Direct
 

Right. If I do not know the seller or he know me, eBay is safer

This would only give you a small window into their performance. It would not capture their direct sales, nor does it give any insight to their cost basis on the cards sold. Not to mention, we have no idea of their overhead, staffing, or other expenses.

So, I agree that, until these businesses go public, we can only conjecture on the success, or lack thereof, of these players. I find it curious that some members just assume they're killing it (not saying you said that, Jake, but others have made the comment.) I recognize there may actually be attorneys or accountants on this board with intimate knowledge of their financials, but most would not have that visibility.

Correct. An eBay search only takes into account that one specific aspect of what they do. We already know Dean's has his own site, not sure on Yep. There are other issues we have no clue about as to why they price as high as they do. My best guess is they either feel that their pricing is the perfect balance between supply and demand (I don't think it is, but I don't have all the information), they are in on their cards for a lot, or they just like to price their stuff high and are able to wait it out. No matter what the reason, their prices are higher than what the actual market dictates, IMO. Some would argue that they sell cards, so that's the market, but that's a false narrative. The best indicator is however close they are to the middle of the supply and demand axis. I don't think they're center, but again, I'm only basing that on what I've looked at for their eBay sells. Lots of other means of selling than just eBay.

I bought a couple cards from Levi some years ago -- '52 Topps Minoso and Pitler as I recall. I was quite satisfied although I suspect I paid a premium for the cards. I admire Levi for his role in the hobby. Setting up at all the shows with an amazing array of cards. An honest and colorful guy -- a 'pillar' of the hobby in my view.

As to pricing, I've never had a problem with sellers who insist on a premium above auction/market value. The point I've made a couple of times is that eBay was a hell of a lot more fun and productive for collectors in the days of auctions, before the proliferation of BINs.

Winner! Or, it's "honey, I swear, I'm trying to sell these cards."

sold listings do mean something though..you can see who actually pays full retail value and when they do direct sales they will close those active listings as not available.......

I was gonna question if they put their entire supply on ebay and then I went ahead and noticed the Dean's Cards has over 250,000 listings, so yeah. LOL

The answer is simple. If they sell at fair market prices, all the cards sell at low margins, they work hard to ship them out, and they have no more inventory. End of business.

By pricing them at double fair market, they sell a little at a time, don't rush to ship them out, but the profit margin is 8 times higher. A nice leisurely pace and they don't run out of inventory. And they make as much profit each month compared to selling them all right away.

Business model is predicated on the fact that when many collectors "need" a card, they have no patience and pay the higher price.

So basically, when anyone buys from these sellers, they overpay and keep the cycle of high-priced cards going.

right say what you want about PWCC auctions etc, but most of those auctions if you are patient will allow you to get the same card as BINs for far less ...but you have to be willing to wait..