Buyer frenzy
 

I don't know if I'm just a poor loser - ok. I am - or the good pickings are slim. But EVERY single card I've set my sights on lately have been blasted outta the water way beyond VCP prices. I even gotten so bold as to go beyond the norm with my own bids, wayyy beyond. All I can say, if you got something good to sale, go for it. Sniping has become a BOLD game and a profitable side affect for sellers. Still waiting on that to happen to me when I sell :) I still get amazed and chuckle when two people tangle themselves up hundreds of dollars above typical price. May yield alot of no pay bidders ...... I'm changing from vintage to 1992 donruss. Dare you to outbid me !! In summary, from my vantage point, record sale prices are being set beyond my personal comprehension (checkbook). Nite people !

Last few weeks same with me on eBay...can't win a thing. And I agree - most of the time recently I'm losing by a lot! I also agree that these items are going way over VCP. Who knows why?

Cheers,
Blair

Without knowing which cards were at issue, it is speculative to respond. Some possibilities:

Maybe because "past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future" as Vanguard puts it.

Maybe because all it takes is 2 people wanting the card to make a fight of it.

Maybe because VCP creates a downward spiral of pricing that bottomed out with the last few sales. Lots of collectors refuse to pay more than VCP and want to pay less. Then the prices are reported on VCP at a new low, and the cycle repeats. Maybe you hit bottom and did not know it.

Maybe because the card(s) were infrequently transacted and the VCP "price" was stale.

Maybe because you wanted the card at a low price but others wanted the card more than you.

Maybe because prices are doing this thing called rising...

It could just be a little blip...It happens from time to time and I become convinced I will never be able to buy another baseball card and then things settle down.

I'm not sure WTF you guys are talking about?!?! I've picked up a few cards in the last week or two at very reasonable prices...I thought?!?!

Without any specific info...this is a show...I mean thread about...nothing!!!

Time of year affects prices too, at least from my experience. The same card might not sell for as much, or have the same number of bidders in the dead of winter January. Seeing as how we are smack in the middle of baseball season, coming off the news of Black Swamp Find sale, prices are up across the board. Give it time man, you'll get what you want. Patience is difficult, I struggle with it a lot. But eventually you'll find the card you want.

Rich

Agree - prices seem up
 

Yesterday a 1926-29 Ruth Exhibit (Pose) PSA 5 went off. I thought I put in a SOLID bid - but was outbid by a lot. Hmmm, bummer, really wanted that one.

Seriously? I only run straight ebay card auctions when I can't get fair market value any other way - after expenses, I'm generally about 10% below my COST. So someone is getting deals. I guarantee you - my prewar cards, for the most part, sell well below VCP. Not whining, that's just the way it is.

Those ruth exhibits...like many ruth issues...have taken off last 6-12 months or so...esp in nice grade. There are still a fair amt of inexpensive...period ruth cards...but no longer strips...and no longer exhibits.

Surprisingly the 25' champions ruth exhibit is still kinda cheap?

My guess is that there is more shenanigans going on, on ebay, than any place else in the hobby. I would bet some of those higher prices might be run up in a shill-type manner. ....

realized selling prices
 

I do think it has been more of a sellers market this year than the last couple years...and coinciding, yes it has been much tougher to buy this year than the last couple years also....Memory Lane auctions just recently had many head scratchers....a couple examples of PSA 8'S, nothing extremely special...a 56T Williams sold for over $3000 with the juice, and a 61 Mantle sold for over $2600....both at levels I have never seen before....these were not 8.5's (let alone a 9) and probably would never be in an 8.5 graded holder.....Bruce Perry

I bid on that exact same card, with the same results. :(

Rich

Welcome to my world. It can be maddening. It may just be bad karma. PS Sometimes you have to wonder if some of those off chart prices are the house against one bidder. Just saying.

I have random needs and interests.... 1954 eddie mathews johnston cookies.... Upwards of $360 at psa 8...... blew past $275 somewhat early.. I threw in the towel and said 'thank you lord for not letting me get desperate and try to set a $400 snipe'........... if electric bill is not paid, then internet does not work, and I can't bid, and post to Net 54.. I think some high bidders probably do me a favor .... damn them ! Thanks for all the open minded, candid responses to my post guys

if you want to see some low prices for a change, try selling something. It works every time.:D

I have found myself on the wrong side of the "we buy junk and sell antiques" scenerio too many times. I just stopped selling ANYTHING. If I get something, it is mine for my version of forever.......:D:D:D

you too !!! Patiently waiting for that dueling snipe bids that jump your card up $150 or more last second !!! I don't get that fortunate. Apparently you don't either. But, as long as we are ethical, that's the bottom line and we can sleep better with $100 less in our pocket, but pissed :-)

I'm not sure what you guys are looking for, but I just kicked off a bunch of pre-war straight auctions, and if last week is a predictor, I should end up selling for at least $1K under my costs. If that's not cheap enough for you, I have no idea what you are looking for....free cards?

You shall make more shillings if you shill.

Can I respectfully make a suggestion? I looked at your auctions and you seem to have decided not to sell to Canada. Your calll, but with the CDN $ roughly at par with US, there are a lot of Canadians looking to buy from the US right now. And even on these boards, there are obviously lots of serious Canadian collectors. Population of Canada is roughly equal to California.

If an auction seller complained to me that he wasn't doing well, and I saw that his auction rules included "no bids from California", I'd have little sympathy. Just sayin...

Cheers,
Blair

EDITED - my original response sounded negative toward Canadians, which isn't my intent, so I'll try again :)

Nope - too many problems shipping outside the USA. Regardless of who's fault it is, it isn't worth the aggravation. The only reason I originally posted was to call BS on the claim that ebay straight auctions are resulting in HIGH prices. If you run an honest auction, your prices are generally going to be below VCP, regardless of what countries you include/exclude. I'm not paranoid enough to think that I'm personally being picked on by the entire ebay card-collecting community - it's a seller-wide thing.

It would suck if I could not buy Hockey from Canada. 95% of my Hockey purchases come from the great country of Canada. Jusy sayin...

If you are a seller in the business of Hockey cards then I can see Canada inclusion as a must, but Baseball cards you can get away with excluding Canada bidders because of the shipping issues. If you sell let's say 100 items at once and maybe 20 high bidders are from Canada and pay at different times, you will have to make several trips to the post office. If you can't make it the PO to send those on time because of a busy schedule, buyers may zing you on stars for delivery, then ebay and Paypal will block you from receiving instant payment in the future.
I don't know if Ebay has a shipping label you can print for international orders at home, but I would not trust it, because I know the PO can come up with that it's wrong or some crap like that and return the item.

Hi Zach,

Not disagreeing with the hassle.

But here is something auction sellers often forget. It is not only about winning bidders. For every lot any bidder wins, they might place bids on 30 other lots they don't win. They might be the underbidder (the guy who drives the price up) on 15 other lots that the seller never has to ship to Canada...but possibly gets a much higher price on as a result.

The final price in an auction is not set by the winner...it is set by the underbidder.

Anyway, every seller needs to weigh the pros and cons - but if it was me, I'd never exclude 35 million people in a neighboring country with a fairly strong economy/currency from bidding on an auction I was holding.

Cheers,
Blair

Blair, Have you ever had a winning bidder open a case against you because an item you sold was sitting in customs? It locks up your Paypal funds. It used to be that I could not actually stop Canadians from bidding (the ebay software didn't work). If they won, I would warn them of the border and insurance issues, they would say "fine", then they would still open a case and sometimes ding me on feedback. Go figure, those nice Canadians.

In addition, I prefer to offer free shipping, but I can't do that with Canada because of the high cost of insurance, and I simply won't send a $100+ item off uninsured, especially when another country is involved. I understand your frustration, and I'm not sure if the border hold-up issue is Canada's fault, or that of the USA, but it's a problem. We've had this discussion here MANY times, and the non-US collectors have yet to convince me that I'm making a mistake. Maybe I am, but I'm still waiting for a convincing argument.

Regarding hockey cards, most hockey teams are in the United States, so the main hockey market is also in the United States. Not offering shipping to your PRIMARY market would be kind of foolish. The main market for baseball cards is the USA, regardless of the actual population of Canada.

BTW - we run into the same issues with pool cues. There are some really major buyers of expensive cues in Indonesia, Japan, and other far east countries. Unfortunately, it's just not safe to ship to most of them. If ebay protected both buyer and seller in a fair manner, it might not be an issue, but they don't, so it is.

As it stands, I actually DO ship to non-US countries, but only via private, non-ebay transactions. More than anything, it's a problem with how ebay fails to protect sellers.

Well, it is one of the greatest looking Ruth cards ever made, IMO.
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...ize/Ruth_2.jpg

Just what Scott said, Ebay blocks Paypal funds if something does not go smoothly with a purchase, that is the main reason why I would worry. I had a point in time where I wanted to sell something and I did not even know Ebay was punishing me for transactions from ayear prior and I had to pay out of pocket for shipping. They told me they would cover me on shipping, just go ahead and get a label. When I did it withdrew from my checking account. The next rep told me I did it wrong, I said no the rep before told me how to do it that was what I was told. They apologized but would not refund for the time being.
They were punishing me because last summer because a few buyers left me avg 4.7 stars for shipping, despite all positive feedback Ebay zinged me. Back then I had a few packages returned to me because of incorrect postage amounts, I even messaged to buyers to let them know what happened, they left me positive, I gave refunds on shipping. Back then ebay did not punish for stars, but those old transactions carried over to this year! Now I know how to ship from home electronically, except for international packages.
My overall point is, is that it's unfair how Ebay blocks seller funds because of stars. Especially 4 stars or above! :mad:

I still sell to Canada but in most cases only when they pm me first to ask if its ok to bid.

The reason I turned it off was my only two 1-2 DSR in the last 12 months were to cards sales to Canada and both times the cards were in the mail the next day and got held up in customs and the buyers wacked me, really pissed me off so I just stopped. Sorry I know not everyone is like that but until ebay does something it just not worth it on the low dollar cards.

I also generally agree to sell to Canada if the buyer asks first. Heck, I shipped the T206 O'Hara St. Louis to Canada, but we were both very clear on the details.

I would do the same for a Canadian buyer that asked me first, because usually someone that would go out of their way to ask will not screw you over with the stars or disputes if you do business with them

Hi Scott,

You misunderstand me...I'm not the least bit frustrated. Your competitors are more than willing to take every dime I have to spend on pre-war baseball (and then some :)).

I was only offering some free advice, which is worth exactly what you paid for it. :D

Cheers,
Blair

Hi Bruce!

It is ok if this happens in Memory Lane's auctions just not in Goodwin's.

Greg

The Williams was quite a sale. Here are the recent VCPs on that card in an 8.


6/16/12

eBay

Auction | Image

dogdirtbag

j***j

12

$810.00







5/30/12

eBay

Auction | Image

dogdirtbag

u***7

23

$851.99







5/25/12

Sterling Sports

Auction | Image





13

$862.50







5/25/12

Mile High

Auction | Image





7

$931.77







4/14/12

eBay

Listing | Image

mikedenero

i***g

BIN

$1,100.00

Noticed an Abbatichio (sic) t206 in PSA 3 going for approx 150.00 with a day left in auction format. Don't know where it ended, but that's what, 40.00 or so usually?

Curious?

Can you Give uS an Example of a couple of the cards that You were "blasted outta the water, way beyond VCP prices?"

TIA...

Blair, I took your "free advice" for exactly what it was worth, so we're both good.

Ruth cards are incredibly hot. Not sure why but the prices are crazy. Maybe it started with the M101-4/5s, but the Felix Mendelsohn that recently sold went for a huge number and I think that if an E135 like Ruth came out it would post a really big number too.

Of the 150+ cards I've purchased in the last year, all from the US, only one went MIA for a few months, the rest have all shown up within two weeks. Yes, Customs is a pain & a few days delay.

A $5 bubble mailer usually covers any card up to $100, if it's a big $$ card I'll usually go FedEx. I certainly appreciate those on here that ship up north ;)

When I buy cards, I will eyeball the location. If I have a choice, I will opt for a card in the US. Generally, I have had no problems getting cards from Canada. It takes a few extra days though. One day last spring, I won 2 lots. One was from Canada and the other from Germany. The lot from overseas beat the Canadian lot to my door by almost a week, even though both sellers sent them the next day.:)

Crafty Canadians
 

I too block any international sales, due to MANY issues. But I will sell if contact is made prior and terms are agreeable.

My favorite Canadian transaction was from a guy in Saskatchewan. He bought almost everything he (and friends) needed in the US via online. The shipping address he would give was a hardware store in Noonan, ND. Then once a week or so he would drive down and pick up his loot.

I won't sell internationally either. WAY too many headaches. It's just worth it. Anyone who has spent any time selling on eBay would agree.

Rich

+1

I haven't really noticed a buyer frenzy on my auction items. Though sales have generally been good.

As far as selling to Canada, my best customers are Canadian. I haven't had any problems in the 11 years I've been selling cards internationally. Also, after years of handwriting all my shipping envelopes, I've finally gotten with the program and printed my first shipping label to Canada yesterday. It was painless.

The thing that bothers me about international shipping is the fact that eBay now charges an extra fee to have your items available for viewing by U.K. customers. This just nags at me and I won't pay the extra fee when it used to be free.

Simply untrue.

Cheers,
Blair

Tony, glad to hear this. More pleasant responses regarding these transactions would certainly get me to reconsider my stance.

At one point I bought into the idea that the extra international bids would drive my prices up and thus negate the negatives of extra shipping costs, increased angst, locked up funds and negative feedback due to impatience. But the increased angst was ultimately what killed it - it just wasn't fun dealing with those 1-2 bad apples per year. At that time, on ebay I was only allowing U.S. and Canada - not other countries. I dealt with other countries non-ebay - no problems.

For the most part, it still simply comes down to how ebay handles things - non-ebay, most anything can be worked out.

I offer international shipping worldwide on all my Ebay listings. I have had only 1 or 2 bad experiences in the past few years. That is a comparable if not better percentage than I have had with US buyers. You are going to run into unreasonable buyers no matter what country they reside in.

As a whole, international buyers seem to be more polite and appreciative. I have noticed of late that packages are taking much too long to get to my Canadian buyers. In fact, I shipped about 40 items internationally on Mon, August 6th to places like Canada, Germany, Italy, Austrailia, etc. I started receiving positive feedback from the non-Canadian buyers within a week to ten days, whereas it took a minimum of 2 weeks to receive feedback from my Canadian buyers. I recently got my first low DSR (1-2 stars) for shipping time from a Canadian buyer.

It pains me to say, but if this persists I may have to stop selling to Canada. My Top-Rated Seller status is far too valuable to risk losing.

I lost mine because I was charging actual shipping costs - had two buyers complain, and even after I showed them the shipping receipts ... status gone soon after.

Now I only do free shipping on baseball cards. But again, mostly to reduce the angst of senseless friction.

That is my biggest fear is those dang stars. Since I am not usually a seller, anyone that zings my stars can block my funds thanks to Ebay. As a not very often seller like me I am basically skating on thin ice at all times so I crossed out all international and U.S. protectorite regions. If ebay was not so tight on stars like that then I would certainly ship international.

Well, he said "it's just worth it"......