7 Questions with Nick Singer of SetterSports

Nick's passion for selling trading cards on eBay began with fantasy football. It wasn't long before he was making his monthly student loan payment just from eBay sales.

But when the pandemic hit and he was furloughed from his sales job, he took trading cards full time. Now, he wouldn't dream of returning to his old nine-to-five.

Shop the latest and greatest cards for your collection from Nick atSetterSports.

7 Questions with Nick Singer of SetterSports

1. How did you start selling on eBay?

Up until the point that I got furloughed, I was selling things just as a way to pay my student loan. My student loan was $550 a month, and I was basically making just enough for that payment.

When I got furloughed, I suddenly had to replace the income from my job, so that was a big difference.

I thought to myself, "How can I make this work? How can I run with this? How can I make this happen?" Because otherwise I wasn't going to be able to pay my bills. I didn't want to lose my car!

I learned to fine-tune everything. I made sure I was doing everything I could possibly do to be successful. I brought all my experience and everything I'd learned from my sales jobs and customer service jobs, and I brought them to my selling on eBay.

1. What does a typical day look like for you?

It varies. I'm able to work at my leisure. It's such a freeing feeling, just being able to work on my own schedule. In my previous job, I had to be there at 8 and stay at my desk until 5. Now my life is just completely different. I can sleep in a little bit!

Usually I'll wake up around 8, look over the orders that came in overnight, get everything packed up and ready to go, then take my dogs for a nice little walk. Then I'll head to the post office.

I'll go hit the gym around 11, come home, and work on the business a little bit more, depending on what's going on.

I'm able to do things like work out in the middle of the day or take my dogs for a nice afternoon walk. And I know they're very, very grateful to have me home. I can work whenever I want to. It's on my schedule, not someone else's.

Nick's eBay store uses strong branding, incorporating his favorite coworkers-his dogs!

1. What's your process for sourcing or producing merchandise?

About 15% of my inventory comes from breaking boxes, about 55% comes from eBay, and the remainder comes from local card shops. (EDITOR: A box break is an event in which a box or case of cards is divided up among collectors who purchase the right to receive cards as part of a random drawing.)

As far as what I buy, I try to think of who is going to be the next Patrick Mahomes.

There's so many players that have all kinds of potential- guys that are going to play a year then get benched. There's somebody somewhere that's going to be the next Tom Brady, maybe.

I'm always trying to figure out those different levels of potential because you have a limited amount of capital work.

1. What's one thing you would tell yourself when you first started your business?

Patience is the key.

You've to have patience when it comes to investing in anything, whether it's stocks, sports cards, anything.

You need patience to let an athlete really take off. They may have a few bad games. They may come out and just be atrocious. And you need patience and willpower to let things play out and let things run their course and really see how things go.

The biggest thing like that for me was (Cleveland Browns quarterback) Baker Mayfield. I invested in Baker Mayfield, then I sold everything I had of him when he was doing really bad. Now he's doing a lot better. Lesson learned!

1. What's your selling superpower?

My selling superpower is my customer service, because customer service goes a long way to facilitating a sale. If you don't have great customer service, that gives your buyer to think you have a spotty product and disconnect.

AndI've had a lot of experience in customer service, so that translates to my eBay business.

A small, simple lightbox lets Nick capture professional photos, right from his desk.

1. Who inspires you?

Someone that inspires me is my little brother Denver. He's who got me into sports cards and sports in general. Growing up, watching sports with him-that really built our bond up strong.

And he just recently joined the Army National Guard. Taking that leap and doing something that no one in my family has done before and seeing his progression through basic training-that's just so, so inspirational for me.

1. Where do you see your business in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years?

One goal for my business has been to completely eliminate my student loans, because I've had those pesky things since I graduated back in 2014.

Student loans are tough to get out from under. They're like credit card debt, where you're making a minimum payment every month, but a lot of that goes just to the interest. So one of my biggest goals has been to live this life I want to while I pay down my student loans.

Ultimately, my goal is to own a local, brick-and-mortar card shop to interact with customers face-to-face and still keep my eBay business. I remember as a kid going into a local card shop. That's where my love of sports and passion for sports cards grew. So for me, to own a card shop like that someday, where future generations can come, is a big goal.

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This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.