How frequent is too frequent?
 

Suppose you have a rare card that another board member wants in their collection, at what frequency of receiving messages from them asking if you were interested in selling would you start to get annoyed? Once every 3 months? Once a year? Anything more than once is too much? Likewise, how frequently would you message another board member to see if they were interested in selling you a card you wanted?

Are you responding you arent Interested? I'd say once every 3 months is fine.

3 or 4 times right away then once every 3 months would be OK. More than that would annoy me.

Doesn't bother me.

We only rent these cards. At some point you will sell, and hopefully you will remember he wants it

Yeah, not seeing a problem with any of the given options as long as the inquiries are respectful. Weekly is a different story. You can always reply saying you're going to ignore their emails and will respond if/when you're ready to sell. You control what emails you open.

Respectful communication is your guide. Read the recipient or plain out ask him if you can tickle in a week / month / quarter.

Just once period. According to my wife, “NO means NO!”

some of it would depend on who’s asking. if it’s the guy on the BST who prices PSA 6 OC cards as if they are PSA 8s but then wants to buy your cards at 60 percent of retail, once is enough for me. if it’s someone who’s a collector and wants it for his collection, then for me every 3 months is fine.

DJ- I haven’t PMed you in months about a Red Croft’s or any of your other rare and awesome cads?!?!? :D

If I want something, I usually offer very strong and then circle back once per quarter- I think the “bother” is less so if the offer is real and very substantial.

If I had something someone wants and I am not looking to sell, I say so very unequivocally hoping to end the inquiry (but I am almost always up for a trade)

Maybe you could just ask the board member who wants your card to move in with you??? :D That way he could look at the card all he wants in person and he wouldn't be bothering you anymore. WIN WIN for everybody!

Not to get off topic but Ryan your collection is.......breathtaking is a good word. I appreciate you sharing it. I wish more people did the same.

Thanks Scott!

Similar to what has been shared
 

The only thing not yet stated that I am aware of is the other persons response to the initial inquiry - If they sound or communicate there is some interest in exploring, but no interest in selling "right now" or something of a similar nature - that would indicate the possibility of sooner than later - I would be asking pretty quickly what it would take and how soon I could follow up. If it was a flat out NO - the card is slated to be buried with me, then I agree any of the options you suggested in a respectful way would be okay.

Ditto - WOW! What a collection - That W600 Wagner is AWESOME!!!

That sounds excessive to me. Assuming this is an unsolicited request once is fine, followed by a keep me in mind when you sell. Then I'd say maybe once a year or so afterwards.

I definitely agree about Ryan's collection. Very impressive.

Brian, I'm glad you feel this way. BTW, are you ready yet to part with your W504 card of Sam Rice? :D

I vote for once every three months.

lol

Val has the tenacity of a very likable and polite terrier!

I'd say once a year tops. The top item on my want list is something a fellow board member won when it first went up for auction ("new to the hobby") at Heritage in 2013. I missed the auction and didn't find out about it until the winner posted a picture in a monthly pick-up thread here. I messaged him with an offer when I had enough money. He declined. I messaged him 2 years later with a larger sum of money, and he replied:

"I'm not holding out for more money - your offers have been generous and I don't play that game anyway. I get that you really would like to have it. Maybe someday you will, but just not now."

So maybe I have to wait another 10 or 20 years. That's fine. I can just check Facebook and play Sudoku in the meantime. But if it comes up again I'll mortgage my house if I need to. Not sure if I'm kidding.

I know that guy. He sucks. :)

Back to thread topic - tell the potential buyer that you will contact him if/when you decide to sell. If he still asks to buy the card, then he is being too aggressive. Counter him with no reply OR just put an insane $ on it. It sometimes surprises me how much some people are willing to shell out for what they want.

well
 

met someone at a national 8-10 years ago. Shortly after meeting him he happened to post something in monthly pick-ups that would be the centerpiece of my collection. It was an item that really didn't "fit" in his collection (non-sport as opposed to BB) so I wrote him with a STRONG offer and he respectfully declined. I wrote him about 6 months later raising my offer and long story short - I wrote him and raised my offer once or twice for the next few years to around 10,000. (I'm no whale but I HAD to have it!). He answered me for a while then stopped responding - I figured he was tired of hearing from me. Fast forward couple more years and I manage to speak to someone at whose national table I had originally met the person, and he in turn was able speak to that person on my behalf. Apparently the owner who had turned down my 10,000. offer for an item (likely one of a kind) worth at least few thousand (?) at auction was robbed of his stuff including the display item I had to have...…
In another case I wrote someone 2/3 times about an item within a 6 month period. They always answered but declined. I stopped writing. Fast forward 3(!) years and they offered it to me at my price :-)