Observations from the Card Show Front Lines - UPDATED!!!

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I know what you wrote is not a verbatim quote of what the dealer said, but the moment he bitterly remarked how you're looking at your phone to try to "squeeze" him, tells you all you need to know.

If the last ten sales of a card went for $100, and his price is $200, then the last thing in the world you're trying to do is strong-arm him by asking if he'll take a price that's a little closer to a single Benjamin for it...to be in line with what everyone else is selling that card for.

He's the one doing the effin' squeezing with his ridiculous price. To go with the snake theme of my show post, let's call him a Boa ConPRICKtor.

I don't know that he actually said "squeeze" but that was sure the point. I was not appreciating his great time and effort in already (over-) pricing all of his inventory for me before I got there. Yep, sorry.

With yet another 40%+ high guy, I got the old "I have more in the card than that, sorry" - before I offered a tight, wan smile, thanked him, and walked away. In this case it was a '56 Aaron White Back in a PSA 3, which would have been an improvement over my PSA 2 that I have not had for that long. The cards were comparable, sure, but his had better color. Long story short, his "best price" after coming down 50 bucks from sticker was still roughly on the order of $140 more than recent VCP comps.

(As an aside - yes "VCP average" is just a tool, a starting point, and not something set in stone. I would generally agree that if you aren't willing to ever pay more than the "average" price then you will likely wind up with a lot of "average" looking slabs in terms of centering, color, other intangibles. But I digress...)