Meelypod Hobby Podcast · The Meelypops Shop

Ep. 54: Bryan Wells (shipmycards.com)

·1 hr 9 min·1 clip

The discussion opens on scale, because scale is the whole story here. He walks through how the business began in 2017 as help for friends, then grew to about 100 collectors and later 1,000. The first tour came in 2018. That led into overseas card shows in a couple of different cities, which helped turn the operation from local favor-work into something larger and more public. The website opened in early 2019. That shift made everything busier and a lot harder to manage casually. Then COVID hit, and collecting surged. The business grew fast enough that the busiest period landed right before cards dipped in March 2021. At that peak, the team was handling about 40,000 packages a month. The conversation treats that as a clear marker of how intense the hobby got. It also notes that the current stretch has been steadier and still growing, just without the same frenzy. One of the more interesting turns is the comparison to TCG collecting, which feels more passionate today than sports collecting did about ten years ago. That opens the door to a wish for more passion in sports collecting and less fixation on flipping and price anxiety. The show also pauses on how quickly sports cards could move back then, with cards bought on Tuesday sometimes worth more by Friday. For someone who grew up with Beckett and waiting a month for the guide to change, that speed sounds almost unreal. The conversation also nods to BGS as a mainstay in the industry, and it mentions the recent PSA acquiring BGS news and what that could mean. The episode closes with a holiday sign-off and a look ahead to 2026. It reads like a shop talk recap, but it keeps drifting into broader hobby questions in a way that never feels forced.

As heard by us

A clear look at a hobby business rising, cooling, and adapting along the way.

This episode follows a card-shop business through a clean arc of change: helping friends in 2017, a first overseas tour in 2018, a website launch in early 2019, and the lift that came after COVID in 2020.

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Why you'd press play

Want the real climb from helping friends to 40,000 packages a month?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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