Dave Portnoy has taken Barstool Sports to the moon. And what he has done during the COVID-19 pandemic to help small businesses has been amazing. Seven years ago Topps put a trading card of Dave Portnoy in their annual Allen & Ginter baseball card sets. Barstool’s Dave Portnoy’s baseball card sales are skyrocketing.

Who is Dave Portnoy? What is Barstool Sports? And why are Dave Portnoy baseball cards selling for outrageous prices?

The Barstool Sports Story

Portnoy launched Barstool Sports in 2003 in a print format that was distributed in the Boston area. It went to an online blog format in 2007. Since its inception, Barstool has covered print, blogs, podcasts, and has a 24-hour Sirius XM channel, Barstool Radio 85.

Calling himself, “El Presidente,” Portnoy has a huge following and fans of Barstool Sports are known as “Stoolies.” One of the most popular segments is Portnoy’s pizza reviews. A few quotes coined by Portnoy originated in these reviews such as “One bite….everybody knows the rules,” and “Alright, Frankie.” There’s even an app where you can review pizzas and view videos of Portnoy’s reviews. One of my favorite pizza spots in Madison, Wisconsin, Salvatore’s Tomato Pies, was reviewed in 2019.

The Barstool Fund

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Portnoy and Barstool formed the Barstool Fund. As of this writing, the Barstool Fund has raised almost $30 MILLION to support small businesses across America. You can donate to the Barstool Fund and you can also purchase merchandise where 100% of the net proceeds benefit small businesses impacted by the pandemic.

With Barstool’s growing popularity, Topps included Dave Portnoy in its 2014 Allen & Ginter set with a regular base card along with jersey relics and autographs. Another Barstool blogger, Kevin Clancy (KFC), was included in the set.

Barstool’s Dave Portnoy’s Baseball Card Sales

One night last week I pulled out a random monster box of baseball cards to sort through and pull any valuable cards. One row of cards was from the 2014 Allen & Ginter set, and I stumbled upon a couple Dave Portnoy cards. Thinking I could sell them for a dollar, I set them aside. Later on, I decided to check eBay comps to see if they might sell for a little more…like $5.

I was correct the Portnoy cards would sell…but I was way off on price. Barstool’s Dave Portnoy’s baseball card sales sales were averaging around $100. A base card. $100. You read that correctly. Then, I tweeted out my shock and dismay over the Dave Portnoy card market which led collectors everywhere to pull out their common boxes from seven years ago.

Here’s a PSA to folks opening up Allen & Ginter and get upset because they pulled an autograph from a blogger they’ve never heard of. Even the random jersey relic cards are selling in the hundreds.

Since this was all revealed recently and collectors are scouring through old boxes, many Portnoy cards have hit eBay and the sold prices are dropping to an average of about $50 for the base card. Still…many of these cards have been tossed aside like a junk wax 1988 Donruss Paul Noce.

There is a market for everything out there, and Dave Portnoy Allen & Ginter sales was certainly the hobby shocker of the month for me.

Near the end of 2020 eBay announced a new shipping option in the trading cards category. With the constant increases in USPS postage prices many trading cards are not worth it to sell because shipping along in a bubble mailer with tracking can now run close to $3.50. Buyers do not want to pay $5 for a $1 card.

By sending cards in a standard plain white envelope (PWE) sellers can move low dollar cards and cut shipping expenses down from $3.00 to $3.50 to a $0.55 stamp. This in turn can save buyers money spending $1.50 to $2 on a card instead of $5.

One of the biggest obstacles for many eBay sellers in offering PWE as an option is the lack of tracking. An unscrupulous buyer could claim they never received the envelope and receive a refund due to no tracking. This is a semi-rare occurrence and personally my average before December 2020 was one non-receipt claim for every 1,000 PWE shipped. It was well worth the extra sales and chalk it up as a cost of doing business.

When will eBay be rolling out this PWE with tracking option? It appeared to go live for the first time the morning of January 25, 2021. I monitored it throughout the day as it was glitching at first and not allowing me to actually select the standard envelope option. Other eBay users commented that it was not available on their end.

By the afternoon it seemed to be working out. Here’s how it works. When you list an item and reach the shipping options, under package details use the drop down box (it is typically defaulted to first class package), and look for eBay Standard Envelope for Trading Cards up to $20.

After you select that option and back out it will show you the shipping cost and tracking included. I have seen two different costs associated with the standard envelope option. One was $0.71, while the listing used here for reference shows $0.91.

Once saved, I previewed the listing for this 1973 Topps Ronnie Shanklin football card. In the listing under shipping it shows eBay Standard Envelope.

To this point, it is not allowing me to select eBay Standard Envelope on existing listings. The option has only been available when I create a new listing. In my experiment to try the standard envelope with tracking it would only allow me to select this as a shipping option, but once at the actual shipping screen it was not available. Some of the main questions still exist regarding this upcoming shipping format namely how will the tracking labels look and what size will they be? We should soon find out. Stay tuned…

Scott Crull was a very sick 12-year old boy in the summer of 1977. Even though young Scott lived on the south side of Chicago in Calumet City, he was a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan. His favorite player was Bobby Murcer, who had been acquired by the Cubs prior to the 1977 season from the San Francisco Giants in a deal that sent Bill Madlock to the bay.

Bobby Murcer wasn’t a power hitter by any means, but the rightfielder did have some pop in his bat. Murcer launched 27 home runs during the 1977 season, but fell off the following year only hitting nine home runs during the 1978 Cubs campaign.

The Chicago Cubs were in the thick of the National League East race on Monday August 8, 1977. Philadelphia held a one game lead over the Cubs, while Chicago was a game and a half up on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh is where the Cubs would spend the next couple days in a battle with the buccos.

Unfortunately, the Pirates would take two out of three in Pittsburgh and the Cubs would take even more lumps in the next series against Philadelphia back at Wrigley Field. The Phillies swept the Cubs in a four-game series and would go on to claim the East division crown.

August 8, 1977 was a roller coaster for both the Chicago Cubs and the Crull family. For the Cubs they entered the week in the thick of the division race and in the driver’s seat to control their own destinty.

Things were not as optimistic in the Crull household as 12-year old Scott was sick with a terminal illness. Though his body was dying, his spirit was not. And he looked forward to an exciting week of Cubs baseball beginning with the Cubs and Pirates on ABC’s Monday Night Baseball with legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson calling the play-by-play.

Through a family friend, the Cubs set up a phone call on that Monday afternoon between Bobby Murcer and Scott Crull. The call meant a lot to Scott and the Crull family.

“This was a nice thing of the Cubs to do, and I want to say they don’t know how much it meant to him. This whole experience is hard to cope with. You just can’t write how much it meant.”

Mary Crull – 8/9/1977 Chicago Tribune

Pittsburgh jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Then Bobby Murcer stepped to the plate against Bruce Kison in the second inning and hit a solo home run. Murcer did it again in the fourth inning. And then the Cubs scored four runs in the seventh inning to take a 6-4 lead. But in the ninth inning, the Pirates rallied and Ed Ott hit a two-run triple to centerfield for a walk-off win.

Things weren’t so great back in Calumet City, either. After Murcer’s second home run a note was sent to ABC broadcaster Keith Jackson and the Cubs radio broadcast team. According to Chicago Tribune reports there was a note at the bottom of the memo stating the boy was dying of cancer, but that part was not meant for broadcast. After sharing the story of Murcer’s pre-game phone call to the boy, Jackson ended the story with: “Scott Crull is dying of bone cancer.”

Scott Crull did not know he was dying. He found out with the rest of the country on ABC’s Monday Night Baseball.

Scott Crull died weeks later, on August 22, 1977, at the age of 12.

Bobby Murcer went on to play six more seasons in Major League Baseball, ending his 17-year big league career in 1983. Murcer passed away in 2008 at the age of 62. Cancer also claimed Bobby Murcer.

The most common question I am asked regarding the One Million Cubs Project is, “do you count duplicates?” The answer is, yes. Fun fact: there are only around 200,000 unique Cubs cards produced since the 1870’s. I keep the Cubs baseball cards coming in by selling 99 cent cards on Ebay.

Selling 99 Cent Cards on Ebay

When it comes to my eBay Store, I often get asked if selling cheap cards is worth my time. Short answer is, yes it is. Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. The long answer is a little bit longer, but keep reading and I’ll explain my process and how and why it’s worth the time.

Time Is Of the Essence

It takes a lot of time to organize and sort baseball cards. It also takes a lot of time to list those baseball cards to sell on eBay. A silver lining to the whole pandemic quarantine is that I have all the time in the world. When people say, “I just don’t have the time,” it usually means they are not willing to make the time. Sure, there are extenuating circumstances in everybody’s lives, but for the most part we can all set aside a little extra time for things we are passionate about.

Hear me out. One thing I really took for granted was how much tedious parts of the day took, and how we can utilize that extra time even if it’s 10 minutes here and there. My office is roughly 10 minutes from my house. Ten minutes to work, 10 minutes home for lunch, 10 minutes back to work, and another 10 minute drive at the end of the day. That is 40 minutes per day that has been freed up because I now work from home. Not only that, I get to the office early so that’s an additional 10 minutes. Trash day? Another five minutes that is subtracted from my morning routine when working from home I can just step away from my desk and take it to the curb.

It all seems silly, but that equates to about five hours per week of extra time. But it all comes down to how you manage, or better yet, prioritize your time.

Also…I don’t have kids. That’s a huge time saver. So, if you have a kid or kids you automatically have a lot less time than I have to devote to eBay baseball card sales.

Is It Worth That Time?

Allow me to crunch the numbers and give you better insight into how my eBay Store works. Many people ask how I make money on 99 cent listings with free shipping. First, I’ll break down the fee structure. With my store subscription I receive 51,000 free buy it now listings per month and my final value fee through eBay Managed Payments is 11.5% plus $0.30 per transaction.

If someone buys a single 99 cent card with free shipping my net eBay payment after fees is $0.58. You might be scratching your head now because after postage, envelopes, and supplies that’s a net loss. But…it is not. I purchase old, unused postage that is pre-stamped on the envelope at a cost of just $0.38 per envelope. Now, I am sitting on $0.20. The cost of top loaders has increased drastically and for the most part I am buying new or used for between $0.08 and $0.10 per top loader shipped. My net profit on a single 99 cent card is about a dime. Is it worth all that work for a measly dime? Yes, read on…

Volume Discounts

Consider the 99 cent singles sales as a loss leader in my eBay Store. And even though it’s a “loss leader,” I am still making a net profit. Profit is profit. Before you say, “but time is money,” all I have right now is time and the time I am spending on my eBay Store would only be spent watching TV.

The goal here is volume sales and to promote buyers to shop my store and buy more than a single card. I offer two volume discounts. The first is a simple 10% three or more cards. This is a very popular option that rewards volume by not breaking the bank. A customer needs only buy three cards to capture a 10% discount. It’s a win-win for both the buyer and seller. For example, a three-card purchase at $2.97 becomes $2.67 after the 10% discount (which is automatic at checkout). The postage cost remains fixed at $0.38 for the three cards and one additional top loader is used for three cards. After fees, postage, and supplies the net profit on a three card purchase at 99 cents each is $1.48, or $0.49 profit per card sold. That 10% volume discount brings in 5x the profit.

Is My Method Sustainable?

No. Eventually, and hopefully soon, the world will return to normal. My spare time will be spent traveling, visiting friends, going to baseball games, etc. This is the main reason why my One Million Cubs Project goal shifted at the end of 2020, and why I am focusing on my eBay sales for quarter one of 2021. I am taking advantage of the time afforded and will have to adjust my sales strategy by summer. But for now, yes it’s worth my time selling 99 cent cards on eBay.

Here we are two weeks into the new year, so I’m a bit behind in releasing my hobby goals for 2021. Before we get started on this year’s goals I want to preface this post by explaining how I set my goals. I discuss S.M.A.R.T. goals in my 2019 goals blog post.

Last year was such a blur with COVID-19 that all goals were put on the back burner. But…due to the pandemic my goals were achieved…and then some in 2020. Here are the S.M.A.R.T. goals for the hobby in 2020.

Recapping 2020 Hobby Goals

The Purge was the title for 2020 hobby goals. Talk about creepy with what was about to come. How did I do? Bulk trades were going to be a focus on 2020, and up until the 11th hour in late March it seemed to be going as planned. I was set to make a couple big trades at the Chicago Sports Spectacular. However, with the pandemic beginning to rear its ugly head I decided not to attend one day before the start of the show. It would be cancelled later that day as vendors had already descended upon the city. Going forward there wasn’t much bulk deals to be done with quarantines, etc. Still, I was able to make 323 trades in 2020 that brought in 130,814 Cubs baseball cards.

Second was boosting my eBay Store inventory. Wow! Did I accomplish that or what. I was happy with 153 transactions in December 2019. With all the extra time 2020 afforded, I certainly accomplished building out my eBay Store and had almost 1,500 eBay transactions in December 2020. All told, my yearly transactions on eBay was 10,006.

Organization. Pass. I know this wasn’t accomplished. At the start of the quarantine, I did begin sorting my Cubs baseball card collection and made boxes for stars such as: Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, etc. I even loaded up much of my Javy collection on Trading Card Database. When eBay offered up 50,000 free listings per month I jumped at the opportunity to fill my store and take advantage and that’s when organization took a back seat.

With an increase in trades during the year, I was able to meet and exceed my goal for Cubs baseball cards in 2020. That number was 500,000 and it was reached at the end of September. By the end of 2020 my collection numbered 525,912 Cubs baseball cards.

Goals 2021: Ebay Sales

Since I reached the 500,000 goal in late September, I set a goal for the fourth quarter of 2020. That goal was a dollar amount in eBay sales. My focus turned from trading for Cubs cards to selling on eBay in the final three months of the year.

I more than doubled my daily sales goal for the fourth quarter and with the pandemic still raging as the calendar turns to a new year I am staying sales focused for the first quarter of 2021. I am pushing that sales dollar figure even higher and two weeks into the new year I am right near my target goal. I will continue to add inventory to my store and by the end of January baseball card sales should heat up with spring training in the near future.

Goals 2021: Taking a Trip for a Bulk Trade

Steve in Cleveland, Ohio has been a source for some high volume trades and still holds the record for most Cubs cards acquired via trade (30,000). We had a conversation around New Years and he invited me out to Cleveland to check out the new space for Greenie’s Sports Cards. It’s not a card shop, rather their space for their online sales inventory. My plan is to take a trip out there this summer.

Another bulk trader, David, has a large amount of Cubs cards and we hope to meet up sometime in February for a trade. I also have a vendor from the St. Louis area that will be trading Cubs for Cardinals whenever a Chicago Sports Spectacular gets back on the calendar. There are also two shops I want to visit. Mike Sommer from Wax Pack Hero has some space in Bloomington, Illinois and Tom from Real Breaks will be opening a shop this year in Wisconsin.

Goals 2021: 700,000 Cubs Baseball Cards

It’s an optimistic number: 700,000. That means I will need to crush my annual average of around 130,000 Cubs cards acquired per year by getting 175,000 in 2021. With the above mentioned bulk trades in the works I believe this can be accomplished. Even by focusing on eBay sales during the first few months of the year I feel optimistic about hitting 70% of my goal in the One Million Cubs Project by the end of this year.

The year 2020 is finally history. Along with a worldwide pandemic, the year also brought another wave of national hysteria around sports trading cards. It was something the hobby had not seen since the early 1990’s.

The “junk wax era,” as it’s become known, brought about massive production to the point cards could be found just about any business from barber shops to grocery stores to gas stations.

It’s a little different this time around and it’s become difficult to find trading cards in retail outlets such as Target and Wal-Mart. Demand is certainly exceeding supply unlike the early 1990’s when supply was rampant and demand would eventually dwindle.

The demand for hot products such as Panini’s Prizm football, or anything basketball has led some stores to limit quantities. Locally, in Madison, Wisconsin, I have counter upwards of 20 people waiting for the card vendor on stock day at Target.

Should stores limit quantities? It’s an interesting question and at the beginning of 2020 it seemed most collectors in the hobby were against the idea of limiting quantity for trading cards. The Twitter account, @cardpolls, asked that very question in March 2020.

Surprising results in hindsight. That Twitter account decided to revisit the topic at the end of the year to test collectors.

What a difference nine months make in the hobby. It’s a hot topic to debate. Some want free reign to products. Others want the ability to buy a box or pack to rip something.

One Target store in Madison has taken some interesting steps to make it a level playing field for collectors looking for cards. On a random trip to a store the week of New Years, I noticed the card area was roped off with a couple security guards nearby. Disclosure: this particular Target is very busy and is the closest retail store to the University of Wisconsin. Security is always on duty, so this was not a special occasion to monitor baseball cards.

As I approached the card section I asked if the vendor was stocking. One security guard holding an iPad said, yes, and explained the procedure. Those wanting a chance to purchase cards checked in by providing their name and phone number. Then they would be put in line and once the card section was fully stocked those customers would receive a text message in the order they checked in.

That is the initial text message I received. We were not allowed to loiter near the cards, so everyone did other shopping or browsed electronics, toys, etc. About 45 minutes later I was alerted that it was my turn in line.

You walk up to the employee that checked you in standing near the cards and were allowed one box or pack per product. The only thing I saw on the shelf was Panini Prizm Draft Picks baseball. It wasn’t something I was interested in buying, but grabbed a pack and blaster since I waited this long.

Looking for baseball, basketball or football cards? Visit my eBay Store for low prices on vintage singles, hot prospects, rookies, and more.

As I turned to walk away, the employee said there are also cards in this box. That is where the good stuff was. I was able to get the last blaster of NBA Hoops and even a pack of Prizm Football.

Personally, I am for this practice. If they didn’t limit quantities I would not have had any cards to rip, and that is likely the case for many others. What are your thoughts? Do you think all Target and Wal-Mart stores should limit quantities on trading cards?

UPDATE (5/13/21): Target pauses sports card sales