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]

Originally Posted by 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?

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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!!!!!

[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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by eastbayak

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]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

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]

Originally Posted by gowizards0

Over under is set at $60k per year

It depends on the breaker.

Your everyday FB breaker? Under.

Blez brothers? Over.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by eastbayak

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