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If the whole sports collecting thing has you a little confused, or if you're a veteran collector feeling bored, we've channeled our inner pack rat to come up with a list of twenty-five genres of baseball memorabilia that should get your creative juices flowing.

You'll notice a theme throughout, though. We've tried to keep the cost factor in mind because not everyone is blessed with the disposable income of Bill Gates. Of course, if you do have a sizable credit limit, it's just that much more fun.

We could do a list of only baseball cards but since most of us like a little display material to go with our cardboard, we've concocted a cornucopia of cowhide marvels.

25 cool ways to collect baseball items.

Debate. Discuss. Ridicule. It's just a list...in no particular order.

1) Hall of Fame member 8x10 autographs:  The cheapest, most cost-effective way to participate in collecting autographs of Cooperstown enshrinees. eBay and dealers' monthly auctions are full of authenticated, living HOFers in living color for less than $20 each. Dead guys cost more, but they're obtainable too.

2) 1919 World Series memorabilia:  It's the most famous World Series ever--for the most unfortunate reasons. It's not cheap, but a program (around $2500) or ticket stub will become the centerpiece of your collection. You'll get chills as you wonder what the person who originally owned it was thinking as the events on the field played out.

3)Wrappers and display boxes:  I still can't figure out why so many people saved these even 75 years ago, but they did. Great for display by themselves or with your sets and still not that expensive considering the scarcity of the older items. We love wax wrappers and 1960s and 70s boxes.

4)Old team yearbooks.:Vastly underrated and underappreciated, yearbooks bring those old players and teams to life better than cards do and they're far less expensive. You can look at them without fear of messing anything up, too.

5) Team-signed baseballs. Check out any sports memorabilia auction--or eBay--and you'll see fully authenticated team baseballs with 20+ signatures selling for peanuts. It seems like prices have plummeted. Start with an All-Star ball from the 80s and work your way back. Great fun to display.

6) World Series black bats: Limited in quantity, coolness oozes from these gold and black beauties. Not functional, but a nice conversation piece no matter which team is represented.

7) Hartland Statues:  1950s-60s original versions are still easy to find (except for Dick Groat) and haven't changed much in price since the 1980s. They really do look like the players. Bonus points for having the boxes, but it's not necessary to enjoy these standing 'in action' inside a nice curio cabinet. Artist Frank Fulop did a great job for Hartland in the 1950s, sitting in stadiums and sketching. RIP, Frank.

8) 19th century baseball cards: They'll cost you plenty if you chase sets. Settle for a player from each known set. Anything over 100 years old is cool indeed.

9) Regional sets. Yup, even those from the 1980s and 90s. They were hot 25 years ago and even though they may never be fully appreciated, the sets given out at ballparks or by local cops are very limited and often contain players who never made it into the mainstream sets. Zillions of different designs and usually available for less than $15 per set--sometimes a lot less.

10) Old programs;  Old baseball scorecards are more pricey, but they're just a scoresheet and some advertising. World Series programs have been great since the 1910s. Regular season programs started getting good in the 1950s and can be had for a song. Many have original art on the front. A little snapshot of a season inside, especially if they're scored.

11) Old tickets and stubs from milestone games. One of the hottest forms of collecting. Collect home run ticket stubs from your favorite player. 3,000 hit or 300 win stubs from Hall of Famers. No-hit stubs. Stadium opening stubs. The list is endless and the stubs are great to display without taking up a ton of room.

12) 1950s Redman baseball cards:  They're more expensive with the tabs on, but these 1952-55 sets are just as neat without them--and a lot cheaper. The size is a bit odd, but the artwork and write-ups are great. A much easier way to collect 1950s cards and unlike the original purchasers, you won't risk cancer.

13) Early 1900s Sporting News supplements:  Underrated, underrated, underrated. Did we mention these were incredibly undervalued and underrated? The former "baseball bible" treated customers to giant photos of the stars of the day back in the first part of the 20th century. Rare, awesome and great fun to chase. Many are dated right down to the week they were issued. They will make you remember why you're a fan..and a collector.

14) Post Cereal cards. 200 card sets. Some hard to find. Lots of variations. Most all distributed only via the back of a cereal box. Cheaper than Topps. No stats on the back. Simple, straightforward and low tech. Not works of art, but the sets are a blast to put together.

15) Vintage Wheaties cards: Wheaties pre-dated Post, of course, and was a prolific issuer of pictures on cereal box backs. Gehrig and other HOFers throughout. Extremely hard to find unless you frequent the major shows but prices really don't reflect it. Another set where type card collecting is a good idea.

16) 1964 Topps Giants:  We've touted this set before. It's not rare, but that's part of the charm. You mean I can easily put together a 45 year-old postcard-sized set jammed with Hall of Famers in brilliant color and fairly high grade for less than $300? I'm in.

17) SPORT magazines: Sort of along the lines of the baseball program idea. The stories are great, but the covers were shot by some of the best sports photographers who ever lived. Great to display and even better to read on a cold winter night. Love the baseball memorabilia ads inside, too.

18) Old board games:  They take up a little bit of space, but if they're complete, you can actually take them off your display shelf and play them. Some of the early 20th century games are incredible antiques. There are board games for every sport and some are very rare.

19) Perez-Steele postcards:  If you're not doing the Hall of Fame 8x10 autographs, this is another option. Gorgeous works of art plus a Sharpie autograph, produced when DiMaggio, Williams, Mantle, Spahn and other big names were still living. Even the lesser names are great to look at.

20) Historic baseball cards:  Another variation on type card collecting. Match the card to the accomplishment: Williams hitting .406 and DiMaggio's streak (1941 Play Ball); Yaz and the Triple Crown (1967 Topps); a 1951 Bowman Bobby Thomson; a team set of the 1959 Go-Go White Sox or the 1969 Mets. Roger Maris breaks the home run record (1961 Topps). The themes and possibilities are endless.

21) Game used bats:  Sure, you can't touch a Ruth or Mantle gamer for less than five figures but post-1960s bats for average players are dirt cheap. They take up a lot of space but they look great and you can even take them out and have some batting practice if you're not that concerned about your investment. Bats teach plenty about the game's history and reveal much about the players who use them.

22) Uncut sheets: If you've got the room, there's nothing better for your memorabilia room wall that a big ol' uncut sheet of some long-ago set. You'll stare at it--mesmerized--until your wife snaps you out of it and tells you to take out the garbage.

23) 1911 T-3 Turkey Red Cabinet cards: No, not the modern issue, although they have their fans, too. The original 1911 version is an absolute classic. Hard to find, but not impossible. Incredibly attractive pieces of baseball history. You should own at least a couple cabinet cards in your collection.

24) Baseball advertising. Maybe you can't afford the six-figure Cracker Jack or Goodwins posters that sold this year. Old magazines are full of cigarette ads featuring guys like Musial and DiMaggio with butts hanging out of their mouths. Crazy as it sounds, no one thought anything of it at the time. Great conversation pieces you can often frame for an investment of less than $25.

25) Vintage photographs. It's the most photographed sport in American history and there are all kinds of great photos, many one-of-a-kind, in dealer boxes and binders all over the country. Wire photos, fan photos, team-issues, etc. Even in black-and-white, they stand out. Many can be had for under $5.

Montreal-based Classic Auctions is selling off dozens of items that once occupied Chaulk’s home, displayed beautifully in lighted cases, preserved like the hockey history they are.  The auction opens Friday and interest is expected to be off the charts.

There’s never been a Great One other than Gretzky and it’s unlikely we’ll see anyone  quite like him again.

Chaulk’s collection includes numerous items from Gretzky milestone games, including game-worn equipment, the jersey he was wearing when he scored his 500^th goal, a wall full of sticks, mini Stanley Cup trophies and other items that will sell for big money.

The Canadian Press Caught up with Chaulk to talk about the collection, why he did it, why he’s selling and where he doesn’t want it to wind up.  Read their story here...and don't forget to watch the video.

Sure it’s the middle of May, but as may people say, the NFL has no off-season. 2013 Topps Archives football arrived at my store Wednesday and these are few better signs for a product’s success than when a collector is willing to camp out for a product to arrive.  Hobby boxes of Archives feature 24 packs and offer an average of two autographed cards. 

Looking at the checklist and the sets that Topps used, the only way you could have a better flashback is if you went to a Widespread Panic concert and didn’t stop inhaling.

Check out this partial list of set designs that Topps used the way back machine to recreate.  How about base cards with the 1976 and 1986 design, inserts with the 1000 Yard Club style, 1968 Topps Stand Up, 1970 Topps Glossy Set, 1988 Topps Minis Autographed Set, 1965 Topps Tall Boys Autographed Box Loaders, (hold on, I need to take a breath here) 1985 Topps Box Bottoms, Topps Mayo Cut Plug, 1984 Topps Autographed Booklets and Topps USFL  Buyback Autographed Cards. 

The autograph checklist is more than jaw dropping.  Of course hobby heroes Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III make an appearance.  They are joined by superstars including Tom Brady, Dan Marino, John Elway, Ray Lewis, Joe Montana, Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Tim Tebow (get his NFL cards while you can) and many more.

Oh, did I mention that there are celebrity cut signatures?  Yes, along with your Ed “Too Tall” Jones autograph, you can snag a 1-1 cut signature of “not so tall” actor, Danny Devito.

While there are no live cards of the 2013 rookie class, Topps has included redemption cards from 2013 NFL Rookie Premiere attendees.  I know my local collectors will be gunning for anything signed by Denver Broncos rookie RB Montee Ball or potential stars like Denard Robinson, Matt Barkley, Eddie Lacy, E. J. Manuel, Geno Smith, Manti Te’o and others.

Now pulling a John Elway 1/1 printing plate card is awesome anywhere, when you can pull it in my card store in Aurora, CO, it is that much sweeter.

You can be in Colorado, New York, Istanbul or anywhere else on earth, when you pull an autographed RG III card /25 then it is an awesome day.

We started with three cases of 2013 Topps Archives football when these arrived Wednesday morning and by the time it came to close, we were more than half way sold of out of our direct order.  With monster hits like these coming out of our boxes, we expect to be out of our last case by the weekend.

Mike Fruitman owns Mike's Stadium Sportscards in Aurora, Colo.  You can read his column here every week (or close to it), focusing on what products are selling best in hobby shops. See his eBay listings here.  Enjoy new arrivals and big hits from Mike’s on Twitter.  Mike’s is always looking for more friends on Facebook  and you can email him at  cardmn5150@aol.com.

I recently received an email from one of my most loyal readers who saw the mention of Ed Broder (or Rob as he called himself in the late 1980's) who was responsible for a whole style of popular cards during the early hobby boom period of the late 1980's. Those cards universally featured a nice full-color photo on the front along with either a blank back or an imaginary company on the back. As I was driving around on Mother’s Day the term "Indiana Blue Sox" came to mind as one of the companies who "sponsored" these cards. And what did we at Beckett think of the infamous Broder cards?  Well, for us, these cards were exactly what they were, popular cards which were not licensed and thus had no real collectors value. I don't think we spent more than 10 minutes discussing these cards internally.

Prior to the 1980s, though, the whole concept of licensing could be considered murky.  We eventually grandfathered in all cards issued before then and treated cards after 1980 on a case by case basis. This, by the way, turned out to be a far different decision than Bob Lemke made in the Standard Catalog Of Baseball Cards.

He listed all the Border cards he had information on and I've never asked him about that, but I'm willing to believe and guessing accordingly that their reason was since these cards were so popular among collectors, listing them was a way to explain to the masses what they were.

While I did not agree with their decision, I sure do understand the position. These types of cards are where I agree 100 percent with COMC.com about not accepting unlicensed and I suspect this is what they really mean on their reject sheet as unlicensed cards.

However, a bigger issue at Beckett-- one which began before I arrived and continues to this day-- is what constitutes a rookie card. For pre-war cards there are very few players whose confluence of card set, rookie year and collector importance makes it easy to say ‘yes, this is a rookie card’. Two that are very obviously rookie cards are the 1949 Play Ball Ted Williams and the 1941 Play Ball Pee Wee Reese. There may be a few others, but good examples like that are few and far between.

The rookie card definition is much easier from 1948 through 1982. However, beginning in 1983 several players made early appearances in Traded or Update sets and the question became are those cards rookie cards? If you look carefully at some of the very early Beckett Baseball magazines you will see this designation next to a player's name -- RC? Yes, one of the early Beckett magazine questions was to what should be a rookie card and by 1986 it was agreed that a rookie card would be the first appearance in a major set available in unopened packs while cards in the extended sets would be considered XRC's.

When I got to Beckett in 1990 the definition needed to be changed. After Upper Deck started issuing their last 100 cards in "updated" wax boxes, all of a sudden the rules were changing since those sets included the very popular Jerome Walton and Jim Abbott cards which technically could be called rookie cards. Of course the two best rookie cards in that 1989 high number series ended up as Steve Finley and Omar Vizquel.

After some spirited internal discussion we ended up switching our definition to ‘cards issued during the player's rookie year’. What did this was change updated factory sets into sets which should be released in packs. This was the first step in the ever changing evolution of rookie cards which now come in all sort of sets, varying print runs, with memorabilia pieces or autographs.

Somewhere in my memory, there is a "rookie card" issued by Pacific in one of their hockey products with a scheduled print run of one card. Yes can you imagine a set where one of the rookies had exactly one card issued. That is not exactly the best way to guarantee anyone will want to complete that set.

And, of course, there’s the matter of whether a card that is issued before a player makes the big leagues can be called a rookie card. Officially, the answer to that is no but collectors don’t always buy that.  MLB and the MLBPA changed the rules in 2005 so only players who had actually, you know, played in a major league game could have official rookie cards. I did agree with this in theory as this makes it easier for collectors to actually, ahem, have a chance of knowing the rookie card they pulled from a pack.  This change did take a few years to cycle through and I believe Choo Freeman eventually became a rookie even after making his first card appearance in the 1999 Topps Traded set.

It’s different in football and basketball in which many rookies are drafted and are expected to play in their first professional season.  This is an important difference between those sports. The other reason for these changes is that both MLB and the MLBPA are always looking for a 2001 repeat in which both Ichiro Suzuki and Albert Pujols were superstars as rookies and continued at that level for the next decade. However, THOSE years come along only once every 15-20 years but the overall concept does make sense.

As for the future of rookie cards, who knows what surprises may be up everyone's sleeve but with Topps having the MLB exclusive for the next several years I think we will see quite a bit of stabilization in terms of the baseball card world. Like with most things in this business, I'm excited and curious to see what the future holds.

Rich Klein can be reached at Sabrgeek@aol.com

The REA auction is an event in itself with thousands of rare baseball cards and memorabilia going to the highest bidders.  Hobby heavyweights, baseball historians and collecting newcomers will be in on the action.

“There will be a bidding frenzy on Saturday,” said REA President Rob Lifson.  "There always is, but this year the interest in rare vintage baseball cards and memorabilia seems particularly strong."

As of late Wednesday night, the Ruth card had pushed its way to $300,000—a figure that doesn’t yet include the buyer’s premium of 18.5%.  One of exactly ten known to exist, the card pre-dates the Babe’s big league debut.  It was consigned by a collector who needed liquidity after losing his home to Hurricane Sandy.

The Wagner card, graded PSA 1 and with some famous history on its side, stood at $330,000.  Once owned by Charlie Sheen and stolen from its display case at a New York restaurant in the 1990's, the hobby’s ‘holy grail’ seems poised to set yet another sales record.

Some of the cards sold in the auction have seen remarkable appreciation in a relatively short period of time.  Post-War collectors have been watching the 1952 Topps PSA 8.5 Mickey Mantle with a keen eye.  It’s the highest graded ’52 Mantle to hit the market since 2010 and the current high bid of $190,000 has already blasted past the final selling price of that example.  The card being offered by REA is one of the 12 best 1952 Topps Mantles ever graded by PSA with most of the others resting in private collections and rarely offered for sale.

A one-of-a-kind Boston Garter uncut panel of four cards dating from 1912 has had the hobby’s most advanced collectors salivating for weeks.  Currently at $150,000, it shows four players including Frank Chance and Fred Clarke touting the product.

A Sandy Koufax road flannel from 1963, a year in which the legendary hurler won the MVP and Cy Young Awards, stands at $130,000.

The finest known dual-signed Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig autographed baseball is in the auction, too.  It currently has a high bid of $85,000.

“But at the same time there are hundreds of lots that are at far more modest levels, at least right now,” Lifson said.  “Just like the thousands of collectors that enjoy following the auction, we’re looking forward to seeing what happens over the next couple of days.”

To view the lots and register to bid, collectors can go to the REA website or call 908-226-9900.

Here's a sampling of images from social media during Day One of the two day affair.  Tomorrow, it'll be off to the Rose Bowl to shoot photos and sign some more items.

Muncie appears on an Archives card designed in the style of 1981 Topps.   His regular issue card, #237, is a short print.  It’s not yet known how many cards Muncie signed as part of the Fan Favorites checklist.

The third overall pick in the 1976 draft, Muncie was a punishing runner who ran for over 6,700 yards and also caught passes out of the backfield, accumulating remarkable statistics despite drug problems.  He helped lead the Chargers to the second and third of the team's three consecutive AFC West titles from 1979-81.

His rookie card is the 1977 Topps #467.

Destitute, he wound up out of football seven years later and was in prison by the late 1980s, but turned his life around and dedicated his post-football activities to youth and community service.

Always popular with teammates and fans, he established the Chuck Muncie Youth Foundation, which offers youth mentoring, camps, tattoo removal, immunization for the uninsured, job training and other programs.

Best Match Items Ending First Newly-Listed Items First Price + Shipping: Lowest First Price + Shipping: Highest First

2013 Topps Archives Chuck Muncie CHARGERS AUTOGRAPH AUTO Card $19.99 Time Remaining: 6h 28m

2013 Topps Archives FB Chuck Muncie FFA CM Fan Fav Auto Team Chargers $8.00 (3 Bids) Time Remaining: 8h 50m

CHUCK MUNCIE 2013 ARCHIVES ON CARD AUTOGRAPH SAN DIEGO CHARGERS FFA CM $2.01 (4 Bids) Time Remaining: 8h 59m

2013 TOPPS ARCHIVES CHUCK MUNCIE AUTO FAN FAVORITES AUTOGRAPH CHARGERS $8.36 (5 Bids) Time Remaining: 10h 23m

2013 TOPPS ARCHIVE CHUCK MUNCIE FAN FARE AUTOGRAPH $24.99 Time Remaining: 23h 33m

CHUCK MUNCIE 2013 Topps Archives Fan Favorite On Card Auto CHARGERS $9.50 (3 Bids) Time Remaining: 1d 8h 20m

CHUCK MUNCIE 2013 TOPPS ARCHIVES FOOTBALL FAN FAVORITE AUTOGRAPH $4.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 1d 9h 17m

2013 Chuck Muncie Topps Archives Fan Favorites Auto $0.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 2d 6h 30m

2013 Topps Archives Football Chuck Muncie AUTO ON CARD Mint SP $9.99 Time Remaining: 2d 10h 9m

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The Master Collection includes 80 premium base cards,  one Tiger Woods signed memorabilia item (pin flag or photo), a Championship Gear tournament used memorabilia card and another special card consisting of a painted one-of-one autographed Masterpiece card or a Tiger Woods “Slambalaya” card that highlights each of his 14 Major tournament victories.

The sets were available through the company’s authorized internet retailers and local Diamond Dealers, stores that have been pre-approved to carry Upper Deck products.

Woods is the hottest golfer on the PGA Tour with four victories in 2013, including his victory last weekend  at The Players Championship.

“With Tiger Woods performing so well as of late fans have been looking for premium collectibles of the best player in golf and this Master Collection set delivers just that,” said Grant Sandground, director of product development at Upper Deck. “It’s the type of set that most collectors can’t afford, but every collector would love to own. We believe these sets may bring more than $3000 each based on how strong Tiger Woods autograph content sells for in the secondary market and Tiger’s worldwide popularity.”

There will be chase to the set as well. Randomly inserted into each collectible wooden box that hold these limited collectibles fans can find “Legendary Duos” and “Historic Duos” dual autograph one-of-one booklet cards. The “Legendary Duos” cards feature a Woods autograph and another with the signature of what Upper Deck calls a “super-premium athlete”.

The “Historic Duos” cards include an autograph of Tiger Woods and an authentic signature of a deceased golf legend or sports icon. Keeping in line with the premium nature of these sets, all autograph content will appear live in the product and there will be zero redemption cards in these sets.

Additionally, Upper Deck Authenticated released two new super-premium Tiger Woods signed memorabilia items this week. Tiger Woods “The Show” is a 46”x20” autographed framed display with the largest Tiger signature UDA has ever produced.  There is also a Tiger Woods Tegata Career Retrospective Mosiac  that includes not only an authentic signature from Tiger, but also his authentic handprint in this extremely unique Japanese inspired collectible.

After dealers who ordered them began breaking the sets, several of the cards made their way to eBay including a couple of those pictured above.  You can see what's been listed here.

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In recent years, many customers have been lured to online retailers. It's convenient and sometimes cheaper. Online retailers have less overhead, they can get items at wholesale prices and they don't need to pay sales tax. Internet sales have traditionally gotten around sales taxes when the buyer isn't based in the same state as the seller. Originally there was no sales tax at all,  but later, sales tax was implemented for retailers that had offices within the buyer's state.

The latest proposal, passed by the U.S. Senate and soon to be under consideration in the House of Representatives, would force any online retailer with $1 million or more in sales to charge the sales tax that the buyer would normally pay if they were buying from an entity in their state.  The earliest it could be enacted would be this October.

Higher Prices for Online Purchases?

Only a small number of sports collectible businesses would likely be affected because of the $1 million minimum.  However, Dean Hanley, owner of Dean’s Cards in the Cincinnati area, has built his company entirely online and it’s developed into a seven-figure operation.  Over the last ten years, he’s hired numerous employees to keep up with orders, acquire collections and keep track of the company's 1.5 million card inventory.  Hanley believes the sales tax he’ll likely be forced to tack on to orders will amount to more work for accountants and quite possibly, higher prices.

Dean Hanley of Dean's Cards

“I think this has huge implications for small business, including our hobby,” he told Sports Collectors Daily.  “Nothing good comes out for this for the consumer.  I think you’ll see businesses that will have to pay the taxes raise their prices by anywhere from 15 to 25 percent because not only do they have to cover the tax for the state their order is coming from, which is usually eight to ten percent these days, but they have to cover processing fees and will have other expenses to ensure they’re in compliance.”

Online retailers may face more competition from stores and smaller sellers who are immune from the tax.   Larger companies may make the transition more easily, but smaller businesses will probably find it very difficult.

The whole concept isn't a shock to Hanley but he wishes more thought had gone into the current proposal.

“I’m not so naïve as to think the internet would always be able to escape sales tax,” Hanley said.  “ At some point it was going to happen but the way this is being carried out is just wrong in so many ways.  If they wanted to do this fairly, dealers would pay the internet sales tax to their own state instead of having us pay it in every state that has a sales tax.  The elected officials who put this together figured that if it’s spread around, it can’t come back to haunt them.  It’s sort of like ‘they didn’t vote for us, so we can’t get in trouble’.  It’s sort of like 1776, taxation without representation.”

Unlike the Senate, House members seem to be more cautious, with committees set to look at the overall impact before any vote is taken.

Effect on Buyers, Sellers

Leighton Sheldon of Just Collect, another major online seller who also does a few major shows each year, agreed with the notion that it was another unnecessary intrusion on business and indicated collectors may be more cautious when buying but he doesn't anticipate a drastic change.

" I don’t think it will be an issue for us in the near future," he said.  " However I do think consumers will have more of a reason to buy goods in a brick and mortar store rather than the internet."

It's possible customers won't even blink with the addition of sales tax on their order. When a customer purchases sports cards or memorabilia it is usually not an item they can easily find locally. That  means that most customers may not be dissuaded by a slightly higher price.  The biggest issue many sports memorabilia dealers are likely to encounter is the new paperwork and documentation required with sales. It is very likely companies who have more than $1 million in sales will need to fill out sales tax forms for each of the states that they do business in. They will also need to be able to calculate the sales tax due for all of these states so that they collect the correct amount from the buyers.  Software would likely do that for them but it will have to be implemented.

“The difficult part of this won’t be the tax itself, it’s knowing the regulation and being able to execute what you’re being asked to do as a seller,” Hanley said.

Sports memorabilia dealers may have to upgrade their checkout systems to compensate for this change and may need to consult an accountant to find out what they need to do regarding sales tax. Sales tax often needs to be paid on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis and it would have to be done for each state. How often tax is paid often depends on the amount of revenue for each state and this would require additional calculations.

Long-Term Impact

Many of those who sell online are barely aware of the proposed tax changes.

“I think you’ll see businesses who have been trying to grow their business but have seen their revenue cross that threshold and are now forced to collect sales tax in dozens of states will just say it’s not worth the hassle and get out.   Some will just do whatever it takes to stay below that tax threshold so they don’t have to deal with it.  I think there’s a huge advantage in keeping your revenue just under that $1 million level.”

Hanley sees the tax as potentially putting a road block in front of entrepreneurs who have built a strong business online.

“The benefit to buying online is that the selection is better, the service is often better and the merchandise is cheaper.  I call it the ‘great middleman’.  We’ve been able to build our business on that and really focus on the collector.   This may mean you’ll lose some of that because of the regulation.”

Hanley isn’t about to close up shop.  He’s worked too hard for that and internet commerce continues to carve out a huge portion of  consumer spending.

“We’ll adjust," he said if the bill becomes law.  I’ll figure it all out because I love my job. “