How much do breakers make?

[advan24r]

Not that I'm looking to become one, but just curious after watching meelypop's video on how distribution channels work.

He mentioned that companies like Upper Deck and Topps don't sell direct to breakers. In order to get accounts with them, you would need to have a brick and mortar store. Does this still hold true?

Do any of the direct manufacturers sell to breakers at their wholesale cost or do they have to obtain it through a distributor with their mark up? Breakers don't buy through places like DAWC, BO, etc?!

In short, this is my understanding

To get direct from MFG - u need a brick and mortar and also have a quota on how much you do in sales plus wholesale business license.

To get from a distributor (i.e. GTS), you need a wholesale business license and not necessarily a brick and mortar store.

To get it from places like blowout, dacw, scc, - anyone can buy

[rustywest]

Too much

[armyml]

It depends on allocations I suppose. Guys like Layton that get CASES at wholesale cost and break make an absolute killing. Our shop gets small allocations at cost but mostly its with the distributor markup. Distributor prices from guys like Southern Hobby aren't great for most of us. Our shop has spent a ton of money with distributors simply trying to get better allocations going forward, but so is everyone else so its tough. As an example we got allocated ONE hobby box of Select Basketball at wholesale cost this last go around and sold it in store.

[jcardstore]

I'm guessing people think they make way more than they actually do.

Factor in shipping, supplies, taxes, fees, paying employees. Their margins probably aren't that high.

Depends on what you said too are they getting boxes after market or at MSRP? Margins way higher I'm sure if they can get everything at MSRP or better

[rifleman69]

not nearly as much as you think for the reputable one's. They may kill it on a certain case due to how hot or how cheap they bought it for, but it's not the same for each sports/brand/year.

[advan24r]

So can I say that if a breaker owns a brick and mortar, their profit margins can be alot higher than a breaker that doesn't have a brick and mortar and just gets their allocation through a distributor?

[jcardstore]

So can I say that if a breaker owns a brick and mortar, their profit margins can be alot higher than a breaker that doesn't have a brick and mortar and just gets their allocation through a distributor?

Would be the other way around, no? Gotta be expensive to operate out of a retail location

[KnicksLife]

I haven't do the math myself. But I have heard a few well known breakers would sell spots that when adding all the spots together, it would be like 2X or more than the box itself.

[thekiddfan]

Brick and mortar stores have much higher overheads too. Do factor that in

[Allamericancard]

even distributors require brink and mortar now for accounts with them

[rogueriver]

They make bank Bro. I Mean like Solid Straight Cheddah....At least that is what Youtube says

[yaoming]

In 6 figures for most of them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kobemagee29]

not nearly as much as you think for the reputable one's. They may kill it on a certain case due to how hot or how cheap they bought it for, but it's not the same for each sports/brand/year.

i believe it's the opposite, they make way more then people think

[ExpFacilitators]

The more fractional the break format, the more they are likely to make. I see so many breaks where the Lakers go for $700 and lebron only does too.

[Eighty5Hundo]

STRAIGHT CASH HOMIE!!!!!

https://media.giphy.com/media/210QVfzBEu7E4/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47y0h9fk6356sa9uc6xfwy2c9f6ty5n53jqw11psh3&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

[Jb55]

I’ve done some football, baseball and hockey breaks over the last 2.5 yrs. I was moving 6 figures worth of product. I got into it in 2019 just before and the boom, and it was good money if you preordered multiple cases.

Now the preorder cost of the cases fall almost perfectly inline with what you can sell the spots for on eBay or independently. And as you see wax prices are falling, even in football with 5 1st round QB’s there aren’t as many breaks because when I do the math, they don’t work anymore.

So as others have said, if you don’t have an allocation to buy at real “wholesale” prices it’s not worth the time and effort anymore. Take a look at eBay now vs 6-8 months ago and how few breaks there are now.

It was fun during lockdown but I’ll never bother doing another one again since I have too much to do in the real world now.

An example of the “allocation” cost of something like Prizm Basketball is like $150box. Same ones that sell for $1500 at retail now.

[Jb55]

Also, it’s really simple to figure out what they make on eBay. Go look at a breaker like AMT Memorabilia on eBay and look at past sales. Tally up all the individual players for something like Spectra Basketball that is out now and that will give you an idea of the high end you can sell spots for on eBay. I was usually within about 10% of AMT on a case vs case basis. When you do this method, the only way someone is making a decent living on breaks is if they have been around all along and were getting large allocations before this all went crazy.

[hermanotarjeta]

Breakers are making probably 10-20% profit on cases they are breaking.

You need to open a lot of cases at that margin to make a living. After taxes, I can’t imagine it’s that great of a job.

[eastbayak]

Breakers are making probably 10-20% profit on cases they are breaking.

You need to open a lot of cases at that margin to make a living. After taxes, I can’t imagine it’s that great of a job.

Really?

Let's say a breaker rips through $10,000 worth of product weekly (I'd like to assume that the top breakers do a lot more than this). At 10-20%, that's $1-2k profit weekly.

Annually, that's $52-104k. Not to mention, these days, it doesn't take much product (especially basketball) to meet the $10k threshold.

A lot of products can be ripped in minutes. And getting paid to rip through product, especially high-end product, sounds pretty fun.

[jcardstore]

Really?

Let's say a breaker rips through $10,000 worth of product weekly (I'd like to assume that the top breakers do a lot more than this). At 10-20%, that's $1-2k profit weekly.

Annually, that's $52-104k. Not to mention, these days, it doesn't take much product (especially basketball) to meet the $10k threshold.

A lot of products can be ripped in minutes. And getting paid to rip through product, especially high-end product, sounds pretty fun.

That’s likely cut in half maybe more after taxes, fees, supplies etc…

[bloodwings19]

I know they make good money because a couple well-known breakers bought some graded cards (of high liquid players) from me through eBay. This was before the pandemic, or the explosion. I know one breaker uses it in his packs, the other I don't know regardless I think both breaks are still doing it because they have consistency. I know a breaker years ago, who was doing great with NT, Flawless cases until he got stuck non-NT cases when prices dropped after release, he just quit. The ones that makes a killing are those that have hired hands to do breaks.

[eastbayak]

That’s likely cut in half maybe more after taxes, fees, supplies etc…

I used the 10-20% profit figure that hermanotarjeta provided.

I also feel like I used a conservative number of $10k weekly (at least I feel it's a conservative number when 20-21 Select/Prizm BKB hobby boxes are selling for $1-$1.5k per).

Supply costs (per) can be driven down by purchasing in bulk and/or focusing on high-end breaks (e.g., high-end boxes with 1-10 cards per box).

[gowizards0]

Over under is set at $60k per year

[eastbayak]

Over under is set at $60k per year

It depends on the breaker.

Your everyday FB breaker? Under.

Blez brothers? Over.

[jcardstore]

I used the 10-20% profit figure that hermanotarjeta provided.

I also feel like I used a conservative number of $10k weekly (at least I feel it's a conservative number when 20-21 Select/Prizm BKB hobby boxes are selling for $1-$1.5k per).

Supply costs (per) can be driven down by purchasing in bulk and/or focusing on high-end breaks (e.g., high-end boxes with 1-10 cards per box).

I assume that is gross, not net.

I would be absolutely floored if the average breaker was taking home more than 50k a year after tax. I bet it’s closer to 35-40k

Obviously not including the few biggest ones

[hermanotarjeta]

Really?

Let's say a breaker rips through $10,000 worth of product weekly (I'd like to assume that the top breakers do a lot more than this). At 10-20%, that's $1-2k profit weekly.

Annually, that's $52-104k. Not to mention, these days, it doesn't take much product (especially basketball) to meet the $10k threshold.

A lot of products can be ripped in minutes. And getting paid to rip through product, especially high-end product, sounds pretty fun.

If you are a one man breaking crew the income doesn’t sound too bad. But you have to pay for any other employees and staff, and unless you are going to sort and ship everything yourself, it sounds like a crap job.

I just break for myself - that’s the funnest way to do it!

[Onepocketj]

I think it's way more than you guys are saying. Some of those breaks are ridiculous. If I mentioned the math in chat it would be instantly deleted. But I remember Platinum mentioning how much they paid and how many they sold of Panini one and they made over 60k in the first weekend just from that product. Those are one card boxes - shipping and labor is miniscule.

[eastbayak]

I assume that is gross, not net.

I would be absolutely floored if the average breaker was taking home more than 50k a year after tax. I bet it’s closer to 35-40k

Obviously not including the few biggest ones

Got it. I interpreted it as net profit.

I agree with you that your everyday breaker is bringing home less than 50k a year after tax.

The top breakers are clearly 6 figures with ease (due to having developed a following/brand/etc).

If you are a one man breaking crew doesn’t sound too bad. But you have to pay for any other employees and staff, and unless you are going to sort and shop everything yourself, it sounds like a crap job.

I just break for myself - that’s the funnest way to do it!

I assume those who have employees under them are either: (1) making more, hourly, with the addition of the extra arms, or (2) making a little less but offloading work they hate doing onto their employees (e.g., sorting, etc).

In my opinion, the "smart" (financially motivated breakers) are more focused on "fast breaks" (boxes with a few cards, ideally high-end) that they can churn through fast rather than slow/cheap breaks like Donruss/Hoops hobby boxes.

I agree with you, I love breaking for myself when I do break. I've only joined a couple group breaks in my life and it's not the same (although it's not a bad option to have when you don't have product to rip).

I also love sorting cards and could do that for days (maybe not weeks/months though :P)

[RogerGodahell]

I think it's way more than you guys are saying. Some of those breaks are ridiculous. If I mentioned the math in chat it would be instantly deleted. But I remember Platinum mentioning how much they paid and how many they sold of Panini one and they made over 60k in the first weekend just from that product. Those are one card boxes - shipping and labor is miniscule.

Platinum breaks probably over $20K a day in product easily. What do they do like 500 breaks of NT a year for football and basketball combined? They're making bank on just that one product.

Now your average breaker isn't opening nearly as much product as them though. They have a huge audience and can just keep em rolling one after the other. I believe they have 2 shifts also, day and night.

[hermanotarjeta]

The profit margins for the big guys may be getting smaller since the start of the pandemic as their case providers are likely asking more for their product and there are less break participants.

[oldgoldy97]

Better get in good with your Fanatics rep.

[ejs23]

Fanatics needs to distribute themselves. Cut out the distributors, take a little for their trouble, let product flow in more directions and pass the savings on to shops… which hopefully gets realized by customers.

[ninjacookies]

Packman's probably pushing a Lam these days.

Smaller scale operation + youtube engagement/adsense rev = enjoy your new townhome.

[Grizzkid12]

Breakers are making probably 10-20% profit on cases they are breaking.

You need to open a lot of cases at that margin to make a living. After taxes, I can’t imagine it’s that great of a job.

This is the closest answer to what it's like that I've seen (unless you're one of the top guys)

You're looking to make up to 20%, ideally, but don't forget there will be some losses along the way when products you are stocked up on tank from release day prices (which is happening more and more in the last 6 months) so some of the bigger wins will even out with the losses/break even products.

Factor in shipping, supplies, employees (if you're breaking at any kind of scale you'll need them) returns, taxes, etc. and you end up working more than most full time gigs (including evenings/weekends) while earning a full time living wage you likely could earn at a regular, less stressful 9-5.

Tl;dr to even attempt doing it in this climate as a full time biz (unless you're already established/ have some crazy hook up or following) you'd better love what you do and be willing to sacrifice. Otherwise you're better off doing virtually anything else assuming you have some sort of education/resume.

[coltsfan23]

Got it. I interpreted it as net profit.

I agree with you that your everyday breaker is bringing home less than 50k a year after tax.

The top breakers are clearly 6 figures with ease (due to having developed a following/brand/etc).



The 'average' breaker also isn't doing this full-time though and certainly isn't focusing on building that longer-term brand, allocation, etc.

Just running the math on cost versus gross sales on group breaks, it's absolutely stunning how ridiculous top-line margins are (100%+). Sure they have opex and all, but a lot of still falls down to the bottom line. I'd expect the # of serious FT breakers clearing $100K to be surprising to most people. There really aren't that many out there, but those who legitimately take it seriously make a lot of $$$.

If anything, allocation is the biggest limiting factor currently. Fanatics is a huge longer-term threat and I don't think many breakers are actively taking that into consideration. There are going to many who fail to pivot in time and they'll get crushed. But they've made so much money recently and there still is some room left to make more.

[mc1]

An example of the “allocation” cost of something like Prizm Basketball is like $150box. Same ones that sell for $1500 at retail now.

I thought that was higher. How many boxes can some of these guys get at cheap prices?

Those were being sold and broken for $2400-2500.

Now down to $1100 or so.

[jcardstore]

Packman's probably pushing a Lam these days.

Smaller scale operation + youtube engagement/adsense rev = enjoy your new townhome.

Difference is, he’s a YT influencer, mane. Whole different ballgame… levels.

He’s probably blowing full time breakers out of the water. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s 6fig+ a month

[LC2nine10]

Fanatics needs to distribute themselves. Cut out the distributors, take a little for their trouble, let product flow in more directions and pass the savings on to shops… which hopefully gets realized by customers.

Or since they are paying 10 times (!!!!) What panini did for the licenses they will jack prices up even higher and distribution method won't really matter.



Why do people always thing giant companies paying record amounts for exclusive deals are going to then lower costs to us?

[JeremyNick]

I think it's way more than you guys are saying. Some of those breaks are ridiculous. If I mentioned the math in chat it would be instantly deleted. But I remember Platinum mentioning how much they paid and how many they sold of Panini one and they made over 60k in the first weekend just from that product. Those are one card boxes - shipping and labor is miniscule.

Exactly.

Some of these bigger breakers are easily pulling 7 figures a year.

The Ebay/IG breakers are another story.

[jcardstore]

Exactly.

Some of these bigger breakers are easily pulling 7 figures a year.

The Ebay/IG breakers are another story.

I think we need to make the distinction between sports card companies and breakers.

The big breakers aren't only breaking. Yes, the largest ones are probably pulling 7 figures gross but have a ton of overhead between physical locations and employees. MAYBE the biggest of the big guys are netting 7 figures.

The margins are way thinner than people think. You can't just look at the distribution price and break price of a box.

[JeremyNick]

I think we need to make the distinction between sports card companies and breakers.

The big breakers aren't only breaking. Yes, the largest ones are probably pulling 7 figures gross but have a ton of overhead between physical locations and employees. MAYBE the biggest of the big guys are netting 7 figures.

The margins are way thinner than people think. You can't just look at the distribution price and break price of a box.

I’m looking at your Layton and Platinum level Breakers. I believe they both have a physician building, but they are predominantly breakers and personalities to some extent. Using both of those as an example I’m also talking about the owners, not the employee like Brad, who break.

The money they bring in off breaking is crazy. It’s not too difficult to keep overhead lower if they have been doing this for a while. They also have other revenue streams including monetizing YT videos that likely bring in much more than you think.

Just like social media types though, the ones making big money are the top and there are countless ones “below” that level that are scratching to make every dollar they can and/or just entering the arena thinking it’s easy money.

[jcardstore]

I’m looking at your Layton and Platinum level Breakers. I believe they both have a physician building, but they are predominantly breakers and personalities to some extent. Using both of those as an example I’m also talking about the owners, not the employee like Brad, who break.

The money they bring in off breaking is crazy. It’s not too difficult to keep overhead lower if they have been doing this for a while. They also have other revenue streams including monetizing YT videos that likely bring in much more than you think.

Just like social media types though, the ones making big money are the top and there are countless ones “below” that level that are scratching to make every dollar they can and/or just entering the arena thinking it’s easy money.

Yea, Layton and Platinum I'm sure are bringing in 7 figures. Doubt the owners are netting 7 figures but it's definitely possible.

They've also been doing this for like a decade at least

[ThatGuyPal]

Anyone trying to downplay what breakers make is:

A. Naive
B. A breaker who doesn’t obviously have any interest in disclosing that they’re pillaging customers gambling addictions.

When there are literally tons of examples with a simple search of people who do RETAIL breaks bringing in double what it would go for MSRP, I doubt anyone who does it consistently or even has a distributor is “barely breaking even”. A lot of breaks I’ve seen charge shipping so not sure how that’s included in so many arguments, bulk supplies are cheap and not having a store or employees=no overhead. Thinking there isn’t people doing this solo, nightly making more than you do working each day is either wishful thinking or dumb

[armyatc22]

It majorly fluctuates....

When a product releases at a certain price they buy as much as possible and adjust prices as is to probably get around 20% over. Now say they still have that product on hand but the price has increased online everywhere due to the demand so they then adjust prices accordingly and this is where the most of their money is made. Selling the same box/case that they were selling a week ago for double the price but are into it for the same cost.

Hence why the retail "boom" went crazy because all these kids saw the price of Blasters and Megas from 2017 and on after a player goes off (Mahomes, Luka, Trae, Zion, etc) compared to what you can buy them at ($19.99 - $39.99)

So now there are a million tiktok/Insta/facebook/whatever "breakers" that only break retail and they think they've been in the game forever but have ZERO idea of what the game actually is.

[advan24r]

What do you think these mainstream breakers' margin is on getting their product to break? 20-25%?

[hermanotarjeta]

What do you think these mainstream breakers' margin is on getting their product to break? 20-25%?

It varies from product to product and how much turnover they have. I would imagine they would break at even 10% margin or even at a loss on occasion just to move product and pay overhead.

[casebreaksllc]

if earning decent allocation, easy 6 figures a year. if buying at market probably about 20% after all said and done. Most big breakers get a set amount of allocation at a very low price and then after that dries up they rebuy at market price and break that. buying a TON of product at market price is the only way to earn allocations from distributors.

[mbrahv1984]

i believe it's the opposite, they make way more then people think

This is really the only true answer. They wouldn't break this much of that weren't true. Unless we all think breakers just love to rip item packs for free while keeping none of the hits.

[TheTruth17]

Not Enough

[armyatc22]

Not Enough

Chad with the answer of all answers!!!! :flex:

[gowizards0]

Not Enough

How do I like a post

[49ersSF]

Breakers never want people to know how much they make. The last thing they want is more competition.

[LionsJets1323]

My friend is a breaker and last year he cleared a little more than 400K.

[carl2001]

Not Enough

Nice to see the truth here

[RogerGodahell]

CardsInfinity is doing good?

I would imagine, he's the OG youtube breaker. I haven't bought into any breaks in years. Cards Infinity was always my favorite though. The last i knew Chris closed his shop, took some time off then moved and started breaking from home.

[bloodwings19]

Cards Infinity was always my favorite though. The last i knew Chris closed his shop, took some time off then moved and started breaking from home.

I remembered he closed his downtown Wilmington shop then moved to another strip mall shop, I think he closed that one too. I love his XMas giveaways except I don't join much break, so I didn't have a chance.

[Silverandgold]

I’ve been doing it as a fun side hobby for about 5 years now. I’d do it full time but you never know when the market will go down and profits are next to nothing. Last year I profited around 30-40 as a side gig. Most of the middle road breakers are in the 50-100 range.

[dunkindutchmen]

Not much after Fanatics is done with them. The Deathstar has its sights set!

[ninjacookies]

CardsInfinity is doing good?

His youtube engagement really went downhill after his first 2 years once the market started to get saturated. But Chris' still moving a ton of product and doing well for himself.

Probably one of the more likeable guys in the biz. Always in good spirits, knowledgeable, and keeps things professional.

Nothing irks me more than the breaker that doesn't even know how to pronounce half the players' names in the breaks...then goes onto sleeve every 25 cent silver parallel and $2 vet auto while tossing the $100 chase rookie base in the commons pile.