Scott Wool, 60, has been in the collectibles business for decades, selling Pokémon cards, toys, comics, and sports memorabilia.
Running a business has been a “roller coaster of a ride,” he told Business Insider. He nearly went bankrupt in 2013. About 13 years later, sales are growing like never before.
Between January 2025 and January 2026, his eBay sales have spiked 200%, according to a screenshot of his seller dashboard. He credits that jump to two things: a boom in collectible card games, especially Pokémon, and his company’s push into livestreaming.
Wool got into collectibles in his early 20s, when he approached the owner of a local comic-book store and asked if he could buy into the business.
The owner was “an older gentleman, good friend of mine,” Wool recalled. “And he said, ‘Yeah, I don’t see why not.'”
That was in 1987. Over time, the business evolved from physical stores into a much larger e-commerce operation. In 2026, Wool still has one retail store — Omni Comics, a 7,000-square-foot location in Wethersfield, Connecticut — but much of the company’s energy is focused online.
His introduction to e-commerce came in the early 2000s, shortly after eBay launched.
“We saw this thing called eBay,” Wool said. He asked one of his employees to create an account and start listing items. “I thought, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? We have to move some excess inventory. Let’s see if we can do some sales.'”
He launched on eBay with a clunky store name, pfootballpete4dhx, after asking an employee named Pete to set up an account. Pete happened to love football, and when “footballpete” was already taken, eBay auto-generated a different username. Wool didn’t think much of it at the time, assuming he wouldn’t sell much on the platform anyway. In 2026, the store still carries the name, has more than 100,000 followers, and has sold more than 2 million items.
In those early years, eBay was helpful but not yet a major driver of growth.
“You get what you put into it,” said Wool. At the time, listing products online was something his team did in their free time. “It wasn’t gangbusters, but we did OK.”
Leaning into livestreaming
Wool said eBay invited his team to participate in an early livestreaming test in 2021, when the company was experimenting with the format with only a handful of sellers. He went in with modest expectations but, to his surprise, the first show took off.
“We did $225,000 in maybe an hour and a half,” Wool said. “We were shocked.”
A major part of that immediate success came down to having the right product — specific Pokémon cards — at the right time.
The Pokémon market has changed over the years, explained Wool, who has been selling Pokémon since it was first introduced in the US roughly 30 years ago. Back then, demand was intense, but the customer base was mostly children and parents. Today, he said, the audience is broader, wealthier, and more global.
“Pokémon has become more than just a collectible,” he said. “It’s almost become a commodity.”
He said some buyers now view collectible card games the way others view traditional investments, and that there are even investment funds dedicated to the category.
Livestreaming has been just as important as the market tailwind.
“Instead of pfootballpete being a listing on eBay, which is what we were, and competing 100% on price, now pfootballpete has personality behind it and trustworthiness because you see our people on camera,” he said.
While traditional e-commerce listings are static, livestreaming is interactive. Sellers can answer questions in real time, respond to customer feedback instantly, and build ongoing relationships with viewers. Wool said that matters in an online economy where trust is hard to establish.
“Social media is wonderful, but most of it’s static,” he said. “Maybe I can run a 30-second ad, but you’re not going to really get to know who I am in a reel or in a social media post.” By contrast, livestreams can run for hours. “People can really get to know your personality.”
What it takes to succeed as a streamer
Pretty much anyone can start live selling on a platform like eBay, Whatnot, or TikTok.
“You do not have to have a retail store. You do not need a huge presence. You can have your own personality build the brand for you,” he said. You also don’t need a lot of capital. “You can really just start streaming with an iPhone, and that’s all you need.”
Of course, a low barrier to entry means more competition. As livestreaming has grown in popularity, Wool has spent more time thinking about ways to stand out. One of his ideas was to host a regular Friday night Pokémon stream held at the same time each week so viewers could build it into their routines.
It’s like appointment television, he said: “Back in my day, we had to be home on Thursday night to watch Seinfeld. I thought, there is no stream like that.”
That format helped create a recurring audience and sense of anticipation.
Wool has continued investing in the streaming arm of his business. He has about 20 streaming studios in Virginia and another 20 in Washington. Thanks to a large staff, he’s essentially streaming 24-7.
The best streamers are those who build a community, understand their audience, and give viewers a reason to return. That means paying attention to what viewers want to talk about and what products they care about.
Top streamers are also authentic, he said: “Don’t try to copy anybody else. That model’s already done.”
In a crowded market, he believes the real advantage comes from leaning into what makes a seller distinct. “At the end of the day, they’re watching you. They could watch 10,000 streams of people opening packs, but they can only watch one you.”
