Collector Nation - How Flippers Turn Cheap Cards Into Real Money With American Arbitrage

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

In this episode of Collector Nation, Ryan Alford talks with Cary Williams of American Arbitrage Cards about how the sports card hobby has evolved into a full-fledged business opportunity. Cary shares his approach to arbitrage—finding undervalued cards and selling them at market value—along with how he balances flipping, content creation, and multiple revenue streams. They also discuss the differences between collectors and flippers, the realities of content monetization, and how today’s hobby blends entertainment, commerce, and strategy. Whether you’re a collector, investor, or just curious about the business side of sports cards, this episode offers a grounded look at how money is actually made in the hobby. 🔑 Topics Covered Sports card arbitrage and flipping strategies Content creation as a revenue stream in the hobby Market timing vs long-term investing Sourcing inventory at shows, shops, and flea markets The evolution of the modern sports card economy  🤝 Connect with Ryan Alford Website: https://www.ryanalford.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanalford Right About Now Podcast: https://www.ryanisright.com Collector Nation: https://thecollectornation.com Connect With Cary Williams  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/americanarbitrage TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@americanarbitrage YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanArbitrage YouTube (sports card content): https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanArbitrageCards Whatnot (live selling): https://www.whatnot.com/user/americanarbitrage Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/americanarbitrage

I'll go pick up a card even for a buck or two. I'll take a picture of that. Facebook's paying me for that picture. I make a video. I get money for that on four different sites. So I arbitrage my time three, four, five different ways sometimes on every individual thing I'm doing. Not everyone understands that content can drive commerce.

Commerce can drive content. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or. Callin Bluffs. You take you inside the hobby. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Most people in the hobby are focused on collecting or investing. But there's a whole other side to it.

Flipping. Finding deals, buying low, selling high, you know what I'm talking about and doing it consistently. Carrie Williams, known as American Arbitrise, has built a business and a following around exactly that. Carrie, man, great to have you on. welcome to the show what's happening not much man i'm happy to be here thanks for having me i'm on the podcast man i'm excited to talk about sports cards that's what i love man that's what i love the word arbitrage it's you know what some irony is i literally was writing a job description for my store and i wrote director of arbitrage i like it instead of like inventory management director of arbitrage i feel like i feel like it's a word that's

used very heavily in the sports card space and should be. That's all I'm doing is I'm finding stuff that's underpriced and I'm putting it in the correct location so that I can get what it's worth. I'm not even I'm not spending a lot of time like out here guessing who's going to get hot or who's not. I'm finding those guys, you know, out there underpriced and I'm selling them why they're hot. That's my whole game plan, arbitrage.

I love it. And you got it in the name, American arbitrage. Yeah, a little alliteration. Yeah. I like it. AAC. American arbitrage cards. That's me, man.

That's me. It rolls. I like it. As a marketer first, I'm picking up what you're throwing down. What's, I mean, is flipping have a bad name?

Like, if people hear that and they go, oh, flipping, like, I mean, is it, is it that?

Or is that just the impression I'm getting? Like when I, no, because I give a shit, but because more like picking up, like, I respect the game. But it's like,

oh, flippers are doing that, you know? Based on my, comments, yeah, flippers, there is a, a subsect of people

that don't like it. So it does have a bad name in a way. Are flippers and scalpers the same? They're different. In my opinion, they're different because a scalper would be outgoing and buying like a retail product and buying it all

out and then selling it. Maybe Amazon style or like you've seen in the past with all the boxes at Walmart, they go buy all the retail and then they upsell it. That still happens a bit. What I'm doing is a little bit more nuanced. I'm out there finding. like deals, typically paying prices that people have sticker or making a deal near that sticker

price. I'm not the best negotiator in the world, honestly. But I leverage my knowledge of sports cards that I've, you know, acquired over doing this since I was seven. I'm 42 now. So I've been into cards my whole life, very only took a few years off in college and a few years. I mean, I was doing it in 2008, 2016. I've been in it pretty much nonstop for 36 years now. So you start to notice patterns, you know, what's hot, what's not. And, you know, I'm not above buying a card for a buck and selling it for $2.50 and making a dollar profit. I'll do that at scale, along with everything else I find and buy and flips. So, yeah, I think there is a little bit of a misconception about flippers out there. But we're just out there kind of providing a service. People want to move cards,

especially with what I do, which is a little bit lower end. A lot of people don't want to deal with those cards. They want to deal with the bigger flips. They get in excess of that stuff. And, um, I can basically get in there and get that stuff for a good deal and make the profit myself. I'll do the work. I don't want to devote too much time to the trolls, but I'm just going to say it for the record here. Since I have this show, we have this platform. You've got a big platform. Get a life.

Like, why do you, I get it the whole, again, but it's like, why do you care? Like, it's like some people collect, some people flip, some people it's a business, some people, it's not. it's not people just want to complain about something and they want to put their nose in everybody about his business versus i get i get the scalper thing a little bit but even that i'm like go in front of them work harder go faster you know like exactly but i can understand it a bit you know like going and taking 20 boxes but most of the retailers are cutting are are literally that now with the product limits and stuff like that people should be cool if you're going there to buy a couple boxes at Walmart because Tops Chrome football came out to flip.

If there's other people there, you know, just be reasonable. Take a couple boxes, move on. You don't need to clear it out. If there's kids there, let them get some boxes. I mean, just be nice. That's all you have to do. Be a good human. But yeah, there's always going to be, I mean, I learned that really quickly starting content in 2019

that some people just want to complain and some people want to say negative stuff. That's how they interact with the internet. So I got a quick skin pretty quick. I remember the first time somebody said something pretty negative. I was taking a back. I'm like, I'm just talking about going to the thrift store at that time and finding something to flip. You know, it wasn't that big of a deal.

And then pretty quickly it became more comical to me than anything. I'm like, I'm looking for the best line you got and I'll have some fun with it. You know, it's more of a game to me at this point. I don't think it's become the thing that you do is your career slash job. Like how did that? Want me through that time line? It just kind of happened to me, man. I graduated from college in 2011.

From the University of Utah, I was supposed to do something else. I taught a little bit of Spanish in college after school at a private school. I was going to go back and had history. How with that girl you liked in six period? Yeah. She talks to a little Spanish, huh? Yeah, no, I lived. I actually lived in Mexico for two years, learned Spanish.

So I'm fluent in Spanish. I have a history degree, a Spanish degree, and a political science degree. So I was going to go back and study and be a teacher probably of history, maybe like some Mexican or French history. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. And that didn't happen. You know, it was kind of during the recession. I started reselling on eBay just naturally.

And within about six months, I'm like, I don't really want to go back to school. I'm going to go get a shop. So I got a shop, an antique shop and ran that for about seven, eight, nine years. had an auction house in Utah, did all sorts of stuff. And cards were always like one of my favorite things to sell within that world. And then I started my content when I was still doing that in 2019. Okay. So that's kind of how it switched over.

Yeah. Around that time, about seven years ago, is. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I started my main channel, American Arbitrage, about three months before the pandemic, give or take. So it was just the timing. And then TikTok blew up for me really fast. It got almost to a million followers on TikTok real fast, just doing thrift store and garage sale videos.

I talked a little bit about cards, but then I over time stopped talking about cards on that channel, and then I started a card channel. And that's been about three, four years now.