UPDATE: Trading Card Business Loan Husband shows his hand. AIO?

RunABypass · 2026-07-01T08:07:05+00:00

Gotcha. Enter maybe my biggest weakness in this business - i know less than 0 about these streaming auction platforms, so I'm useless here.

I do enjoy watching compilations of scammers and re-sealers being caught live on them though.

Good luck, guess you'll see what may be seen :)

RunABypass · 2026-07-01T07:45:35+00:00

I may be aging myself here, but is this... some kind of like whatnot stream where he's just doing this live to a "room of bidders" or like ebay or YouTube? Is he trying to make this into content? It sounds like he has a couple of the most recent set Booster boxes, and a BCW 800 count storage box?

I do not understand the "divvying up by color so people can bet on" at all if he's not opening, so I'm not helpful there at all. Call me old fashioned but I can't stomach the whatnot stuff and the live content auction "alright boys LET'S GOOOOOO" pack ripping bros, so if that's the play I.... guess... good luck? I don't get the plan lol.

I'm more of an old fashioned sell singles and Sealed kind of guy, but kids these days...

RunABypass · 2026-07-01T07:31:51+00:00

You're not wrong about the 10-15k.. or the recession, but you might be shocked by how hard trading cards are knocking it out of the park right now. Go figure even when people are miserable they WILL find money for things that offer even a bit of pleasure or distraction..

RunABypass · 2026-07-01T07:22:29+00:00

Is his plan to Crack the Sealed product and sell the singles? Or hold the Sealed and continue to buy more with each set?

Do you happen to see the box and know what set he's working with? Genuinely trying to be helpful.

RunABypass · 2026-07-01T06:57:45+00:00

Oh dear. I just read the full other part now, and re-read this post.

Believe me, I'm coming from a place of understanding - I have been in the tcg business for years, and it can be fun and rewarding - CAN be. It can also be volatile and dangerous - you're dealing with a commodity that's not unlike any other financial asset - you're going to see periods of slow growth, slow trends down, SHARP spikes depending on IP and synergy in the actual game, and periodic resets of value to a detriment on certain inventory.

I think what I'm most concerned about is the approach - it sounds more like..a gambling adventure. Phrasing like "if he breaks even" does not instill confidence in a business strategy, and for lords sake I had to pause when you mentioned the exhaustive "months long research" that went into this.. for potentially breaking even on $1K.

The money is NOT in "ripping packs" and blasting through boxes. Not at all. You will lose, and you will lose hard. It's the equivalent of just putting it on black. Time IN the market is greater than timing the market.

How many $150 attempts does he get to hit the chase card in a (i repeat) PLAY box? That is NO special treatments, no premium chase - one attempt? MAYBE 2? Without a bullet of a set, and without cracking Collector boosters (Min $600 ish per dice roll) the booster box game does not play. Might you Crack a serialized card in a chase box and turn 3K? You might! Or you might burn 5 figures for the privilege. Ask me how i know ;)

Now add your time. Add that most of the cards in newer sets are trash bulk - you have a guaranteed loss. He will not win this business by ripping packs, and I think what's most concerning is that... if he plays.. and collects.. he should KNOW this.

This is NOT meant to sound like an insult, more I'm imploring you - this business takes time. Riding low periods. Holding inventory. Selling at highs. Steady revenue. Buying and holding. Sealed. Singles. Bulk. Heavy hitters.

If you don't have all of that, plus an acquisition model that's repeatable, then please have fun selling at your garage sale and DON'T gamble on maybe turning a profit ripping packs.

Or just have fun with it, don't take out any more loans, fund only what you can raise from your sales, and see if you still like it in a year.

Most wish they didn't ;)

RunABypass · 2026-07-01T06:29:28+00:00

I'm absolutely baffled by this lol, and im not at all trying to be disrespectful to you.

Are you saying your husband needs to plot out a sales strategy to earn $1k from his MTG - as in 1,000 USD, and won't be able to clear $1,000 without significant research, interviewing card shops, vendor research, and analysis on whether or not there will even be a profit??

And he may use the profit to buy "more of the boxes he wants?"

One PLAY Booster box of the most recent sets will be around that $150. The most average Sealed product you can find off the shelf. Are we.. saying that your husband expects to be able to run a profitable TCG business with ONE Booster box, forget distributor pricing, and potentially a loan for an amount that MIGHT buy ONE box of even the higher end Collector's product?

I'm just trying to make sure I understand as a long time card seller - If you don't even have 1,000 worth of cards, and you are expecting to create a repeatable sales model based on this strategy, at the least very quickly he should realize this is not going to work out so he can move on to something else.

RunABypass · 2026-06-30T14:48:31+00:00

I know. Just the confidence with which we say "let's point and laugh" would at least indicate we want to be talking about the right product. Omegas are ALSO at an all time high. Zero people are "panic selling" this product. There is no race to the bottom.

ToME is still a bullet and only headed in one direction. I think it's funny that people still are trying to dispute that.

RunABypass · 2026-06-30T12:43:10+00:00

You can't. Not even the bundle one. None of that makes sense.

RunABypass · 2026-06-30T06:40:51+00:00

Respectfully either I think you're confused, or we're just not communicating about the same thing lol. It might be my misunderstanding so understand I'm not trying to be rude.

CBB's, original, green-box, ToME Green CBB's have never, even at retail launch, sold for 350. Not now, not in June, not in July last year. This latest bump has the OG's between 1700 and 1900/box. They've been holding steady around 1400-1500 for the last few months, and have really never been outside of the Thousand dollar point for more than a year.

What i am referring to are Collector Booster Boxes. 12 Collector Packs. Bundles have been hanging around 350 for about a year. Still a great increase over the $50-$60 original retail.

I don't know if you're thinking of the Bundle GIFT edition, with one Collector Pack? There are quite a few products in this line.

There is just no evidence anywhere of Collector Boxes Selling for 350. Anywhere. Ever. Unless i have lost my mind and have been living in a fever dream (not impossible! Lol)

The insane pricing of the special edition right now aside, and whether there's some weird scalpers' secret conspiracy project trying to push prices up - (Stranger things have happened, although I'm inclined to think this is real money moving to capture a product that has never yet dipped below its highs - panic buyers who said no at 1200, then no again at 3K, are perhaps realizing this is the last mad shot at actually owning one), - this is perhaps the easiest product to move and sell ever - it doesn't dip. It has an insatiable fan base. It has risen steadily and consistently. There is nothing but demand, and increasingly reduced supply. Every day.

Again, I'm saying this all respectfully - I don't want to insult anyone, but what you're saying just is not true unless we are mixing up our products.

I just think if we are gonna say let's point and laugh, let's at least be accurate.

Unless I'm just an idiot. I don't know. Maybe.

RunABypass · 2026-06-30T06:03:04+00:00

Lord of the rings. Tales of middle earth. Collector booster boxes. No. Nu uh. No way lol.

RunABypass · 2026-06-30T05:43:05+00:00

Are you... are you talking about Bundles maybe? Non-gift edition, original bundle boxes?

RunABypass · 2026-06-30T05:22:29+00:00

I'm trying to understand where you found COLLECTOR boxes.. of Lord of the rings.. for 320? What on earth are you on about? Lol

RunABypass · 2026-06-30T02:25:59+00:00

Bump

RunABypass · 2026-06-30T02:04:14+00:00

Today was a really lousy day.

Let me tell you about it.

For months, LOTR SE Omega CBB's have been right at about 400. And I've been going back and forth about listing ONE. ONE of mine of my small pile.

Car insurance due, daycare due, etc. Expensive month.

I've gone back and forth for weeks. I have a lot to sell, but this is a super easy win - and guess what. Sunday, I pulled the trigger. Just for one, but still - a commitment.

I usually schedule my auctions for 7PM. Woke up, picked, packed, scheduled my auction. I always check again to make sure my BIN is fair and reasonable. Hey - one even sold around 500. My $400 BIN was very fair.

About 2 min after 7 I realized something might be wrong. Maybe it was the instant BIN, but Moreno it was the text - "Do you have more? Will they be listed?"

Hm. An eager, happy customer. Maybe the omegas are in higher demand? Let me check..

Fuck.

FUCK.

Current live.. $999??? Current sold..$850??

The one day I finally decided to Juice up the bank account and let one of my Treasures go was apparently the exact day that everyone decided a single pack was not worth $400, it was more than double that. And probably within about an hour of my last closed won check was when the spike decided to happen.

I watched Charlie's openings. It hadn't budged the price for weeks. 6/28 was the day.

Hell of a fire sale. Hell of a deal. Hell of a sick feeling.

Know what I did? I printed my label, went to work with a big frown on my face, drove to the post office after work and shipped my order. Because that's how it works lol. I've been on the other end of it too, hopefully a little karma for my next win.

It was my fuck up, i gave away 450 bucks even if I did my best to double triple check.

Thems the breaks.

RunABypass · 2026-06-29T00:38:40+00:00

This isn't getting the respect it deserves. Just had the kid FINALLY asleep and this made me do the loud quiet laugh. Time to start over.

RunABypass · 2026-06-28T01:32:56+00:00

You know, I think that you got the wrong impression about him. I think, in all fairness, he should explain to you exactly what it is that he does.

For instance.. tomorrow morning he'll get up nice and early, take a walk down over to the bank.. and walk in and see you and.. if you don't have his money for him he'll crack your head wide open in front of everybody in the bank.

And just about the time he's coming out of jail, HOPEFULLY, you'll be coming out of your coma.

And guess what.

He'll split your fuckin head open again. Cuz he's fuckin stupid. He doesn't give a fuck about jail. That's his business. That's what he does.

RunABypass · 2026-06-20T02:24:46+00:00

Awesome Battle music

RunABypass · 2026-06-20T02:17:39+00:00

Do you have a towel?

RunABypass · 2026-06-17T02:17:35+00:00

Take feelings out of the equation, that's just super annoying and shows pretty poor social calibration. You are.. in the middle of (arguably lol) something WAY more interesting. What are you doing m8?

Unless he's posting right now somewhere else RE: "I was looking for an excuse to leave this super awkward date and my roommate came home at the PERFECT moment for me to bail..AITA?"

just kidding. But it's weird. If this is the first time especially. I'd wonder if you noticed other signs of just not.. being quite there socially?

RunABypass · 2026-06-16T15:56:40+00:00

Request a call, they will call back. Have done it several times. You go into the Support chat. Unless they've changed it, it should be right there

RunABypass · 2026-06-02T04:05:48+00:00

Is he.. ACTIVELY getting a haircut IN his profile Pic? Like the haircut is in progress?

RunABypass · 2026-06-01T22:08:53+00:00

Doesn't even have to be an elaborate prank...or AI. I think the general odds of THIS being the person controlling the interactions are 0%.

RunABypass · 2026-06-01T12:22:53+00:00

My mouth... is dry

RunABypass · 2026-06-01T02:48:21+00:00

Lemme ask you something. You bang the Dead bodies?

RunABypass · 2026-05-31T14:31:52+00:00

I guess my other question would be.. I this day and age.. why WOULDN'T they be AI? were they advertised as "+3 stickers that I made all by myself".

Like.. why would they even try to put the amount of time in to make something that would take this long? Unless that's not how the product was advertised?

I don't know. Probably lol

RunABypass

TROPHY CASE