White Plains NY Card show this weekend

[slidekellyslide]

A dingo ate my Goudey!

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by Jim VB

Here's one thing I find ironic. We have one thread going about dealers asking ridiculous prices at shows, and another thread going about dealers asking ridiculous prices for BINs on Ebay.

It seems to me that these are often the same guys, and they are the first and loudest to tell you how bad business is!

As someone who spent 20+ years in the retail business, there is a relationship between price and time, when you try to sell anything. The seller holds the key however.

If I list the T206 Gretzky Wagner for sale tomorrow for $5,000,000, it won't sell. If I listed it for $100,000, it would sell immediately. Somewhere in between those two extremes is the point where it will sell at a reasonable price, in an acceptable time frame.

A seller who prices too high, doesn't adjust, and then complains about poor sales, doesn't understand the relationship, and probably never will.

This industry was easy for years, for some guys to make a living without actually having to be good at it. As things slowed down, some haven't figured it out.

Please let me add - MOST seem not to have figured it out. Further, when a dealer carries the same inventory with very little to no "fresh" material - how does he expect to sell more when the same people are looking at it a second or third time??

[t206head]

I don't see what all the stink is about .I buy card lots of cards I went to the white plains show with a bag of type cards that had to go, no real gems but so good stuff t3 hof's tons of raw obaks and some lower grade 1914 cj hofs. I sold the lot for about 2500. I walked out with A green cobb sgc 30 for $900 a psa 3 red cobb (old mill) for $750, and four other hof t206 for no more than vcp standard value. it all seemed fair to me... BOB

ps thank evan and rob Silverman

[yanksfan09]

Rob Miller:

Yeah, that was me at the SGC table. That was cool meeting someone from the board. I don't think I have before.

Mike from SGC is a nice guy, SGC and other the grading services make the shows much more worthwhile. Even if you don't find any good buys you can at least take care of grading, buy supplies etc....

[bcbgcbrcb]

One interesting thing of note was a "1907" Ty Cobb Postcard in an SGC holder at the Huggins & Scott table which I had never seen before. I don't recall the issuer but it was for the purposes of marketing a product and could possibly be a 1/1.

The strange thing about it was that it specifically mentions on the back of the postcard that Cobb is 21 years old but the postmark on the back shows a date of October - , 1907. Cobb was born in December - , 1896, which would make him only 20 at the time that the postcard could have been issued based on the postmark date (no issue date is indicated anwhere on the postcard)..............

[Mrc32]

I'm no dealer, but I have heard dealers in the past say that they price their items high on ebay and at shows because getting high quality Pre-War inventory is quite hard.

Its not like people walk in with a stack full of Orange Borders every day. So when they get good stuff they price it high in hopes to make some good coin on it.

I don't condone the practice, but everyone should realize that inventory for pre-war dealers ain't that easy to come buy.

Every collector likes to get a deal....and I'm sure every dealer out there likes it when someone overpays.

[HRBAKER]

Business may be bad but by appearances most seem to be eating fairly well at the shows I have been to. Of course a cheeseburger is cheaper than a treadmill.

[calvindog]

Jeff, that's funny. Actually, I kept thinking of the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. Pretty much all the dealers looked like him.

[Robextend]

Unfortunately a good portion are also just as arrogant as Comic Book Guy!!

[barrysloate]

Comic Book Guy is unquestionably modeled after some of the characters in our hobby. John Swartzwelder, who wrote more Simpsons episodes than any other writer, was a memorabilia collector. He even once bid and won something in my auction (it happened more than a decade ago so hopefully if he is reading this he will be okay with it).

No question there is an obesity problem in the baseball card hobby.

[Griffins]

In an old issue of VCBC Adam Warshaw described many card dealers as "pig men in muu muu's"

I initially thought it was pretty harsh but walking around the national proved there are more than a few candidates for that title.

[RichardSimon]

I am not going to name the dealer who is no longer with us, but was a regular at White Plains. His t-shirts had more holes than swiss cheese. And I am sure Jeff would have passed similar judgments about him as he has about his recent experiences at White Plains.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by calvindog

The problem with this hobby/business is that dishonesty is so deeply ingrained that it's just laughed off. I usually don't get pissed off unless I'm on the receiving end of a fraud. Problem is that in this hobby it happens everyday and is met with a shrug instead of shock.

Sadly true.

[bijoem]

Jeff,

The White Plains show is just not good for vintage.

The Philly Show was much better - but has been slipping lately (although it is still better than White Plains).
I wish you had gone to the Philly Show a few years ago - you would have a better feeling about shows in general.
I am hopeful the Philly Show will get back to where it was. I think it can.

The National is better than them all. Much better. A different league.
Don't let the White Plains show influence your decision to go to the National.

Although.... if you don't go to the National - I will enjoy picking up a Cobb card you don't have, or better yet - a Chase card you don't have - and then spend the next year or two showing it to you before each NYC dinner (right before we begin eating).

The National is within driving distance for us... if you can manage it work-wise / you would be crazy to miss it.

[barrysloate]

I think we are due for a NYC dinner.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I think we are due for a NYC dinner.

I will have my secretary call my chauffer and rsvp for me. Please expect me to be 30 minutes late. I don't want to give the wrong impression.

[barrysloate]

He comes to the dinners by limousine- that's the truth.

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

He comes to the dinners by limousine- that's the truth.

Original post deleted because I'm really not in the mood to receive a bunch of PMs littered with misspellings and whose meanings are too much trouble to decipher.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I think we are due for a NYC dinner.

Barry, I've got a trial coming up in Boston so the sooner the better. How about a day next week?

[JamesGallo]

Guys seriously I think you are generally be a bit harsh.

I like to think of myself as a collector, but have started selling at the Philly show the last year.

Although there are a lot of heavy smelly guys, I don't think that is specific to any one hobby and I know there are a decent amount of people that don't fit into that sterotype as well.

I go up to White Plains to meet and chat with dealers and to see what the pulse of the hobby is.

I found it very interesting to know that the place was packed on Saturday and very busy. Sales seemed very good almost all around and there weren't too many sad faces when I was there Sunday.

I didn't really buy much but I am looking for a small selection of cards so anything I picked up with a huge bonus. I enjoy talking cards and have been and continue to do that with several dealers at this show. If I see something that is over priced I just walk away. That being said I think most dealers will work with you and most aren't 3-4x value on cards.

I do think that if something is rare then the price card be all over the map. I know I have a few cards that many people think are priced high but they are rare and have few price points so it is hard to pin point a true value without an auction.

Anyway I will be in Philly in March and will hope that if anyone is interested in something I have that they will chat with me about it. Somethings I have more room on then others and somethings I am just tired of looking at, it really just depends.

I still very much enjoy the shows and will continue to go to them. By not going to shows I think you miss something and a part of the hobby that perhaps I enjoy more then anything else.

Please LMK if there is a NYC dinner, I came up for one and would love to make another one.

James G

[Rickyy]

I think now the only show I attend these days are the virtual Net 54 card show.

[barrysloate]

Jeff- I'll send Sarno an email and see if we can set something up.

James- we'll keep you posted.

[Jim VB]

Deleted because Barry is such a nice guy!

[barrysloate]

I caught it! I'm beginning to think it's a visual thing- I'll check my posts two or three times and still not see it.