Author Spotlight
Sydney Newton
Junior Jackson Moulin scrolled through his Facebook homepage, contemplating which offers on autographed baseball cards or basketballs he wanted to accept and add to his collection.
On sale: Mike Trout Signed Baseball
At only $150 and listed by a seller he’d bought from before, Jackson knew it was authentic, and that he could resell it for over triple the asking price. Buying it was as easy a choice for him as buying a coffee — he’d done the process of reselling too many times to count.
After purchasing the Mike Trout baseball, Jackson resold it two weeks later for $500, profiting $350. This sale marked Jackson’s largest single-item sell, motivating him to continue selling sports items, which evolved into a part-time job.
“I understand it,” Jackson said. “And honestly, it’s really easy. I enjoy it a lot, just because I’ve always enjoyed collecting and getting to meet athletes.”
Jackson first began reselling in February of 2020, after the restaurant he worked at went out of business. Having collected autographed baseball cards since he was four years old, reselling seemed like an easy way to make the money he needed for his car insurance.
For Jackson, reselling first started by listing cards on Facebook that he didn’t feel he needed anymore, especially ones he had duplicates of. After one week, he’d nearly sold half of his collection and raked in $400 — easily surpassing his original goal of $100.
Selling on Facebook at @jacksonmoulin, along with Instagram and eBay, Jackson has now expanded to selling other sports memorabilia, such as autographed baseballs and basketballs, along with buying things in bulk, like packages of one to three thousand cards. His ultimate goal is to buy items for 10% of what he wants to sell them for — making 10 times the profit on each item.
“It’s funny, since I’m making a lot more than I would be if I actually had a job,” Jackson said.
When he started trading, Jackson spent up to two or three hours a day finding cards to buy and writing posts, but now only spends around four to five hours a week on it since he’s selling higher-valued items. The time he puts into it has gone down, but his profits have substantially increased.
The most rewarding part of reselling has been his high profits, Jackson says. He’s already made enough for four years of in-state college tuition. However, he hopes to make enough to additionally cover room and board — one of the reasons he’s still reselling.
“It’s crazy how much money is in it,” Jackson said. “I never thought before this that there was this much money to be made, or that people actually do it for a living.”
Selling items can be time-consuming, according to Jackson. After buying cards in bulk, he sorts them into groups and places them in packs of nine, before taking individual photos and creating posts for them — a process that takes around 45 minutes for each item. Jackson knows how important presentation is, so he always tries to make each item look nice.
Jackson recognizes that his work on the posts paid off — he’s now established himself in the sports reselling community. He runs Facebook groups, each with a few thousand people, after months of constantly selling to build credibility.
“Everybody kind of knows who I am,” Jackson said. “When I make a post, people know my stuff’s real. They’re willing to pay a little more because they know I’m legit and not going to scam.”
The process of reselling items isn’t always easy, Jackson says. Sometimes it takes hours to package and ship items or to reorganize his inventory. His dog even ate $600 worth of items he left out. However, he knows these are just minor setbacks in finding success.
Jackson doesn’t think his success is random, though — his dad, Rick Moulin, was a collector as a kid, so he grew up going to Royals and Chiefs games. Jackson’s always known a lot about players and the value of sports memorabilia. Rick has seen this knowledge grow as he has expanded his business, learning things such as what other collectors are looking for and how to successfully market his products.
“I’m probably biased because he’s my son, but I don’t think there’s too many people that know more about sports collectibles and memorabilia than he does,” Rick said. “It’s pretty cool to see. So many other people reach out to him for advice, and to ask him his opinions and thoughts on different things.”
Not only has reselling created a job for Jackson, but it’s allowed him to expand his personal collection. A Miguel Cabrera game-used bat hangs on his wall. A second Mike Trout signed baseball rests in a display case on his dresser. And a Patrick Mahomes signed Super Bowl LIV football, Jackson’s favorite item, sits above his bed.
“His room is crammed pack full with different signed memorabilia or game-used sports gear,” junior Jack Rhodes, Jackson’s friend, said. “It’s an obsession. Almost like a hoarder.”
For Jackson, reselling has taught him sales and customer service skills, which he believes will help him long-term.
“I hope to just keep building and building my inventory, reselling more and more,” Jackson said. “It’s something in the road that helps me out and will probably help me in my future.”
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