I Sold My First Card On eBay! Victor Cruz Salsa Danced Some Cheddar Into My Wallet!

I had always been interested in flipping a card or cards on the Bay, but I was too lazy. Hell, I had this particular card that I finally ended up selling almost listed, but was too lazy to have eBay call me. Anyhoo, after finally going through with it I couldn't be happier with the results. Here's the card I listed and sold, and the only time I plugged it on the blog:

One of the hottest names in the hobby, mister salsa dancer himself, Victor Cruz. I grabbed this from my LCS's eBay store sometime early-ish in 2011, for just 99 cents. I only bought it because it was a buck, and I knew as a Giant Cruz carried inherent value, though I knew nothing of him at the time. I'm sure I figured I'd end up trading it to B.A. Benny, but once Cruz started putting up huge numbers I felt it was appropriate to flip the card and make a profit of some kind.

After finally getting the card listed after Cruz's three-catch, 164-yard game on December 24th that included a 99-yard touchdown reception, I chose a seven-day auction with no reserve and a buy-it-now option of $30. Shipping was set at two dollars and fifty cents, and I must say thanks to the owner of my LCS for the advice about listing items and his strategy to maximize profit.

Within a day of the listing going up around 1 a.m. Christmas morning, the card had four bids and was at $15.50. I was ecstatic, needless to say. A couple days passed and four more bids led to a whopping $32+ on the Cruz and my jumping for joy as there remained about four days left on the auction. A day later, however, and the high-bid had reverted back to the fifteen dollar mark as a bidder cancelled their bid because they had entered the wrong amount. I wasn't very pleased, as you might imagine.

The auction remained at a standstill until the final day. It was also right before this that I realized the Cruz would end in the wee hours of New Years Day, before the Giants-Cowboys game. This was a mistake on my part, but you live and learn.

The Cruz ended up jumping back into the low $30 range, and finally closed at $32.23, for a grand total of $34.73 after shipping. Once fees were deducted, I scored $33.42, a nice chunk of change my PayPal account is happy to see. Removing my original investment in the card, I profited $31.43.

All-in-all, I'm thrilled with my first experience as a seller on eBay, and I know I'll partake in it again at some point. I've already spent most of the proceeds from this sale, with the rest ticketed to cover part of a card I need to pay for. I'll post on those when they hit my mailbox.