In Part I of this series I explained how I go about finding profitable niches within the antiques/collectibles categories on eBay. In part II of this series we are going to look at one specific niche and see if it meets the criteria I set to further research it’s profit potential on eBay.

The niche I’ve chosen to explore is stereoview cards. For those who don’t know what these are here’s a picture of the front and back of one.

A stereoview card is usually a piece of thing cardboard that measures approx. 8″ x 4″ and has two identical, but separate, images imprinted side by side on it. When viewed through a stereoscope viewer the image appears three dimensional to the viewer. These were extremely popular with consumers between the mid 1800s and the 1920s.

Now let’s see how they stack up against the first five criteria we’ve established for a potentially profitable eBay niche.

1. The item must be readily available in fair sized numbers.

Stereoviews fit this criteria. You will find them in nearly every antique shop/mall or flea market you go to. Most dealers won’t have an extensive selection, but you will probably fine several dealers who have a small selection of 20 to 100 for sale.

2. You should be able to find numerous examples priced in the $1 to $10 range with most priced in the lower half of that range.

While there are always exceptions, most of the stereoviews you will see are price with the $1 to $10 range. In the shops I go to $3 seems to be a popular price and the majority of them are priced under $5.

3. The item should be a small sub-niche of a larger niche that already has a large collector base.

Stereoviews fit this criteria also. The primary niche with a large collector base is photographic images. An added plus is that, because of the wide variety of topics portrayed on stereoviews, many of them will also fall into a secondary large niche also.

4. It should be an item with a large number of variations.

With thousands of different images in hundreds of various categories, stereoviews definitely fit this criteria. There are probably more variations here than in most sub-niches.

5. Ideally, there shouldn’t be a book or price guide written about the item.

There have been a few books published about stereoviews in the last few years. However, most of them are not collector guides but rather regional interest books of the “Stereoviews of North Dakota” variety and don’t include any pricing information.

There is one book that I know of by Doc Boehme titled “Stereoviews, Their Realized Prices” published within the last year but because it’s from a small publisher, I don’t think many general-line dealers will be aware of it; and if they are they won’t bother to purchase it because most of them don’t carry enough cards to make it worthwhile.

In the end, stereoviews are perfect fits for four of the five criteria. And, while there is a one price guide available, in this case I think it’s affect on the market will be extremely marginal.

For me, that’s enough to make stereoviews worth further research.

In the next part of this series we will head over to eBay and see what the market for these cards looks like and if they fit the last five criteria of a profitable eBay niche.

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