If you are an active member in the sports card hobby and use Instagram or eBay on a daily basis, I’m sure you’ve stumbled across Ryan aka @CardCollector2 once or twice. With a following 18,000 strong (and growing) and just under 8,000 posts, many would claim that Ryan has helped turned Instagram into one of the largest mediums for card collectors to gather and share their PC hits, make some trades or buy/sell cards that don’t fit into their PC.

But wait…there’s more! A true entrepreneur, Ryan has earned 2,900+ subscribers on YouTube, has his own brick and mortar sports card store outside Columbus, OH and is the driving force behind Tradenight at The National Sports Card Convention. We dig into all that with Ryan in this week’s Feature Friday!

So walk me through how you got started in the hobby.

I started collecting cards when I was really young, but mostly Pokemon. I remember in like 2000 Pokemon were really big in school. However they got banned from school as kids were stealing them. That led me to sports cards soon after, even though they weren’t as popular at the time. I got really big into cards starting in like 2006 when I was 14 and I would buy packs from the local card store chasing Reggie Bush and Vince Young autos. I started going to my first card shows around that time and started working at the local card store part time. This was also when the internet trading was taking off (at least when I got on board) and Beckett, Sports Card Forum, and BlowoutCards had forums. I ended up getting a few hundred feedback on SCF and then moved to Blowout. It was online dealing for me before Instagram, and I got like 900+ feedback on there. I dealt on there almost every day it seemed like.

At what point did you see Instagram as being a valuable tool for buying and selling sports cards?

Originally, it wasn’t meant to be a buying and selling platform for me. Like I mentioned, I was on blowout a lot, so I was looking for alternative to PhotoBucket for a place to share my cards. I started taking pictures of my cards on there, and with a few hashtags, it quickly grew. I remember getting like 250 followers in a few weeks and couldn’t believe it. Quickly after that, I started posting more and more on there. Over the next few months I would transition to frequently getting on Instagram looking to deal, instead of BlowoutCards. This was really before Facebook was big for cards at the time, and breaker websites/blowout forums were bigger, before Social Media took off.

In this day and age, what made you want to take over the previous owner’s card store and build your own brick and mortar business?

I’ve always wanted to own a card store. It was the goal I had when I was a kid. I loved the atmosphere in the card store, talking to people about the hobby I loved, wheeling and dealing on a daily basis. I also know that it’s nearly impossible to get product (boxes) as a start up shop unless you buy an allocation from an existing account. This made it really enticing buying the shop I grew up going to, as it had an established business that was essentially turnkey. Being able to go in day 1, have clients already there and be able to get product from the start was crucial. Plus, knowing the owner for 15+ years and being able to turn one of my childhood card stores into my own was pretty cool and definitely one of the big reasons I bought it!

What were some of the biggest challenges going from being an online only business to now having the store? What have been the surprises (both good and bad) and advantages of opening a store?

The biggest surprise was definitely how capital intensive it is. No one could have prepared me for how much money you have to spend on a weekly basis. Almost every week since I’ve been opened, I’ve had to buy new product and reorder product I’m out of. Every time a dollar comes in, a dollar goes out. These aren’t hundred dollar orders, they are thousands, and they are weekly. That was definitely the biggest surprise from the start. But, having an online presence made it easier I feel like. Having a huge social media following where you can post and promote your new business is definitely advantageous. I get to post pickups I get,  customer hits, what I am buying/selling, etc, so it’s been nice. One last surprise, is how much 80s and 90s stuff is out there. It’s actually pretty crazy. I probably see 80s and 90s stuff 3 times a day, every day, on average. And I am not talking 86 fleer or 93 SP type stuff. I knew it was out there and not worth much, but it’s been surprising to see how much is out there. 
<h3Let’s talk about Tradenight. How much has that grown in the past few years and where do you see it going?

Tradenight has really taken off the last 4 years. It started in a small room in Atlantic City and has really taken off. I was “passed the torch” by my guy Jimmy (@KentuckyBasketballCards) 2 years ago as he was unable to be at the National in Cleveland. My first thought was, how can I truly make this an incredible event? I knew right away I wanted to get major players in the hobby involved. I knew companies would have interest in partnering with this big event, and would be willing to donate prizes for giveaways in exchange for exposure/social media attention for this event. It was big in Cleveland, with a solid size room (2500sq ft) and 300 people I was thrilled, but that was nothing compared to Chicago. We had over 1100 people show up, and over 10k sq ft. It was absolutly massive. I planned that event for 364 days basically, and it went as well as I could have expected. I know next year, Jimmy will be back and we’ve started planning together. I would expect next year

to be as good, if not better, now that we both have the time and energy to partner on this GREAT event. This event is by far my favorite card event every single year. 

Any good stories from 2019’s Tradenight or The National in general?

Tradenight was created for people to meet up and hang out with the people they interact with on social media on a daily basis, and it has become that and so much more. I remember hearing a story from a wonderful collector who PC’s Toni Kukoc. He said he had posted he was going to Tradenight and a guy who also collected Toni was going to be there. The guy told me the other PC collector showed up with a few cards he had never seen, and they exchanged contact info as he was looking to move his PC, and figured the guy I know would want them. He later said the reason he brought them and sought him out was because he had posted beforehand he would be at Tradenight. I just thought how crazy was it that a guy got to really improve his PC and find leads on cards he had really been after, all because he posted he was going to be at Tradenight? Stuff like that really just validates that all the effort going into this event is worth it. There are so many good things that come from this event, and I look forward to more stories like this down the road!

What have been some of your greatest pulls whether for your PC or a customer in the store or in a break?

By far my greatest pull is the Luka National Treasures FOTL Patch Auto /20. Sold it for a solid 5 figure amount back in March. I got one box of NT FOTL and knew I had to rip it. I remembering ripping the box open, knowing the 2nd to last card was only one that mattered as that’s where the RPA /20 was (Bottom card is a printing plate). I pulled the card out of the box and flipped them over to start looking one at a time, and as I set them down they were slightly uneven and I could see the card I was going for was blue. I slid it over, and there it was. I freaked out.

But, pulling the Christian McCaffrey Optic “The Rookies” 1/1 auto was a big moment for me on Instagram and really got some publicity for me just because of the reaction. If you’ve been on Instagram and followed me for at least a year now, you’ve probably seen the video. That day, the guy I bought my shop from kept saying “McCaffren”. He was asking if I had any, or knew anyone that did. We joked about it a lot, and it just stuck. That same day, I was ripping boxes on Instagram live, and pulled it for a customer who bought a personal box. I freaked out. Honestly, it’s my most enjoyable pull and I’m not sure I will ever top it. Just the fact that day I learned about “McCaffren” and kept saying it all day, to hit that card that day, my reaction was genuine and shocked. It was perfect lol.

Time to show off a bit. What are the Top 5 pieces in your collection? These can be highest monetary value and/or personal favorites.

Highest value isn’t really my thing. I don’t do a ton of high end, as I honestly have preferred moving $50-$200 cards most of my life. But my collection that I “PC” is almost all Ohio State, so those would be my favorite buckeye cards. I was a student when they won the title in 2014, so I collected a lot of the guys on the team. I don’t buy as much as I used to, as I used to buy almost every 1/1 type OSU card I could. My Braxton Miller collection is where most of my favorites are.

OK…so you’re an Ohio State fan and alum?

2 part question…

1. Can they get it done this year?

Yes. This team is playing the best I’ve ever seen a team play. So focused, so disciplined and all the talent in the world. This team isn’t as talented on paper as 2015 (Zeke, Michael Thomas, Marshon Lattimore, Bosa, Darron Lee, Cardale, Braxton, ETC) but it’s really good. Chase Young is the most dominate player I’ve seen play at OSU, and when Joey Bosa was there he was something else, so that’s saying something. I really like our chances this year. 

2. Is there just a LITTLE bit of “what if” in the back of your head seeing Joe Burrow’s (spent 3 years at OSU) success at LSU, or are you happy with Justin Fields under center?

Actually, no not at all. I would have rather had Dwayne Haskins for a year and Justin Fields for 2 than Joe Burrow for 2. Haskins broke all the records he could basically, and hung 62 points on Michigan (most ever I believe). If we win it all this year, definitely wont miss Joe, and, even if we didn’t, we will have Fields next year with a year under his belt. I’m a fan of Joe and happy to see him succeed, unless he plays us, then “Geaux” Bucks lol.

Thanks again to Ryan of CardCollector2 Sports Cards for taking the time so sit down with us and talk about his career in buying and selling sports cards. Truly one of the good guys in the industry who is working to grow the hobby through successful events such as Tradenight, keeping the hobby pure and is committed to keeping Local Card Stores alive and breathing as we move forward in a digital age. If you are in the Columbus, OH area, be sure to stop at Ryan’s store located at 4026 Broadway, Grove City, OH. You can find him on Instagram , Facebook and YouTube

An absolute monster hit pulled in Ryan’s store, located outside Columbus, OH

Ryan and Jimmy addressing the crowd
at Tradenight 2019

A 5 figure pull for Ryan. This is one of the hottest cards in the industry today