's January, you know, 14th
and we have two more and a half more weeks for baseball and I
don't think there's going to be as much velocity in Otani on
like the public or the private market.
(29:55):
Then it's like, yeah, take the 6100, whether that's profit or
loss is doesn't matter. You know, it's I don't believe
in the play anymore. And then use that to continue
operating. Yeah, You know, I see a lot of
people getting into cards in thelast 3-4 years.
They think that they can come inand be an expert and become a
great card dealer. And I think just from 30 1/2
(30:20):
minutes of talking to you, you definitely have the the
knowledge, the ability, the critical thinking skills to do
this long term, whereas a lot ofpeople aren't going to make it a
year in. This was just like with any
business really, right. So shoot, that was my next
question was about that. Anyway, talk to me about Repacks
(30:43):
and the impact that a repack business or the repack industry
has had on your dealings. I think it's, and I'm going to
have some trepidation with how Iphrase things just because I
feel like if I say the wrong things, a mob's going to come at
me. And also like the stuff that
like, you know, is, you know, should be in like whatever the
(31:03):
marketplace or whatever repacks are at least probably.
I mean, for like so many cards are a lot of what this
marketplace is right now, whether that's public comps,
whether that's people consuming cards or whatever, as like a
retail product. And I think people really
undermine just the amount of cards that are being funneled in
(31:28):
and out and in between repacks. And I think there's like from a
buying and selling below comp standpoint, like it, it nearly
is the market because there there would be no buying at 90
whatever percent or 85% or whatever percent, you know, you
wake up with that would come to like a standstill if there
weren't liquidity of repacker ispaying near full comp for some
(31:53):
cards. You know, they're not paying
full comp really. They're not really thinking
about full comp, but like for all things, they're paying very
close to full market on cards. And like you people say, Oh, I
don't sell to repackers, but it's like, OK, but the guy
you're selling to might sell to a repacker.
Like the guy in between might be, you know, and there's
sometimes it's just people aren't like, and again, I have a
(32:14):
unique perspective of someone who's so immersed into this or
someone who's buying a card every now and then, as you know,
may not see it as vividly, but like so many cards that are
bought and sold, you know, whether that's on Facebook,
Twitter or Instagram, wherever, unless it's like such a cool
card that it has its own merits for its market climbing, then
(32:39):
there's probably a repack some point in the machine and or in
the ecosystem of the card. And I think sometimes, which
like really damages these conversations is like, again,
not to sound eucotistic or someone with hubris, but like
the type of person that you're talking to matters as there's
people that you know will say, oh, PSA offers exists and PSA
(32:59):
gave you APSA 9 on your card instead of APSA 10 so that PSA
offers could buy it back, crack it, resolve it PS and then get
APSA 10 on it. And I'm like, OK, I'm I can
dabble in some no politics, I can dabble into some crazy
theories a little bit. But I think that's just the very
outlandish. And I'm like, or it's just the,
the Occam's razor. It's the simplest outcome of PSA
(33:21):
is selling to wholesalers and they are making a margin on the
card. And I'm sure there is legality
for them to have to, you know, enumerate with that and just
say, yes, this is resellers or whatever and to say, no, we're
not buying the car to crack. But like, I, I am not, I'm not
Paul Lesko, I'm not the hobbies lawyer to be able to point where
it's technically illegal or whatisn't.
Otherwise it's just conjecture. But yes, like from like the PSA
(33:45):
offer standpoint, from public comps to selling at shows or
selling online, like there's probably a repack in the
ecosystem, unless the card is sogood that it transcends that.
And I think as someone who's buying and selling stuff like
I'm re dabbling and like hit PC stuff or you know, stuff that I
want to long term invest in, butmore so just cars I like and I
think will go higher, but more probably cards that I like.
(34:07):
It's like, OK, I think these cards will go up irrespective of
any other artificial market influence.
And it's like, and I kind of like them.
It's like no one is going to pump my super fractor one of
ones or to bring it back earlierStephen Curry black prison one
of ones. It's like no repack is buying
the six figure Steph Curry blacknon auto.
It's not a sexy. I mean it's a little bit of a
(34:27):
sexy. Like it's like the fundamentals
of that are in a collector who just wants an extremely high end
Stephen Curry card. It's not in a repack card.
So I think looking at cards thatlike Transcend, that are a
little bit more, you know, have more relevancy or have more
significance or have more uniqueness than just stuff that
can just get churn and burned. OK, it's a 2022.
(34:48):
Our 2024 Gene Daniels could be in Kaboom and they range from
about 1000 to 1500 bucks. I don't know what to do right
now. And yeah, news flash, it's
probably not 5000 different collectors that are buying and
holding them. And I have some empathy towards
people who do buy and hold them into the offseason.
And I see it more so in Florida and when I was in College in
North Carolina, which wasn't as relevant back then.
(35:10):
But it's like, no, you're not smarter than you're not more
efficient than the market. The the quarterback will go down
every single after season's opener unless they like the
world on fire, which even if they do, they won't.
And Davis Mills is going to go down to 0.
And I hate to be the heartbreaker, but it's going to
Sam Howell. Sam Howell did go down to 0.
And I don't think there was a candidate like that this year,
(35:30):
but that's a rattler maybe. Yeah, you said, I think in a
tweet today or yesterday, 95% ofall ultra modern cards will will
go down because they suck or something.
And I, I agree with that wholeheartedly.
And that's why I don't RIP packsbecause there's almost nothing
in there. It's gotten to the point when I
was a kid many, many years ago, you could RIP a pack for a
(35:53):
dollar and you didn't care aboutthe value.
It would be nice. You've you've always thought it
would be nice if these cards go up in value, but now even
blaster you get almost nothing good that's going to cost you 40
bucks $45.00 for a blaster. Crazy.
What? What do you collect?
What's your favorite card in your personal collection?
(36:13):
So I have some cards with store or not that interesting or some
cards not. I used to collect labor Torres.
That was how I got started againas an adult, thinking was that
he was less expensive than a judge, which helped me as a as
someone buying to hold and collecting whatever.
So I haven't sold any of it because it's not a project to
sell and the sentimental value is higher than any monetary
(36:34):
output I could get from it, especially now as he's a Tiger.
And my qualifications for that was like, OK, I want someone
who's stayed with the team theirentire career and so that you
know, oh, if I collect Didi, you're glorious.
You can leave his free agent. And he did, you know, and it's
I'm like, I want to make sure they're have allegiance to the
team I have so that I don't havethe issue of them leaving.
(36:57):
But Glaber eventually did. But regardless, and I thought
that was a fun because 2018 update was such a hot product
and there wasn't even then, it was like there was significance
to a base. Cards are still very much
relevant and I was able to dabble with like PSA 10s.
I'd be able to get like unique low pop PSA 10s.
(37:17):
I I, I said this more like at times, like I was Uber eating
for favorite Torres PSA stab money and it's like, OK, it's
cool. I made 20 bucks.
I could buy an Allen ginger basePSA 10 of him.
Like that's awesome. And I slowly like went away from
that after he goes, OK, like this is there is consumerism in
this. A, there's consumerism of this,
which I'm like, I don't want to just collect the cards and like
(37:39):
just I'm just the product. And B, I'm like not able to get
like near any sort of the mega major cards because the New York
market is just so crazy. And I guess the third aspect of
that is partly lack of interest and that labor was becoming a
little more relevant. I'm like, I don't need this.
But going back to your point about working wax, it's like I,
(38:02):
I mean, buying to grade singles back then from ripping racks was
something that was more fruitfulback then and now isn't really
possible because bases are relevant.
But back then, I mean, my hop halted me from ripping wax a
little bit was like, if I open 2020.
Yeah. I mean, I I don't know if you
can see them. I have still some.
No, you can't see them. I still have some Walgreens
(38:23):
blasters are Walgreens hangers of 2020 top series 2 that I
rounded up back in the day from Walgreens is because they have 6
yellow parallels. That's awesome.
And that's way better short print math than any other
configuration of product. And I still have them.
But I'm like I don't have any attachment to like Louise Robert
car back in 2020, of course, buthe's just a chase and like that
(38:45):
doesn't like mean anything to me.
And like opening 2020 product won't get any more 2018 Clara
Torres rookies like it's it's impossible.
There's 0% chance so that like so deviating from that instead
of just wanting the big chase and having some focus on what
you want in your collection or in your cards.
I think it's important and I think that's the crux of many
retail waxer, retail rippers is that they're chasing a number
(39:08):
and they're not chasing a player.
And if they're chasing a number and the number is signed to the
B against their favor when they're opening wax, but I don't
know, I'm on my home field advantage super factor fix right
now. So from a Glaber Torres
collection I'll give 2 answers Iguess from a Glaber Torres
collection answer I sold. Wait again?
(39:30):
Dating myself here from a hobbyist you know.
But I had 2021 Bowman sapphire boxes that I hit from tops.com.
I was interacting with the Twitter user who isn't too
active right now anymore. I sold him my boxes and he
pulled in Austin Martin Purple Sapphire auto to 10 from my
boxes. And I'm like, at the time I was
(39:51):
like a $5000 card. I'm like, I'm like, that's
awesome. But I'm like, I mean, I didn't
say any. Obviously.
I'm like, congratulations. I was like, oh, like you know
who your PC? I'd like, I'd love to send you
something and I'm like IPC Glaber Torres and I'm like
awesome. Like I literally have like a
sapphire rookie card right here.I was going to send it to PSA,
but I didn't really care that much And they were down in
(40:12):
value. Like you can have it and it was
worth 200 bucks at the time. I'm like, oh wow, that's
awesome. You don't have to like you did
it anyway. And I sent it in, he said he
sent to me, which I'm very grateful of.
And I think story that's very unique and I jammed it and it's
still my PSA laboratory or my, my box of PSA laboratory styles.
And that's like that. And I think a Bowman Chrome
(40:33):
first Bowman auto, which was 250bucks, which again, another
scheme that was dating myself. Do you do you remember when ALT
first started back in like the 2021 National?
There was a $50 credit for everyperson referred.
Yes. I think I got like, I think I
got like 500 bucks from that andlike a big chunk of that was
(40:55):
just buying myself like laboratories mobile Chrome
autograph from the girls, which is awesome.
But having those two cards of Sapphire Rookie PSA 10, which
you can get into the card math of it of like, yeah, it's like
the Acunia bat up. You know, there's the short
print in Series 2 and then there's not that many parallels
of that original image. And that's partly why it's so
cool. And the autograph for that sell
(41:16):
for the longest time sold for less than the actual true short
print image. I know for Acunia it still does,
of course, because bat town is so iconic.
But having those that and the bone Chrome motto mean he goes,
OK, I like climbed like the highest possibility of this
mountain I could reach without fighting with Yankees fans that
have way more money for me. And also, I'm like, this isn't I
don't want to climb the mountainfurther.
(41:37):
So that is the pinnacle of my Glaber Taurus collection.
So that's sapphire PSA 10 of the698 sapphire, 2018 top scrum
sapphire. That's like the hallmark of the
Glaber Taurus collection. And I guess in the more recent
fix, it's like I like my toss. I'm fanatics as humorism mode.
I like the rarity of them. I think they look cool.
(41:58):
But I think the favorite card that I own or two favorite cards
I own right now are the Mike Trout home field advantage
superfactor from 2424 toss from update.
And I have the Harper equivalentto that as well.
And I'm known as like a Mike Trout truther.
He's the lesser version of of Griffey.
And this generation feel like I'm the old man for saying Trout
is the player of the 20 tens. Of course, like Otani is the
(42:21):
greatest baseball player ever, which is crazy to say, but like
he from a standpoint he is. My, I agree with both of us,
yeah. But it's like I it makes me I
have again, I'm this is where I'm like 26.
I'm not 18 anymore. It's like I have this talk for
how great my child was and I've been like assembling some other
super factors of tops Chrome, tropical flagship, but at least
(42:44):
for like my super fractor experiments right now, it's like
I I'm I'm my the two cards I enjoy right now from the modern
standpoint are the home field advantage super fractor of Trout
home field advantage super fractor of Harper.
And I don't know, I I just like I just like cards.
You can you can say I'm successful because the critical
sinking skills. I I just love cards.
Yeah. And so two more quick questions.
(43:07):
How much about sports do you think somebody needs to know to
be a good dealer? You don't need to know that
much, which is. But doesn't it help?
It helps but I am so chastised by some friends for not being
the most immersive into sports that for more die hard Yankees
(43:28):
or Mariners fans or Knicks fans.And I'm I'm not a Fairweather
fan but I'm a more casual watcher.
But I almost feel like like watching sports is like, or for
me at least, like the sports headlines and stuff like that.
Like it's just like the news. It's like I have to know it and
it's not burdensome, but it's like I like I have to have a
(43:49):
like a talking point on Jalen Bronson or Holmes or Lambello.
And that's just how I as a byproduct of how I view their
cards. But it's like it makes me have
so many opinions on different athletes that I kind of view it
as consumers. It's fun.
I mean, we're adults, we're allowed to have our vices, but
I've never been as someone who'slike shouting at my TV for the
New York Giants and I've become disaffiliated giants in New York
(44:13):
Giants game because of how lackluster they were in 2017
post after that Super Bowl. And I'm like, I can't control
this and this isn't fun. So I'm going to disaffiliate and
just enjoy fantasy football. Yeah, I get that.
So how many miles? This is my last dealer related
question. How many miles would you say you
travel in a year? How much do you travel?
From. Arts.
So this year was really the first.
(44:35):
I mean I travelled in previous years, but this year I
definitely took it to a new level.
I know some people have apps where they can put in all their
flight information and see the actual distance travelled on the
planes. I have not done that.
I know I had a stretch where I did 28 travel shows and my Astra
gonna travel show is a show where I had to book a hotel. 28
travel shows in a span of 32 weeks.
(44:57):
And my geography is pretty poor in terms of being able to
quantify the miles. But pretty much for three, for
3.5 weeks a month, I'm travelingto a car show probably around,
you know, probably on the Northeast on most of those weeks
(45:20):
with a few select weeks in Dallas, in Chicago or Michigan,
or, you know, because I went to Detroit.
Spectacular in the rare instances, California for
Burbank. But most of those were trips up
north and not really that far out West.
Yeah, OK, This has been really interesting, Max.
Tell people where they can find you if they want to follow you
(45:42):
somewhere. I am at cards Max on Twitter,
Instagram, I guess YouTube. Maybe I'm going to start doing
some YouTube, I don't know. Not from a vlog standpoint
though, but more spilling my thoughts.
But yeah, at Cards Max on Twitter, Instagram, and I guess
technically eBay. Awesome.
Sounds great. Thanks for this Max.
Stick around after we're done recording.
(46:04):
Thanks everybody for watching. Make sure you go follow Max.
I follow him on Twitter. I don't do a whole lot of
Instagram, but I know he's theretoo.
But Twitter at cards Max, very interesting stuff.
All right, thanks everybody for listening or watching.
I'll see you all soon.
Hey everybody, it's Mike, Junk Wax Hero.
I'm joined by Max, also known asCards Max on Twitter and
Instagram. Max, how are you?
I'm good. I just came back from a quick
trip to Nashville for their local for I guess their national
card show. I know they spelled with an Nash
national. Their national card show was a
(00:21):
fun weekend, and now I'm back inFlorida and I'm ready to talk to
you. Yeah, this is exciting.
So the National, I have never been to the Nash National.
Tell me a little bit about it. I know it's a big deal.
So I've done it. This is not my second time doing
it. I did it this past February.
So I mean time flies I guess. That's like 8 months ago.
(00:43):
From my understanding, people love it.
It gets a lot of local turn out.I didn't love it that much.
The room is progressively growing with Pokémon a lot.
There's a lot of tables, which is a blessing and a curse.
George, my dog, I don't know if you can hear him too well, but
he's trying to enjoy the podcast.
Yeah, he'll calm down in a little bit.
My apologies about that. But it was a an effective
(01:06):
weekend of buying and selling sometime mostly familiar faces
that I've already known, which isn't ideally what I want when a
travel show, but it was an overall fun weekend.
Nice, I should probably introduce the podcast here since
I didn't at the very beginning. This is the new podcast called
So You Want to Be a Dealer, and I'm interviewing a dealer every
other week. The first one was with Chris
(01:26):
Sewell, Baseball card collector investor dealer, and this one is
with Max. And Max, tell me a little bit
about yourself as a dealer. So I guessed I'll keep the give
the Cliff notes on myself from acard perspective a little bit,
which is I think integral to getting into how I became a
dealer, bought cards as a or hadcards bought for me as a kid.
(01:49):
5-6 years old was cool. Everyone has that phase, blah
blah blah. I had this phase as a teenager
where I'm really getting in the cards and which is abnormal for
a teenager in the 20 tens. I consumed blowout forms,
probably 12 hours worth of doomscrowling a day, seeing
those back pages and others thatstill interact a little bit,
(02:13):
posting their thoughts and everything.
But I didn't have a debit card, I didn't have money.
So it was just non-stop constantinformation.
And then I got out of that when I was like 1516 because I wasn't
really buying much aside from stuff at a drug store because it
got me more connected to the sport of baseball without
needing to purchase memorabilia.That's partly why cards are so
cool. And then I got out of that for a
(02:34):
little because cards were not cool or not mainstream like they
are now back then. And then when I was 2021 years
old, I had some college kid money and I'm like, OK, I can
buy some Yankees autographs for my basement.
Went down the rabbit hole with that.
And I never looked back since then.
And from that point, I think during COVID, I was Uber eating
(02:55):
cards from like labor Torres personal collection.
And I'm like, OK, well, if I, I'm like, I'm not blind.
I have eyes. And like, if grading costs $8
and if I get Apsa 9, I break even.
And if I get APSA 10I double with the triple my money and it
takes six months, I'm like, thatis a good decision to do.
So I started doing that during COVID a little bit, and then the
(03:16):
buying and selling was a naturalprogression from that.
And then I graduated College in 2022.
COVID was 2020. I guess with buying and selling
2 or so years under my belt, I just was indefinitely.
Yeah, I'm still on the job hunt.Until cards just continued
proliferating into what this is now for me.
And so you're 25 years old, roughly.
(03:38):
I turned 26 in August. Nice.
I've got 20 years on you. So that's actually one of the
main reasons I wanted to talk toyou because the main sports card
audience on YouTube is like my age guys, a bunch of old guys,
really 35 and up. And it really concentrates
between 45 and 65. And when I'm on Twitter, it's
(04:02):
just a lot of people like me. And then there's like you and
Casey and a few others in their mid 20s that have a completely
different perspective than what we're seeing on YouTube.
And it's I don't, I don't know that the refreshing is the right
word for it, but it's definitelyintriguing to me whenever you
tweet out certain things like you talk a lot about just work
(04:24):
harder. And that's not something that
people my age necessarily say, but talk to me about that work
ethic that you bring to it. I will say the and I'm not just,
you know, trying to be too much of A young and the work harder
is a little bit of satire and that's why I sometimes for the
trademark emoji with it. And I know there's some other
(04:45):
talking heads on Twitter that, you know, oh, just work harder
and you get to be a big full time breaker.
And I I kind of stoked that firea little was yeah, you know, I
what a great day to just work harder.
I'm laughing at myself a little bit with that.
I think that's an interesting scope and lens that you're
saying as someone who's viewing it like me or someone who is
(05:05):
viewing it like younger because I personally like divide the
perspectives, not necessarily byage bracket, which I guess is
for the most part pretty accurate.
But I try to divide it by like when the person got involved
with cards. And although I got into it again
as an adult the same time as Gary Vee, I like I was not a
byproduct of Gary Vee. And, and I think people got in
(05:29):
during COVID. Have no recollection of him
tweeting about Ronald Acuna Junior and US two 50s going from
$40 in APSA 10 to $80.00 in APSA10 and Juan Soto's first ascent
with that 2018 update set. So I view it as like, OK, you
either got in before COVID or got in during like an
intermediary time before COVID or you got in after.
(05:50):
And peeps, people just have no idea what this landscape sort of
was. But I yeah, I guess in terms of
the content side, I consume likea good healthy bit of YouTube
sports cards content. I think Christy Wall is an
absolute legend. And I get like and even though
he doesn't know who I am, I get like an interesting
understanding of his scope as the more old fashioned dealer
(06:12):
who may again, not specific to Chris, but maybe focus entirely
on making sure a margin is therein a big deal rather than just
volume, volume, volume. But and even then, I think
there's people that have gotten in post fanatics and post not
like I've been guilty of trying to, you know, assemble some home
field advantages for myself, butlike, oh, you know, oh, you're a
(06:34):
fanatics show. Oh, you're this or you're that.
But I'm like, oh, this person hasn't had an involvement in
sports cards pre fanatics. So like they don't know how cool
tops, you know, tops gold waterswere before they came like Pooh
Pooh brown or how story tops blacks are.
And while removing that from topseries 2 with such like a
travesty until it was brought back.
(06:55):
So I got. I guess my point is like there's
so many different perspectives from when the person entered in.
Those back pages would be very proud that you mention the tops
blacks. I have to.
I have to. So contrast your style with
Chris's a little bit because I see I asked him last week, 2
weeks ago, where do you sell? And he listed like 8 different
(07:17):
places that he sells. Where do you sell?
I have some regular clients thatbuy from me on like a regular
basis that's not like on eBay and stuff like that.
And I do that generally for stuff that has crystallized non
ambiguous comps. And I think those are
relationships that you build at car shows or having an online
(07:39):
presence and coupling that with having a certain like amount of
volume that you bring each week.I think it's funny sometimes on
Twitter people are like, Oh yeah, where's where's the reef
pack? And why isn't he coming to me?
And I'm like, well, what do you bring to the table?
I'm like, how much volume are you bringing?
And of course, I'm not rhetorically asking these
questions in my own head, but I'm like, if and if you have one
(07:59):
car that's 500 bucks and you're going to fee your, someone has
to twist your arm in order to sell it below 500 bucks.
It's like, that's why the, you know, these wholesale buyers
aren't really working regularly on people that don't do that
much volume. But that's a rant.
I guess I can get into, you know, if the topic comes up.
But some of it is just wholesalemoving, right?
(08:20):
You know, to regular vendors weekly for live streamers or
shops or whatever. Some of it is like I dance a
little bit with just the traditional selling cards on how
they're supposed to be sold witheBay, with trying to find the
right collector, which I think is more how it's been for like
20/21/2023 then how's it been since like now?
(08:41):
But it's like I bought, I just for example, like I bought a
James wood pad for Dasha autograph, one of one his first
omen on public auction from Fanatics for I think 32,000 and
I gotta go find something to notdisturb.
I don't want to get those pings and I think someone's like, oh,
how much and I'm like 65 K and it's like, oh, well, you just
bought it for 32. I'm like, I'm not like actively
(09:02):
selling it right now. That's like more of a play that
I'm waiting for March. I might re auction it then or I
might try to find a, you know, James Wood big investor.
Because how I see it is that once they start getting once
these players are getting rookieautographs, people remember they
exist and then people start buying their cards.
But like some of them is just doing it, buying the car, trying
(09:23):
to sell for higher. Some of it is just selling based
off comps. And I think that's like on a
case by case basis depending on how cool the card is.
So you do a mix of quick flips and sort of short term
investments. I think short term investments
is a, whether it's for short term investments or just trying
to like set a high new sale. What are, you know, not out of
(09:44):
greed, but out of thinking, OK, the card was worth less here.
I can get it for more here. Yeah, I think that's a good way
of summarizing it. So if you set a new new high
sale for a specific card or specific player, do you then use
that to market yourself? In terms of as from a branding
standpoint or from A to look at the sale of other copies.
(10:06):
Both. Either one.
I used to be, I definitely used to do a lot more eBay and I
think that's a great method for people that aren't full time
because it's, well, I mean, if there's one, I graduate with a
degree in chemistry. If there's one thing that I
really try to apply from a business stands is that every
(10:28):
single reaction and really metaphorically every single
thing we do operates in an equilibrium.
And you know, there's a principle called the Chatelier's
principle and that when one sideof a product, every reaction is
2 sided technically. And when one side, the product
of reactants has too much stresson it, there is, it's alleviated
to then produce the reaction towards the opposite direction
(10:51):
to where ounces in an equilibrium.
And the way I see it, at least in the context of cards or
business or whatever, like we operate with either like too
much time or too much money. And then I guess there's also
buying leads. But for simplicity's sake,
there's too much time or too much money.
And if you're working cards fulltime, you probably have limited
money, but also more time per car to churn because your
(11:13):
money's a little bit limited. And I don't have like the the
time to turn out the high on every single sale.
Otherwise I'd be strapped for money even if the money's
turning well. So I mean, there's so many times
where you can just, you know, especially with vintage or rarer
vintage copies or rare modern cards and buy the card for 300
or buy the card at comp or whatever, then just throw it up
(11:33):
on eBay for $500. And if it's a good card, maybe
it eventually just gets pinned. And of course you can brand
yourself with that. The card is not worth $500.00 so
you can sell other copies at around 500 below that comp.
But I think it's the best way for people to get involved
rather as a someone who isn't asactive from a buying or selling
standpoint but still wants to make money.
(11:54):
It's like buy some cool cards, throw them up on eBay.
You probably get a bite eventually if it's cool enough
and then boom, you said an all time high sale.
I think it's like I have the OR had like the all time high John
McGraw T2O6. It was one of the variations.
It wasn't the portrait. And because I leveraged the I
appeal, I just threw it in my title and then it just
(12:15):
eventually got pinned. And that was like a $700.00 card
that wasn't much. But like, examples like this are
how people can get pretty deeplyinvolved when it's like, you
don't need to be turning on percentage all the time.
Yeah, I almost never sell cards,but I did sell a Caitlin Clark
2021 Sports Illustrated for Kidsautographed PSAI think the card
was authentic PSA 10 autograph before her TOPS cards started
(12:40):
coming out. And I sold it for right around
$2000 on eBay. It's still the high sale and
that was 18 months ago. Those SI kids cards are very
early in getting cards of players.
Yeah, yeah, that was my goal. There have been some that have
sold just shy of that, but that that one's still the the best 1.
So you're 2526. It's a tough time for somebody
(13:01):
to graduate from college right now.
Do you ever think back as a as achemistry major, what you'd be
making as a chemist right now inin some sort of field with that
degree and then compare it to what you're actually making?
Yeah, and it's it's cards do me well.
And what I've told like some of my, you know, friends that are
(13:22):
in like the corporate world is that like it'd be I'm at a point
with cards where it's like it'd be stupid to not look at it and
continue doing it full time fromlike both the financial
standpoint and I guess from likea nest building standpoint and
everything else. But I was at the time, I know I
was pre Med, I was looking at Med schools and I knew I had to
do an intermediary Med school program in order to plump up the
(13:46):
GPA little bit and further MCAT prep before looking formally at
MD programs. And the thinking with that is
was OK, before I'm going to lookat some biomedical master's
programs. I'm going to get a research job
at a hospital or at a small lab,further demonstrate that I'm
(14:06):
confident being able to do research and then continue doing
that. But cards are a lot more fun and
that and that was my hesitancy for the job search, you know,
and you know, and keeping expenses low at that point.
But it got to the point where the card, the revenue from cards
just got so strong to where became obvious to where I have
to continue seeing this through.So you were pre Med?
(14:30):
I think I found the headline here.
You were going to be a doctor and you dropped it for cards, is
that right? I don't, I don't want to say
going to be just because of how really like the stats amaze me,
but it's like, I think the average person applying to MD
programs applies to 21 schools and only about 60% get into at
(14:54):
least one school and 40% just get into 0.
So I definitely don't want to say it was going to be.
But yes, I was very much invested down that path and
seeing it through. Yeah, I love the caution.
I'm equally cautious about the things that I say.
And, well, that actually brings me to a good thing.
You and I had a very minor beef on Twitter.
Super minor. Yeah, I was trying to think back
(15:17):
on what it was. I think it was like I said
something and then you tweeted something out that was kind of
related to it and I maybe overreacted.
I I feel like it was mostly my fault, but I don't remember what
it was. It sounds like you're searching
for it now. Oh yeah, no, I tried to pull it
up. It was the 20.
(15:37):
The 2014 Stephen Curry Black Prism was pulled and I think
Fanatics Collect said it could be upwards of $500,000.
I tweeted on August 8th, so I guess three months ago.
Or 2 1/2 whatever. People that don't do high end
need to stop having an opinion on high end cards.
Rather values had subjective. This undoubtedly and most
(15:59):
conservatively is worth $100,000plus.
Anyone who's saying 50,000 to $70,000 is utterly clueless.
And you attacked the point lol. The first sentence is Wildman.
But the people that don't do high end need to have an
opinion. And I and I, I immediately
conceded I'm like, my father was, yeah, I woke up cranky.
But the premise of heating people being overly pinioned on
(16:19):
things is that they're not informed of is so frequent.
I said, you said, I literally asked someone to explain to me
how it's worth upwards of 500. Why not just help us understand
this instead of insulting peoplewho aren't as rich?
And also you ratioed the heck out of me to my 12 or something
like that. And I said, you know, you're
turning this into something. It's not like I'm operating in
(16:39):
good faith. I'm like, I'll write a few.
I'll write a dissertation of like, why I think it is worth
$100,000. And I'm not that.
I think I even, you know, you'relike, can you put my combat in
this? And I'm like, yeah, I mean, I
already conceded I was Moody. But I'm like, you're trying to
make drama out of nothing. But I'm like, not personally,
you are. I don't care if you own a dollar
(17:01):
a million. And like, and I was like sassy.
I was like, stop acting like it.But well, I hey, I can say I can
wake up cranky sometimes and I and if I do try to spew again,
because even going back to like the mythicals, like I don't want
to feel like I have hubris or ego or anything like that, but
like at this. But again, it wasn't again, the
fanatics collect social media account and I think Thompson
(17:24):
fanics do a great job pumping some stuff, injecting
conversations for us to talk about, whether that's like with
this new tops basketball or not.But I'm like, OK, we can.
We can tone down the clip to me a little bit, right?
But I'm like, I I think me and Ieven I know Royals cards who is
sometimes a tourist. I'm not, you know, someone
precision someone not I'm like, if that card walked up to me,
I'm buying it blind for 50K and I'm getting in the debt if I
(17:46):
have to. It's like, because that's just
kind of where the market is and thought of those comments were,
oh, this is just like a base card.
It doesn't even have an auto. And I'm like, yeah, but his
black shimmer, I think I was arguing with some this black
shimmer from 2022 sold in 2024 for 8000.
And I'm like it is not the same.Yeah, yeah.
(18:07):
Thanks for the recall on that. I think that we both woke up a
little grumpy that day. Yeah, and I, I, I still, I
apologize for the crankiness. No, I apologize too.
It was silly. Sometimes my Sunday videos, I
don't know if you watch any of my videos but on Sundays I do a
a series. Where I I just I have what you
have some interesting names you bring on.
(18:27):
But yes, the Sunday videos. Well, the Sunday video, I cover
all these weird things that happened in the past week and it
tends to like today, it can attract commenters outside of my
normal ecosystem. It can attract viewers like I
today I'll probably get 5000 viewers, which is probably 2000
more than I would normally get. And those 2000 can bring about,
(18:48):
I don't know, 8 to 12 people whojust watched to get mad and they
comment. And I sometimes can kind of Stew
in those comments. And so that's, I think it was on
a Sunday, if I remember correctly, or there was
something happening with my channel and commenters that made
me go at you at that tweet. It was silly of me.
(19:11):
But yeah, I mean, so I'm trying to get Jeff Wilson on too.
And Jeff, I have had way more beef with Jeff Wilson.
And he kind of alluded to comingon and also alluded to the beat
one of the beefs that we've had in the past.
And I was like, come on, we'll talk about it for sure.
It won't be a big deal. And I don't think he's going to.
Yeah, that's a bit disappointing.
(19:31):
Yeah, to put the capsule on the tangent a little bit, Lebron's
Black Prism 1 of 1 from 2022 is at Golden right now and it is at
$75,000 with two weeks left of bidding.
And that is a car from eight years later.
So I just thought that was interesting.
I wanted to put that Tibet before we get into the beefs and
not I know I just attacked his job, but I do have to and I
(19:55):
absolutely respect how to give the what is it the the hot with
the the the cold or the hot or the the roses with the I gave
the thorns. Now here's the roses.
I think Ben Haynes is great at his job.
I've had Twitter beef with him in the past.
Me and Tommy were both, you know, throwing punches at him a
little bit, saying that he's just engagement baiting, saying
this is this and. Hey, we gave him the heat and he
(20:17):
came in the kitchen and I think we had like an hour, 30 minute
episode with him on our podcast when we ran it and he came into
the lines and then people said like the conversation wasn't as
aggressive enough against him. But I my response to that, I
know JP specifically doesn't listen like that I was wasn't
(20:37):
harsh enough to him. Was that like if he's coming in
in good faith to talk about some, I will come in with good
faith as well, even though again, Ben's a great guy, but
his comparatives of the Jesus Christ, which will always be
funny. But yeah, it's a little
disappointing with Jeff that especially since like I again,
part of it is like with content creation, part of it like isn't,
but like one of my Evergreen sort of topics.
(21:00):
I don't view Twitter as like a content vessel because like I
just don't care. Like I just think it's fun to
tweet and I tweet a lot of things on my mind and I'm like,
I was tweeting someone in Pokémon like every it's I know
I'm getting into a lot, but likeI feel like sports cards are so
like five to seven years ahead or maybe from like literal
standpoint, we're like 40 years ahead.
(21:20):
If like tops 52 came out in 50 in 52.
Obviously there's cards before that a lot more to an extent as
a young person. But if tops 52 is like the birth
of like pack gold sports cards and Pokémon came out in 1999 in
English or 96 if for Japanese, it's like they are quite
literally 40 years behind and it's like they're just like
(21:41):
they're discovering fire and reinventing the wheel or
discovering the invention of thewheel when they find out what
PSC up charges and I'm like, no,like they make sense.
And part of my arguments was that was like, no, like I make
money with it. It's great.
I I won't shove it up on it. If you're like, Oh, you're
saying you make money off. I'm like, you can make one with
the two. But Jeff then like started
tweeting more about up charges. I guess as I like pivoted that
to sports for the day as like the Twitter topic and Jeff can
(22:05):
be a little again, I don't have a personal relationship with
him. I saw him at Atlanta collector
Con, I think 2-3 weeks ago. And I'm like, hey, Jeff, I like,
you know, yeah, you've been making some good tweets lately.
And he's like, thanks. Just kind of walked away.
And like, OK, I'm like, I tweet.I tweet a lot actually.
But yeah, I think it's beneficial for the growth of
these topics, especially when we're talking about discourse in
(22:26):
good faith and everything like that, to like, hey, you know
who? If we're truly not to get like
Elon Musk, but we're in like, the battlefield of ideas and,
like, the truth, you know, risesto the cream of the crop, then
like, yes, everyone's time is valuable.
But like having these conversations I think is fun and
important and good for everyone.Yeah, I saw you in the
background of a Jeff Wilson video couple weeks ago.
(22:47):
Did you see that? I didn't, which I don't.
Remember, it was you were at a show and it was just him at A at
a table negotiating with the dealer, and there was nobody
else at the show. And then you walked past him in
the background and there's like literally nobody else nearby.
And you kind of looked at what Jeff was looking at, and then
(23:08):
you just kept walking. And I was like, there he is.
Yeah. I think that might have been
culture collision because I knowhe was set up there pretty and
I, I think that might have been my entire interaction, me
looking at me like, oh, those are cards walking away.
Because I'm like, I don't want to interrupt the deal,
especially if it's like a video recording for its content or
whatever. Sure.
(23:28):
Yeah, people are interesting. And that's not a site at Jeff
Wilson because they don't want to start a war with people.
But I guess everyone has their own idiosyncrasies and I have
mine as well. Yeah.
So let's say somebody comes to you with a collection that they
would like to sell to you. Do you buy entire collections?
Do you just buy single cards? I mean like I would buy entire
collections. It's usually just like such a
(23:49):
big process and I, I haven't formally done the Chris C wall
with miss, you know, with the snowman travelling like on a
four hour flight to like Arizonato buy someone's entire
warehouse. I haven't done that.
Probably just use the logistics and I don't know how to discern
which leads are really great leads that are like realistic
(24:09):
and people are realistic on price and which ones aren't.
And especially when you're taking a lot of junk or unwanted
goods to an extent. Obviously with junk and unwanted
goods, sports cards, I love them.
There has to be built in a building to discern like what
the price range is. And some people have like, have
a lot of experience with that. Some people don't.
(24:29):
And another pure person I was getting into a beef with was, I
think Chasing Cardboard, the guywith the YouTube channel.
Yeah, Ty Wilson. Ty Wilson and hey, hey, I mean,
he's clearly specializes at buying collections and it seems
like he's great at it. And that's just another thing
that I have to improve on my, you know, repertoire.
But at the very least, I have buying singles.
(24:51):
That's the vast majority of whatI do and I have it refined just
because people for the most partknow what they want.
And if they know what they want,especially if they're a dealer
and they know how how it works, then it's just the recurring
relationships are just make things easier.
So let's say somebody comes up to you and they offer you a a
show. Hey, it's worth you.
You find comps, you figure out it's worth about $2000.
(25:13):
OK, What would you say this show?
Hey, very hot, very liquid. What would you say you would
offer to pay for that? I guess to give like 2 examples
of cards I know show Haze Goldman Chrome 2018 batting PSA
10 not auto before the 300 run game was spying and selling
consistently for 1800 to 2200. And I know it sounds a little
(25:38):
bit like ironic, but that's a little bit of a more that's like
a bad $2000 card just because there's so many of them and at
least the people that I buy and sell with like may have them
often. So if I, and also the it's like
with 2017 patch Mahomes Optics and that like I think of Mahomes
optic PSA 10 is like $1000 in any given point, but there's so
(26:00):
many sales where there's one listed lower than what the last
sale actually is, which is just dumb.
But I know whether that's organic or not, you know, I
don't know. But like on the case of the
Shohei, I'd probably like look at the lower end of that
spectrum, maybe pay like 1600 when it's paying like doing 1800
to 2200. But on like another end of the
(26:21):
spectrum, if it's a Shohei Otanicard and it hasn't sold, like
again, Shohei is a good example just because how dynamic it is
and it's easy to disable. Like everything is up.
But like, OK, if his show, if it's 2017 Megabox purple, the
250 and the PSA 10, which was consistently at $6000 card the
(26:43):
few times it sold. And that card last sold in
January for like 6000 and there is no other data and it's
October. I mean, of course, the old you
know, thing is like, of course Iwant to try to do as well as
possible on the card again and as a competitive of a price as
possible, especially if it's someone that is unlikely to be
procurring. But like if like I my arm was
(27:05):
twisted regardless, you know, onit, it's like I may pay that
full value or slightly higher just out of me knowing that even
if the valuable isn't like quantifiable, it's like the
value is definitely worth more than 6000 and I have confidence
I can sell it more for 6000. OK, so you've just bought a card
for $6000 and somebody walks up to you.
You buy it from somebody at A ata show, somebody walks up to you
(27:28):
immediately after and says I want to buy that from you.
What's the lowest you will sell it to them for right after
you've bought it? Is it a card with a comp or
without a comp? It's that.
It's that example that you just.OK, it's that example.
Then I would try or when I'm buying the card, I try to like
have a card, you know, value in my head of what it's worth.
(27:48):
But like if like, let's say the PSA 10, that's 6000 and like, I
don't know, the PSA 9's at 4:00,I'm making that example up, even
though it's a card that like gems all the time.
But whatever I'm getting into like different little anecdotes
at the PSNS at 4, I'd probably stick with that at like 8, You
know, and I probably how I operate with cards and values is
that like the more defined the value is, the less room I
(28:10):
probably have on it, but the more subjective the value is,
the more I'm able to work on it.And sometimes it goes in my
favor. Sometimes it doesn't like OK,
but if that card's like 8000 andyou know, and I'm usually
getting closer to full market onit, I may let it go for 7:00
just because it's like, OK, if we're saying PSA 10 is double
the PSA 9 and it's 8, but there is insecurity and whether it's
(28:31):
actually worth 8, I'm going to adopt that insecurity in my
ability, in my value that I'm good letting it go at.
So it's way less like, again, like maybe doing this
quantitatively, but like the buying point and the selling
point are two like entirely independent variables.
And like what I'm into it for doesn't have to do with what I
think it's worth. But like in that case, OK, I'll
just say I, you know, if it hadn't sold since January, OK,
(28:52):
maybe I like, I would even be a buyer of it at 6500.
Maybe I would even pay the initial buyer 6500.
And sometimes they break even oncards, sometimes they lose on
cards. But that's just kind of how it
works. So, OK, it's very interesting.
Thank you. So let's say same question, same
card, but now you've tried selling it for two weeks and no
(29:13):
bites on it from your normal customer, normal clients and
somebody comes up to you and says I'll give you 6100 for it.
I think that'd be that'd be in those situations like, or at the
very least like cards that are more risky with that.
Like I would be depends on how much I need to buy or like if I
(29:34):
have a big show coming up or something like that.
But like in that case, it's likeif the variable in that case is
like, do I still believe in the play?
And like if it's Otani heading in the postseason, I probably
would hold on to it. If it's January, you know, 14th
and we have two more and a half more weeks for baseball and I
don't think there's going to be as much velocity in Otani on
like the public or the private market.
(29:55):
Then it's like, yeah, take the 6100, whether that's profit or
loss is doesn't matter. You know, it's I don't believe
in the play anymore. And then use that to continue
operating. Yeah, You know, I see a lot of
people getting into cards in thelast 3-4 years.
They think that they can come inand be an expert and become a
great card dealer. And I think just from 30 1/2
(30:20):
minutes of talking to you, you definitely have the the
knowledge, the ability, the critical thinking skills to do
this long term, whereas a lot ofpeople aren't going to make it a
year in. This was just like with any
business really, right. So shoot, that was my next
question was about that. Anyway, talk to me about Repacks
(30:43):
and the impact that a repack business or the repack industry
has had on your dealings. I think it's, and I'm going to
have some trepidation with how Iphrase things just because I
feel like if I say the wrong things, a mob's going to come at
me. And also like the stuff that
like, you know, is, you know, should be in like whatever the
(31:03):
marketplace or whatever repacks are at least probably.
I mean, for like so many cards are a lot of what this
marketplace is right now, whether that's public comps,
whether that's people consuming cards or whatever, as like a
retail product. And I think people really
undermine just the amount of cards that are being funneled in
(31:28):
and out and in between repacks. And I think there's like from a
buying and selling below comp standpoint, like it, it nearly
is the market because there there would be no buying at 90
whatever percent or 85% or whatever percent, you know, you
wake up with that would come to like a standstill if there
weren't liquidity of repacker ispaying near full comp for some
(31:53):
cards. You know, they're not paying
full comp really. They're not really thinking
about full comp, but like for all things, they're paying very
close to full market on cards. And like you people say, Oh, I
don't sell to repackers, but it's like, OK, but the guy
you're selling to might sell to a repacker.
Like the guy in between might be, you know, and there's
sometimes it's just people aren't like, and again, I have a
(32:14):
unique perspective of someone who's so immersed into this or
someone who's buying a card every now and then, as you know,
may not see it as vividly, but like so many cards that are
bought and sold, you know, whether that's on Facebook,
Twitter or Instagram, wherever, unless it's like such a cool
card that it has its own merits for its market climbing, then
(32:39):
there's probably a repack some point in the machine and or in
the ecosystem of the card. And I think sometimes, which
like really damages these conversations is like, again,
not to sound eucotistic or someone with hubris, but like
the type of person that you're talking to matters as there's
people that you know will say, oh, PSA offers exists and PSA
(32:59):
gave you APSA 9 on your card instead of APSA 10 so that PSA
offers could buy it back, crack it, resolve it PS and then get
APSA 10 on it. And I'm like, OK, I'm I can
dabble in some no politics, I can dabble into some crazy
theories a little bit. But I think that's just the very
outlandish. And I'm like, or it's just the,
the Occam's razor. It's the simplest outcome of PSA
(33:21):
is selling to wholesalers and they are making a margin on the
card. And I'm sure there is legality
for them to have to, you know, enumerate with that and just
say, yes, this is resellers or whatever and to say, no, we're
not buying the car to crack. But like, I, I am not, I'm not
Paul Lesko, I'm not the hobbies lawyer to be able to point where
it's technically illegal or whatisn't.
Otherwise it's just conjecture. But yes, like from like the PSA
(33:45):
offer standpoint, from public comps to selling at shows or
selling online, like there's probably a repack in the
ecosystem, unless the card is sogood that it transcends that.
And I think as someone who's buying and selling stuff like
I'm re dabbling and like hit PC stuff or you know, stuff that I
want to long term invest in, butmore so just cars I like and I
think will go higher, but more probably cards that I like.
(34:07):
It's like, OK, I think these cards will go up irrespective of
any other artificial market influence.
And it's like, and I kind of like them.
It's like no one is going to pump my super fractor one of
ones or to bring it back earlierStephen Curry black prison one
of ones. It's like no repack is buying
the six figure Steph Curry blacknon auto.
It's not a sexy. I mean it's a little bit of a
(34:27):
sexy. Like it's like the fundamentals
of that are in a collector who just wants an extremely high end
Stephen Curry card. It's not in a repack card.
So I think looking at cards thatlike Transcend, that are a
little bit more, you know, have more relevancy or have more
significance or have more uniqueness than just stuff that
can just get churn and burned. OK, it's a 2022.
(34:48):
Our 2024 Gene Daniels could be in Kaboom and they range from
about 1000 to 1500 bucks. I don't know what to do right
now. And yeah, news flash, it's
probably not 5000 different collectors that are buying and
holding them. And I have some empathy towards
people who do buy and hold them into the offseason.
And I see it more so in Florida and when I was in College in
North Carolina, which wasn't as relevant back then.
(35:10):
But it's like, no, you're not smarter than you're not more
efficient than the market. The the quarterback will go down
every single after season's opener unless they like the
world on fire, which even if they do, they won't.
And Davis Mills is going to go down to 0.
And I hate to be the heartbreaker, but it's going to
Sam Howell. Sam Howell did go down to 0.
And I don't think there was a candidate like that this year,
(35:30):
but that's a rattler maybe. Yeah, you said, I think in a
tweet today or yesterday, 95% ofall ultra modern cards will will
go down because they suck or something.
And I, I agree with that wholeheartedly.
And that's why I don't RIP packsbecause there's almost nothing
in there. It's gotten to the point when I
was a kid many, many years ago, you could RIP a pack for a
(35:53):
dollar and you didn't care aboutthe value.
It would be nice. You've you've always thought it
would be nice if these cards go up in value, but now even
blaster you get almost nothing good that's going to cost you 40
bucks $45.00 for a blaster. Crazy.
What? What do you collect?
What's your favorite card in your personal collection?
(36:13):
So I have some cards with store or not that interesting or some
cards not. I used to collect labor Torres.
That was how I got started againas an adult, thinking was that
he was less expensive than a judge, which helped me as a as
someone buying to hold and collecting whatever.
So I haven't sold any of it because it's not a project to
sell and the sentimental value is higher than any monetary
(36:34):
output I could get from it, especially now as he's a Tiger.
And my qualifications for that was like, OK, I want someone
who's stayed with the team theirentire career and so that you
know, oh, if I collect Didi, you're glorious.
You can leave his free agent. And he did, you know, and it's
I'm like, I want to make sure they're have allegiance to the
team I have so that I don't havethe issue of them leaving.
(36:57):
But Glaber eventually did. But regardless, and I thought
that was a fun because 2018 update was such a hot product
and there wasn't even then, it was like there was significance
to a base. Cards are still very much
relevant and I was able to dabble with like PSA 10s.
I'd be able to get like unique low pop PSA 10s.
(37:17):
I I, I said this more like at times, like I was Uber eating
for favorite Torres PSA stab money and it's like, OK, it's
cool. I made 20 bucks.
I could buy an Allen ginger basePSA 10 of him.
Like that's awesome. And I slowly like went away from
that after he goes, OK, like this is there is consumerism in
this. A, there's consumerism of this,
which I'm like, I don't want to just collect the cards and like
(37:39):
just I'm just the product. And B, I'm like not able to get
like near any sort of the mega major cards because the New York
market is just so crazy. And I guess the third aspect of
that is partly lack of interest and that labor was becoming a
little more relevant. I'm like, I don't need this.
But going back to your point about working wax, it's like I,
(38:02):
I mean, buying to grade singles back then from ripping racks was
something that was more fruitfulback then and now isn't really
possible because bases are relevant.
But back then, I mean, my hop halted me from ripping wax a
little bit was like, if I open 2020.
Yeah. I mean, I I don't know if you
can see them. I have still some.
No, you can't see them. I still have some Walgreens
(38:23):
blasters are Walgreens hangers of 2020 top series 2 that I
rounded up back in the day from Walgreens is because they have 6
yellow parallels. That's awesome.
And that's way better short print math than any other
configuration of product. And I still have them.
But I'm like I don't have any attachment to like Louise Robert
car back in 2020, of course, buthe's just a chase and like that
(38:45):
doesn't like mean anything to me.
And like opening 2020 product won't get any more 2018 Clara
Torres rookies like it's it's impossible.
There's 0% chance so that like so deviating from that instead
of just wanting the big chase and having some focus on what
you want in your collection or in your cards.
I think it's important and I think that's the crux of many
retail waxer, retail rippers is that they're chasing a number
(39:08):
and they're not chasing a player.
And if they're chasing a number and the number is signed to the
B against their favor when they're opening wax, but I don't
know, I'm on my home field advantage super factor fix right
now. So from a Glaber Torres
collection I'll give 2 answers Iguess from a Glaber Torres
collection answer I sold. Wait again?
(39:30):
Dating myself here from a hobbyist you know.
But I had 2021 Bowman sapphire boxes that I hit from tops.com.
I was interacting with the Twitter user who isn't too
active right now anymore. I sold him my boxes and he
pulled in Austin Martin Purple Sapphire auto to 10 from my
boxes. And I'm like, at the time I was
(39:51):
like a $5000 card. I'm like, I'm like, that's
awesome. But I'm like, I mean, I didn't
say any. Obviously.
I'm like, congratulations. I was like, oh, like you know
who your PC? I'd like, I'd love to send you
something and I'm like IPC Glaber Torres and I'm like
awesome. Like I literally have like a
sapphire rookie card right here.I was going to send it to PSA,
but I didn't really care that much And they were down in
(40:12):
value. Like you can have it and it was
worth 200 bucks at the time. I'm like, oh wow, that's
awesome. You don't have to like you did
it anyway. And I sent it in, he said he
sent to me, which I'm very grateful of.
And I think story that's very unique and I jammed it and it's
still my PSA laboratory or my, my box of PSA laboratory styles.
And that's like that. And I think a Bowman Chrome
(40:33):
first Bowman auto, which was 250bucks, which again, another
scheme that was dating myself. Do you do you remember when ALT
first started back in like the 2021 National?
There was a $50 credit for everyperson referred.
Yes. I think I got like, I think I
got like 500 bucks from that andlike a big chunk of that was
(40:55):
just buying myself like laboratories mobile Chrome
autograph from the girls, which is awesome.
But having those two cards of Sapphire Rookie PSA 10, which
you can get into the card math of it of like, yeah, it's like
the Acunia bat up. You know, there's the short
print in Series 2 and then there's not that many parallels
of that original image. And that's partly why it's so
cool. And the autograph for that sell
(41:16):
for the longest time sold for less than the actual true short
print image. I know for Acunia it still does,
of course, because bat town is so iconic.
But having those that and the bone Chrome motto mean he goes,
OK, I like climbed like the highest possibility of this
mountain I could reach without fighting with Yankees fans that
have way more money for me. And also, I'm like, this isn't I
don't want to climb the mountainfurther.
(41:37):
So that is the pinnacle of my Glaber Taurus collection.
So that's sapphire PSA 10 of the698 sapphire, 2018 top scrum
sapphire. That's like the hallmark of the
Glaber Taurus collection. And I guess in the more recent
fix, it's like I like my toss. I'm fanatics as humorism mode.
I like the rarity of them. I think they look cool.
(41:58):
But I think the favorite card that I own or two favorite cards
I own right now are the Mike Trout home field advantage
superfactor from 2424 toss from update.
And I have the Harper equivalentto that as well.
And I'm known as like a Mike Trout truther.
He's the lesser version of of Griffey.
And this generation feel like I'm the old man for saying Trout
is the player of the 20 tens. Of course, like Otani is the
(42:21):
greatest baseball player ever, which is crazy to say, but like
he from a standpoint he is. My, I agree with both of us,
yeah. But it's like I it makes me I
have again, I'm this is where I'm like 26.
I'm not 18 anymore. It's like I have this talk for
how great my child was and I've been like assembling some other
super factors of tops Chrome, tropical flagship, but at least
(42:44):
for like my super fractor experiments right now, it's like
I I'm I'm my the two cards I enjoy right now from the modern
standpoint are the home field advantage super fractor of Trout
home field advantage super fractor of Harper.
And I don't know, I I just like I just like cards.
You can you can say I'm successful because the critical
sinking skills. I I just love cards.
Yeah. And so two more quick questions.
(43:07):
How much about sports do you think somebody needs to know to
be a good dealer? You don't need to know that
much, which is. But doesn't it help?
It helps but I am so chastised by some friends for not being
the most immersive into sports that for more die hard Yankees
(43:28):
or Mariners fans or Knicks fans.And I'm I'm not a Fairweather
fan but I'm a more casual watcher.
But I almost feel like like watching sports is like, or for
me at least, like the sports headlines and stuff like that.
Like it's just like the news. It's like I have to know it and
it's not burdensome, but it's like I like I have to have a
(43:49):
like a talking point on Jalen Bronson or Holmes or Lambello.
And that's just how I as a byproduct of how I view their
cards. But it's like it makes me have
so many opinions on different athletes that I kind of view it
as consumers. It's fun.
I mean, we're adults, we're allowed to have our vices, but
I've never been as someone who'slike shouting at my TV for the
New York Giants and I've become disaffiliated giants in New York
(44:13):
Giants game because of how lackluster they were in 2017
post after that Super Bowl. And I'm like, I can't control
this and this isn't fun. So I'm going to disaffiliate and
just enjoy fantasy football. Yeah, I get that.
So how many miles? This is my last dealer related
question. How many miles would you say you
travel in a year? How much do you travel?
From. Arts.
So this year was really the first.
(44:35):
I mean I travelled in previous years, but this year I
definitely took it to a new level.
I know some people have apps where they can put in all their
flight information and see the actual distance travelled on the
planes. I have not done that.
I know I had a stretch where I did 28 travel shows and my Astra
gonna travel show is a show where I had to book a hotel. 28
travel shows in a span of 32 weeks.
(44:57):
And my geography is pretty poor in terms of being able to
quantify the miles. But pretty much for three, for
3.5 weeks a month, I'm travelingto a car show probably around,
you know, probably on the Northeast on most of those weeks
(45:20):
with a few select weeks in Dallas, in Chicago or Michigan,
or, you know, because I went to Detroit.
Spectacular in the rare instances, California for
Burbank. But most of those were trips up
north and not really that far out West.
Yeah, OK, This has been really interesting, Max.
Tell people where they can find you if they want to follow you
(45:42):
somewhere. I am at cards Max on Twitter,
Instagram, I guess YouTube. Maybe I'm going to start doing
some YouTube, I don't know. Not from a vlog standpoint
though, but more spilling my thoughts.
But yeah, at Cards Max on Twitter, Instagram, and I guess
technically eBay. Awesome.
Sounds great. Thanks for this Max.
Stick around after we're done recording.
(46:04):
Thanks everybody for watching. Make sure you go follow Max.
I follow him on Twitter. I don't do a whole lot of
Instagram, but I know he's theretoo.
But Twitter at cards Max, very interesting stuff.
All right, thanks everybody for listening or watching.
I'll see you all soon.
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