How To Sell To Certain Types of Card Show Customers

If all goes well you will see a lot of traffic at the card show where you will be selling. People of all ages will be there looking at each dealer table to see what's for sale. Each one could be a potential customer, putting money into your pocket.

From your end of the table, the only thing you can do is wait for them to come to you. How they present themselves will determine the approach you will take in making a sale and being able to shift gears quickly will be indispensable in closing some sales.

The following is a list of various types of customers you may encounter. While you may get other types of customers, these are the ones I have encountered and learned how to handle.

1) Baseline
This is the type of customer you will see the most at the National. They are sports card collectors who may or may not have heard of etopps. They are willing to listen and will give eye contact when you're talking to them. They are experienced at card shows and are the least overwhelmed by all that's around them including your table. They have a sense of humor, like to chat sports and have little or no problem moving on from your table if they don't find what you have interesting. Most likely they will not return back to your table after looking at what you have for sale the first time they take a look. Most likely they will be with a friend, girlfriend or family member and will be wearing something that gives away what player/team/sport they like or collect.

Selling Approach - This type of customer is great to work with. You may or may not have to explain the whole nine yards about what etopps is about but if you do, they will be all ears. This is the type of customer who will ask the most questions as you explain about etopps and is most likely to "get it" when it comes to how etopps works and will be willing to give you their email address so you can let them know which shows you will be doing in the future. Also, this is the type of customer who may tinker with the etopps website to check out the message board.

2) Etopper
Some of our best customers were those who had online accounts but never got any of their cards delivered. Some will acknowledge immediately that they have active accounts while others will tell you they had an account but lost interest years ago. Some will test you on what you know about etopps. Listen to all of their stories. To get them interested, tell them about the fantasy games, the autographs, econ, Allen & Ginter, etc.

Selling Approach - This one may be the easiest to sell because you don't have to give your sales pitch. They may offer to help you sell your cards if they have the time. We met a few etoppers this way who are active on the etopps message board.

Some may have been burned and validate them for what had happened. Let them know etopps is under new management (past two years) if they dropped out before 2006.

2) Autograph Hound
This is the type of customer that you can assess by their appearance. Usually they are carrying something with them to be autographed: baseball bat, jersey, large flat, sports ball, etc. along with a digital camera. They are putting their money into buying the autograph they want and have already plunked down cash in advance, sometimes hundreds of dollars. They usually head straight to the autograph area and head right out after they get whatever they wanted signed or will browse the tables, looking at everything. When they're doing this, they're usually killing time until the autograph signer shows up.

Selling Approach - This is a tough sell because they're into autographs. Don't expect much from them. You have a slim chance if you are selling autographed cards and have one they intersted in. They may serve a temporary purpose of having a body in front of your table to attract other customers. To kill time, they will even hear your pitch about what is etopps.

Though if you have other people at the table who want to buy, politely tell this customer you will answer any of their questions after you have completed the sales that are about to take place.

If you don't have anyone at the table, they are good for honing your sales pitch and will be good to attract others simply by standing at your table: you ask them what they're getting signed by whom and you give them the etopps pitch in return.

3) Challenger
This type of customer may or may not have a Beckett price guide in hand. Whether they do or not, the question they always ask is, "How much does this book?" But can you blame them? They don't want to get ripped off and need something to use as a reference, assuming that if they don't they will get swindled.

Selling Approach
Since cards go for no more than half the price of what Beckett lists for its value, there may be no stopping these challenger customers from holding onto what they believe to be the Bible of sports card pricing.

I would politely explain that some but not all etopps cards are listed in the bigger Beckett price guide (such as the 2001 cards) and emphasize how scarce these cards are as in-hands compared to online circulation. You probably will not get a sale but at least you will establish credibility, especially if you are in earshot of a potential customer at your table.

4) Parent and Child
If there is a customer type among these that you will love, it will be the Parent-Child combo. My favorite scene is the boy or girl pulling his or her parent's arm in the direction of your table. You're almost guaranteed a sale in this situation.

A lot of times a parent gives their child whether it's a boy or girl a budget in what they can spend, usually 10 to 20 dollars.

We sold at the Football Spectacular in NJ for a few years. On the first day of each three day show we did, admission was free rather than the $10 door charge. On that free day, we saw a lot more kids than the other days. Not by coincidence, we sold the most to this type of customer.

Selling Approach - Go gentle and be kid friendly. Feed off their enthusiasm. They don't want to hear about print runs or the online platform. They like the card they're pointing at and want it right now.

In front of the kids' parents you want to make a good impression because the parent may buy from you too for the spouse in case the spouse is a collector as well. For example, if the cost of the card is $12 and they give you a twenty dollar bill, help the child figure out how much money they get in return.

5) Kids
You never know if a kid (or teenager) is with their parents when they're at a certain age walking around the card show. It's tempting to believe they have no money and are just looking.

Selling Approach
Many times I took the approach that they're a potential customer and had success whether with their parents or by themselves. Put yourself into their shoes: they could be future etopps buyers and it doesn't hurt to sell up what etopps is all about. The only thing holding them back from joining etopps is having a credit card and if these are teenagers, they are just a few years away.

If a younger kid is checking out your cards, grab one from your discount bin and put it in their hands and say, "this is for you." Watching their heads explode when you say this will be priceless.

6) Disheveled
You may have encountered this type of customer: men with fingernails that could use a trimming, slight odor, clothes that look like they were plucked from the Salvation Army, teeth that could use some dental work. Put these observations together and you have a browser who probably isn't going to buy anything.

Selling Approach
Less is more with this type of customer. Be polite and consider this person another body at your table because the worst thing at a show is to have no one at your table.

If you sense their presence is more of a hindrance that an asset to others browsing, politely and discreetly ask them if they want to buy a card. If they do not commit (which is likely), ask them what they are looking for and suggest they can find what they're looking for at another table (as long as you're specific about which one).

7) Talker
I sold an etopps card to a customer at the National the last time it was in Chicago. The etopps card was a football playoff card and the customer told me he was at that game. It was a cool story and I enjoyed listening to him.

It's fun to hear stories and talk up sports with customers. But it's another thing when a customer doesn't know when it's time to stop talking. They may or may not wait for their listener's cues that they should stop. At one show, we had an older gentleman at our table who told a great story about photographing football players of the New York Giants. It was cool to hear the first two stories but by the fifth story he told, we had had enough.

Selling Approach
There is no sale with this customer. Similar to the Disheveled customer, you need to set limits because this type of customer doesn't know how. They may start talking to other customers who will find this uncomfortable after a few minutes.

It's a good idea to nip this in the bud as soon as you can. Re-focus this customer, asking them politely if they'd like to buy a card and if they decline, suggest they find what they're looking for at another table. Again, if they're the only one at the table, determine whether their presence is a hindrance or not.

8) The Haggler
You'll encounter this customer a few times at a show, wanting to cut a deal with you, wanting to test how low you will go for a sale.

Selling Approach
When we had this type of customer we took a few approaches. We would tell them that the more they buy the more we'll go down in price.

We would also encourage them to return on the last day (if it was a multi-day show) or the end of the day (if it was only a day-long show) and we would consider making deals.

We would never negotiate to the point in which we regretted selling a card at the price a customer was asking.

As stated before, these are some of the customer types we've encountered. Sometimes you will get a combination of these in one customer: disheveled-haggler, autograph hound-talker, baseline-challenger.

By experiencing many different types of customers, you will learn to work with them more confidently and as stated in the last post, you can get indispensible experience at the upcoming National in Chicago by volunteering at the etopps booth.

Get The Deer Out Of Your Headlights

This always happens when I'm on vacation: I'm trying to find a sandwich shop in the town or city I'm staying in. I skip past Subway for something more local. Only when my blood sugar starts taking a dive do I find a local eating establishment. By then I'm feeling dizzy and ready to bite into any hand or foot that passes in front of my face.

In this state of disorientation, I walk into the sandwich shop in search of a menu of offerings that's hanging over the high counter. Other customers are ordering and paying for their food briskly while I stare and become overwhelmed by the 35 different sandwiches you can order, each having either a cute or corny name.

"Can I help you," snaps a voice behind a tall pickle jar that stands on the counter. It's said like probably been said hundreds of times already and the words snaps in the air like a whip.

I don't say anything. I'm trying to decide between a Marvin the Martian or a Forrest Gump but I'm sure I look like a deer in headlights.

Again, I hear "CanIhelpyou."

"Nope," I say to the picklejar and head for Subway I had passed earlier.

If you are selling more than 30 in-hands at a card show, it's not going to take much to overwhelm a customer if they have never heard of etopps. And you'll be surprised by how many have not.

As I have stated in an early post, you are much better off putting each card on a single-card display stand or display tower rather than lying flat on the tablecloth. Most likely, the overhead lighting (fluorescent) will reflect on the cards if lying flat.

Picture all of your cards, each on display and lined up in rows or neat columns. How do you prevent your customer from having the deer-in-headlights reaction to your table?

There are two ways: your table presentation and your customer service skills.

The first one is easier because you can do this prior to the show starting.

• Center Stage - create an area on the table that will showcase the high-end cards (autos, graded etopps, etc) as well as the popular local heroes whether baseball or football. We had one display tower full of Yankees and Mets and the other had hot-selling football rookies.
• Group the cards by sport and by team, preferrably alphabetically so you can find the cards quickly if a customer asks you for a team or player that you have. It can be embarrassing when you cannot find what the customer is asking and you most likely will lose a sale this way.
• Since current players sell more, group the cards by year if you can. The 2008 or 2007 will most likely sell the most unless it's a star player or hot rookie.
• Make it easy on the eyes. Get in front of your table and set the cards up this way. Don't have them too close together.
  
• Make some cards stick out - we would place an index card behind a card on the display stand to indicate "rookie" or "low print run" or "Last One!" to create more demand for the card.

No matter how you set up your cards, customers can get overwhelmed. Don't think it's only because of your cards. Usually this is an accumulative effect from checking out so many tables with so much stuff being available. Being overwhelmed is a pretty normal reaction to a card show as a customer. It's your job to make it easy for them to browse your table. Here are some ways to break the ice and turn browsers into buyers:

• "I know there's a lot to look at so take your time. We'll answer any questions you have."
• "These cards are really good at reflecting the light in here. We've got special sunglasses to help you see the cards better."
• "Is there a sport, team or player you're looking for in particular?" (usually the customer gives this away by what they're wearing.)

We would get in front of our tables and guide the customers, giving them an idea of each card's design for each year. A good part of our sales pitch was educating the customers about the etopps online platform. Sometimes we could spend 15-20 minutes talking to one customer depending on the questions we were asked. Even if a sale wasn't made afterwards, it was good to have someone at our table. The more people you have browsing, the attractive your table will be better for others nearby.

A solid, professional presentation is not just about having the best display tools, it's about how you use them to make it easy on the eyes for customers. They'll know whether it's worth looking beyond a glance or not. And when they do look, it's up to you to convert the looking into buying.

And I will show you how.

The P Word

The "p" word in selling in-hands whether on ebay or at a card show is pricing. I call it this because of the controversy that goes with it.

One school of thought is to use cardtarget's 7-day average for the price of an in-hand. Another is to charge whatever you want. Another is to base your price on the supply of each in-hand you bring to a show and there's another about factoring in your total expenses for a show.

I'm not going to recommend "the right way" to price your in-hands. That's up to you.

Just keep a few things in mind when pricing your cards:

• You will most likely be the only dealer at the show selling etopps in-hands, thus having no competition.
• Your customers may have never heard of etopps before so this is their first impression and pricing is a big part of that first impression.
• They may not care what an etopps card sells for on ebay, whether in-port or in-hand. They wouldn't be at this card show if they were so gung-ho about ebay's prices.
• Be prepared for the question, "how much do these cards book?" There is no book value for etopps cards and this may make a customer uncomfortable. Explain how you determine the price of your cards.
  
• There's a lot of competition for a customer's dollar. Already their wallets get thinner from the admission charge and the cost of getting autographs.
  
• Be customer-oriented. If you're asking $12 for a card and a customer offers $10, accept the offer. If the customer wants to buy $35 worth of cards, discount the cards so they're getting $5 back. In other words, use your prices as a starting point.
• Be flexible. If a number of people show interest in your cards but walk away when they find out the prices of what they want, you may need to re-think your pricing strategy. There's nothing wrong with making a profit but there's nothing right about price gouging. You need to determine prices that will work for you without alienating your customers.
  
• Know your bottom line. You paid for these cards with your money, paid for the table to be at this show and possibly the shipping of these cards to you from etopps. What is the lowest you will sell each card? If you can't answer this question before showtime, you may want to do some math beforehand.
  

There's nothing wrong with making a deal with others dealers at the show. This would happen at the end of a show, when customers have left and the dealers are left to pack up everything. You can still make a handsome sum by offering multi-card deals. Though I wouldn't recommend this if you plan to return to the same show the next time it is offered. Because you may have created competition for yourself.

One last thing: be most flexible with your autographed or graded cards. You'll have plenty of people asking how much you're charging for a Justin Upton autographed card but only few of them will reach for their wallets especially at an autograph show where they came to get the autograph in person rather than from a dealer.

Preparing For A Card Show: Consider A Partner

If you have experience as a dealer at a card show and etopps cards is just something to include in your overall inventory, this posting may not apply to you.

If you do not have experience selling as a dealer, I recommend selling with another etopper.

Why?

You save money on the table fee. If you can get a table for a show under $50, you may be able to fly solo. Otherwise, especially the shows that have autograph signings, tables can set you back quite a bit. The more inventory you have, the more appealing likely you will need more than one table.

I have sold my cards with two other etoppers and we would split the hefty table fees three ways so we could be dealers at the bigger shows such as the Football Spectacular in New Jersey.

We would also split the responsibilities. For instance, one of us would handle the money during the show, one of us would take care of re-stocking while the other would give the sales pitch about etopps to customers.

One of the challenges of having more than one seller doing a card show is figuring out what to do when more than one person wants to sell the same card. Like at the National when 10 different sellers has a rookie LeBron James card, it's a game of round robin.

For each card that has more than one seller, just decide who sells their card first and have an order (if more than two people) for who sells that card next. Before the show starts, whoever is first in order of selling a card takes that card out of their inventory and gets placed on the table.

Just keep a log that covers the quantity of each card and the pecking order of who sells each card next.

In fact, put everything in writing: which card from whose inventory sold and for how much. Don't procrastinate writing it down. Don't depend on your memory when you have multiple sales. It can get messy so having that extra person to make the next sale while you write down the last sale and see who will sell those cards next will prevent a lot of awkwardness if you cannot reconcile the money you have in your hand vs. what you should have on paper.

Besides, it's fun to get to know your fellow seller who you may only know by username with posts on the message board. You get peace of mind that someone is watching the table while you're in the john and it's faster to set-up at the beginning and break-down at the end of the show.

The fun is when you're packing up with another seller. It's time to sort out who owns which cards that are currently on display on the table. Rather than guessing or going by the inventory log, we used post-its of different colors. We each chose a color and stuck a post-it or a piece of a post-it of your color when any of our cards were next to be sold. So by the end of the show, "Agent Orange" had his stack, "Mellow Yellow" had his pile and "Gang Green" had the rest.

Overall, having a fellow etopper sell with you has a lot of advantages and you can help each other when negotiating with hagglers at shows. Even though you sort of split the profits, the rewards of selling together can be sweeter.

Preparation For A Card Show: Presentation Tools

Since I have had most of my card show selling experiences with two other etopps members, when I refer to "we" I am including these other two guys and myself. It would be unsportsmanlike to take full credit for what we did together.

There are some things you need to bring with you to a card show that you don't realize until you get there or after the show. This list is for those who are going solo and should take quantity into account if the reader is going to be doing a show in collaboration with other etopps in-hand sellers.

• Chairs - the promoter may not provide them for you and I'm sure you will not be crazy about standing for 5-7 hours.
  
• Extra table. You need to put your inventory somewhere and it's not in your best interest to be bending down to the floor, especially when there can be a few people at your table browsing. Turning your back isn't the best either if you have your inventory table behind you when you face your customers but it's better than the floor. This is when a second seller comes in handy. You can always have one of you eyeing the customers. And yes, cards can have legs and walk off or find their way into fast hands.
• Plastic bags - you'd be surprised how many times we were asked this after a purchase. We always brought a box of plastic t-shirt bags to accommodate customers and they would appreciate this, especially those who bought three or more etopps cards.
• Food & Water - you never know where you can buy food for lunch. Some time and money by bringing a sandwich and beverages. It's not fun trying to explain how the etopps program works with a dry mouth.
• Change of a $20 - it's not fun being handed a $20 bill for your first four sales. You have to have enough singles and fives. There have been at least a few shows in which one of us would walk around trying to make change to get singles. They can run out fast.
• Pad of paper and pen - Write down each sale you make. If you're selling with more than one person this is more important to figure out who made which sale.
• Reading material - if it's dead, have a back-up plan to kill the time. It could be a long afternoon.
• Table covering (or table cloth) - without one, you will look like an amateur and will not be given the time of day. Best to have a black table cloth that drapes over the front of the table(s).
• Card baggies - you know, those little bags each etopps card comes with when shipped to you. Include one with each purchase.
  

Now here is a list of tools to bring to make your card show more successful:

• Price Guide - if you don't price each individual card, you need a price guide to look up what each card sells that you should prepare in advance, perhaps days in advance in order to tinker with it. You will probably have to adjust prices on the fly depending on the pattern of selling and the demand for certain cards. You can adjust pricing based on supply of a card or if a player is in demand, for example.
• Print Run List - there are some who may not care about print runs but it's always good to be able to inform the customer the print run of an etopps card from before 2004 (if you are selling these).
• Email List - make sure you have customers or interested browsers put down their name and email to notify them when you will be returning to the same card show or for others in the area. We produced a newsletter that showed the latest etopps in-hands available and had pre-sells of Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams before etopps made them available for delivery.
  
• Card stands - The one thing you cannot do at a card show is lay the etopps cards flat on the table. That's a big No-No. They reflect off the ceiling lights and will not put the cards in a good light. Invest in individual card stands. Include them with each purchase. Present them the way you would want to see them. Having them face up on the table is lazy.
• Display stands - This should probably be one of your biggest investments, whether the cardboard variety or ones made of wood or metal. We were able to get a couple of display towers that had five rows of cards and could fit about 30 cards on each. They weren't fun to put together and break down for each show but they did the trick: making the customer see the cards we put on them: rookies, hot selling-cards, team cards and plenty of local team all-stars. The worst ones to put together were the cardboard display stands. Worse than root canal.
• Secure display case - Another big investment but worth it. This is when sharing the cost with another seller or two comes in handy. If you are doing a show that is more than one day, you can either bring the more expensive cards (autos) home with you or lock them up in a display case. At most shows, security keep a watchful eye on dealers' inventories so this is not usually a problem. They can cost up to $100 but when you have a lot of traffic, you don't have to worry as much. They also look better when you have a black felt fabric to put the cards on. We had a little display case under glass that held together with velcro but the case was so crowded with our autographed and graded in-hands that we decided to get a larger display case. It definitely gave us peace of mind.
  
• Go the extra mile - some etoppers received a blow-up poster of etopps cards from past Nationals. Post a request to buy one on the etopps message board. Put it in a poster frame and place it in front of your table.
  
• Discount Box - everyone is looking for bargains and so will your customers. If you have excessive amounts 2002-04, offer them in a discount box, charge 3 for $10.
• Promotions - the sky is the limit with this one. We had a giveaway at shows. If a customer bought $25 or some other minimum, we had a grab bag promotion. We placed cards in a box in bubble mailers and held the box over the customer's head. They picked out a free card from the box.
  

Which Etopps Cards To Sell At A Card Show?

When deciding which cards to sell and in preparation for a show, stock up on the local teams of all sports of all years, especially the most recent. Don't forget the team cards, especially the football team cards with rookie players on them. You can sell them with the rookie card and offer a discount if bought together.

Now is the time to create your wish list on cardtarget before shopping. If you have time, set up buy orders at the price points you're willing to pay. Trade away cards you don't think will sell at the show on the trading post for ones that are more of a sure-bet for your area. See if you can get a good deal on an in-hand from ebay to save on shipping fees. (This is when it's advantageous to have a lot of reward points in your account so you can save on shipping fees.) Even post your in-hand wants on the etopps message board with your asking prices.

When it comes to quantity of a player, don't go nuts on a hot player. If this is your first show, you have no idea yet what will sell. I wouldn't order more than 3 of any card.

If three of one title sells, you can sell to the next person who wants it by taking down their email and mailing address and shipping it to them at a later time. By accepting their payment for the card at the show, you're already on your way to starting mail orders. I'll discuss more about this in future posting(s).

From my experiences in selling at card shows, the sport that is in season usually is what will sell the most. And football. You can sell football any time of year. If the card show is focused on baseball or football, follow the trend and stock up more on this sport than other sports.

Another factor for determining which cards to sell can be based on who will be signing at the card show. If you have a card for someone who is signing, you should have at least one of their etopps cards in case someone is looking for a something to have the player sign. I've seen this happen a good number of times but it will not happen every time.

You also want to gravitate towards the teams and players who are performing well this season or did well last season.

You also want to stock up on a lot of Classics. People love these cards. I've seen one person at a show criticize etopps cards and wouldn't stop blabbering until he saw the Thurman Munson classic card. He shifted gears and started gushing over how beautiful the card looked.

If people collect for the history of a sport, you have to have classics for your area and beyond, especially Yankees. Since etopps has a lot of Yankees titles, it will look good to have Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Munson, Roger Maris and Mattingly all lined up in a row. You'll be surprised how much a row of classic etopps cards can do for your table.

Primer to Selling In-Hands At A Card Show

There are a lot of things to consider when taking the plunge to sell in-hands at a cards show. Over the years, advice has been sprinkled on the etopps message boards that pertained to the etopps booth at the National or from the experience of those who sold at small, local card shows.

Whether considering a local show or one of the bigger ones, planning is key.

If you're just starting out, go slow unless you've sold at card shows in the past. Choose a show nearby that you may have attended as a buyer.

If you have never been to a card show, it's mainly a set of tables like at an arts & crafts show except the items for sale are sports cards and memorabilia. There may be an admission fee. If so, it's likely someone famous or not-so-famous in the sports world is doing a signing.

You may already know about card shows near you. If not, check the latest Beckett pricing guide magazine. In the back, you can find listings of upcoming card shows by state. Sometimes they give the cost per table in the listing. You can also try www.upcomingcardshows.com

Once you find ones in your area, call the promoter that's listed with the show details. Ask for the cost of a table, the size of the table and whether or not there is a discount for buying a second table. You also want to inquire if the promoter does other shows in your area in case these are not listed in the Beckett magazine or the website I provided.

If the promoter has a card show on a regular basis (once or twice a month), find out if there is a discount on buying a table for a certain number of weeks ahead of time. I wouldn't go further than this about commiting to more than one show. It's good just to get an idea. You also want to inquire about how and when payment is made.

Do your homework on the best table deal and go with that. You'll have to make a certain amount to break even. This may have an influence on how you price your cards for the show. (More on this in upcoming postings.)

The reality of card shows nowadays is they are the bottom-feeder of autograph shows. If you are able to afford doing a card show that also includes autograph signings of retired (or active) professional athletes, you will see that there are some people who attend these shows just for the purpose of the signature. They walk in, get their item signed and walk out.

If the player(s) who are signing are big names, you can expect a good showing of people waiting around ahead of time who have nothing better to do than to go browsing to kill the time. Or the ones who got the autograph they wanted and decide to look around. Hopefully neither the admission fee nor the price of the autograph will have put too much of a dent into their wallets. I'll go more into the types of customers you can encounter in the future postings.

Once you have chosen a show, make sure it's at least a few weeks away if not more. There's a lot of planning to do as mentioned. And the next posting about this on Monday will outline how to get ready.

For those who have experience in selling at card shows, feel free to add your tips, advice, or experiences in the comments section.

Within and Without Ebay

I had a situation on ebay recently in which the winning bidder of a live auction had emailed me through ebay, saying in so many words that they had made a mistake, bidding on my item by accident and didn't want it. I wrote back saying all they needed to do was retract their bid and I included the link on ebay to do so. The real problem was the bid was placed within 12 hours of the end of the listing and the bidder couldn't retract the bid. There were already about 10 bids placed so I didn't think it was wise to pull the auction.

When the auction ended, this bidder won the auction. I emailed asking the bidder to pay at least my final value fee since I was the one paying for their mistake. But I didn't receive a response.

I thought about giving the person negative feedback. I considered opening up a dispute to give them a strike. I waited for their response. A day passed and and still no reply, as if their apology meant they were off the hook and could move on.

I came close to sending them a "now-you-lookie-here" toned email. But instead, I decided to open up a dispute, wait the required seven days and then close it to get my final value fee and they would get a strike against them.

I went to the dispute link and drilled down to what I was looking for with all of the options they had. I decided to go exploring and to see if I could find something else that would be helpful.

And I did. I discovered I could easily close the transaction if the buyer and I decide not to move forward. The option is called "the buyer and I mutually agree not to complete the transaction." I closed the transaction this way and the winning bidder got an email from ebay so they could confirm this was true, giving reason why they didn't want the item and I got my fees refunded.

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The best alternative to ebay for selling etopps in-hands is not online. With some diligence, planning and salesmanship, selling in-hands at card shows can be quite successful.

In the upcoming weeks, I will cover the many aspects to executing a profitable (and fun) card show selling experience.