Posted By:
Jack RichardsThe biggest problem with card investments, it seems to me, is the difference between wholesale and retail. Buy a card, any card, then walk to the dealer next door and try to sell it. Asuming he's willing to buy it (always a questionable proposition), you're doing pretty well if you get 80%. More likely, you'll get 60-70% on a good day.
Dealers often cite SMR when they buy a high end "investment" card ("I'll give you 100% of book"), then turn around and ignore the book when they sell the card at 3-5 times SMR. So as a card buyer/seller, you can get stuck between a rock and a hard place: buying at inflated prices, and selling at deflated prices with a high "commission."
Direct Internet selling, with or without the assistance of established auction houses, can allow a seller to reduce the overhead, but no matter how you cut it, it is easier and cheaper to sell stocks and bonds than it is to sell baseball cards. Geesh, it can be easier and cheaper to sell a house.
Of course, not too many people like to take their stock and bond certificates or their deeds out of the safe to look at them on a regular basis.
Thanks, Jack