I believe that PWCC auctions tend to finish higher than auctions from other sellers. I gauge "market" value as what a card of similar quality (not necessarily the same numerical grade from the same grading company) goes for across all platforms (eBay, AH's, B/S/T, etc) within the past 6 to 12 months at most. Yes, there will be exceptions to this. There have been significant run ups on certain players recently (Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, etc) where a sale from 12 months ago will be meaningless. If a card sells above current market, then it's very possible that it's market value has adjusted upwards. However, it's also possible that it sold high this time (possibly due to 2 or 3 buyers battling it out), and will sell at, or even below, market next time because 1 of the buyers has now acquired the card. Buying it "above market" runs a slight risk if it's the "battling it out" scenario, and I tend to shy away from such risks. If it's a player/card that I badly want, then I'm usually willing to go a bit above market, but not much. There are lots of fantastic, high quality cards out there that are available at public auction, so I choose to not be one of those "battlers", and wait patiently for cards to sell at or below market. I did still win 6 lots in LOTG, and I also won a modest Ruth (below market!) in another recent auction, so I'm confident I'll get more with time and patience. It might take me longer, but I'm in no hurry :-)
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Originally Posted by Snapolit1
I generally agree with this. However, the issues for us collectors is that I suspect in most cases there are relatively few people batting it out for the expensive stuff. Take the beautiful red Gehrig which I didn't win. At the end of the auction there may have been 3 people, including me, pushing that up. What happens when those 3 people get one? The demand could get significantly weaker. Demand is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller. Well the universe of willing buyers is likely pretty small for some specialized stuff.
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