OT: Would You Spend $400,000 for cards that you have not seen?
 

Interesting story about a man who spent $400,000 on a storage shed full of baseball cards sight-unseen.

I wouldn't even buy 1 card without first seeing it.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/08/22/70662.htm

uuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh...NO!

The standard buyer's question of course should be if it's worth $11 million that the seller claims, why would he sell be selling it for $400,000?

The seller probably told the buyer he had $150 in library fines due at the end month and needed the money quickly.

Maybe the buyer figured they were stolen and had to be moved quickly. That's what I generally assume when people sell me millions of dollars of goods out of a storage facility for pennies on the dollar. Maybe I'm too suspicious.

Hadn't thought of that angle.

My natural assumption in such cases appraisal versus offered price cases is that the appraisal is off-- often by multiple times.

A favorite ebay description was the guy selling a card and said (paraphrase): "If this card was graded it would be worth $10,000. But I don't want to pay the $20 grading fee so am offering the card for $500." The funny thing is the some buyers don't see the gaping hole wide enough to drive a six wheeler through in that financial logic, and scammers bank on them.

As I advise in buying, "Use common sense." Another saying is "When the buyer thinks he's getting a steal and there's an ignorant rube involved in the deal, there often is an ignorant rube involved and it's often the buyer."

I remember watching a Shop at Home late night huckster say "I could sell this for $2,000 but am offering it to you for $799." My response was "If you could sell it for $2,000 you'd sell it for $2,000."

At least that would mean the buyer wasn't a complete idiot, definitely unethical.

Was he also offered the Brooklyn Bridge? That woulda sealed the deal for me.

I used this example in the other thread, but I really have no idea what kind of a person falls for this ruse.

If someone offered you a hundred dollar bill if only you traded him your twenty dollar bill instead, would you ever make that trade?

A fool and his money...

Best wishes,

Larry

Howard,

Not meaning to steal your thunder, but Steve A also had a post on this matter:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...light=Brooklyn