NFL Authentic Jersey License Timeline

During the 90’s multiple manufacturers had the ability to make replica jerseys under their brand. I’ll do a post where I start to hobble this information together as I acquire it. (if I can acquire it) The Authentic timeline is significantly more muddy than the NBA license, thus, I’ve split up the timeline by teams.

Arizona (St. Louis) Cardinals

1992 – 1996: Russell

1997 – 1997: Wilson

1998 – 1998: Logo Athletic

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Atlanta Falcons

1991 – 1991 Champion

1992 – 1997: Russell

1998 – 1998: Reebok

1999 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok 

Baltimore Ravens

1996 – 1996: Russell

1997 – 1998: Starter

1999 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Buffalo Bills

1988 – 1996: Champion

1997 – 1997: Wilson

1998 – 1998: Logo Athletic

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Chicago Bears

1992 – 1992: Wilson

1993 – 1996: Champion

1997 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Cincinnati Bengals

1989 – 1996: Champion

1997 – 1997: Wilson

1998 – 1998: Champion

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Cleveland Browns

1990 – 1990: MacGregor Sand Knit

1992 – 1995: Russell

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Dallas Cowboys

1990 – 1992: Russell

1993 – 1994: APEX

1995 – 1995: Nike (no logo displayed)

1996 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Denver Broncos

1989 – 1994: Wilson

1995 – 1995: Wilson Staff

1996 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Detroit Lions:

1990 – 1990: MacGregor Sand Knit

1991 – 1992: Wilson

1993 – 1994: APEX

1995 – 1998: Reebok

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Green Bay Packers

1992 – 1996: Starter

1997 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Houston Texans

2002 – 2011: Reebok

Indianapolis Colts

1987 – 1992: Champion

1993 – 1994: Wilson

1995 – 1995: Wilson Staff

1996 – 1997: Wilson

1998 – 1998: Logo Athletic

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Jacksonville Jaguars

1995 – 1995: Wilson Staff

1996 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Kansas City Chiefs

1989 – 1994: Wilson

1995 – 1995: Wilson Staff

1996 – 1996: Wilson

1997 – 1998: Reebok

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Miami Dolphins

1990 – 1994: Wilson

1995 – 1995: Wilson Staff

1996 – 1996: Wilson

1997 – 1998: Starter

1999 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Minnesota Vikings

1990 – 1991: Wilson & Russell

1992 – 1992: Wilson

1993 – 1993: Russell

1994 – 1998: Starter

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

New England Patriots

1993 – 1994: APEX

1995 – 1998: Starter

1999 – 2001: Adidas

2002 – 2011: Reebok

New Orleans Saints

1990 – 1996: Champion

1997 – 1998: Reebok

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

New York Giants

1992 – 1994: APEX

1995 – 1998: Reebok

1999 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Oakland (Los Angeles) Raiders

1991 – 1991: Wilson

1992 – 1995: Starter

1996 – 2000: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Philadelphia Eagles

1992 – 1996: Russell

1997 – 1998: Starter

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Pittsburgh Steelers

1993 – 1996: Starter

1997 – 2010: Nike

2001 – 2011: Reebok

St. Louis (Los Angeles) Rams

1993 – 1996: Russell

1997 – 1997: Wilson

1998 – 1998: Logo Athletic

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

San Diego Chargers

1993 – 1993: Russell

1994 – 1998: Starter

1999 – 2001: Adidas

2002 – 2011: Reebok

San Francisco 49ers

1991 – 1994: Wilson

1995 – 1995: Wilson Staff

1996 – 1998: Reebok

1999 – 2001: Adidas

2002 – 2011: Reebok

Seattle Seahawks

1989 – 1994: Wilson

1995 – 1995: Wilson Staff

1996 – 1997: Wilson

1998 – 1998: Logo Athletic

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1992 – 1994: Russell

1995 – 1995: Russell Staff

1996 – 1997: Wilson

1998 – 2001: Adidas

2002 – 2011: Reebok

Tennessee (Houston) Titans

1989 – 1989: Russell

1992 – 1993: Russell

1994 – 1994: Wilson

1995 – 1995: Wilson Staff

1996 – 1997: Wilson

1998 – 1998: Logo Athletic

1999 – 2000: Puma

2001 – 2011: Reebok

Washington Redskins 

1990 – 1990: MacGregor Sand Knit

1991 – 1996: Starter

1997 – 1997: Wilson

1998 – 1998: Starter

1999 – 2001: Adidas

2002 – 2011: Reebok

NBA Jersey License Timeline

Pre 1984: Medalist Sand-Knit

1985: MacGregor Sand-Knit

1989-1990: Champion is the exclusive uniform outfitter (some players wore Sand-Knit this season)

1997-1998: Champion is the sole provider of replica jerseys

1997-1998: Champion outfits; Atlanta, Indiana, LA Clippers, New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Seattle, Utah & Vancouver (Authentics)

1997-1998: Nike outfits; Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, LA Lakers, Miami, Portland, San Antonio, Toronto & Washington (Authentics)

1997-1998: Starter outfits; Charlotte, Cleveland, Denver, Golden State, Houston, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New York & Sacramento (Authentics)

1999-2000: Puma takes over Starters authentic licensed teams

2000-2001: Puma takes over Starters authentic licensed teams

2001-2002: Champion outfits Atlanta, LA Clippers, New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Utah & Vancouver

2001-2002: Reebok outfits Charlotte, Cleveland, Denver, Golden State, Houston, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New York, Sacramento, Indiana & Seattle

2001-2002: Nike oufits Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, LA Lakers, Miami, Portland, San Antonio, Toronto & Washington (Authentics)

2002-2003: Reebok takes over all of Champion’s team from the previous year.

2002-2003: Champion does not make any replica jerseys starting this season. Reebok takes over the license for all replica jerseys.

2004-2005: Nike’s contract with their teams end and Reebok becomes the exclusive uniform outfitter to the NBA.

2006-2007: Adidas is the exclusive uniform outfitter after the purchase of Reebok

Book #1 – The Personal MBA Notes: Permission Marketing

Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends and Friends Into Customers (1999) – Seth Godin

DEFINITIONS

Interruption Marketing: Marketing that requires the customer to be interrupted from what they’re currently doing in order to get them to think of something else. Examples: TV ads & Internet pop up ads

Permission Marketing: Marketing in which customers volunteer to be marketed to.

Intravenous Permission: When the marketer is making buying decisions for the customer. If the marketer guesses wrong or abuses it, the permission is removed. Example: Book of the Month Club.

Purchase on Approval: A type of intravenous permission, but not where the purchase in implicit but explicit. Example: Suggested products after purchase on Amazon.com

Points Permission: Utilizing the building of extra value after continued patronage of a business. Example: Credit card miles

Personal Relationship Permission: When a relationship is created due to intimate knowledge of each party. It is less valuable than points due to their lack of ability to scale. However, it is the most effective. Example: Doctors/Dentists

Brand Trust Permission: Less effective but popular with interruption marketers. Occurs when customers trust a particular brand and will then be more likely to trust new products or brand extensions. Example: Apple Ipod extending to Apple Tablet

Situational Permission: Occurs when there is a situation that a customer needs to act and reaches out to the marketer. Example: “Do you want fries with that?”

STATEMENTS/QUOTES

• “Alta Vista…has surfed and scanned 100 million pages of information, and if you do a search, that’s the database you’re searching through.” pg. 30 (I found this hilarious, goes to show you that first to market isn’t everything)
• Direct Marketing is more effective than ads, still a 2% response is considered a success.
• Permission marketing encourages consumers to participate in a long term, interactive marketing campaign in which they are rewarded in some way.
• Permission is an investment. It requires patience and faith as there isn’t normally immediate returns.
• The concept to increase the share of individual customers is more important than market share was developed by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers in the book The One to One Future.
• Starting on page 67, there is quite an amazing foreshadowing of Amazon.com embracing permission marketing. Not concerning themselves with the cost of acquiring their customers. We can see many ways that they are leveraging the value of customers that trust their name. One way is in Fulfilled by Amazon.
• Interruption marketers are uncomfortable in the acts it takes to maintain a customer, even though it is less expensive. As it takes all the power away from them and gives it to the customer.
• Some customers have negative value, once these customers are identified, it can be wise to get rid of them. This allows the marketer to spend more time on customers who have positive value.
• In order to achieve the prospects permission, you still must interrupt them to acquire it. Interruption marketing still has a place.
• The less you ask of the prospect and the larger the bribe during the initial interruption contact, the more effective it will be.
• Before a marketer can acquire trust, they must breed familiarity by creating awareness.
• The most effective way to create awareness, is via frequency.
• With the need for frequency, marketers still favor the concept of reach. Is it better to reach 100 people one time or 25 people, four times?
• An ad needs to be run 27 times towards a single individual before it has a desired impact. The math assumes that only one in 9 ads will be seen and then needs three views in order to sink in. (credited to the marketer, Jay Levinson)
• The attempt to create new ways to advertise when customers need frequency is misguided. The only reason marketing attempts should be changed is once they cease to be effective.
• If you create a points program you must give little benefit to infrequent customers, and great benefits to frequent or high value customers. The permission must be overt with an understanding how they will be tracked.
• Marketers easily take permission for granted. The forget that the permission is a selfish act by the customer, the marketer must always keep the needs of the customer as the catalyst for action.
• In regards to technology, customers prefer mastery of technology over cutting edge. Don’t make your customers feel stupid with utilizing offerings integrated with technology.

LISTS AND STEPS

Problems of Interruption Marketing

1. Humans have a finite amount of attention
2. Humans have a finite amount of money
3. The more products that are offered, the less money there is to go around
4. In order to capture more attention and money, you must spend more money on interruption marketing.
5. The more money spent the less effective each dollar becomes

Permission Marketing Has Three Components, They’re:

Anticipated – Prospects look forward to messages

Personal – The messages are directly related to prospects

Relevant – The message is about something interesting to the prospect

How To Date Your Customer

1. Must offer the prospect an incentive for volunteering. (Such as information, entertainment, sweepstakes or direct payment)
2. Utilizing the attention by the prospect, the marketer must offer a curriculum over time to educate the prospect about what they have to offer.
3. Reinforce the incentive. Over time incentives wear out. Because of two way communication, the prospect can assist in how to effectively do this.
4. Encourage the customer to give permission to gather more data about themselves.
5. Leverage your permission into a profitable situation.

Reasons Interruption Marketing Is Effective In A Low Clutter Environment

1. Ease of use; create ads and run them on a wide scale
2. Scalability; the more ads created, the more sales acquired
3. Predictability; had the ability to determine how much more in sales every dollar in ads would generate
4. Command/Control bias; the advertiser could control all of the messaging
5. Profitability; good products generated more profits than the cost of advertisement

Focal Points In Peppers and Rogers Book

1. Increase your “share of wallet”
2. Increase the durability of customer relationships. Invest in retention.
3. Increase product offerings to customers by being customer-focused.
4. Create an interactive style. Acquiring more information will lead to new product offerings.

Problems With Frequency-Related Marketing

1. Ads that do not run with frequency are ignored.
2. Due to the need to interrupt the customer, ads need to have a lot of attention grabbing aspects, which leave little room for messaging.
3. New concepts are misunderstood, due to being overwhelmed with new data.
4. Frequency is expensive.
5. Running frequent ads is boring.

Five Levels Of Permission

1. Intravenous (purchase-on-approval model)
2. Points (liability and chance model)
3. Personal Relationships
4. Brand Trust
5. Situation

Types of Points Based Models

1. Point Liability Model – Where each point has a stated value that is guaranteed.
2. Point Chance Model – Where there isn’t a guaranteed reward, but the chance to win a reward

Four Rules of Permission

1. Permission is nontransferable
2. Permission is selfish
3. Permission is a process, not a moment
4. Permission can be canceled at any time

How To Evaluate a Permission Marketing Program

1. What’s the bait?
2. What does an incremental permission cost?
3. How deep is the permission that is granted?
4. How much does incremental frequency cost?
5. What is the active response rate to communications?
6. What are the issues regarding compression?
7. Is the company treating the permission as an asset?
8. How is the permission being leveraged?
9. How is the permission being increased?
10. What is the expected lifetime of one permission?

CASE STUDIES

• Proctor & Gamble introduced Crisco in 1908. Due to the lack of reliable mass media (a requirement for interruption marketing) P&G relied on permission marketing. Such tactics used were:
• Paying train lines to use Crisco instead of lard in pies served on board. (made end user aware of this)
• Held society teas in major cities. All items offered with the tea were made with Crisco.
• Introduced a series of free cookbooks. They promoted the cookbook, not the product. (Crisco was a ingredient in all recipes
• Camp Arowhon has the oldest summer camp in North America. They utilize interruption marketing not to sell but to get permission.
• They advertise at fairs and in magazines
• The advertisement does not attempt to sell the camp.
• The goal is to get permission to send a video/brochure. (via phone)
• The goal of the video is to get permission to have a meeting.
• At the meeting, the camp is finally sold the camp.

IDEAS/APPLICATIONS

• Information incentives on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Value added content regarding brands or players. (for sports memorabilia/apparel)
• In terms of marketing on Instagram, it would be unwise to build followers using tactics such as “follow for follow”, when potential customers see marketers using this, it demonstrates that the number of people following them is a lie and that they are untrustworthy themselves.
• A great example of frequency is Kars4Kids and their horrible jingle on the radio. While it’s awful and the charity is suspect, most of us know, not only the song, but the phone number (if we sing the song in our head).
• Cash back or discounting is referred to as a “crude way of applying a points program”. It may make more sense to create rewards that are special to just those who acquire certain goals. For example, what if Sony offered special edition Playstation’s not to the general public, but, to those who have been members of the online community the longest. Or those who purchased the most additional content.
• What if there wasn’t a structured program but surprise rewards? By keeping track of repeated buyers, surprise them with an upgrade that wasn’t part of an explicit program.

The above notes are supposed to be an aid to be used after reading the book. This is the format I’ve written my notes since High School. I’ve found them easy to use when you need to find specific information at a later date. Please feel free to comment any ideas you’ve acquired from reading Permission Marketing.

Personal MBA – An Attempt to Read 99 books in Two Years

The Personal MBA was created by Josh Kaufman who compiled (updates periodically) a list of business books to mimic much of the knowledge learned in an MBA program. I attempted to start reading this list a few years ago but didn’t get through the first book. In high school and college I was an avid reader of business books, they had a great a effect of getting my mind running but I didn’t have an outlet for the ideas I would get from content. This ultimately drove me crazy and I stopped reading them.

I turned to biographies about political, business and entertainment leaders. I think it’s time to go back. With a year under my belt and looking for new inspirations to continue to build my business, I’m going to attempt to read all 99 books by the end of 2016. This is a tall order and it has a great chance of crashing down in the first week. I’m a strong reader but not particularly a fast one. I have a habit of taking notes as I’m reading which I end up placing in random places never to be seen again. What I’m going to attempt to do is read through the list and post in this blog my notes.

I’ll publish produce any ideas or concepts that the books use an apply them to arbitrage.

Book List (As published on the Personal MBA website)

Value-Creation & Testing

Go It Alone – Bruce Judson

The Lean Startup – Eric Ries

The Knack – Norm Brodsky & Bo Burlingham

Ready, Fire, Aim – Michael Masterson

Escape from Cubicle Nation – Pamela Slim

Bankable Business Plans – Edward Rogoff

Value-Creation & Testing

Rework – Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

The New Business Road Test – John Mullins

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas – Dan Kennedy

Marketing

All Marketers Are Liars – Seth Godin

Permission Marketing – Seth Godin – Notes posted February 1st, 2015

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing – Al Ries & Jack Trout

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got – Jay Abraham

Sales

The Psychology of Selling – Brian Tracy

Pitch Anything – Oren Klaf

The Ultimate Sales Machine – Chet Holmes

Value-Based Fees – Alan Weiss

SPIN Selling – Neil Rackham

Value-Delivery

Indispensable – Joe Calloway

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement – Eliyahu Goldratt

Lean Thinking – James Womack and Daniel Jones

Finance & Accounting

Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs – Karen Berman and Joe Knight

Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits – Greg Crabtree

The 1% Windfall – Rafi Mohammed

Accounting Made Simple – Mike Piper

How to Read a Financial Report – John A. Tracy

Venture Deals – Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson

The Human Mind

Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman

Brain Rules – John Medina

Making Sense of Behavior – William T. Powers

Driven – Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria

Deep Survival – Laurence Gonzales

Productivity & Effectiveness

Getting Things Done – David Allen

The Power of Full Engagement – Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz

StrengthsFinder 2.0 – Tom Rath

Bit Literacy – Mark Hurst

10 Days to Faster Reading – Abby Marks-Beale

Problem Solving

The 80/20 Principle – Richard Koch

Accidental Genius – Mark Levy

Learning from the Future – Liam Fahey and Robert Randall

Behavioral Change

The Power of Less – Leo Babauta

The Path of Least Resistance – Robert Fritz

Re-Create Your Life – Morty Lefkoe

Self-Directed Behavior – David L. Watson and Roland G. Tharp

Decision Making

Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions – Gary Klein

Smart Choices – John S. Hammond et al

Ethics for the Real World – Ronald Howard and Clinton Korver

Communications

On Writing Well – William Zinsser

Presentation Zen – Garr Reynolds

Made to Stick – Chip and Dan Heath

The Copywriter’s Handbook – Robert Bly

Show Me The Numbers – Stephen Few

Influence

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Robert B. Cialdini

How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

Crucial Conversations – Kerry Patterson et al

The 48 Laws of Power – Robert Greene

Negotiation

Bargaining For Advantage – G. Richard Shell

3-D Negotiation – David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius

The Partnership Charter – David Gage

Management

First, Break All The Rules – Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

12: The Elements of Great Managing – Rodd Wagner and James Harter

Growing Great Employees – Erika Andersen

The Essential Drucker – Peter F. Drucker

Leadership

Tribes – Seth Godin

Total Leadership – Stewart Friedman

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – Marshall Goldsmith

The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan – George Bradt et al

The Halo Effect – Phil Rosenzweig

Project Management

Making Things Happen – Scott Berkun

Results Without Authority – Tom Kendrick

Systems

Thinking in Systems – Donella Meadows

Work the System – Sam Carpenter

Analysis

Turning Numbers Into Knowledge – Jonathan Koomey

Marketing Metrics – Paul W. Farris et al

The Economist Numbers Guide – Richard Stuteley

Statistics

Thinking Statistically – Uri Bram

How to Lie with Statistics – Darrell Huff

Corporate Skills

The Unwritten Laws of Business – W.J. King

The Effective Executive – Peter Drucker

The Simplicity Survival Handbook – Bill Jensen

Hire With Your Head – Lou Adler

Corporate Strategy

Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies – Nikos Mourkogiannis

Competitive Strategy – Michael Porter

Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne

Seeing What’s Next – Clayton M. Christensen et al

Creativity & Innovation

The Creative Habit – Twyla Tharp

Myths of Innovation – Scott Berkun

Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Peter F. Drucker

Design

The Design of Everyday Things – Donald Norman

Universal Principles of Design – William Lidwell et al

Consulting

Getting Started in Consulting – Alan Weiss

Secrets of Consulting –  Gerald M. Weinberg

Personal Finance

Your Money or Your Life – Joel Dominguez and Vicki Robin

The Millionaire Next Door – Thomas Stanley and William Danko

I will Teach You To Be Rich – Ramit Sethi

Fail-Safe Investing – Harry Browne

Personal Growth

Lead the Field – Earl Nightingale

The Art of Exceptional Living – Jim Rohn

A Guide to the Good Life – William Braxton Irvine

eBay Store: When should I upgrade?

Listing fees on eBay are a significant expense. Upgrading to a store can help lower those expense. The easiest way is to look at the model from a listing fee standpoint to see when you should acquire a store or upgrade to a store. In order to do this you need to know the number of listings that operate as a breakeven point. Right now eBay has three store choices.

Basic Store ($19.95 Monthly/$15.95 Year Subscription)

Premium Store ($59.95 Monthly/$49.95 Year Subscription)

Anchor Store ($199.95 Monthly/$179.95 Year Subscription)

We assume that we are using regular listings, not the discounted listings such as the ones for video games or books. You can still do this breakeven but the input numbers will be different.

BREAK EVEN FOR UPGRADING TO A BASIC STORE

Monthly: 50 Free Listings + ($.30 Listing Fee x  67 Listings) = $20.10 (117 Listings)

Yearly: 50 Free Listings + ($.30 Listing Fee x 54 Listings) = $16.20 (104 Listings)

BREAK EVEN FOR UPGRADING FROM A BASIC STORE TO A PREMIUM STORE

Monthly: 150 Free Basic Listings + ($.20 Basic Listing Fee x 200 Listings) = $59.95 (350 Listings)

Yearly: 150 Free Basic Listings + ($.20 Basic Listing Fee x 170 Listings) = $49.95 (320 Listings)

BREAK EVEN FOR UPGRADING FROM A PREMIUM STORE TO AN ANCHOR STORE

Monthly: 500 Premium Listings + ($.10 Premium Listing Fee x 1400 Listings) = $199.95 (1900 Listings)

Yearly: 500 Premium Listings + ($.10 Premium Listing Fee x 1300 Listings) = $179.95 (1800 Listings)

If your just considering upgrading to a basic store you should also try and estimate the fee reduction that the store gives you. When you have a store you are charged a 9% Final Value Fee instead of 10%. I’m not even sure if I can make the proper equation to do this but the break even to upgrade to a basic store (monthly) is 117 listings. Let’s say, for example that your average sale is around $25.00 and you have a 20% sell through every month (the number of listings that sell in a single month). Your reduction on fees for 100 listings will be (20 Listings x $25.00) x 1% = $5.00. Your listing fees will be $15.00 but the upgrade would have saved you $5.00 which in this situation is an opportunity cost which should be added to your fees. In this situation, your actual break even is 100 listings, not 117. Remembers this isn’t as cut an dry as just looking at it from a listing fee standpoint as you have to make some predictions and estimates.

Rediscovery: ESPN 30 for 30 Rand University

Based in Minnesota, I come across a lot of Minnesota Vikings jerseys. I focus on sports so I pick up jerseys. I come across Randy Moss jerseys frequently and usually pass them up unless their priced at $5.00 or less. This strategy has changed because of a documentary series called 30 for 30 on ESPN.

I had sold one Moss jersey after holding it about a month for $17.00. The most popular players sold the most jerseys, and thus are the most common. Because of this, they don’t carry premium prices, especially if they’re less than 10 years old. 30 for 30 did an episode called Rand University on 11/11/14. I sold one of the two jerseys I had in stock that night for $29.99. Then shortly thereafter sold the other for $29.99. I picked up another Moss which I got strong offer of $25.00 within a week.

Shows like these help people rediscover players they once idolized and sparks renewed interest. Items that may be low margin before the show airs may turn into high margin items after. Other episodes of 30 for 30 this year included Brian Bosworth, Livan/Orlando Hernandez, New York Knicks (70’s teams), 1989 World Series and the Herschel Walker trade. It seems that Walker’s throwbacks have received brisk business the vintage Vikings jerseys do not. In this situation the story revolves around how bad the trade was for the Vikings. It would stand to reason, not too many people would be inspired to check eBay to acquire a jersey.

This should offer a reminder that vintage isn’t set in stone. Keep an eye on what the media is doing to help your sales.

Introduction

January 1st, 2014, with a nine month old baby, my wife and I were struggling. I was trying to complete an accounting degree but paying tuition, even at the cheapest state school was still difficult. I came to the conclusion that I had to try something to help provide for our family.

I had been reading a thread on a forum, about people who found items to resell at thrift store, garage sales and retail stores. Arbitrage. The act of taking advantage of pricing differences between markets. While mainly a term in financial markets, there was opportunity for people who are willing to take the time to learn what is popular, or what should be popular and put in the work to provide what the market desires.

Closing in on my first year, I’ve by no means have reached any semblance of a wild success. My wife and I have, however, been able to bring in extra income to support our young child. I’ll be using this blog to help others in this industry. The learning curve for brands and products are quite steep. I’ve been able to learn quite a bit from others who do this. I hope to share the knowledge that I’ve been able to acquire while maintaining a database for myself.