Is There Profit in Buying Boxes and Selling Singles?

H

HBK19

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hi I've been a long time lurker. I finally made an account and I got a question for all the ones here that play TCG.

Is it profitable to sell singles online?
(I.E Furious Fist/XY)

I am an old eBay seller with 150 feedback I've gotten through the years. I sell just about everything but I was thinking maybe I could make some money from buying boxes and selling the singles.

I wanted to see what you guys think because I'd like to get into it provided I am able to sell enough to cover my expenses (shipping, materials, box purchases, fees) and still come out with profit to afford more boxes to sell more and keep money for myself too obviously.

Thanks to anyone that takes their time to read and reply.
 
Generally, you can't really make money selling singles from boxes, at least not English ones (don't ask me about foreign boxes). If you're decently lucky, and depending on the set, you might be able to get $30 - $50 USD by selling the ultra rares and playable cards you pull. But after that, the rest is pretty much un-sellable to anyone except collectors, who won't really pay enough to make back the difference. The merit to buying boxes is in the fun of opening them. There's not much to gain besides, sadly.

Obviously, your experience might vary. I think it might have been possible, with very good pulls, to profit off a Plasma Freeze Booster Box when that was released, but I don't think anything since has had the overall playability + rarity of its cards to work out.
 
Thanks for the quick response. Yeah what you say makes sense. A lot of people are always after the bigger cards or certain staples. Just figured it'd be a fun side business. If it didn't somehow make money stores themselves wouldn't sell singles. Maybe value of boxes might not be the same like yugioh. I've played it for over 10 years and you get a box, pull the 80 dollar Excited Knight and 50 dollar Honor Ark and you made your money back and such. Seems like pokemon gives you better cards but prizes are sometimes low. I've seen some case openings. Dude can open with FA Lucario and FA Seismitoad them M Lucario, dragonite ex, hawlucha ex, 4 korrina and 2 strong energy and other things people might want. Maybe I'm thinking of getting into the wrong game. I'd do yugioh but I don't play it so I can't relate and value researching makes it difficult compared to pokemon that I currently play so prices come quicker to remember.
 
HBK19 said:
Thanks for the quick response. Yeah what you say makes sense. A lot of people are always after the bigger cards or certain staples. Just figured it'd be a fun side business. If it didn't somehow make money stores themselves wouldn't sell singles. Maybe value of boxes might not be the same like yugioh. I've played it for over 10 years and you get a box, pull the 80 dollar Excited Knight and 50 dollar Honor Ark and you made your money back and such. Seems like pokemon gives you better cards but prizes are sometimes low. I've seen some case openings. Dude can open with FA Lucario and FA Seismitoad them M Lucario, dragonite ex, hawlucha ex, 4 korrina and 2 strong energy and other things people might want. Maybe I'm thinking of getting into the wrong game. I'd do yugioh but I don't play it so I can't relate and value researching makes it difficult compared to pokemon that I currently play so prices come quicker to remember.
Click to expand...
I haven't bought a box of Yugioh, but it is easier to profit from Yugi than it is for Pokemon. The valuable cards rarely go over $40 while the set is still current (for Pokemon), unlike for Yugioh where you have cards fetching $50+ even if it's the latest set.

That said, boxes are rarely worth the price you pay for them, if you're more interested in the value of the cards you get rather than the fun of opening packs. More than half the packs per box are duds, so unless you find a way to open only the packs with Ex's/Fa's/etc. (I'm sure most here know what I'm talking about, but I won't get into specifics) and sell the remaining packs at $3-$4 to unsuspecting customers, you'll have a hard time breaking even and an even harder time profiting.

If you want to profit from this, your best bet is to buy a case so that each booster box comes out cheaper, and it's even better if you can get the cases at wholesale prices. You don't save huge amounts per box at wholesale, but the savings add up and increase your odds at making a profit.

I've been able to profit on 3/4 boxes I've bought just on the UR's alone, so I've made a decent amount of profit from my boxes. The bulk is a pain to get rid of, though lol.

And I agree with Auride, it's mostly based on your luck. I've seen Furious Fists boxes with only 3 Ur's, so getting a box like that almost certainly means you lost money.
 
I usually buy a box for about $90 on eBay, trade for another box on the Beach, trade for any missing cards, and then sell a complete set to net a profit. The profit amount will vary depending on the set and how quickly you can complete the set after launch. Selling singles is slow going if you're looking to obtain a profit. Heck, selling (or trying to sell) a complete set is slow too. I've been trying for months to sell my set of FlashFire but no one seems to want it. I've lowered the price as much as I want to and all I get are watchers.
 
PsychedelicBreakfast said:
I usually buy a box for about $90 on eBay, trade for another box on the Beach, trade for any missing cards, and then sell a complete set to net a profit. The profit amount will vary depending on the set and how quickly you can complete the set after launch. Selling singles is slow going if you're looking to obtain a profit. Heck, selling (or trying to sell) a complete set is slow too. I've been trying for months to sell my set of FlashFire but no one seems to want it. I've lowered the price as much as I want to and all I get are watchers.
Click to expand...

Hmm I'm a bit curious. How do you profit that way, if you have to trade enough cards that equal the value of a box, and risk the possibility of losing money if you don't pull a lot of good stuff? Plus, the cost of postage from all those trades and PayPal/eBay fees must take a good chunk of the profit... at least that's how I see it but I haven't really tried what you do, so I'm not sure lol :3

I try selling singles, it's much faster and easier for me. During prerelease week up until the first 2 weeks of the new set is when you're able to sell recent singles most quickly.
 
I can usually sell a set for over the price of what 2 boxes would cost me. True, the eBay fees cut into it, but I also buy cards locally in bulk and sell them for more than what I paid to cushion the hit that I take from eBay. Granted, it's not a profit worth writing home about, I just do it for fun. The little money I make on it helps me to keep on doing it. Also, I make trades in person at league, so not all my trades are done via mail.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top