is ebay killing high grade 50's-60's market?

[mpduq]

does anyone else feel that ebay is killing the high grade 1950's and 1960's baseball card market. by high grade i mean (psa 8 ,psa 9, sgc 88 and higher). cards consistently sell for 50% of smr or lower. i know that the buyers (myself included) enjoy getting good deals, but it just a matter of time before the price guides start reflecting these prices. as far as trying to sell these cards to dealers, dealers now run to ebay to check prices, they don't care what the smr lists card at, they pay you by what card last sold for on ebay.

here are some examples of cards that i have won on ebay in the last 4 months
1950 bowman bobby layne sgc 88 (my winning bid-102.00) (smr -465)
1957 duke snider sgc 88 170.00 smr -350
1957 don larsen sgc 88 62.00 smr - 120
1964 casey stengel psa 9 73.00 smr -200

even though i enjoy getting deals i don't feel this is good for the future of the hobby

[mintacular]

eBay doesn't KILL anything. SMR is usually 1.5 x 2 overpriced (i.e. a $100 SMR card usually sells for $50-75) Thus, eBay completed sales are a closer actual market $ to what the market truly bears, compared to SMR.

If your business plan is based on getting SMR prices on graded stuff, then you are in for a world of hurtin', and deservedly so, IMO...

[Chris Counts]

It sounds to me like the free market is setting the price. Isn't that the way it should be?

[ibuysportsephemera]

I think that eBay has been the price guide for many collectibles for YEARS now.

Jeff

[Chris Counts]

I completely agree with you, Jeff. And unlike the other services, it doesn't cost anything to look at eBay ...

[Exhibitman]

Welcome to the Great Recession. With all that's going on is it any surprise that cards are feeling the pinch?

The basic problem with high grade mainstream postwar cards is that they aren't all that uncommon. I don't think there is an 8/88 out there that can't be found readily with a little effort. With that availability deferring a purchase is easy. Now, if you take a 1 of 1 card or a very low pop card, it will still sell very nicely even with fewer people out there to compete for it.

Of course, if you really care about value maintenance, stop collecting plastic and start collecting classics--go prewar and go rare when you do. When a rare prewar card surfaces it does well in almost any market.

[JasonL]

if buyers are thinking that they are getting good deals relative to the SMR value....helps keep the buyer buying!
It's like an Indian Rug store that has the perpetual "Going out of Business Sale!"
Why wouldn't you buy????
Deals galore!

[ThoseBackPages]

i wish more eBay sellers would list LOW end slabs in the "auction" format

[wilkcards]

SMR value doesn't mean much anymore. It doesn't reflect the market.

Also, it's just full of errors. check 52 topps #20 billy loes. smr value of psa 7 is $850, and psa 7.5 is $750. I emailed them a couple weeks ago and they still haven't fixed it. Pathetic.

[Rich Klein]

Here's a link to that thread.

http://forums.collectors.com/message...hreadid=745237

Rich

[Exhibitman]

Nice CU thread.

I have to laugh at people who take the SMR's articles seriously. The SMR is not an objective piece of journalism nor a serious research journal. It is a public relations device for PSA. That is why they cover shiny crap like Dan Marino cards--to drum up submissions of large pop modern cards as the finite supply of vintage dwindles.

[fkw]

If properly listed,.... I always thought eBay was the Market Value

For any collectible big or small.

[Exhibitman]

I don't think it is quite that simple, Frank, at least for cards; it isn't like the NYSE. There is a considerable segment of the collecting public for expensive cards that do not deal with Ebay for a variety of reasons. The same card that sells for $100 on Ebay frequently sells for considerably more in a major auction or even via sale here on the BST. Ebay's changes haven't made it any better, either; the place has become an abbatoir for sellers of late, with results far worse than auctions.