Ep.241 w/ Ezra Levine-Mascot "Leading a new charge"

SPEAKER 1: Here's a gentleman who's a fierce advocate and ambassador for this great hobby.

SPEAKER 1: He has his finger on the post of the hobby.

SPEAKER 1: However, his voice is nowhere as smooth as mine buddy don't try.

SPEAKER 1: Here is John Newman.

SPEAKER 2: What is up everybody? Episode 2 41 of Sports Card Nation. As we inch even closer to the National couple, house cleaning announcements before we talk about today's episode.

SPEAKER 2: Sports Card Nation will be live on the main stage on Thursday, the 27th of July at 11 a.m. Chicago time. That's 12 on the east coast, but 11 a.m. Chicago time on Thursday. I'll have some special guests with me.

SPEAKER 2: Danny Black hobby News. Daily Hobby. Hotline sports ball.

SPEAKER 2: I'll have Dilan Davis double D vintage Adam from splendid sports and artist extraordinaire.

SPEAKER 2: Andy Sunday Freeman, on the main stage and, he's gonna give away some of his taps work that he's doing for taps and I even have a couple blaster boxes. I'll be giving away. We're gonna talk about, the hobby, vintage card art. We got an hour. So join me, Andy Danny Adam and Dylan, on the 27th at 11 a.m. local Chicago time.

SPEAKER 2: And the Mike Burke main stage, we should, we're gonna have a lot of fun, with that hobby hotline will also be on the main stage. That will be Saturday the 29th, same time. 11 a.m. Chicago time. And many of the host of that show, yours included will be on the main stage. I don't know if they'll have enough mics, but we'll figure it out.

SPEAKER 2: So, two main stages, really privileged and honored to get to do that and, hope, hope to see some of you, out in, in the audience. Let's talk about today's guest, Ezra Levine, formerly of Collectible. Now with MASCOT, he's gonna tell us what MASCOT is all about what their plans are, at the National.

SPEAKER 2: And, even though he's no longer with collectible, we're gonna talk a little bit about the future, of fractional. And we're gonna talk about the hobby. We're gonna talk about the National, fun conversation with Ezra.

SPEAKER 2: So, stay tuned.

SPEAKER 3: Time for our hobby is the people announcer of the week.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah, this is the card carver. Remember the hobby is the people, if you'd like to be the hobby is the people announcer of the week. Do a wave or MP3 file and send it to Sports Card Nation PC at gmail dot com.

SPEAKER 4: For more than 30 years. Robert Edward auctions. Has been the nation's premier auction house specializing in sports memorabilia and trading cards with significant experience and expertise in all major sport, non sport and Americana collectibles.

SPEAKER 4: Re A has helped clients achieve record breaking prices for their items and has done so with a reputation for integrity and transparency by actively partnering with collectors and enthusiasts throughout the entire process.

SPEAKER 4: Re A has created the hobby's most trusted forum for selling high quality collectibles. Go to Robert Edward auctions dot com for more information on how to buy or sell in their next auction for nearly 50 years. Sports collectors Digest has been the voice of the hobby.

SPEAKER 4: Bringing you comprehensive coverage of the sports collectible industry from industry news, auction results, market analysis and in depth stories about collectors and their collections. Sports collectors digest has everything you need to know about the hobby.

SPEAKER 4: Also your leading source for listings of sports collectible dealers, card shops, card shows and the latest from the industry's top companies to check out all the latest news or to subscribe to the hobby's oldest magazine. Visit sports collectors digest dot com or call 1 808 29, 55 61.

SPEAKER 5: Always great to have the next gentleman on the sports card shop guest line. He's back but, wearing a different, wearing a different cap than, than the last time he's, he was here. We're gonna learn all about all about that. But, welcome back ear Levine.

SPEAKER 6: Thank you, John. I appreciate it. I think this is my third or fourth time in the show. And I, I think I've said it pretty much every time I've been on this. But you by far have the best intro song out of any podcast streaming show out there. If there's a better one, I challenge him in the, I feel like a, a hobby. Gladiator right now. I just want to run through a wall that.

SPEAKER 5: Well, I appreciate that. It cost me five bucks every time. You, you say that I gotta quit having you.

SPEAKER 6: The best five bucks you could possibly spend.

SPEAKER 5: But, again, thanks. Thanks for coming back. Yeah, you, you're probably, you're up, you, you not the most appearances but you're, you're definitely on, on the list, in the mix. You kind of just recently, closed out your career at Collectible. We're gonna talk about, the new Endeavor, which is MASCOT. I wanna get that, get that out there.

SPEAKER 5: But kind of talk about, you know, your time at Collectible and, I, I can tell you I'm gonna miss, you know, I don't know if there's gonna be any more parties but some of, you know, not that one, not that, that's what it's all about but some of the best parties, at the National and, hopefully we'll see some MASCOT once. But, but kind of talk about, kind of your career there and then moving on to, to your next Endeavor.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah. Sure. I mean, look, it was, it was a great time at collectible, you know, we, we, we had a lot of fun, certainly, you know, really, really proud of a lot of the accomplishments we had. You know, I think in a lot of ways we helped to elevate the industry, bring innovation to the industry, bring some great parties to the industry.

SPEAKER 6: Obviously, you know, I think the market is in a slightly different place now than it was, you know, when collectible first launched. You know, I think, you know, some of the challenges, related to fracture are now certainly are, you know, sort of expectations around the market and, you know, kind of some short termism versus long termism.

SPEAKER 6: But, you know, overall really, really pleased, you know, by what we were able to accomplish and look, I'm still a big believer in fractional ownership. I think it's gonna have a big place in the hobby going forward.

SPEAKER 6: And I, you know, I think, I think it requires a little bit of, kind of long term thinking, for that. But, you know, it was, it was a really great experience for me personally.

SPEAKER 6: I learned a lot and very appreciative of all the relationships that we were able to build, really appreciative of, you know, all the 100,000 people, you know, who signed up and used the platform, you know, we were part of some, some big deals, you know, some record breaking deals, multimillion dollar sales, you know, lots of good opportunities for people to own shares of iconic assets and, and collectibles.

SPEAKER 6: So obviously, obviously different hat. Now I'm really excited about this next opportunity. I think this next opportunity, you know, gives me and us a chance to work with a much broader set of the collectibles world.

SPEAKER 6: I'll never forget a collectible. You know, there's so many people consignor, you know, items that are amazing, but, you know, and fraction you can only really work with items that are, you know, six figures. You know, and that's, and that's a fairly limited supply of the market.

SPEAKER 6: We really, what we want to do in this next chapter really was, you know, kind of build a product that all collectors, have a use for all collectors will find value in whether you're an investor or a collector or a hobbyist.

SPEAKER 6: You know, someone who does this for a living, whatever your sort of association and participation in this hobby is. And this industry is we want to build a product that would, you know, have mass mass appeal. And I think with mask, we, we'd be able to do that.

SPEAKER 5: So for those, you know, I did, you know, you sent me some materials. I checked it out.

SPEAKER 5: You haven't officially officially launched, yet at the time of this conversation. But for those, you know, that don't know, even as much as I do kind of, just, you know, tell us what MASCOT's all about, what it entails.

SPEAKER 6: Well, so I, I'll give, I'll give Doctor Beckett some credit here.

SPEAKER 6: I was talking to Doctor Beck who I consider a friend and a mentor and I told him the name of our product and I explained a little bit about what the product is and he goes, ah you guys are smart. It stands for multi sales channel optimization technology. And I said, you know what we just like the name MASCOT, but I liked it.

SPEAKER 6: I'm gonna go with it. So MASCOT has now become an acronym for multi asset sales channel optimization technology. Essentially what we're building is the most robust inventory management solution for all different types of collectibles starting with sports cards and comics and a multi sales channel distribution network.

SPEAKER 6: We've partnered up with pretty much every of the major grading companies and you know, a couple of the other grading companies as well. We've gotten their API feeds to allow you to essentially, you know, either type in a serial number, have all the data, all the images you know from, from your items pop up immediately instantaneously and then to essentially integrate as many secondary marketplaces as possible.

SPEAKER 6: Ebay, Shopify, you know, my slabs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera directly into the platform and literally within, you know, a click of a mouse or a button, you could, you know, send listings to multiple marketplaces all.

SPEAKER 6: At the same time, I was, I was blown away when I first saw this and that really kind of compelled me to join the team. You know, I, I previously was using a big spreadsheet to keep track of my entire collection. Spreadsheets can be kind of clunky and time consuming.

SPEAKER 6: And what I did essentially is I uploaded my spreadsheet and immediately all the 100 cards that I, you know, have my collection, you know, almost within a matter of a minute populated with all the data, you know, the the name of the player, the card type, the year, the grade and by integrating directly in the marketplace, I had, you know, my listings available for sale on my slabs and ebay, literally that took, you know, less than two minutes time.

SPEAKER 6: I thought that was a no game changer for the market and something that I thought, you know, as many collectors out there, whether you have one item or thousands of items, but this was a product that I thought was gonna make the collecting experience better, faster, more convenient full of, you know, a lot less friction. So we're, we're, we're really excited to showcase this to the market.

SPEAKER 5: So is it graded cards? Only raw cards? As far as cards go?

SPEAKER 6: Yeah, I mean, you, you can do both, right? I will say the the experience of graded cards is a little bit more elegant, just in the sense where you can pick up the metadata directly from the grading agencies, you can upload raw cards. The best way to do that is if you have all the details of your raw cards directly into a spreadsheet, you can upload the the spreadsheet directly on there. We'll pick up all the data.

SPEAKER 6: And then, you know, if you want to sell it, you'll just have to add the images directly yourself, but it will work for all the grading companies. One thing, what we're, we're doing actually with the grading companies is we are becoming official submission centers.

SPEAKER 6: So if you have raw items and you upload them onto MASCOT, if you want to, you don't have to, if you want to get them authenticated graded and you'll be able to click one button directly in MASCOT, essentially route the order over the grading company. Once the item gets graded, it'll be repopulated back in MASCOT and available for a sale directly.

SPEAKER 5: But the cards themselves stay in your inventory until they're, they're sold and then the person ships it to them themselves. Is that correct? Correct. Correct. Ok. And then you said com is there any future expansion that you, you know, potential besides cards and com?

SPEAKER 5: Yeah, look, I.

SPEAKER 6: Mean, we, we built the platform. So it can be, you know, essentially a work for any, any collectible article. Obviously, some are more commoditized and easier to essentially catalog an inventory management system. But certainly, you know, we'll be in multiple categories shortly.

SPEAKER 6: We are starting with cards and comics. Those are available, you know, I'm sure at the time that this goes live, you can upload your cards and comics immediately and I would anticipate by the end of this year. If not a little bit later that, you know, a lot more categories will come online shorter on.

SPEAKER 5: The comic side. I'm not a comics guy, but I know they're graded the same question kinda. Can they be raw and graded both on the comic side of the house?

SPEAKER 6: Yeah, raw, raw, graded for essentially any vertical works. Obviously, it's a slightly different experience. If it's raw or graded. If it's graded, then you, you could either just put in the serial number, you could upload images and the technology will, will read the, the serial number off of the images. If it's raw, your best approach is to upload a spreadsheet of your raw comics.

SPEAKER 6: And again, if you want to shortly, you'll have the ability to essentially submit it directly through CGC, the leading comic book, you know, authenticator, directly through MASCOT. But again, if you want to keep it raw, you wanna keep it in your inventory. Keep tracking your collection, you'll be able to do that in MASCOT. And if you want to sell it, you'll be able to sell it with one click of a mouse across multiple channels.

SPEAKER 5: You know, this question is gonna come, I'm gonna ask it for, for our listeners, right? There's really not a shortage of selling platforms in the space. You know what, what is going to set mask out apart. You know, in comparison to other ones. In other words, it's a very competitive space. How are you are going to get that market share? You know, what's gonna be the differentiator?

SPEAKER 6: Yeah, it's funny on the question of competition, I always like competition, but I'm launching a new product. When you have competition, you don't have to explain everything about a new product. You have to convert new users to it. And ultimately, we're not changing behavior here, right? We're just making the selling journey a lot easier, right?

SPEAKER 6: We're not asking you to do something fundamentally different. We're just saying, hey, look, this technology, this product will speed up your workflow, right? It'll make it easier and more convenient to sell in regards to other inventory management, multi sales channel solutions look.

SPEAKER 6: But I think ultimately it will come down to you know, one is technology, right, who has the best technology, who makes it the easiest for people to upload their items and track their items. And then ultimately I think comes down to distribution, right? I mean, you think about, you know, other competitive industries, other, you know, software services, not just in, in, in collectibles and the hobby, right?

SPEAKER 6: But, you know, there's a lot of project management solutions, right. Ultimately, you know, who can, kind of aggregate the most market share offer the best distribution and the best technology at the most competitive prices, I think will gain sticky, customers, sticky collectors.

SPEAKER 6: And you know, once you're on these platforms, you know, there's something called switching costs, which is, you know how annoying essentially how annoying is it to get off one platform and on to another one, we think that this is gonna be an incredibly sticky product, one that collectors are gonna rely on heavily.

SPEAKER 6: So, you know, we're, we're thinking about this in terms of we like competition, competition is great. Some of those services I think do a good job. But I think our technology and our distribution, our partnerships and ultimately ability to kind of get the word out I think is I think it's gonna win out.

SPEAKER 5: For I've I've got my cards on the platform.

SPEAKER 5: I sell something. What are the fees associated with that sale?

SPEAKER 6: So this is you know, one big difference and we're proud of this difference is you know, for consumers, we want to keep this completely free, right? So we don't want to charge John Newman, anything, right?

SPEAKER 6: It's gonna be a totally free product for you know, the bulk of the functionality, there will be some more sophisticated tools that have not yet been released, that will likely be part of a premium model, which is if you just wanna, you know, kind of utilize the inventory management solution, you just want to utilize, you know, the ability to sell across multiple channels, it's free for you.

SPEAKER 6: If you want, you know, more robust technology and more robust capabilities, there will likely be, you know, some sort of recurring fee structure at that point. But again, you know, at the start, when we're trying to just kind of roll this product out, it will be completely free.

SPEAKER 6: We're working you know, on various commercial structures on the back end with all the various vendors creating companies, data providers marketplaces that enable us to keep the lights on while we keep the product free for consumers.

SPEAKER 5: The pricing is set by, if it's my stuff, I can price it as, as I I choose.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah. So exactly. So the the collector will have full authority to price the items as they want. And you know, obviously you're integrating your own accounts via various channels, right? So you're integrating your ebay account, you're integrating your slabs account, your Shopify account.

SPEAKER 6: So whatever you know, those marketplaces are charging you is what you'll be charged for. Again, those are not MASCOT fees. Those are marketplace fees. Excuse me, we will have the ability to do is pull in data and pricing on your collection items. You're gonna have tools that say, ok, last comp on this card was $100. Do I want to list this plus or minus 10%?

SPEAKER 6: Do I want to adjust pricing based on commission structures of the various marketplaces? These are, are tools that and I know because I've talked to a lot of you that these are things that are fairly manual and labor intensive and time intensive to do. These are things that are going to be incredibly easy on MASCOT.

SPEAKER 5: And when that card sells, is it automated as or where it automatically comes off of all of those? Or do you, do I have to say I better take this off. So I don't double or triple sell it potentially.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah. So it's full, fully automated, right? So if you have cards listed on five different marketplaces at once, if it sells in one our technology, literally within a millisecond will remove the listing directly off all the other ones.

SPEAKER 6: Which again, you know, when you think about, you know what some people do now, which is they have five individual listings it sells in one, they gotta go on the other. There's chances of double sales of a bad experience.

SPEAKER 6: None of that is possible here with, with MASCOT, you can have them up, maximize eyeballs. There's some great data on this. If you list at multiple channels, you get 100 and 60% minimum, more views on your item that if you sell in one.

SPEAKER 6: Right? So everyone wants liquidity, everyone wants to maximize, eyeballs, wants to maximize their time. So this tool really allows you to maximize eyeballs, maximize time and hopefully maximize proceeds.

SPEAKER 5: You know, the deal for every great story in the hobby, you know, for every 10 great stores, you know, you hear the bad one where someone does something unscrupulous. Are there any kind of protocols in place? I buy something from you, buy something from me. I don't send it to you.

SPEAKER 5: What, what happens, what, you know, at that point.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah. So, you know, it's funny. So what the, the, the other partners in MASCOT actually have brought a very similar service in the secondary ticket marketplace and, you know, through their product have been able to, you know, go from where the industry is now to where I think this industry is gonna go in their product right now.

SPEAKER 6: They have about a 99.8% completion rate of transactions and they've done that through various mechanisms as of right now.

SPEAKER 6: You know, I'm, I'm sure at some point down the, we will look in, we will look into, you know, great ways to vet sellers, but as of right now, look, you know, you're, you're selling on your own account, you're selling on your own, your own ebay or any, you know, sort of misbehavior that, you know, you do is really gonna be reflected in your reputation and your feedback and your ability to continue to sell on those marketplaces.

SPEAKER 6: We are the transaction, software. We're the inventory management software that allows you to do what you're already doing, just do it across multiple channels with much greater ease and convenience. And again, the product is free. So, you know, we, we think there's gonna be a real mass adoption.

SPEAKER 5: Can you, I mean, you're involved obviously, is there anyone else that you, you want to mention that you know, kind of involved in this for those that may wanna may want to know?

SPEAKER 6: Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I think, I think we, we built, you know, a really great team, people who are, you know, incredibly familiar with this market.

SPEAKER 6: You know, people who have been collecting for a long time at various levels, some who, you know, some who collect, you know, some of the most rare and expensive cards in the world.

SPEAKER 6: You know, others who's been doing this for a long time as a passion.

SPEAKER 6: I think we have a great technology team. This very much is a software product, you need really great technology. And so I'm I'm thrilled with the, the, the, the development team that we have in place that allows us to move quickly to integrate new partners, more marketplaces, build new features.

SPEAKER 6: So I think, I think people will see that it's, you know, really a great collectible tool and one that, I, I mean, I feel this way personally now when I don't have it, the experience feels clunky.

SPEAKER 6: When I'm using MASCOT, it feels easy and it's actually compelled me to buy even more because I feel like I can, you know, inventory. I know exactly how much I paid. I know what, you know, marketplace. I bought it on, I can track my entire collection.

SPEAKER 6: I can upload the images and the scans I can sell whenever I want to, I can, you know, sell across multiple channels, features and functionalities have really kind of opened my eyes to, you know, how for like term how friction for the kind of collecting and selling journey actually is we don't have a tool like this.

SPEAKER 6: So I, I think it's gonna be something that once people, you know, try it and they see it and they understand it. I think it's gonna be something that they realize they probably can't live without.

SPEAKER 5: Obviously this, this can be used on on, you know, a, a computer. Is this gonna be mobile ready at, at the same time or is that gonna be kind of rolled out in, in that fashion.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah. So it's, it's a great question at first it's gonna be desktop only.

SPEAKER 6: But we certainly are gonna work on, on the mobile app. I think the mobile app will be, you know, an important feature, particularly when you're at shows or you're on your feet.

SPEAKER 6: You know, I think it's something that we're gonna need at the start. It'll be a desktop version. You can still use it on mobile. But, you know, I think, you know, to kind of take this as far as it goes, I do think we're gonna need a mobile app and that's something that, that's already in the works.

SPEAKER 3: Someone's at my door. I've got to get that be right back.

SPEAKER 7: Hobby hotline is the hobby's only live interactive call in show.

SPEAKER 7: Join some of your favorite hobby personalities every Saturday, 11 a.m. Eastern, 8 a.m. Pacific and the first Tuesday of each month at 9 p.m. Eastern to discuss the hottest hobby topics.

SPEAKER 7: If you miss us live, catch us after the fact on all major podcast platforms. Follow us on socials at hobby hotline.

SPEAKER 8: Hi, this is Pat Hughes Cubs announcer. Coming to you from the sports card shop in beautiful New Buffalo, Michigan. The Gocher family has built an incredible place here for collectors to buy, sell and trade cards and memorabilia. Be sure to stop by and let them show you around the sports card shop dot com. Connecting sports athletes, the hobby and collectors around the world.

SPEAKER 9: Hi, this is Alan Pinkett and I'm here to tell you the Gocher family has done it again.

SPEAKER 9: They've just opened up the sport card shop in downtown Valparaiso, Indiana. And it is awesome.

SPEAKER 9: If you're a collector, you need to check this place out. Tell them Allen sent you and get a free gift on your first visit. Let's go.

SPEAKER 3: You are listening to the Sports Card Nation podcast.

SPEAKER 5: So you're gonna be MASCOT is gonna be at the National, right? I can may so you'll be at the National. What, what do you, what will you be doing there? I mean, whatever you can divulge.

SPEAKER 6: Anyway, you're, you're asking about the parties, John, I can tell already.

SPEAKER 5: Well, no, I'm asking what are you doing there? But if you want to talk about that, I'm listening. Yeah.

SPEAKER 6: We, we, we will have a booth in the corporate section which we're pleased about. We are gonna, you know, kind of, hey, you know, we really want to showcase this product. We want, we want people to come to our booth, understand what the product is. See, you know, what companies we're partnering with, we're integrating with a lot of familiar big names will be on there.

SPEAKER 6: And just to see how easy the product is, right? So we'll be at the National, the corporate section. Please come and check us out for John's benefit only we will likely be also participating in, some social activities.

SPEAKER 6: And so, we will, we will have more to come if you want to hear all about all the things that we're doing. I would suggest you sign up, on our website with MASCOT and I'm sure he'll be kept abreast of all the updates there.

SPEAKER 5: I gotta ask you, you know, from a personal point of view. Now, going, you know, to the National, you know, rep, you know, working with MASCOT, is it gonna be different for you? Like, what are your thoughts as, as we're, you know, at the, at the time we're about 20 something days away here, you know, just some of your, your sentiments, as we head towards the National.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, change is always different, you know, I mean, I'm someone who, you know, I very much believe in this industry. I very much believe in hobby, you know, not just, you know, the Michael Jordan card 800,000 or 100,000, but I, I believe in, you know, in the long term viability of this hobby of this industry. I love it.

SPEAKER 6: You know, the old saying, you know, if you, if you work a job you love, you don't feel like you ever work a day in your life. That for me is very true when I work in this industry, it doesn't feel like work and that's something that, you know, I think everyone kind of strives for. So I'm thrilled to, to, to be staying in, in the industry. I, I believe very much in its, in its long term prospects.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah, and also, you know, II I really appreciate all the relationships that collectible allowed me to, to create. You know, one of my biggest, I wouldn't say regrets. One of the things I didn't love about, being at collectible was that you could only work with such a small subset of people within the industry.

SPEAKER 6: Obviously, we can invite everyone to parties, but you couldn't actually work directly with a lot of people because you needed inventory. That was minimum six figures.

SPEAKER 6: And it was really sort of a high value, low volume business. We want to create something that was, you know, accessible and, you know, something that had a lot of utility for the entire hobby, the entire industry at large.

SPEAKER 6: And I think with MASCOT, we found in some ways, the perfect product that, in my opinion, at the right time for this product. And so, you know, excited to see a lot of people who obviously have met in, in a different capacity.

SPEAKER 6: And, you know, excited. I and I spoke to a lot of people about, you know, kind of what we're building, but I'm excited for them to really see it for, to come to life. And then for them to hopefully start using the product as well.

SPEAKER 5: So at, at the National, you, you will have launch, right? It will be fully functional and, and I'm assuming you'll have like kiosk or display set up where it's, people can see it in action.

SPEAKER 6: People will be able to see it in action. Yeah, we're, we're, we're, we're planning to launch it officially at the National. You'll be seeing my mug shot across other podcasts though. Of course, I wanted John to be part of it because his, his intro song is just that good. It's just that good.

SPEAKER 6: But yeah, so you, you, you will be able to, I would say the week before the National, you can come and check it out. Please, you know, check it out any questions I'm always available. But certainly come find us at the National. And yeah, at that point, it will certainly be.

SPEAKER 5: You know, you mentioned kind of the market has changed from the crescendo year and a half two years that we had, you know, during that crescendo as you well know, e right, we saw a lot of new startups, a lot of new companies, you know, birth and be born.

SPEAKER 5: And now that market is kind of reset, kind of calmed down, I guess is the nice way to put it is, is that, you know, is the market kind of where the market is, are you prepared for that is it, like, it's, I think it's easy to launch something when, you know, I call it the might, is touch when it's just everything kind of turns to gold.

SPEAKER 5: But, you know, the hobby still listen, the hobby is alive and, well, that's not, you know, that I know that, but it is a different market is that, you know, something that, that's, you know, has been taken into consideration.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah. I mean, well, you know, so I, I always think about, you know, kind of the, the, the state of the hobby in, in, in two different ways or one is, you know, sort of interest and then the other is pricing. And I think those are actually two very different conversations when you look at pricing, certainly at the high end. And obviously, you know, at the end, two prices, no doubt have come down.

SPEAKER 6: Obviously, we take a longer term perspective based on where they were pre-Covid couple years before COVID, you know, things generally are actually doing pretty well. And if you do just sort of like a, you know, a quick calculation of the returns every year, even though you've had the massive spike to where you are now, they're still not everything but by and large, still pretty respectable.

SPEAKER 6: When you look at interest, I mean, I, and I, I think this product I looking much more at interest and kind of participation in the hobby at large versus just the high end price of it, you know, everything I'm hearing and seeing, you know, interest is still really strong, right?

SPEAKER 6: You look at in John, you, you've probably been to a lot of shows, you know, the the the attendance of these shows is, you know, in some ways at all time highs, right? You look at, you know, interest across your search results. That's how you look at the investment from massive companies, fanatics and, you know, collectors and Blackstone. That's a great indication to me. All right.

SPEAKER 6: So, you know, I think this product MASCOT is really something that as long as people are participating in the hobby, as long as, you know, the industry continues to, you know, have activity in it, whether the pricing is, you know, sky high or kind of, you know, more, more consolidated if you will, you know, I think these products that have a really strong chance of, of success.

SPEAKER 6: So II I would separate, you know, kind of prices at the high end or low end from general interest and activity. And I'm, I'm really encouraged, not just by, you know, the, the, the kind of, you know, your term, but also the long term viability of building businesses and building innovation, technology within this category.

SPEAKER 6: So I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm excited again about MASCOT and I think it's something that, you know, whether you're, you know, an investor collector, whether you have, you know, 10 items that you, you wanna kind of inventory or sell or 10,000. You know, I think this is a product that you, you, you're gonna find a lot of value in it.

SPEAKER 5: You know, we both mentioned, you know, prices coming down.

SPEAKER 5: You know, I'm a dealer and a collector. So I wear both of those hats to me as a dealer. It's kind of par for the course. I've done it a long time. It's nothing I've not seen or had to adjust to before. But as a collector I think the price is coming down as is a good thing. Think there's cards I've bought that prior just a couple of years ago I wouldn't even have looked for because it was out of budgetary constraints.

SPEAKER 5: So, you know, everyone points out, the prices are coming down as if it's 100% bad thing. Sure. If you, if you own 10 of those cards and you're trying to sell at peak, I get it. But if you're a collector, it's a great opportunity to buy stuff. Now. It's something I've taken advantage of and obviously when you buy things that's transactional. So I think there's still plenty of transactions going on.

SPEAKER 5: Maybe they, a little less money than a year and a half, two years ago. But that's why I say the hobby is still, you know, hobby is never going to die. Anyone that says it's the end of the hobby, hasn't been in a hobby very long or they're just, I don't know what they're doing but, you know, just, just your, your, your take on, on kind of what I just mentioned. Yeah.

SPEAKER 6: It's funny. I, I think, I think you're spot on, you know, for every person who is upset, you know, about prices coming down from peak, there's probably, you know, more people than one person who's excited that, you know, items that they always wanted are now more affordable.

SPEAKER 6: You know, so II, I certainly, you know, see that as, you know, not necessarily a negative though, of course, you bought something in, you know, 2021 with an investment purpose. Certainly you want prices to go back to the world and who knows, maybe they will, right. But, you know, II, I still look across the spectrum and obviously talk to a lot of people.

SPEAKER 6: There's still a lot of great companies that are being built, a lot of great, innovation that's being brought to the market. You know, a lot of capital coming into the space. Obviously a lot of big companies who are very incentivized to, you know, kind of create a long term growth. I don't think we've fully seen what fanatics is really capable of yet, obviously, that they're starting to make some moves.

SPEAKER 6: So, you know, II, I think, you know, and we've seen this industry, we've seen this hobby go through various ebbs and flows over time we're coming off of, you know, one of the biggest booms, we'll likely ever see what, what I take from that is, you know, there had to be a rationale and a reason for that much money to come into the space for innovation to be continued about to, you know, for dollars to come in, for dollars be invested.

SPEAKER 6: And that, that typically is something that plays out over a longer cycle than just one or two years. And so, you know, I'm, I'm encouraged that there's still a lot of tailwinds interest is still very strong just because prices are down, doesn't mean that's a bad thing, right?

SPEAKER 6: In some ways, it actually might open the door for more mass market participation because, you know, there are easier ways to get involved, right? There's cheaper options to kind of start a collection and build on to your collection. So I, I don't, I don't necessarily look at that as a negative though. Obviously, you know, there's certainly people who take losses, sitting in losses and I'm sensitive to that as well.

SPEAKER 5: You know, I I know kind of the answer to this question, but I'll ask it for, for everyone out there, right? When you start a company or a business, right, your focus has got to be internal on doing the best you can and build that brand and build that business.

SPEAKER 5: But do you know, there always is like, do you figure there's going to be someone who try to emulate that or replicate it. Do you expect there to be people who follow, kind of Mascots lead and, and try to enter this space for sure.

SPEAKER 6: You know, I mean, and again, I, I always look at competition is healthy across any, across any business. I don't think you want to be the first to do anything. I don't think you want to be the last to do anything. You know, generally when you build compelling products that people are using, they'll obviously have competition.

SPEAKER 6: I think that's, I think that's how markets work. You know, that's how competition works. And I think that's a really health thing. It actually, in my opinion, it makes companies work harder, do better build better product, you know, lower fees, right? It creates more of a competitive dynamic, which I think ultimately will be great for the consumer.

SPEAKER 6: It will be great for the hobby. You know, when I talked to a lot of companies out there, everyone seemed to be focused on really one thing, right? How can we make, you know, the experience of collecting, whether it's buying, selling grading, you name it. You know, how can we make it a more frictionless experience? Right.

SPEAKER 6: How can we make it an easier experience? How can we introduce technology without ruining, you know, kind of what everyone loves about the hobby? Right. That kind of nostalgic feel. But how can we just make it easier for people to come in to, you know, have better experiences and lower fees to, you know, increase, you know, ways for able to participate.

SPEAKER 6: And, you know, I think that's something that MASCOT certainly, is doing and, you know, I've just been, I've been pleased to kind of hear that across all different types to businesses in the hobby. How can we make the collecting experience better? I think that's all, that's all we as collectors could, could, could hope for. Right?

SPEAKER 6: The same, you know, love the same passion but just easier, you know, II, I think that's something that's a great aspiration. I think that's something that, you know, when people look at in the next couple of years just knowing all the innovation that's still coming forth. I think people are gonna take a step back a couple of years and say, wow, this is a much, much, much better experience than, than it's ever been before.

SPEAKER 5: You imagine even like listing some of your own stuff. Do you think this is, something you're, you're gonna probably be more transactional yourself, maybe buying and selling, cards for, for your own collection. You have a son, as well, young, but, still getting, you know, getting around that age, you think that's, you know, with your own personal experience, you already or.

SPEAKER 6: Or it's fine. So, I, I have two, I have two young boys. I have a four year old and a two year old and, my, my wife is actually pregnant with third, which, which is exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

SPEAKER 6: But I, I certainly have been, you know, kind of dabbling, obviously not in the 52 mantles for my, for my kids yet, but, in essentially players who I love growing up, I'm from New York City, So we have Knicks Yankees Giants Rangers, right? Those, those are my four teams growing up. So I bought, you know, the Brian Lee rookie car.

SPEAKER 5: You forgot the Mets if you forgot. Well, I like the Rangers. I like the Rangers pick, but you did forget the Mets.

SPEAKER 6: And, or, you know, my, my wife's family are actually a big Mets fan. So there's my, my brother-in-law Nick is a massive Mets fan. So we're, you know, I would say, competing for who can do a better brain washing job. On, on, on, on our two kids.

SPEAKER 6: I actually, you know, I lost one battle but I won the other. So I brought my son, Eli was four now to his first Yankee game. The Yankees scored five runs in the first in the bottom of the first inning and they won 7 to 2.

SPEAKER 6: We'll be at Eli only after four innings of that game. So I'll copy at that. We took Eli to his first Mets game about two weeks ago, the Mets lost, they lost, I think 52, whatever it was.

SPEAKER 5: It's, it's not, listen, it's not his fault as they're losing a lot of these games. I don't think he's at all of them. So we, we can't, we can't blame him. You know, we can blame some other folks. But, he's off the hook on that.

SPEAKER 6: But, yeah, to, to, to, to go back to your question.

SPEAKER 6: You know, certainly I started to build, you know, a collection for, you know, for my kids and there's something that I picked up from my dad. He's a big collector.

SPEAKER 6: And I always remember, you know, he would go to the National every year, still go to the National every year with, you know, four or five good buddies and it's always been a big part of his life no matter what was going on. He always thought that this was, you know, real, you know, sort of refuge and just a hobby for him.

SPEAKER 6: And I certainly want to pass that down to my kids as well. So I've, I've started to build, you know, a foundation of a collection that I hope they, you know, kind of, love and, you know, you know, you know, some do it for long periods of time as well and, you know, with MASCOT, certainly, you know, I've seen, it just feels like the, the transactional journey is much, much simpler.

SPEAKER 6: You can buy something, upload it right to your you know, your collection on MASCOT. And then, you know, if you want to, you can sell it across multiple channels, literally old and click the button. I want to update a sprint sheet and don't have to put in all the card details.

SPEAKER 6: You know, you, you upload it and automatically appears, it feels, you know, almost magical when you do it, it saves a lot of time and it saves a lot of convenience. And you know, I think for me personally, certainly, it's going to increase, you know, how transact, you know, how transactional I am. And I do imagine that for people who, who use it, you, you'll probably have pretty similar experience.

SPEAKER 5: You use the word magical and all like. So this is gonna be the, the Disney of cross platform selling is what you're saying.

SPEAKER 6: If, if you want to associate with Disney, I will, I will take that association. I'll take that as if one day the market cap or enterprise value of MASCOT, you know, comes close to Disney. I think, I think we've done a great job.

SPEAKER 5: Yeah, no doubt. Well, listen, you know, we, we're, we're getting close to the National the launch of this company and definitely sounds interesting. And as a seller and a buyer, it's something that definitely is, is in my wheelhouse. I want to see it, you know, live in the flesh. So I look forward to that here in a few weeks and seeing, of course, you and the rest the team in, in person.

SPEAKER 5: So before we before we wrap it up as you well know, being a multi time guest on this show, I always give you the final word here to give out anything you want to share website, Social Media. That's that sort of stuff where people can find more about it, you know, ahead of time.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah, great John, thanks. Yeah, the the website is www dot with MASCOT dot com. So with MASCOT ma scot dot com, free to sign up. You know, I think you'll come and you'll see just how easy it is to really sync your collection. It, it takes me, you know, albeit a minute to upload almost 100 items.

SPEAKER 6: And I think, I think I have a pretty similar experience and John, I'm just excited for you to come to all the parties at the National. That's, that's really what I'm most concerned about. All this product stuff is one thing, but I'm excited about you know, you having a fun time at, at, at all events at the National.

SPEAKER 5: Well, I'm, I'm almost getting too old to party as her, but, you know, last year at, at the collectible party, I did get to meet my basketball idol, Chris Mullin. I had no idea like that was gonna happen ahead of time. Just one of those spontaneous things. You know, I, I tell the story that I am just looking around the room and I said, oh, that guy look like Chris Muen a little bit.

SPEAKER 5: And then I did like a double take. I'm like that guy looks exactly like Chris Mullin. Then I did a third take. I'm like that is Chris Mullen and, and the rest is, the rest is history. I got to talk to him about 67 minutes. And, we're both from Karsi Brooklyn.

SPEAKER 5: So that conversation was all non basketball. We talked. No dream team. No, run tm. You know, T MC, we were, we, we, we talked all about KRC and you asked me places I worked, and where I lived and, and vice versa, it was, it was definitely, a different type of conversation, but a fun one. And, one of my highlights of, of my hobby career, so to speak.

SPEAKER 5: So fun night. So if, if, if something like that, you can't, you can't poo things like that. And, you know, II I appreciate it. So, thanks Ezra continued success. Thank you very much. We'll be talking again. Awesome. Thanks again. Always fun catching up with, with Ezra. He's got a new gig as we obviously talked about.

SPEAKER 5: I look forward to catching up with him even more in person, you know, at the National Check out Mascots booth. See what they're doing, see what they can do, for you. So, we're getting close to the National folks, literally a week away. So, hopefully I see a lot of you there. I'll be seeing Ezra there and, looking to have a great time. So, with that being said, we'll see you soon.

SPEAKER 5: Are you a new sports cards collector or someone returning to the hobby? Maybe you're just looking for a friendly trustworthy hobby community to hang out with and enjoy collecting Midwest box brands has been bringing collectors together for many years with affordable breaks, threads and a discord group packed with generous people who genuinely care about the hobby and other collectors.

SPEAKER 5: Check out the brakes at Midwest box breaks dot com. Our goal is to bring you as much value as possible. Also find us on Twitter at Midwest box break.

SPEAKER 5: Also remember to check out Midwest box brakes marketplace for brakes packs and single cards from over 300 trusted sellers apply to sell today at ISO dot gg forward slash Midwest box brakes.

SPEAKER 10: Iron sports cards is your number one source for all your PS A and other grading submissions. Their elite status improves turnaround times. Heck, they even provide the card savers. Their chat rooms, provide updates on all your submissions.

SPEAKER 10: They also offer wax options and single cards to cover all the bases. Check them out on Facebook at Iron Sports Cards Group or on the web at Iron sports cards dot com or even give them a call at 1 877. Ironp A Rob's got you covered.

SPEAKER 1: That's a wrap for this week. Huge. Thanks to you, the listeners out there because without you, there is no ice.

SPEAKER 1: If you like the show, we truly appreciate positive reviews.

SPEAKER 1: Big ups to our great guests who drive the show and our awesome sponsors who make it all possible. Sports Cod Nation will be back next week but don't forget to catch either hobby quick hits or Card Mensches coming up on Monday.

SPEAKER 1: I leave you with this.

SPEAKER 1: How do we change the world?

SPEAKER 1: One? Random act of kindness at a time.

SPEAKER 1: Remember the hobby is the people.