How to price a low pop card

[rdwyer]

I've noticed a lot of low pop cards on EBay have ridiculous prices. How you price low pop cards? Obviously, you don't sell them for book price. So, how do you price them?

[markf31]

It is always a tricky proposition with an item that has a low pop and is rare/scarce/etc. I almost never use Ebay to determine the value of a card in these situations.

I do a simple Google search for the card and simply add 'auction' at the end of your search string and I don't include the grade in the search string, even if it is graded. This will give you links to previous hammer results of the card in question and will give you a pretty decent idea as to the value of the card.

With that being said though, often times low pop cards (depending on how low the pop is) can have their prices inflated in an auction format, all it takes is 2 individuals who REALLY want an item to drive the price up in a bidding war.

Low population items are funny sometimes when it comes to assigning a value. There are often wide swings in the valuation of a low pop item when it comes to previous sales as opposed to an item than is much more common. For example a T206 common back of say Ty Cobb at a given grade, will have a pretty established value range because of how many there are floating around as opposed to a low pop, more scarce Ty Cobb example, and you might find the valuation of previous sales fluctuate significantly more.

[SMPEP]

Mine position is simple. I start the auction at the point of my indifference - meaning I wouldn't care one way or the other if it sold or not. It sells for more - Great. If it doesn't sell - fine with me (I'll keep it). If it only sells for my asking price - a bit of a bummer, but that was teh lowest price that woudl move it from my collection to someone else's ... so, so be it.

[rdwyer]

I like markf31's idea. Thanks for the help. sleezeBay definitely is the wrong source.

[Exhibitman]

Mine position is simple. I start the auction at the point of my indifference - meaning I wouldn't care one way or the other if it sold or not. It sells for more - Great. If it doesn't sell - fine with me (I'll keep it). If it only sells for my asking price - a bit of a bummer, but that was teh lowest price that woudl move it from my collection to someone else's ... so, so be it.

+1