Ladies and gentleman, we've done it! After only 13 weeks of buying and selling AFL trading cards, we've successfully turned a starting cash balance of $1,000 into $2,000 while still holding an inventory of cards worth over $1,300.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's been involved in any aspect of this series. Whether you've bought or sold cards that have been a part of the challenge, provided feedback on the weekly posts, or engaged in any other fashion. Thank you.
Hopefully through the various 'highs and lows' of this series, you've been able to apply some of the teachings to your own collections, which was essentially the reason why I started this journey to begin with! With that being said, I'm extremely keen to keep this series alive to try to push this journey as far as possible.
So I've decided on a new challenge : $2,000 total profit by the end of the AFL season.
Same target, half the time. Can we do it? I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out!
Back to this week however, how did we find ourselves over the $1,000 threshold at the conclusion of 'Week 13'? Let's dive into the beginning of the next chapter of 'Buy/Sell/Hold In Action', and see how we fared in the past 7 days.
STRATEGY.
I left last week's article with the question of what to do with the North Melbourne 'Rising Star Predictor' that we picked up in preparation for the end of the regular season. And while it may surprise a few given the commanding position Harry Sheezel finds himself in, I decided to accept an offer at the conclusion of North Melbourne's game over the weekend. Yes, we sold what is most likely the inaugural winning Rising Star redemption for a price of $400. Which probably has you thinking; 'why on earth would you do that?'. Well consistent with how we've come to buying/selling decisions throughout the entirety of this series, I prioritised time spent over profit margin. Because as you've probably heard at some point throughout your life, time equals money. Whilst I'm happy to admit that Harry Sheezel should rightfully be the clear favourite, stranger things have happened and I'm not willing to leave money to chance. Sometimes this scope of thinking can cost you a payday here and there, but I feel like for the majority rolling funds over as quickly as possible is ultimately the best way to quickly expand your collections and in turn cash balance. With a Series 2 release in the distant future, I'd much prefer to have those funds available ready to be redeployed into our future pickups!
In terms of the current state of the market, it seems as though most people who have wanted to participate in GEM have already done so, and we are finally seeing some value listings present themselves on the secondary market. To put it simply, it's currently a buyers market and I intend to capitalise on this period in time as far as our cash balance will allow us. This week's pickups probably consists of the most variety we've had so far, so without further ado let's get stuck into the last 7 days and see what cards we managed to pick up!
'BUY'S'
Josh Rachele GEM Base 06/90 *LOW*, 'AFL GEM Football' 2023 - $83
I think the big trend coming out of 'AFL GEM' was how the 'Base' cards were able to hold their price. If you got your hands on a box of 'GEM', you'd probably agree with me in saying how well Select executed the most common card in the product. So much so, that the inserts are outperforming both the Sapphires and the Emeralds when adjusting for scarcity. It's crazy! Picked up this 'low numbered Josh Rachele GEM Base, lets hope we can find a buyer above the $100 price point!
Trent Cotchin Certified Patch 004/160 *LOW*, Jason Horne-Francis Optimum Rookie Parallel 100/1115 - $105
I love myself a Facebook bundle that makes sense, and that's exactly what these pickups represent. Starting off with the 'low-numbered' Trent Cotchin Patch, for $80 a match worn patch of the retiring 3x Premiership Captain, I don't think you could really go wrong! There isn't another variant of this card listed on eBay, but I know the 'patch-auto' version of this card fetches close to 4 figures. Collectors really enjoy collecting patch-cards of their favourite players, hopefully we see a revival of the card type when Series 2 eventually rolls around.
Unsure if I've said it before, but if I could only purchase one player for the remainder of the year, hands down the player I'd choose is Jason Horne-Francis. The kid is a stud, plain and simple. So picking up his 'rookie parallel' for $25 is a 'no-brainer'.
Charlie Curnow Rookie Card, Harry McKay Rookie Card, David Cunningham Rookie Card - $23.50
You spend enough time trawling through eBay, you'll eventually get blessed with some good fortune. When this listing popped up on my filter I almost hit the ceiling and crossed my fingers to see the 'thank you for your purchase' message from the 'eBay Gods'. Considering we've already sold a Charlie Curnow 'Rookie Card' previously for $70, and now that he's officially won B2B Coleman Medals we should recoup a similar figure. The other two cards are the 'icing on the cake', even David Cunningham is playing consistent footy!
Chris Judd Prime Draft Card 131/145, Marc Murphy Prime Draft Card 54/145, Bryce Gibbs Prime Draft Card 109/145, Matthew Kreuzer Prime Draft Card 62/145 - $103.50
Bit of a change of pace with some older Select inserts, but I thought the value this bundle presented was worthy of a punt! The 'Prime Draft' cards, numbered to 145, were a part of the Select Prime release in 2013, and have resonated well with collectors over the years. The insert represents the best first round draft picks from 17 clubs (sorry GWS), which would then obviously include a stacked checklist. I remember when first entering the hobby, the Dustin Martin variant of this card fetched close to $1000, and just the other day the Trent Cotchin variant sold for $115 on auction. Given that Chris Judd is of the same ilk, if not greater than the likes of Trent Cotchin, let's hope that singular card can recoup most of the cost, and hopefully get some interest in the other 3 cards. Maybe we resell them altogether as a lot? something to think about!
'SELL'S'
Nick Daicos Rising Star Nominee 117/626 - $45 : $1.93 Profit, 6% ROI
North Melbourne Rising Star Predictor 231/260, Footy Stars 2023 - $400 : $111.80 Profit, 49% ROI
Mitch Owens Base 29/90, 'AFL GEM Football' 2023 - $49.99 : $18.09 Profit, 82% ROI
Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti Base 85/90, 'AFL GEM Football' 2023 - $55 : $22.41 Profit, 102% ROI
'WEEKLY TOTALS!'
This is not the end, only the beginning of what should be an even taller task! While I feel like a big weight has been lifted in regards to achieving our initial goal, I'm as hungry as ever to keep going!
Does that mean we take more risks? Does it mean that we become more cutthroat on cards that have been sitting in the inventory... No! We are going to continue to formulate buying opportunities, and execute when the moment strikes. I
n the words of DiCaprio, 'the show goes on', and I'm looking forward to next week's article where time has never been more precious. Once again thank you for participating in the series so far, but this is only the beginning. See you next week!
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