Breaker Culture: Earn Trust from your Break buyers with these 6 Tips

Jesse Haynes

Being a sports card breaker is one of the most fun jobs you could ever have. 

As a breaker, you still experience the thrill of opening packs, and unlike the experience of opening a box for yourself, you are guaranteed to make money if you price your break correctly. Better yet, you get to share your love of the hobby with lots of other enthusiastic collectors, and it’s not uncommon for friends to come out of the process.

But there are TWO cardinal sins of breaking. Two ways to lose all your buyers and be out of the market.

We covered the first of these mistakes, damaging the cards, in an earlier post. Today, we’re talking about the second idea: you can’t lose your buyer’s trust. 

So many parts of #BREAKLIFE for sellers and buyers of trading card breaks.

The Breaker-Buyer Connection:

A lot of card-breaking is about building relationships. Most of your customers will NOT be participating in their first break—they’ll either be looking for better prices or a seller they connect with. If you can provide one of those two solutions (or both), then it’s very likely they become repeat customers. 

To build a connection, you’re going to need trust.

If you’re reading this article, you’re an honest businessperson who cares about making a great impression on his buyers. 

But people are naturally skeptical, so as a sports card breaker the key to earning the trust of your buyers is being as TRANSPARENT as possible with your business. 

To ensure maximum trust and transparency, here are 6 practices for a transparent break.

Practice 1: Keep both hands on the screen.

Have you ever watched a TV action-drama and heard the phrase, “Keep both hands where I can see ‘em?”

The same applies to card breaking: having both of your hands on the screen at all times is a signal to your buyers that you’re not trying anything clever. 

Consider this the trading card equivalent of shaking hands when you meet somebody. It’s a way to earn trust early on and send a message that you only have the best intentions for your clients.

While this practice might mean you need to adjust your setup a bit or set in an unusual position, it is worth it to earn the trust of your buyers.

And if you happen to be curious about why buyers are so skeptical, here’s a great demonstration: check out this video of a breaker who was caught swapping out a big card  (and has since lost his entire business).

Additional tip: It’s worth noting that it might not be possible to keep your hands on-screen at all times, (perhaps you have to sleeve a monster pull!), but the next-best-thing is keeping all cards on-screen the entire time, from the sealed box, to the sealed pack until they are opened. This leaves no doubts about the cards. 

Keep those hands on the screen and don’t give your buyers any reason to doubt your integrity. 

2) Use two cameras to cover more angles.

While this is a bit more of a technical leap than the first time, the points work well together. 

Some of the best breakers use a point-of-view camera that looks at the cards head-on and a second camera that overlooks the setup. This is a bit more work, but the extra effort is all about sending comfort to your buyers. 

The second camera is basically only there to function as “security,” but for your viewers. It’s a sign of your transparency, offering a better look at you and the cards throughout the break. 

Here’s a video from Layton Sports Cards that shows a great example of a second camera. 

3) Show an empty box

Regardless if you’re opening a Mega box of 2020 Panini Prizm NFL Football or a high-end box with a single pack, you should always show the box is empty. 

Quite often you’ll hear breakers repeating the same line: “And there’s the empty box.”

This isn’t an accident. It’s their way of showing you and the buyers that they are delivering everything to the customer and not holding anything back. 

Show the empty Topps Chrome box before you throw it in the garbage.

4) Communicate well with your viewers

“Communication is key in any relationship.” While that might seem cliché at this point, it applies to more than romance: it applies to sports card breaking as well!

When you’re breaking, you’ll typically have questions and comments from your buyers coming in through the chat feature. Don’t ignore them. Always do your best to communicate back with customers in real-time.

More often than not, you’ll get the person who asks something like, “Sorry I’m late to the break. Any nice Vikings cards?”

Answer when you see the message. Having great communication between the breaker and buyer really boosts the client’s confidence in you.

Of course, use sound judgement and keep the break moving forward in respect for everybody’s time, but it never hurts to say, “No major Viking pulls yet,” or possible, “A really nice Dalvin Cook auto. I’ll show you in the recap at the end.”

Viewers might have specific questions as well: how many hits per box? Is that the case hit? Can I take a picture of that card? Do your best to answer questions and honor those requests while moving along with the break in a timely fashion.

For an example of this approach being used really well, check out this video from The Iron Lion Breakers.

5) Gather reviews and feedback

Let’s say you’re buying a coffee pot on Amazon. They both have 4.5 star average reviews. The first pot has 6 reviews, the second option has 5,000. Which one are you going to buy?

If you’re like most consumers, you’ll probably be buying the option with the most reviews.

The same can be said here: always encourage your customers to leave reviews.  Whether that comes in the form of an eBay review or something that can be posted on your website as a customer testimonial depends on your platform, but the more reviews are better on any platform.

While it’s an extra cost, it’s never a bad idea to get a business card to include with all the shipping orders. On it, ask customers for a review and point them to your page.  Happy customers will often take a couple minutes to leave a review.

Also, especially early on, welcome all the feedback you can get. Getting critiqued might not ever be fun, but it will help you improve as a breaker and show buyers that you want to be professional. 

6) Be professional

Finally, being as professional as possible will earn respect from the buyers. Don’t break cards at your kitchen table with a mustard-stain on your shirt. Instead, break cards with an aesthetically pleasing, well-lit background to make the viewing experience as pleasant as possible.

Want to go the extra mile? If you have your own website, put the effort into it to make it look professional as possible, even if that comes at a cost. 

And the best practice: create your own logo for your breaks. That can cost as little as $5 on fiverr.com, and the investment will pay itself off tenfold if a proper logo signals professionalism, and trust, to your clients.