I enjoyed sitting with Matt Meza on a Zoom call for a 15-minute interview. Meza and the Lootconnect team are behind the recent launch of Loot52, a sportscard and collectibles website with some of the most creative cards on the market, ranging to all sports. Matt was wearing a UFO themes shirt that read, “Humans Aren’t Real,” when he joined the Zoom call, and thus the interview began.
Hi Matt, What inspired you to start LOOT52.COM?
It started years ago when I visited my father at his home, and he brought down endless boxes from the attic. I remember seeing Topps, Upperdeck, and Donruss on these factory cases, and my jaw just dropped. I also remember seeing the old Price Club “item number” stickers on them. I got home, started opening a few boxes, and fell in love with the hobby again. After a while, I had accumulated several cards that I wanted to sell some doubles. I’m a coder and designer, so creating a website seemed logical.
What were any challenges of creating your own sportcard website?
Not much, actually. It was a lot easier than I expected. There were some custom scripts I had to write to get the “Make Offer” and “Free Shipping Bar” variables set and some database work I needed to figure out. What’s crazy is that some of the emails I’m getting are from people wanting the template so they can also sell on their own. I plan to perfect it, then give it away to people who want to sell cards independently. Obviously, eBay is where people go first, so marketing is an area I need to focus on.
Are all the cards on LOOT52 your personal cards?
At first, yes, but people from Instagram and people I have met at shows wanted to sell their select cards on our website. Maybe it was primarily because I never bothered to charge any associated fees. Now less than 5% of the inventory on there is mine.
You don’t have a vast inventory currently. Is that by design?
100%. I don’t want LOOT52 to ever become bloated with common cards. The massive draw of our website is the reworked and custom items from artists worldwide. I have collectors from all over the world just waiting for the new custom drops. It’s insane that it’s to the point where nobody cares for the common licensed cards, they sit there, and everything else sells out. I’ve been to a few other websites where the mass menus and just the thousands of cards make it difficult to see the “cool cards” I just wished that any of those websites had a “show me just the wow cards,” so we created that.
So is LOOT52 strictly for collectors or flippers?
I’d say more for collectors, but I’ve seen some of our cards being sold for triple or quadruple the price at shows. I think the magic sauce, so to speak, is when a sportcard sparks an emotion. “What the hell! Take my money” is a common reaction we get. You don’t get that with common cards. It’s like they’ve been there and done that. If you want a common car, go to the dealership. If you want something nobody else has and turn heads, head to Westcoast Customs. Sorry for that analogy, lol. I just rewatched the last few seasons. It’s amazing what they do, the creativity. We do that with cards.
What’s next for LOOT52?
Hmmm, primarily just creating and posting exciting cards. Lately, we’ve been into finding die-cut inserts and numbered cards. Keeping the website fresh is key. You know, keep it sparkly. We do charity events giving out free products, that’s important for me to give back. I remember the joy of opening packs as a kid and love to see more of that being it’s more of an adult-type hobby now.
What is the future of card collecting?
It will be roughly the same for a while, dipping downward. The people with the means to collect will pay, but the mid-level guys have other expenses to pay for. Gas and food are super expensive now, and with all the inflation going on, putting food on the table is more important than a rookie Jersey Bo Jackson card. The Pandemic was unusual; people were sitting around a laptop with all this cash, wondering what to spend it on. Those days are over. I believe there will be a healthy amount of collectors and investors that will keep the hobby alive forever, that I’m sure of.
Any advice to someone that’s coming up and wants to start their own sportcard selling business?
What’s Nike’s logo? “Just Do It.” A few years back, I thought of having a physical building sports shop, but they usually don’t make a profit until year 3. Some people can hit it out of the park with shops, but the thought of insurance, rent, being able to source products, etc., just made me look for the online alternative. I’m not saying it’s not worth it, but that’s not my wheelhouse. There are some successful brick-and-mortar shops out there.
Thank you for taking the time to talk. Just have one last question. It seems like your website has some UFO Sci-Fi Theme to it, am I right?
Ha! I had no idea what to name the website, so I added 52 to the word loot. I am a sci-fi junkie, so there’s that, lol. One day LOOT52 will have a cohesive theme of aliens walking throughout the page, maybe a UFO-animated GIF background like back in the MySpace days, lol.
That’s awesome. Thank you, Matt! Til next time!
Ditto.
