Biggest Mistakes as Buyers/Sellers

[wazoo]

In this thread, I want people to explain some of their stories as buyers and sellers, and the biggest mistakes they have made along the way. I'm just curious, for a learning experience.

[ctownboy]

My biggest mistakes were not buying rare things when I found them.

In the days before the internet, I used to go out looking for things all the time. I went to auctions, antique stores, flea markets, antique shows and placed advertisements in newspapers. I did this while in college and thus had only a small amount of money to spend at any one time.

Unfortunately for me, there were times that I found some great stuff but didn't have the money to buy it.

Examples:

1000 N cards (only three baseball players, N28's of Clarkson, Keefe and Caruthers) for $3,500 dollars.

Four times finding stacks of at least 30 B 18's blankets (no Joe Jackson but with Cobb and Johnson) for $8 to $10 dollars a piece if I took them all.

A stack of about 50 cards from the early 1920's including 20 Curtis Ireland Candy cards (including a Ty Cobb) for $1,000 dollars.

A nice Kalamazoo Bats card of a Philadelphia player that had the ad on the back for $600 dollars.

I also remember calling about ads for auctions in the Antique Weekly paper concerning Pinkerton cards. These were not the cabinet cards but the ones with score cards on the back. There were big name players but I never bid on these because back then, they were not considered "real" cards. Only the cabinet cards were considered authentic.

David

[ctownboy]

As a seller here are three horror stories I remember.

1) Buying a HUGE collection from a guy who had closed his sports card store. In this collection were unopened packs of baseball, football, basketball and hockey from the early 1980's.

I was in college and when I got these back to my apartment, I called my friends over and we opened these packs like we were little kids again. In the packs I found Larry Bird/Magic Johnson rookie cards, Wayne Gretzky second year cards, Joe Montana and Dan Marino rookie cards and, of course, rookie cards from baseball among other things.

My two mistakes with these cards were a) opening the packs to begin with and b) trading all these cards (because Beckett hadn't come out with a monthly price guide yet for basketball, football or hockey) to a local card store for some 1968 baseball cards I needed for my set and $20 dollars.

2) Buying a couple of collections of basketball cards that included two Wilt Chamberlain rookie cards. Both were in good condition with one being at least near mint. I traded the lesser condition card for some baseball cards and sold the better condition card for $50 dollars.

3) Going to a retail store and finding some basketball packs that had inserts in them. I bought only the packs with the inserts (because they were in the discount section thus meaning nobody had wanted these cards). I went home and opened the packs and pulled the inserts. At the time, Beckett said these were only worth $5 (Akeem Olajuwon) to $10 (Michael Jordan) dollars a piece with the lesser stars worth less.

I sold/traded these cards to a dealer at a flea market who had a market for new basketball cards. About six months later, Beckett came out and said these were really tough inserts. So the Jordan's ($500 dollars each)and Olajuwon's ($200 or $300 dollars each) I sold/traded for cheap were worth way more than what I got out of them. Heck, even the commons were going for $20 or more dollars a piece.

David

[wazoo]

When it comes to buying, I totally understand. When you have the perfect opportunity to buy a rare card for a good price, buy you're short money, it's an awful feeling. For you as a seller, after reading those horror stories, I feel so badly! Cards that were estimated at so little soon skyrocketed it. But that's the fun in this hobby, the gains, the losses, and the experience.

[Wite3]

I have told this story a few times...

At the National in Anaheim (I think '92) I was standing at Kit Young's table when someone (I forget who) came over with the original Allegheney deck of cards (including the box)...I think Kit bought the cards originally and then let me look through them. I wrote down all the Phillies (still have that original sheet that I wrote on) and asked how much for an example. $100 each was that first quote...I just wish I spent the money then (I think i actually had about $250 in my pocket at the time)...years later I ran into a few of them again at Tik n' Tik for between $500-$1000 each...darn...(as an aside...this was the year that I nearly started a fight at the same National when I put a t206 I had bought behind the Gretzky Wagner that Joe let me hold and you could clearly see the borders of my T206 around the trimmed PSA 8...I was ushered away from the display, there was shouting, it was fun!!)

I also had an opportunity to buy a Felin's Franks card about 17 years ago in the early days of ebay and came up $20 short on my bid (bid at the time was $220!!)...sigh...

Joshua

[wazoo]

Sounds like a tough loss, but a good learning experience. I know those opportunities, and when you find out later how much a card is gone up in value, it makes you wonder how you could let such a good card go by. These stories just allow you to learn for the future, but it was much more different back then. Back then not everyone had the technology. Now, as a 15 year old, I am surrounded by technology, which allows almost anyone the inside scoop, and it is so hard to get advantages over other buyers.

[D. Bergin]

Anybody who was around in the late 80's can remember 1986 Fleer Basketball Unopened boxes selling for under 50 bucks a box for several years.

I'm sure we're all still kicking ourselves for not buying up as many cases we can find to pay for our kids college educations and perhaps a new beach house for our retirement years.

Sadly the majority of us predicted we would ride the backs of Craig Jefferies and Gary Sheffield to the promised land.

I also well remember the case of 1984 Topps Football boxes I sold off for 20 bucks a box and 1970 Topps cello Football I sold for 10-20 bucks a pack.

[steve B]

As a buyer, there have been lots of things I didn't buy. That happens over 30+years.
Probably 7-8 33 Goudey Ruths. all around $100 each. Never bought one.
T206s at 1.50 each or $10 for HOF players.
52 Topps Mantle for under $1000 (The guys I shopped at spent 900 on one, I think a record at the time.) Typical nice ones were around 500.

Pretty much any card I could have bought at 1980 prices......


As a seller?
Not really selling, but I traded for some odd 76 Hostess cards, different colors, reversed negatives, numbers over 150. Got them all for a 74 McCovey washington variation. And promptly traded half of them for another McCovey. I've never seen any others.

And selling the p-f 48 Bowman set I put together to fund a ski trip. I made a bit on it, and I've made a start at a better set, but I still miss it.

And not paying attention to Jeters hits and selling the signature rookies signed card a year or two before he got 3000.


Steve B

[glchen]

My biggest regrets on buying all involve around pricing. There are a bunch of times that I negotiated myself out of a rare card because I was a cheapskate. I would push the seller down and down again to try to get the best price, and in the end, he decided to sell it to someone else, and I realized that I should've just taken his offer. Similar things with setting snipes on ebay. Sometimes, I figure this card will go for a really high price, and I can't really afford it, but I'll just put this lowball snipe out there just for the heck of it. In the end, the winning bid is just one increment higher than my snipe, and I'm in shock. I would probably still have lost, but sometimes, it's hard to get over the thinking that if you had just bid a little more, you might have won the card, and it might not have been a total steal, but it still would have been an extremely good deal.

There's also the flip side of course, where I don't know what I am thinking, and I overbid for a card, especially those that aren't even rare. I've done this so many times that I kick myself and promise that I'll be tougher w/ my buying in the future. That of course, leads to what happens in the previous paragraph.

[zljones]

When I first started collecting again as an adult I made a stupid rookie mistake. I saw a really crappy beat down Hank Aaron rookie card in auction on ebay. The seller was from Canada, the background behind the cartoon characters on the back was white instead of green. And the card looked downright kinda funny. Againt my better judgement, I bid anyway and paid $100 for the card and $25 for shipping. I also never asked the seller about the measurements of the care either. Stupid!

I get the card and low and behold it was a dirty, worthless reprint. I bugged the seller to death that it was sold a reprint. He said he got it from his uncle in the 1980s. He said a friend of his said it was real. I told him it did not measure up and that the background behind the cartoon was white. he refunded the money but did not refund the shipping. I lost $25 then sent it back to him.

A few months later the dirty reprint was returned to me as unclaimed, the seller never even picked it up from the P.O. he had me send it to. I was stupid but made a rookie mistake returning to the hobby, plus I did not know vintage cards, I then took it upon myself to do the research to make sure I never got ripped again. Now it should be really hard to rip me off now.

[GregMitch34]

One could mention mistakes for hours if not days. What about a mistake that turned out swell? About 20 years ago I bought a Hugh Duffy Mayo Cut from a store in NY. Got home and did a little research--even pre-Internet--and discovered that this card did NOT have a black back and was therefore a reprint. Fortunately, the dealer let me return it and pick out another card for about $300. Turned out to be a well-centered Matty t206 with a Cycle back--when few cared about backs. Later graded at PSA 4 and still have it. Might be the only one.

Of course, would have done well with the Duffy, too -- if it had been real!

[ethicsprof]

glad it worked out for you!
It seems like an especially good deal in 2012 but 300 for an ungraded Matty
20 years ago seems a bit high somehow. Perhaps it's just my remembering
buying my first matty 28 years ago(which was the first T206 I every purchased) at my first card convention---and got it for around 15 bucks.
all the best,
barry

[wazoo]

Those are all interesting stories and I really enjoyed reading them. I understand the pain that might have been felt for missing certain deals. After reading that story about the Mathewson, that is just amazing! What a beautiful card. Me being so young, I never had the opportunity to buy rare t206 cards for such good prices. Thank you.

[howard38]

.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Without question selling off my collection not once but twice! Ouch!!!!

[Runscott]

As a buyer, spending big bucks on an issue I didn't really understand, because of a "gut" feel. I was wrong a few times, and seldom right. Do the research before dropping big bucks.

As a seller, never sell something that you love, unless you have a reserve or high starting price. You'll kick yourself forever.

[Iwantmorecards77]

Years ago as a youngster, while visiting a card shop in Cooperstown, I purchased a 1954 Topps Scoop Babe Ruth for $150. Ugh. I recently had it graded (SGC 40) and sold it for around $25. Ouch.

Back in 1992 - (as a 14 year old) I had to decide if I wanted a box of 1992 Stadium Club or 1992 Bowman. The shop I was in had them at the same price. I figured 1991 Stadium was a hot product while 1991 Bowman wasn't. So I went with the 1992 Stadium Club. Big mistake. Funny thing is...I'd rather have a 1991 Bowman set over a 1991 Stadium Club!

On a positive note - at the NY State Fair, I purchased a Parkhurst Tim Horton (hockey)rookie card for $65. About a year or so ago - had it graded (SGC 40) and sold it (to fund other purchases) for $200.01.

...and last winter, I was bolstering my 1980's-1990's rookie card collection...picked up several Josh Hamilton rookies for real cheap before they "took off" this spring.

[t206fix]

My biggest mistake was starting to collect in 1983. By 1989, my collection was at 100,000 cards including massive caches of the rookie cards of Wally Joyner, Gregg Jefferies, Eric Davis, Greg Sheffield, Sandy Alomar jr, etc. Seriously, if I would have invested all that cash in vintage cards back then... But without the Internet, it was impossible to find good, reasonable vintage cards. Besides, in 1986, I thought my 47 rookie cards of Wallyworld were going to finance my plush future lifestyle, not one t206 Cobb! I mean, seriously... What was I thinking. I used to go to Price Savers (early Costco), and see crates of boxes of 1987 donruss, and I would buy 2 boxes for $9.99 each, unwrap the wax, and sit and gloat over my 7 Devon White RCs because he was the next big thing (remember Rated Rookies? Those were gold!) I didn't stop to realize that every other kid, adult, old man was doing the same thing! And the sad thing is it is still going on!!! Think of all that crap that Target and Walmart sell!

[wazoo]

It became so mainstream and the cards were so overproduced that they had no more value. All very interesting stories guys.