Recent price action

[Snapolit1]

I've heard from some friends who collect post war and modern era that there's been some serious sell off in the past month in certain corners of that market.

Anyone seeing real softness yet in pre-war?

I realize that's a broad question. . . . There's been so many auctions lately and I really haven't followed them that closely . . .

[notfast]

I have not seen what I would call “softness.”

A couple months ago, every new sale was 10-25% higher than the last. Whether that was a day or a month from the previous one. THAT has slowed down but I wouldn’t consider that softness.

Stabilization IMO.

[puckpaul]

Nothing pre-war or 50’s that I would like to buy is anything but strong still.

[Wanaselja]

Nothing pre-war or 50’s that I would like to buy is anything but strong still.

Same here.

[Bkrum]

I don’t watch modern cards at all but does the softness extend to high profile cards in 50s?

[G1911]

I don’t watch modern cards at all but does the softness extend to high profile cards in 50s?

Unfortunately, no

[egri]

I don’t watch modern cards at all but does the softness extend to high profile cards in 50s?

Not from what I'm seeing on signed cards. I don't follow rookies too closely; I'd be interested to see if the runup in Clemente, Koufax, etc from a few years ago has held up too.

[Bigdaddy]

I had been looking at prices of Jordan RC ('86 Fleer, PSA 8) and a couple of months ago they topped out around $17k. Now they have dropped to around $12k. That's down almost 30% from the high.

That may be off from the original scope of your question, but it is a card that is traded/sold fairly often.

Tom

[rats60]

Nothing pre-war or 50’s that I would like to buy is anything but strong still.

Prices were soft in the latest Goldin Auction on some key post war

1949 Leaf Jackie Robinson PSA 7 136k
last 3 sales 402, 234, 354

1951 Bowman Mantle PSA 7 81k
last 3 sales 115, 174, 99

1952 Topps Mantle PSA 8 861k
recent sales at 1.6 and 1.35 million

I have noticed this in some other recent auctions. Maybe this isn't what you are looking at, but there is definitely some correction going on at the top of the postwar vintage and modern market.

[Tao_Moko]

Low/mid grade 50's have been strong. Taking more patience on cards like '52 and '53 Mays' to find at a deal. Catching someone sleeping on a bid took more than a dozen attempts to still pay record highs.

[sportscardpete]

Everything feels a touch softer than February. Modern is getting killed. The argument though is that compared to early last year modern is up way more than vintage still.

Would love if some Cobbs softened up though!!

[Bigdaddy]

Everything feels a touch softer than February. Modern is getting killed. The argument though is that compared to early last year modern is up way more than vintage still.

Would love if some Cobbs softened up though!!

You know what they say about softened Cobbs - there's a pill for that.

Sorry, but you set 'em up. I just knocked 'em down.

[Casey2296]

Everything feels a touch softer than February. Modern is getting killed. The argument though is that compared to early last year modern is up way more than vintage still.

Would love if some Cobbs softened up though!!

Agree 100% Pete, godamn Cobbs won't stop along with Matty and Wajo, T206's are strong too. Feels like we're in late stage 2 early stage 3 of the sports card economic cycle. Look at the prices of 54 Aaron's, soft as hell. Nobody's paying you 30k for a Goudey Ruth when they can get one for 15k-20k at auction. That $1500 asking price for mid grade 50's- 60's Topps cards is a pipe dream at this point. Stage 4 will be Seller capitulation, it'll take awhile and you'll see the overextended folks roll over first but it's coming.

That being said, rare cards will hold their value better than most.

[rats60]

Agree 100% Pete, godamn Cobbs won't stop along with Matty and Wajo, T206's are strong too. Feels like we're in late stage 2 early stage 3 of the sports card economic cycle. Look at the prices of 54 Aaron's, soft as hell. Nobody's paying you 30k for a Goudey Ruth when they can get one for 15k-20k at auction. That $1500 asking price for mid grade 50's- 60's Topps cards is a pipe dream at this point. Stage 4 will be Seller capitulation, it'll take awhile and you'll see the overextended folks roll over first but it's coming.

That being said, rare cards will hold their value better than most.

Exactly, PSA 6 Aaron was selling 12.5k-13.5k. Last two sold for 8700 at Heritage and 8600 on eBay PSA 6 Mays RC were 35-37k now 22k. All these key cards that took huge jumps have come back down.

[flpm08]

I have followed the last two Heritage and REA Auctions and the prices are down from February and March prices cards of players whose prices rose very quickly, e.g., Mays, Robinson, Aaron. Ruth, Cobb and Mantle also seemed to have come down a bit.

[Exhibitman]

From an editorial on SCD the other day:

"Anyone following the market closely realizes that some areas of the card market have hit a soft spot or a plateau. Prices have clearly started to drop online for some individual cards or categories and I can tell you firsthand, there is less overall interest in store than there was a few weeks ago, but I’m not saying the sky is falling just yet, Chicken Little.

Many of the people that brought cards in this week were scratching their head, wondering aloud as to why they couldn’t seem to sell at the rate or the price points that the very same cards fetched just a few short weeks and months ago. Fortunately or unfortunately, this is why we are seeing these cards in store now. Sellers can’t get the money they’re expecting online, so we are the last resort. People assume they can make more selling online than offering their inventory up to an LCS but I’m here to tell you that isn’t always the case- at least not for us.

On many Facebook groups and message boards, I have recently noticed more and more people (who I can assume are newer to the hobby) also complaining about people not making offers on the cards they have listed or just having a tougher time selling them in groups in general.

There are fewer and fewer young kids coming in looking for the hottest basketball singles, boxes or packs. There are fewer unfamiliar faces in the shop daily buying boxes lately. Heck, I haven’t seen anyone standing in our store on their phone comping prices online for weeks. So, there’s definitely a sense or a feeling in the air that things are a-changing.

Our box and pack sales are down but at the same time we have a number of categories that are still hot. We are still selling big stars, rookies and fun items like that, they are just selling for a little less at the moment."

The stupid money is on the march. That's why you see frothy commentary and a plateau: the remaining players are trying to hype their stuff ahead of selling, while the potential purchasers try to decide whether the music has stopped playing. Just watch for the stampede to the exits on anything where the speculators rule the roost. This is the start of the desperation selling and ultimately capitulation. By the end of the summer I would not be surprised to see 20%-30% price drops from the prices at the height of the frenzy on a vast array of cards. Quality prewar will be the last to feel it. When there are only a few hundred examples of a card and most of them are in the hands of people like us who will be loaded into our caskets clutching them, prices tend to go up and stick the longest, or supply just vanishes as prices soften because we don't have to sell.

Where to jump back in will be the fun game to play.

[egri]

From an editorial on SCD the other day:

"Anyone following the market closely realizes that some areas of the card market have hit a soft spot or a plateau. Prices have clearly started to drop online for some individual cards or categories and I can tell you firsthand, there is less overall interest in store than there was a few weeks ago, but I’m not saying the sky is falling just yet, Chicken Little.

Many of the people that brought cards in this week were scratching their head, wondering aloud as to why they couldn’t seem to sell at the rate or the price points that the very same cards fetched just a few short weeks and months ago. Fortunately or unfortunately, this is why we are seeing these cards in store now. Sellers can’t get the money they’re expecting online, so we are the last resort. People assume they can make more selling online than offering their inventory up to an LCS but I’m here to tell you that isn’t always the case- at least not for us.

On many Facebook groups and message boards, I have recently noticed more and more people (who I can assume are newer to the hobby) also complaining about people not making offers on the cards they have listed or just having a tougher time selling them in groups in general.

There are fewer and fewer young kids coming in looking for the hottest basketball singles, boxes or packs. There are fewer unfamiliar faces in the shop daily buying boxes lately. Heck, I haven’t seen anyone standing in our store on their phone comping prices online for weeks. So, there’s definitely a sense or a feeling in the air that things are a-changing.

Our box and pack sales are down but at the same time we have a number of categories that are still hot. We are still selling big stars, rookies and fun items like that, they are just selling for a little less at the moment."

The stupid money is on the march. That's why you see frothy commentary and a plateau: the remaining players are trying to hype their stuff ahead of selling, while the potential purchasers try to decide whether the music has stopped playing. Just watch for the stampede to the exits on anything where the speculators rule the roost. This is the start of the desperation selling and ultimately capitulation. By the end of the summer I would not be surprised to see 20%-30% price drops from the prices at the height of the frenzy on a vast array of cards. Quality prewar will be the last to feel it. When there are only a few hundred examples of a card and most of them are in the hands of people like us who will be loaded into our caskets clutching them, prices tend to go up and stick the longest, or supply just vanishes as prices soften because we don't have to sell.

Where to jump back in will be the fun game to play.

It'll be interesting to see if this spills over into real estate, stocks, etc. The S&P 500 is down for the month, and I'm a member of a couple watch collecting forums where they're seeing the same bubble effect we have, and the attendant rise in speculators, flippers and a lot of the same complaints I've seen raised here.

[t206fanatic]

The stupid money is on the march. That's why you see frothy commentary and a plateau: the remaining players are trying to hype their stuff ahead of selling, while the potential purchasers try to decide whether the music has stopped playing. Just watch for the stampede to the exits on anything where the speculators rule the roost. This is the start of the desperation selling and ultimately capitulation. By the end of the summer I would not be surprised to see 20%-30% price drops from the prices at the height of the frenzy on a vast array of cards. Quality prewar will be the last to feel it. When there are only a few hundred examples of a card and most of them are in the hands of people like us who will be loaded into our caskets clutching them, prices tend to go up and stick the longest, or supply just vanishes as prices soften because we don't have to sell.

Where to jump back in will be the fun game to play.

I laughed pretty hard, you aren't wrong!

[Exhibitman]

The truth can be pretty funny sometimes...

[rats60]

From an editorial on SCD the other day:

"Anyone following the market closely realizes that some areas of the card market have hit a soft spot or a plateau. Prices have clearly started to drop online for some individual cards or categories and I can tell you firsthand, there is less overall interest in store than there was a few weeks ago, but I’m not saying the sky is falling just yet, Chicken Little.

Many of the people that brought cards in this week were scratching their head, wondering aloud as to why they couldn’t seem to sell at the rate or the price points that the very same cards fetched just a few short weeks and months ago. Fortunately or unfortunately, this is why we are seeing these cards in store now. Sellers can’t get the money they’re expecting online, so we are the last resort. People assume they can make more selling online than offering their inventory up to an LCS but I’m here to tell you that isn’t always the case- at least not for us.

On many Facebook groups and message boards, I have recently noticed more and more people (who I can assume are newer to the hobby) also complaining about people not making offers on the cards they have listed or just having a tougher time selling them in groups in general.

There are fewer and fewer young kids coming in looking for the hottest basketball singles, boxes or packs. There are fewer unfamiliar faces in the shop daily buying boxes lately. Heck, I haven’t seen anyone standing in our store on their phone comping prices online for weeks. So, there’s definitely a sense or a feeling in the air that things are a-changing.

Our box and pack sales are down but at the same time we have a number of categories that are still hot. We are still selling big stars, rookies and fun items like that, they are just selling for a little less at the moment."

The stupid money is on the march. That's why you see frothy commentary and a plateau: the remaining players are trying to hype their stuff ahead of selling, while the potential purchasers try to decide whether the music has stopped playing. Just watch for the stampede to the exits on anything where the speculators rule the roost. This is the start of the desperation selling and ultimately capitulation. By the end of the summer I would not be surprised to see 20%-30% price drops from the prices at the height of the frenzy on a vast array of cards. Quality prewar will be the last to feel it. When there are only a few hundred examples of a card and most of them are in the hands of people like us who will be loaded into our caskets clutching them, prices tend to go up and stick the longest, or supply just vanishes as prices soften because we don't have to sell.

Where to jump back in will be the fun game to play.

I think sellers are holding on until the National. After that they will be dumping whatever is left. They road the wave to the top and are looking for a jump off point.

[Johnny630]

The Top was early April....Many of this was Caused IMO by artificial inflated numbers generated by investors/buyers clubs. They made their monies on the undercards.

[darwinbulldog]

If you look at the most popular rookie (or "rookie") cards of the top players across (in increasing order) NHL, MLB, NFL, and NBA history and track their sales over the past several months you'll see they've dropped on the order of 50% since mid-February.

[Snapolit1]

I do think there has been a combination of fatique and oversaturation. Seems like strong auctions are no longer a rare treat but an everyday fact of life.

Jordan RCs prime example. Was a treat when the first few 9s arrived at auction. 2,500 cards later, not so special.

I also think speculation on stocks, real estate, and all sorts of things have dropped off as the country has opened up a great deal more. All of a sudden going outside and getting away from the computer is looking real attractive.

I'd expect speculation in Jeter cards will take off a ESPN has announced a new 6 part series. I really can't see where a Jeter series will lead to Jordan like hysteria, but I'm sure some people are betting on it.

[Lorewalker]

I do think there has been a combination of fatique and oversaturation. Seems like strong auctions are no longer a rare treat but an everyday fact of life.

Jordan RCs prime example. Was a treat when the first few 9s arrived at auction. 2,500 cards later, not so special.

I also think speculation on stocks, real estate, and all sorts of things have dropped off as the country has opened up a great deal more. All of a sudden going outside and getting away from the computer is looking real attractive.

I'd expect speculation in Jeter cards will take off a ESPN has announced a new 6 part series. I really can't see where a Jeter series will lead to Jordan like hysteria, but I'm sure some people are betting on it.

It appears that ebay prices have been hit harder than auction house prices, which seem to have pulled back much less, overall.

[Wimberleycardcollector]

I think everyone saw this coming and it'll continue now that COVID is more or less behind us. Many will move on to other interests over the next year or so. People are also going to need more money to pay for all of the essentials that are skyrocketing - rent, gas, food, building supplies, etc. Heck even some printing paper has almost doubled in price.

[Flintboy]

I think the biggest drop will be right after the National. There will be some dealers who bought heavy during the recent high and they will be stuck with some high dollar inventory.

[Yoda]

I wonder how the market is faring for collectors of burnt toast with the face of Jesus on them?

[chadeast]

I have followed the last two Heritage and REA Auctions and the prices are down from February and March prices cards of players whose prices rose very quickly, e.g., Mays, Robinson, Aaron. Ruth, Cobb and Mantle also seemed to have come down a bit.

I agree. We are a little off from the peak of the madness a couple of months ago. FWIW, around that time, the BST section here was dominated by WTB posts, and that has subsided a good amount since then.

[parkplace33]

"Collectors" who bought up cards during the last year are now stuck with inventory and can't move it. Prices will drop massively during the summer.

[Johnny630]

"Collectors" who bought up cards during the last year are now stuck with inventory and can't move it. Prices will drop massively during the summer.

Agree

Also the Flood of JUNK CARDS Coming Back From PSA Bulk orders...especially modern garbage, a lot of stuff is not going to move. Over Supply with Less Demand.

[conor912]

Agree

Also the Flood of JUNK CARDS Coming Back From PSA Bulk orders...especially modern garbage, a lot of stuff is not going to move. Over Supply with Less Demand.

Yeah, think of all the guys who sent in bulk junk singles 9 months ago that wont get them back til the fall. Those cards will have sat at PSA for the entire run-up and and subsequent drop-off, and will flood the market at the end of the year.

[Exhibitman]

It appears that ebay prices have been hit harder than auction house prices, which seem to have pulled back much less, overall.

A fellow victim, er, eBay seller PM'd me with an interesting hypothesis. He says his sales dropped off markedly when eBay reconfigured its trading card listings. I have noticed the same thing. It is especially bad with boxing cards. You used to be able to browse the Boxing Cards category, but now every search for boxing brings up every listing with "box" in the title. You can somewhat curtail this by doing "-box" in the search, but I think the confusion is making things harder to find and cutting down sales as a result.

[cardsagain74]

It'll be interesting to see if this spills over into real estate, stocks, etc. The S&P 500 is down for the month, and I'm a member of a couple watch collecting forums where they're seeing the same bubble effect we have, and the attendant rise in speculators, flippers and a lot of the same complaints I've seen raised here.

I've seen a few posts like this in the last couple weeks and I just don't get it.

The S&P isn't even down this month actually. It's flat. Given the modest inflation fears that have percolated lately (ones that can easily cause a noticeable selloff for awhile), that's an awful strong performance for a market which is 1% off all time highs and that's been on a tear. A tear for not just the last year, but the last 40 years.

I'm not saying that Wall Street hasn't peaked for now. But given how impossibly strong the market continues to be (and the endless flow of 401 k money into it that shows no signs of stopping), good luck calling a top.

As far as sportscards go, as others have said, the overall phases that've happened lately are common. Modern/fad-type stuff/cards with the most extended 20-30x leaps getting hit the hardest. Boring blue chips with great, but not insane gains should hold on a lot better

Funny thing is that if you told someone that their Jordan PSA 10 rookie had gone from 30 k to 300 k in a year and a half (without them knowing that the peak was more than twice that), they still would've thought it was the most amazing thing ever

[ASF123]

A fellow victim, er, eBay seller PM'd me with an interesting hypothesis. He says his sales dropped off markedly when eBay reconfigured its trading card listings. I have noticed the same thing. It is especially bad with boxing cards. You used to be able to browse the Boxing Cards category, but now every search for boxing brings up every listing with "box" in the title. You can somewhat curtail this by doing "-box" in the search, but I think the confusion is making things harder to find and cutting down sales as a result.I would guess that this is a significant factor. Just from personal experience, I used to have saved searches to browse all new prewar and postwar baseball HOF listings. Now that’s impossible, and I just have single year and/or player searches (which are far from comprehensive, of course). So that’s a lot of listings that are no longer getting my eyeballs. I imagine I’m hardly the only one.

[the-illini]

I think the biggest drop will be right after the National. There will be some dealers who bought heavy during the recent high and they will be stuck with some high dollar inventory.

Depends on what era(s) their inventory is from IMO. I doubt you see a notable drop in sales/prices for vintage items.

Also think a lot of people are going to be eager shoppers at the first National in 2 years.

[rats60]

Depends on what era(s) their inventory is from IMO. I doubt you see a notable drop in sales/prices for vintage items.

Also think a lot of people are going to be eager shoppers at the first National in 2 years.

Prewar hasn't been dropping and probably won't. Postwar, with higher print runs, has been dropping and probably will drop further.

[egri]

I've seen a few posts like this in the last couple weeks and I just don't get it.

The S&P isn't even down this month actually. It's flat. Given the modest inflation fears that have percolated lately (ones that can easily cause a noticeable selloff for awhile), that's an awful strong performance for a market which is 1% off all time highs and that's been on a tear. A tear for not just the last year, but the last 40 years.

I'm not saying that Wall Street hasn't peaked for now. But given how impossibly strong the market continues to be (and the endless flow of 401 k money into it that shows no signs of stopping), good luck calling a top.

As far as sportscards go, as others have said, the overall phases that've happened lately are common. Modern/fad-type stuff/cards with the most extended 20-30x leaps getting hit the hardest. Boring blue chips with great, but not insane gains should hold on a lot better

Funny thing is that if you told someone that their Jordan PSA 10 rookie had gone from 30 k to 300 k in a year and a half (without them knowing that the peak was more than twice that), they still would've thought it was the most amazing thing ever

I just checked and you're right; I guess after the runup in the past year, treading water feels like a downturn!:D

I think a lot of the people who have jumped onboard in the past year don't have very strong memories of the 2008 crash or other downturns (not counting the selloff last spring because that recovered so quickly). I see it with my sailors who are talking about getting in to real estate and other investments; they think they only go one direction, up. I've tried warning them that elevator has a down button as well, but if they want to learn from experience, well that's their decision.

[AMBST95]

PSA finally getting caught up is going to continue to hurt the ultramodern market. I'd expect some new collectors will stick around so overall the market will be better than it was before the big climb but no where near the peaks. Auctions have been down the past month or so and I'm hoping they continue to drop going in to the summer.

[puckpaul]

I do think on the more modern stuff, supply has finally been brought out to match or sometimes overwhelm demand. So we are definitely in a correction period. For instance, Classic Auctions has 54 Gretzky rookies this month! Today the past few years there would be 3-10. so prices still strong but no way they will hold up except maybe the ultra high end where rarity still might exist. The grading backlog and time it takes for supply to catch up definitely fueled the runup.

Perhaps the 40-60% retracement in crypto prices is affecting the silly money a little, for now, as well.

NOT seeing 54 Wajo portraits in one auction, though supply of prewar is up a fair bit, too, on the less rare stuff. The expense of grading will keep a lid on the supply as well.

[chriskim]

Just need to compare the prices of 1986 Fleer Jordan RC PSA10 then we know the market is going south and head back to "normal". That card was at a $640K level (sold at that price twice in the same auction) and now down to $250K. It should back down to a 5 figure card by EOY.

[Johnny630]

Just need to compare the prices of 1986 Fleer Jordan RC PSA10 then we know the market is going south and head back to "normal". That card was at a $640K level (sold at that price twice in the same auction) and now down to $250K. It should back down to a 5 figure card by EOY.

IMO those were never real numbers, were all BS. That's just me. I think they were artificially inflated by investor groups to run up the under cards.

[egbeachley]

....and then a Gretzky RC sells for $3.75 million......

[darwinbulldog]

....and then a Gretzky RC sells for $3.75 million......

Oh good. I have one of those. Please tell me it was a BGS 4.5.

[Rich Falvo]

Oh good. I have one of those. Please tell me it was a BGS 4.5.


Haha. Was just about to say the same thing about my SGC 4.5

[BobbyStrawberry]

Things seem to be tanking across the board. It will be interesting to see how far down we go.

[Johnny630]

For the Past Couple of Years I have been going to the Post Office at least 3-5 times a week and What I have noticed since early March is a large New Submission and Renewal of Passport Applications being done at several of the branches in the Central/Western Maryland Region.

People are scheduling vacations and travel....I feel a lot of husbands are going to be spending their disposable monies this spring/summer/fall on taking their family on vacation and not on ebay or other venues. Idk could be wrong just some of my observations over the past few months.

[Kutcher55]

I don't think you can really look at the Jordan RC PSA 10s of the world to determine the direction of the overall market. For the majority who play in the mere mortal world of cards costing anywhere from $5 to $5000 (and I do understand many people on net54 go above this threshold) I would say prices are certainly down from the peak, which to me was the insane PWCC auction that closed on Valentine's day.

Without hard data, but nonetheless being a math guy and and analyst who focuses on certain mid grade cards, I think the vintage baseball market had a long run-up from late '19 up until early '21 and then when Hank Aaron passed away on January 22nd (RIP great man) the market went into complete insane overdrive for 3-4 weeks and you saw prices in some cases double. For the other sports, particularly basketball, this explosion happened earlier.

Anyway, since February 14th things began to decline subtly at first and I think that decline has accelerated some lately as many predicted would happen when the vaccines started to work and people began planning to spend money on other stuff this summer. That all said, the market is still above mid January 2021 levels by my count. There are fewer deals happening as people who overspent hold out and you can see more buyers getting shy on the trigger. So if you ask me there's probably some additional decline coming, but the real test won't happen until winter when it gets freezing again in the north and people have less to do.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Prewar hasn't been dropping and probably won't. Postwar, with higher print runs, has been dropping and probably will drop further.

Supply and demand prevails over manipulation, as it eventually does always.

[Peter_Spaeth]

IMO those were never real numbers, were all BS. That's just me. I think they were artificially inflated by investor groups to run up the under cards.

I suspect the same on many of the prices that were on Mars.

[Snapolit1]

Good take. I think that's very insightful.


I don't think you can really look at the Jordan RC PSA 10s of the world to determine the direction of the overall market. For the majority who play in the mere mortal world of cards costing anywhere from $5 to $5000 (and I do understand many people on net54 go above this threshold) I would say prices are certainly down from the peak, which to me was the insane PWCC auction that closed on Valentine's day.

Without hard data, but nonetheless being a math guy and and analyst who focuses on certain mid grade cards, I think the vintage baseball market had a long run-up from late '19 up until early '21 and then when Hank Aaron passed away on January 22nd (RIP great man) the market went into complete insane overdrive for 3-4 weeks and you saw prices in some cases double. For the other sports, particularly basketball, this explosion happened earlier.

Anyway, since February 14th things began to decline subtly at first and I think that decline has accelerated some lately as many predicted would happen when the vaccines started to work and people began planning to spend money on other stuff this summer. That all said, the market is still above mid January 2021 levels by my count. There are fewer deals happening as people who overspent hold out and you can see more buyers getting shy on the trigger. So if you ask me there's probably some additional decline coming, but the real test won't happen until winter when it gets freezing again in the north and people have less to do.

[Tao_Moko]

The bst has much less "wtb" and there are a number of key cards available that aren't disappearing immediately. Curious if there is also a decline in new forum members this month compared to February. At a minimum, there's an apparent slowdown and more cautious approach by long time members that I am seeing.

Am I wrong? Are you all spending as much right now as compared to prior months this year?

I have all but stopped. Looking for a Summer home and sitting here watching inflation snuggle in and waiting for the housing market decline. Going to need that cash moneys!

[vthobby]

I have spent about 10K this month so far......no slowdown.

Mike

[conor912]

The bst has much less "wtb" and there are a number of key cards available that aren't disappearing immediately. Curious if there is also a decline in new forum members this month compared to February. At a minimum, there's an apparent slowdown and more cautious approach by long time members that I am seeing.

Am I wrong? Are you all spending as much right now as compared to prior months this year?

I have all but stopped. Looking for a Summer home and sitting here watching inflation snuggle in and waiting for the housing market decline. Going to need that cash moneys!

I’m not buying at all right now, but it’s purely because I’m out of money :)

[Eric72]

My spending is fairly constant. Think of a dollar-cost-averaging approach to collecting.

The deals I'm getting now are better than a few months ago.

[Tao_Moko]

My spending is fairly constant. Think of a dollar-cost-averaging approach to collecting.

The deals I'm getting now are better than a few months ago.

I like the disciplined approach of budgeting hobby spend. I have a similar approach, but admit to going way off track the end of last year and up to April of this year. I spent $15k/month and built volume on cards I felt would do well longer term(May's, Gehrig, Ruth, Williams, etc). Primarily mid grade raw with strong presentation and some obscure issues. Included were a few thousand boxing cards. I've spent less than $1k this month.

[Snapolit1]

Seems to me that higher end stuff in BST has basically dried up. See the PSA 1s and 2s, but no one is selling high end stuff at a friends and family discount. I look particularly at the baseball memorabilia board and it’s been a while since I’ve seen something truly higher end. Lots of odds and ends.

[Snapolit1]

Remember when you would see a Joe Jackson PSA 7 on BST. Those days are gone for now.

[toledo_mudhen]

Been looking for the "right" Clemente RC in a 6 to finish off a graded EXMT set for more than a year now. Prices have been SO CRAZY that I have bought and flipped several lower end cards but the 6's and above still remain out of reach (for me anyway).

Need it go along with this (Leon says every post needs a card :))

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49878126382_2fcc2a7d96_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iZyrff)

[NYYFan63]

Been looking for the "right" Clemente RC in a 6 to finish off a graded EXMT set for more than a year now. Prices have been SO CRAZY that I have bought and flipped several lower end cards but the 6's and above still remain out of reach (for me anyway).

Need it go along with this (Leon says every post needs a card :))

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49878126382_2fcc2a7d96_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iZyrff)


That is a beauty! Love the centering!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rats60]

Been looking for the "right" Clemente RC in a 6 to finish off a graded EXMT set for more than a year now. Prices have been SO CRAZY that I have bought and flipped several lower end cards but the 6's and above still remain out of reach (for me anyway).

Need it go along with this (Leon says every post needs a card :))

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49878126382_2fcc2a7d96_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iZyrff)

Clemente RC is like the Ozzie Smith RC. Almost all of them are off centered. Even when you find one that isn't 80/20-90/10, it is 60/40-65/35. When you find one close to 50/50 you are going to pay a crazy price.

[Bill77]

A fellow victim, er, eBay seller PM'd me with an interesting hypothesis. He says his sales dropped off markedly when eBay reconfigured its trading card listings. I have noticed the same thing. It is especially bad with boxing cards. You used to be able to browse the Boxing Cards category, but now every search for boxing brings up every listing with "box" in the title. You can somewhat curtail this by doing "-box" in the search, but I think the confusion is making things harder to find and cutting down sales as a result.

Another issue causing a slow down on ebay was the ending of ebay bucks. They have had a couple of 5% bonus bucks so far, but with no bonus bucks for every purchase outside of the bonuses there is no real incentive to buy more.

[swabie2424]

My spending is fairly constant. Think of a dollar-cost-averaging approach to collecting. The deals I'm getting now are better than a few months ago.

I’m right there with you. I just keep plugging away. I’m not worried about timing the market. I’ll just steadily buy all the way down - grabbing every card that fits my fancy along the way. I have always been the ultimate long haul mindset guy.

Obviously if things crater in an unexpected way I’d be ready to pounce and quadruple down to scoop up deals, but I really don’t expect that to happen on HOF/Superstar upper mid-low high grade 50’s/60’s stuff, which is where I live. I’m a lower mid-grade pre-war guy but I just never see pre-war really falling off a cliff. As others have said… too much is buried in collections of those who properly adore it.

[Yoda]

When big price swings occur, I try to remember that if card prices plunge and the book value of my collection craters, I still have the cards to hold, admire and put under my pillow at night, if necessary; it hardly compares to holding Petcom stock, that old dog, during the dot.com crash of the 90's.

[Exhibitman]

Meanwhile...I am having a stellar sales weekend on eBay, mostly with boxing cards.

The confusion has worked to my favor on one item. I found a rare premium that got shuffled around a bit and BINed it for ten bucks. Gotta love that.

[Ray Van]

A fellow victim, er, eBay seller PM'd me with an interesting hypothesis. He says his sales dropped off markedly when eBay reconfigured its trading card listings. I have noticed the same thing. It is especially bad with boxing cards. You used to be able to browse the Boxing Cards category, but now every search for boxing brings up every listing with "box" in the title. You can somewhat curtail this by doing "-box" in the search, but I think the confusion is making things harder to find and cutting down sales as a result.

Agree with these points, as a soccer card collector it's extra tough since most listings end up in the "not specified" category. Would add (and this might only be an issue for me), on the eBay app it no longer reminds me 15 minutes before the end of an auction. Just started about a week ago but I've already missed out on 10+ auctions that I would have bid on. I can't see where in the settings it would have changed. Time to go back to a sniper service I guess.