Is this a bad time to buy?
 

With Many people sitting home with not much to do it seems that prices are jumping on many items across the board. Being a collector for a while it makes me think if it’s a good time to buy or not. Thoughts?

Was wondering the same thing - but I am still buying when I see value. Prices on some sectors seem inflated - avoiding those. Guessing it's temporary, but maybe this environment will bring more folks into the hobby, longer term?

It's kind of a double-edged sword scenario. Right now, seemingly 99% of the country (i.e. collectors) is in home isolation, and spending their days looking on ebay and buying things. Many cards I was watching (50's-60's stuff) went for pretty big, surprising prices. But if this quarantine continues to go on and the states aren't able to open up for business, the reality of job/income loss is going to hit even harder than it already has, and less and less people will be able to spend their money on non-essentials like baseball cards. Whether you're a buyer or seller, let's all hope that doesn't happen.

There's never a bad time to buy, only a bad deal to buy.

Buy common stuff cheap, buy rare stuff when you can, sell what you don't really care about into the teeth of a rising market. Same as it ever was.

So well said
 

That said, some of the auctions I have followed have seen items sell for what I would call WAY over market value - per the above quote - I bid, but didn't win anything and walked away shaking my head.

I wonder if there is some type of psychological forces at play causing some to pay such high prices.

Yeah, they're bored.

I'm sure glad to hear others are experiencing it. I cannot believe the prices.
I decided to fill in some holes in my 70's and even early 80's...9's selling where 10's were just a couple of months ago. Very impressed with the market on these items.
That said, it DOES seem like quality on eBay is scarcer than I can ever remember. I haven't won many cards in May at all...or even April. I'm bidding pretty strong but...not strong enough.

I suppose these things go in cycles? It's more of a stock market vibe than it was when I collected from 1976-2006. Feels like many cards I was too slow on have jumped away from my reality, Lol.

I will admit I have overpaid (though not horribly...) on a few things here during quarantine because, well - dammit - I want that card. Boredom is certainly a factor.

It seems anything I see, already has 5 or so people who have viewed it.

During this time, I finished my 53 Bowman set in overall vg-ex condition with nothing less than vg. Prices are definitely more expensive than what they were in Jan through mid-March. I began the upgrades, but cards that were running $7-$10 in excellent condition earlier are easily being posted at double the price now.

In looking at sales, I see a number of those cards relisted week after week. The prices went up, but the condition of those cards did not. Of course, the premium cards are selling for high dollars, but for the collector's grade stuff the sales prices are more reasonable.

I have been upgrading some of my cards to ex to ex/mint, but I've decided to largely wait until if or when asking prices settle. I have a several ungraded ex plus to ex-mint commons I may advertise for trade to upgrade a few of my commons.

Agreed! Boredom = checking out eBay