Right now, where do you buy the majority of your cards?
 

Right now, where do you buy the majority of your cards?

Put the other option information in the comments.

Is this supposed to be a poll?

Check now, it is up.

Actually now I'd say a tie on the buy side between eBay, net 54, Facebook and auction houses.

For the past couple of years, the overwhelming majority of the cards I have bought have been via net54. I have bought a few off eBay, but only a few. Frankly, I feel safe buying here from well-established and well-known sellers. And I believe you will get a better deal here than elsewhere.

Most of the cards I have in my pc have either been found or bought in person networking over the years with private collectors, it’s been a fun journey.

The next would be the occasional auction house or BST rarely eBay or Facebook.

For me, it used to be eBay, but now it's AHs.

I am kinda shocked Ebay is still at the top.

mainly AH's for me these days

1) Net54 75% So many great people so why go someplace else.
2) eBay 23.5% I buy most of my bats there and oddball items
3) COMC 1% Used to be my favorite site. Beyond horrible search engine plus crazy prices have kept me away for a few years now.
4) AHs .5% Just something I have rarely used.

I'm not most love the convenience and buyer protection/friendliness of Ebay.

To be fair, I spend more at Auction Houses, but buy more actual cards from Ebay.

That's a good point about measurement. The OP seems to focus on sheer number, not necessarily the total value.

Part of the fun for me that makes eBay the leader for me over the last couple of years with pricing up so much for vintage is that I've been a bit focused on more modern cards from some of my childhood heroes from 1980 to 2010. Most of them sell (even in high grades) for $50 or less. And you don't find many (any) of those cards at the major AHs or Net54.

And I've never joined Fakebook, so that's off the table for me. I might be the last internet-connected human on the planet still outside of that elite club, but I'm pretty determined to keep it that way.

Living on the west coast, and not in LA, card shows are also virtually nonexistent, unless I want to fly back east to attend one.

Make that two humans! I'm not a Facebook user either.

Yeah, I never signed up for Facebook either. Not a fan.

I buy more cards from eBay but spend more money with auction houses.

I do not actively buy cards at the moment as I am trying to downsize. However, I choose the in-person network as a friend that has a card store will call me when something older walks in the door. If it is something I like, I make him an offer and from there he makes the walk-in an offer. This way he makes a little, I get some cards and the seller is happy.
Bob

Hands down, overwhelming, Auction Houses. A distant 2nd is private sales through friends and dealers (including AHs who broker private deals).

I find it interesting that Ebay is leading the poll right now. I have bought maybe 4 cards over the past two years for my personal collection on Ebay; its much better for shiny stuff my son collects

Why?

Respectfully, with the caliber of cards you buy, eBay is not meant for buyers like you. In my experience, it's the best spot to find $00, $1000, or even $10k cards, but dries up in a hurry when the numbers get any higher. I suspect the selling fees are the reason higher end material is scarce on eBay.

Net 54 hands down then ebay

Agree, it depends at what level you are buying. Ebay is still very good for vintage that most collectors are buying, but not so good if your focus is on elite/expensive cards. I would expect ebay to win the poll. I do see a PSA 4 14 Cobb on there now, btw.

AH's for me for what I'm looking for and collect.

I currently buy my cards at all of the above except Facebook.

Exactly. Stopped looking long ago. Have a watch list set up and have spent very little on only a few purchases each year.

This is a valid point, sort of. I remember when there used to be many Ruth, Wagner, Cobb and rarer-back t206 HOF cards on eBay, as well as T213-6, the occasional M131, T208s, and rare E backs. Now if you search for Ruth, it’s almost all 1933 Goudey. If you search for Cobb, it’s almost all t206. There are a few non-commodity examples, but they are completely overpriced. Maybe it is because the rarer stuff has gotten more expensive, but I feel like EBay is a mover of commodity cards, where it used to have more diversity and depth. Search for T3 and there are few viable examples aside from a bunch of crap from Deans. Same with 1914 CJ (I fully acknowledge the Probstein auction but this is an exception).

From what I hear, ebay has become very unfriendly to sellers. I bet this has deterred the collector and casual seller from using ebay to sell and steered them more to AHs, where you don’t have to deal with all the headaches and potential fraud in ebay. And, since PWCC was booted, there are almost no larger sellers of prewar; Probstein sometime and Tony A (although just buy direct from website), and I ignore Deans as a viable option.

Yes, I collect some advanced stuff, and that is certainly part of it. But I just don’t think eBay is the same venue as it was 3-4 years ago, let alone 10 years ago, which is also part of it

No, you're not the last person. Never been on Facebook either, nor Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or any of those type of sites/apps.

No social media for me either, @BobC.

Network - 40%
eBay - 35%
Modern wax retailers - 10%
Card shows - 10%
Net54 - 5%

Measured in dollar outlay. I get more cards from modern wax retailers than anywhere, but 500 Heritage cards is not much $$$ and measuring that way seems wrong.

eBay used to be my primary, but as my want list shrinks the remaining items are more and more things I have to pry loose that aren't really for sale.

Millennial, but don't have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat TikTok, or whatever else the kids are into this week. Probably missed out on some cards as a result, but they are not worth the risks, negatives and surveillance.

EBay has dried up considerably for much of the stuff I look for. I suspect the $600 reporting thing has a lot to do with it.

There also seems to be more big auctions running all the time now as well. REA, for example, just had their October Encore auction end this past Sunday. Didn't they used to just run a very few big sports auctions a year, and that was it, instead of what seems like every month now? And before, someone looking/needing to sell right away, may have turned to Ebay for a quicker sale and payday. Now they don't necessarily have to wait as long with all the increased AH activity and auctions. And you're right about the possible aversion to Ebay for all the work and potential hassle it can entail. And that aversion has most likely become even more amplified starting this year with the lowered tax reporting threshold for sales on Ebay, and similar type sales platforms using payment services like Paypal and Venmo. Most auction houses don't seem to use payment services like Paypal, so those consignor sales through those auction houses don't likely get reported to the IRS. And unlike on Ebay, not all AHs necessarily have to charge all their buyers sales tax, at least not yet. Plus, like you said, people looking to spend a good chunk of money don't have to worry about all the thieves and scammers on Ebay if they stick primarily to reputable AHs instead. In the end, not really surprising at all that most of the big ticket stuff has moved from Ebay.

And all this is possibly another reason Ebay launched their Authentication Guarantee program, to quell some of that scammer/thief fear, in both buyers and sellers, and try to reverse the trend you brought up of big sales leaving their platform.

Oh, and since so many people do go on sites like Facebook, it is is probably easier and more convenient for them than having to log in and even bother with Ebay.

I'd say I'm probably around 95% AH's right now. I contribute this to what I collect. I'm not interested in most mainstream cards such as T206, T205, or Goudeys. As such the cards I'm interested in seldom appear on Ebay, Facebook, or at shows. I bought 1 card on Ebay this year back in January. I can think of only 2 cards I got at shows and probably 5 or 6 through net54 and facebook.

I voted other since I mainly buy and find good cards at Flea Markets of which are hit and miss but at times a very good hit..

Ebay
 

Most of my buys come from eBay. I mainly collect Jell-O and 1962 Post Canadian BB. EBay is one of the few places where that stuff turns up with any regularity.

That is awesome. I have never had any luck at flea markets, mostly I have found junk wax (which I love) for triple its value. I’m glad somebody out there is finding the good stuff

Maybe Bruce is getting there an hour before you. :D

Darn it, I knew I was doing something wrong here! Now whoever is getting to the antique stores first also needs to stop it…

Flea Markets, Net 54

I used to be a big eBay buyer but stopped about 4 years ago as the prices were way to high for what I was looking for. I found people bought at an Auction House and then within weeks they put on eBay for 50% or more than they just paid weeks ago.
In addition some not so happy experiences.
I used to big up a fair amount via personal sales but they has tried up last few years as more collectors are holding onto their cards so for me
Do to the types of cards and the rarity of them Auction Houses has been the big winner for me.
Although always preferred the personal sales and trades

I don't do any any social media.

Ebay and MySlabs (which I love!) are the two primary destinations for me. I'm sure I will make deals here as well, just haven't had any luck yet. Auction Houses just aren't for me.

I have no luck on myslabs even on commodity type cards. Prices seem insane.

I buy more commons for my sets on ebay but most of my better cards, and by far the majority of my total spend is with auction houses.

My take on why auction houses outperform eBay is because they make it much easier to process large transactions. I've had several $10k+ sales on eBay that fell through simply because the buyers couldn't process payments. And these weren't bums trying to shill bid, a couple of them were surgeons. I've also been affected as a buyer on a couple of high end cards that eBay didn't allow me to bid on (they decided for me that I was "spending too much too fast" and said they were trying to protect me against myself, despite the fact that I had paid for every card I ever bought and my account was in good standing with 100% feedback. Yes, that actually happened. I missed out on a really nice 51 Bowman Mantle because of it, and the seller likely missed out on at least a few thousand dollars. These sorts of challenges aren't an issue with the auction houses. They offer numerous ways to pay and a much longer time window that allows you to move money around from one account to another. Also, I think having one big auction that lasts for a month or so instead of just 7 days is a huge benefit as well, because the most important variable in how much an item sells for is the number of eyes that see it. And too many good listings pass through ebay without the right buyers ever even finding it because they were too busy to check for it in that 7 day window.

Auction houses, Net54, private sales, very occasionally EBay.

The majority of the cards I have purchased lately have come from a local baseball card shop. I was a little surprised that wasn’t a choice, but I know there are aren’t many around, anymore, especially those that have vintage.

Kind of a shame there aren't many left. They were awesome when I was a kid and still fairly common. With Blowout, Steel City, D&A, the overhead of having one seems to make it a nonprofitable venture even with the resurgence in popularity. The few still around I've been too don't seem to recognize anything remotely vintage.

About 8 years ago or so and further back, REA only had ONE auction a year. After that, for several years they only had 2 auctions a year. So definitely in just this example, the amount of available material really multiplied for just this auction house, and because of various changes in Ebay policies throughout the years (no negatives for buyers, a perceived shift to buyer's advantage in disputes, higher seller's fees, lowered reporting amounts, PWCC being kicked out of Ebay, etc.), I believe a lot of vintage cards have shifted to the various auction houses these last few years, and thus the glut of auction houses/auctions.

Brian

95% EBay. 5% NeT54. Once every blue moon I might find something on blowout someone is selling. It’s mostly a money thing is why I use EBay. Some of the auctions I have won there is no way I could have got the cards cheaper anywhere else. It’s usually mid week auctions ending at odd times. I know a lot of people don’t like EBay but it serves its purpose when you are looking for specific cards.


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1 - Auction Houses
2 - ebay
3 - Net54

mostly eBay, some whatnot and some AH.

For the purpose of this poll, I chose Auction Houses. My collection is focused exclusively on T206. Within the last 2 years, I have purchased more from REA. I still check in on, and win the occasional card from eBay. 4 Sharp Corners & Probstein have both had more T206 offerings within the past year. There is clearly more variety with the auction houses, and you end up paying more for that.

I check B/S/T, here every day in hope of finding an upgrade for my collection, and have come away with some great additions and have had the best interactions with Net 54 members. I also buy from a local dealer, who specializes in T206.