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HOW YOU CAN MAKE BIG MONEY

IN SPORTS MEMORABILIA

The popularity of sports trading cards and memorabilia has never been greater than it is today. Collection of such items is not limited to youngsters, either. Adults have discovered trading cards as a lucrative investment field. Prestigious auction houses in New York dedicate entire sales to antique baseball cards. Autographs, bats and balls, team clothing, ticket stubs and game programs are bought and sold by sports fans worldwide. You can cash in on the growing interest in sports collectibles by opening your own sports memorabilia shop or mail order operation.

You can choose to open a retail facility in your city, or you maydecide to operate a mail order business specializing in sportskeepsakes. Both can be established for a small investment and run for minimal costs. If you choose to open a retail outlet, you will need an adequate supply of stock to draw customers into your store.

If your stock is slow in the beginning, offer to sell merchandise on consignment. You will display a customer's item in your showcase, handle the sale and pocket a pre-arranged percentage of the amount. The advantages of a mail order operation are many. You can begin as a trading club with a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter, featuring the items other members have for sale or trade. Once you have personally gathered a large number of items to serve as a stock supply for your business, you can branch out and begin a retail outlet.

Establishing a retail outlet can be relatively simple. Find a small, inexpensive location in a neighborhood strip mall. You don't need a lot of interior amenities either. Several glass showcases can serve as your sales counter and display area. Place some shelves on the wall behind your counter to display larger items. Framed pictures or plaques featuring autographed items that you have for sale can be hung on the walls around the room. Other counters or table space can feature collecting supplies such asbinders, card cases, storage boxes, pages for holding cards, etc. Sports posters can fill up any bare spots on your wall.

Contact a local magazine distributor and arrange to have a wide assortment of sports magazines and newspapers for sale in yourshop. Include magazines featuring sports news as well as those that pertain to collecting trading cards and keepsakes. The magazine distributor will also be able to put you in contact with the publishers of pricing guides for sports memorabilia. These price books will sell especially well, because they are updated on an annual basis and will create repeat purchases by customers.

If your city has a minor or major league team, check with the front office about having one or more players visit your store for special autograph sessions. Fans can come and have the players autograph their cards, programs, etc., or they can purchase some of these items to be autographed from you at a special discounted price. While folks are in the store to get their autographs, they will have the opportunity to browse through your stock, make some purchases, and get to know you better. While many teams charge for these special appearances by players, you should be able to recoup your expenses through the added sales the event will generate. Also, having an opportunity to become acquainted with your customers and their likes and dislikes will serve you well further down the road.

Getting employees to work in your shop will not be difficult. Teenagers are wild about sports collectibles and would be willing to work for minimum wage. Of course, you will want to have at least one adult on duty at all times to handle any problems that might arise. This type of job is also a great second job for many adults. Many collectors would enjoy part-time work of this sort simply because it will pay for time spent with their hobby. Don't worry about getting help. You'll be swamped with folks applying for work in your store.

As mentioned above, you will want to serve as a consignment shop for folks looking to sell valuable items from their own collections. Have a sales contract written up that specifies that you are taking the described merchandise on consignment for 60 days, ad that the seller will receive X amount for the sale of the item. Of that sale price, you will subtract 25 percent for negotiating the sale. If the item does not sell within the allotted time, the seller will have the option of removing it from your store or lowering the asking price. You should be able to greatly increase your available offers and make a good profit from consignment sales.

Place an advertisement in your city newspaper or local shoppers' guide informing readers of your location and that you take merchandise on consignment. Your ad might look something like this:

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Sports World

Trading Cards and Sports Memorabilia

We buy and sell all kinds of sports keepsakes:

* trading cards

* autographs

* balls

* uniforms

* Baseball * Football

* Basketball * Hockey

* Golf * Tennis

Complete Sports Newsstand--Magazines, Books

Consignments Welcome

3227 N. Hamilton Ave. , next to the county courthouse

657-6545

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Keep your ad simple. Don't overload it by telling everything about

your store. Simply include enough to let the reader know that youhave a shop that offers materials in which he will be interested. Also, remember that your ad should be simple enough to attract teenagers as well as adults. Younger collectors will see your ad and prompt their parents to take them to your store. Allow the reader to come by and check out your offers for himself. Once he gets to the store, then you can determine where his interests lie and what items in your stock will appeal to his desires. Your ad is designed to capture interest--not close the sale.

If you choose not to start out from a retail facility, but opt instead to sell through the mail, there are a few things to keep in mind. Decide first how you will market collectibles by mail--will you sell exclusively from your own collection, or will you serve as a clearing house to bring buyer and seller together by mail? If you plan to sell only your own materials, you will need to develop a catalog listing of what you're offering. Divide it by sport and item type. List all the trading cards, autographs and other collectibles under separate headings. Briefly describe each item. You may want to develop a code for describing the condition of the materials to include the description: M=Mint Condition;

E=Excellent; VG=Very Good; G=Good; F=Fair. Cards can be listed by

player name, year of issue, company issuing the card and condition with the price out to the side. If a card also carries a player's autograph, include that information as well. A typical description might read:

Ruben Sierra, 1991, Topps, M..................$12.00

Ruben Sierra, 1991, Topps, E, w/autograph.....$18.00

If you don't have a large enough collection of your own, start a trading card and collectibles newsletter. While you will want to include two or three short columns describing recent trends in collecting sports items, price trends or forthcoming collectors items soon to be made available, the main feature of your newsletter will be the trader's section. Much like a shoppers' tabloid, your newsletter will include classified ads from folks selling their own items or seeking others who are selling items they want to buy. You charge a small price per word, line or ad toinclude the listing in your newsletter. Readers will contact each other directly. You will make your profit from subscriptions, your personal sales of memorabilia offered in the newsletter, and the sale of classified advertising and any display ads that readers may wish to place in your newsletter.

You can establish a reader base by advertising on local bulletin boards, in school newspapers, or a small notice placed in the classified section of national sports or trading card magazines.Your ad might read:

Free issue "Sports Memorabilia

Newsletter." Brings buyers and

sellers together. Latest news. SASE

to: Collectors, Box 11000 , Anytown,

USA 10001

Along with the first free issue of your newsletter, include a

subscription coupon and instructions on how to place a classified ad. You will also want to leave a stack at each of the retailtrading card outlets, at the neighborhood newsstand, and in convenience stores that sell trading cards. The ads in the first issue can be placed free of charge by friends and acquaintances with material to sell. Offer to let a retail memorabilia store place a display ad in the first issue for free. The response to their ad will encourage them to buy an ad in a future issue. The important thing is to fill up your first issue, making it look attractive and professional.

Your newsletter can be easily typed up on your personal computer. Many software packages are available with templates (sample layouts) of newsletters of two to eight pages. Simply choose a format you like and type your information into the existing columns. You can even plug in your own graphics for a professional touch. If you don't have access to a laser printer, visit a local print shop and have your newsletter printed out on a laser. The quality will be excellent and will only cost around $2 per page printed.

Published bi-monthly in a 4-page format, you can have 1,000 copies of your newsletter printed up for about $80. Charge $15 per classified ad or $75 for a one-third column display ad. If you feature 2 pages of classified ads, 3 columns wide with 10 ads per column, you'll have space for 90 ads bringing in $900. Add to this $150 income from two display ads placed elsewhere in the newsletter, and you have generated a total of $1,050. Plan to leave 200 copies at various locations in town and mail the remainder to prospective subscribers. The first issue will be mailed to prospects in the self-addressed, stamped envelope they provided in reply to your ad. However, subsequent issues will be mailed at your expense through paid subscriptions. Mailing 800 copies via Third Class would cost $160. Your gross profit per issue will be approximately $810. This doesn't include any sales generated by your own advertising.

Selling sports memorabilia can be highly profitable. A trading card purchased for pennies can bring profits thousands of times the original cost. More than ever before, youngsters and adults alike are collecting sports keepsakes. You can grab a share of this lucrative market and parley your position into a profitable part- or full-time income. The decision is yours. Step into the batter's box and take a swing at success, knocking one out of the park! Good Luck!