Dean's Cards Discounts
 

Probably like many of you, I usually scroll past Dean's cards on ebay and I assume it's a pretty reliable rule of thumb that their prices are 2x fair retail. I thought they never negotiated or discounted. I just got a notification that they discounted a card on ebay. Is this normal, or a sign that the cardpocalypse is upon us?

Whatever the eBay price is, it's always cheaper direct from their website.

Does seem surprising. Was it a significant discount? Would you be willing to post a link to the listing?

^^This^^ During the big run up I bought some T210s from them cheaper than I could find them anyplace else.

Not an enormous discount (so far at least), only $450. Here is the listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/27630338634...6346&recoPos=1

Thanks for the additional info. Definitely not much of a discount considering the listed price, but still surprising that he lowered a price. However, the same card is still cheaper to buy directly from his website.

746. Sitcommerce
When apologists for notorious on-line price extortionists claim they have fine business models, and you can’t help but laugh and wonder, “If that’s the case, why don’t they buy up all of the same cards that others list on eBay for 1/4 of their price and sell them for a huge profit??”

Haha, you were the canary in the coal mine, I bet. When people start buying their cards, it's time to raise prices!

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Looks like Lou enjoyed himself a nice soak.

He lowered the price on a card I had seen too. Down from over $1200 to $1030. First time I had seen that also, but still more expensive than on his website…which is still overpriced.

Curious - how can you tell it was soaked?

I usually cringe when I'm searching ebay for a certain series of cards and start seeing Dean's Cards because I know I'm probably going to have to suffer through a ton of card listings.

I'm curious, has anybody found a bargain with Dean's?

At Dean's I found a 1952 Topps major rare variation for far less than prices on eBay as well as a reasonably priced high # gray back. Prices are not always well above retail :)

Dean's has a niche. I have had no issues with them.

A commercial business model may be fantastic but only if it functions in a competitive real time marketplace.

My guess is that they don't have a lot of expertise in recognizing errors or tough variations. If they did, my guess is there would be a premium associated with the pricing of the cards that are "tough" to find.

Well, umm, because the model low volume, high margin. Of course they won’t buy all available inventory, the model needs spreads greater than retail purchases can offer. Pretty simple stuff, your zinger shows you don’t understand the model.

Now whether this model is a good one is beyond me, I don’t have access to Deans financials but we can see his sold history and he moves cards in decent volumes. So I assume it is working, and I can respect someone that likes to take price premium.

Another discount, this one for $620: https://www.ebay.com/itm/40476031461...4615&recoPos=1

So sorry for hurting your feelings, Mr. Apologist. Please feel free to forward to me all of your extensive writings on business matters, so when I create more puns/wordplay/pseudo-portmanteaus ('Collectorisms') about the collecting world, I will be sure that, all humorous intent aside, each and every reference to commerce will meet your strict posting guidelines.

What is their niche exactly? A regular priced or below FMV card rarely here and there does not take away from the fact that they are a black eye for the hobby and the prices they ask for almost 100% of their cards is laughable at best. He clogs up the listings we all have to scroll and scroll past knowing how ridiculously priced they are. I am sure Dean is aware of this and knows what hobbyists think of his business model, yet it doesnt seem to change how he prices cards whatsoever.

I always look at Deans listings and wonder how they are still in business

The business model clearly works. 20 years and 20 employees to pay and they're still around and seemingly doing well. They are clearly moving lots of cards at these prices. I don't get why people pay their price, but they accurately and honestly (I am not sure there is any seller with as good of scans/grading information as they provide) list items so I have nothing to be mad at besides it takes a lot of work to filter them out of all my eBay searches.

Yes, this card was cleaned. Is it not obvious?

This title is an oxymoron


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+1 on both

I just bought a card from Dean's. Raw 1960 Mantle

I have attempted to buy cards from Dean's a few times over the past couple of years and have found them to be extremely difficult to work with. It's nice to see at least someone is able to get deals done with them.

They don't negotiate if that's what you mean. But they're otherwise pretty easy to deal with IMO. As long as you find a card you want at the price you're willing to pay (easier said than done though). You get 20% off on their website for invoices over $1k.

I have found like most posters here for their prices to be unreasonably high (at least on the cards I have wanted) and any attempt to get them into some zone of "fair," maybe 10-20% over comps has been met with a resounding no.

On ebay - is there a way to block a seller so you don't see what they have for sale when searching for a specific series of cards? For example, if I want to search for 1934 Goudey cards, then we just type 1934 Goudey in the search field and the results are presented (but would like it without a specific seller's offerings).

I wonder how many Deans threads have been posted on 54 over the years.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch

Go down to Sellers (near bottom) - put user ID in "Specific sellers (enter sellers' user IDs)" - select "Exclude"

You can put your search at the top of the page. And yes, it should be easier to do than this, but this is what we got.

So many that John O doesn't even comment on them any more.

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Enough Dean's should send Leon a advertising check. I know I rarely check their site. When one of these threads pop up I go and see what they have and sometimes buy a card or three. I have nothing but good things to say about my transactions with them.:)

Haha...I think I made my point about 20 threads ago...:)

Have to agree with many posters that Deans is extremely hard to work with and it’s amazing they are still in business. Wouldn’t surprise me if the business was a front for something else. Many items they want triple the value (at least) and they don’t care what any recent comps just sold for.

Then again, maybe Deans is super generous when buying items or collections which means they have to sell for more.

I've also wondered if it's a front for something else. But I'm curious when you guys say that they are "extremely hard to work with", what do you mean? What makes them hard to work with? Is it just their pricing that you don't like, or have you had bad experiences beyond just not liking their prices and the fact that their pricing is firm?

They have something like 1.5 million cards online, and surely they prefer to sell from their own website, where they offer discounts up to 20% off, rather than eBay. I think if I were that large with that many cards, I too would probalby have a policy to not negotiate on pricing with people. Otherwise I'd be doing it all day long fielding messages from lowballers. I get annoyed enough as it is with my modest collection having to constantly tell people, "sorry, but my card is perfectly centered, those comps are not relevant", followed by ignorant buyers arguing nonstop. But I know what my cards are worth and I know what they'll sell for. In the rare case that I've priced something too high, I'll eventually figure it out and I'll change my prices.

They actually do. Dean has bought probably 50 ish cards from me over the years via Buy It Nows. It doesn't make a ton of sense but it must work for him or he wouldn't still be doing it after all these years.

Thanks for starting this thread.
I know their ebay prices are very high but I did not know about the website discount.

He had one on ebay I really liked, an ungraded 52 topps Reese which is my white whale. I was so tempted to buy it even at his inflated price. It has surface wear and corners etc but it was perfectly centered with great eye appeal. I found it on the website and got 20% off so it was $880 (second most I have ever paid for a card). I am super excited to get it and see it in person! Thanks again for the tips.
Chris

After selling the cards to Dean's, have you ever completed a search for the card on ebay to see how much more they were charging for the card you sold them? Did you ever see one of your cards sold for significantly more than the price you sold it to Dean's?

From what I remember, the prices listed on Dean's website are actually higher than the prices on eBay, but they end up lower once the website discount is applied. While you will definitely save money buying directly from his website, it usually won't be as much as the website discount makes it sound like. Although, it can help if you buy multiple cards together from the website since higher discounts apply as you spend an increasing amount.

As someone who has purchased items from the website I never noticed this.

They've bought a bunch from me too, just clicked BIN. That hasn't happened recently though and, even though I don't really sell many cards, my pricing of the ones I do is basically the same. I wonder if there's a shift in buying strategy to go along with the new discounts, and I wonder if it reflects a greater pessimism about card prices going forward on Dean's part.

After selling the cards to Dean's, have you ever completed a search for the card on ebay to see how much more they were charging for the card you sold them? Did you ever see one of your cards sold for significantly more than the price you sold it to Dean's?


Jeremy - did I read the correctly? Dean's doesn't mark up the price very much (or at all) after they purchase the cards from your BIN? Or did I read that incorrectly?

The card originally mentioned by the OP is now listed for $13,270 on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27630338634...1&toolid=20001

On Dean's website, it's listed for $16,120 with a 20% discount that drops it to $12,896 so while you aren't getting 20% off the eBay price, you do usually save money buying directly from the website. Also, if you add lower priced cards to the same order, they will also be 20% off which is a larger discount than if you bought them separately (assuming they were listed below $1000 to start).

Even with the discounts, his prices are still usually higher than others have for the same card, but somehow it seems to work for him. I've bought a few cards over the years, and it is nice to have the clear front and back scans along with very detailed information about raw cards (their opinion for corner grades, centering, card measurements, etc) that I have not seen from any other online seller. I certainly could not have afforded to buy my entire collection from Deans, but there have been times when I've found something worthwhile that I couldn't find elsewhere.

No, I meant that how I price my cards hasn't changed. In the past, when Dean's has bought one of mine, he typically relisted them for about 3x the price.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

It was listed for the identical price on ebay and his website so I got a true 20% off.

I haven't noticed most of the time but the times I did notice it would be like 2.5x or 3x what I sold it for. I've never noticed if they have sold any of them. I just looked up on I remember well. I had a t207 works psa 4 for like $400 or so and they bought it and listed for $1150 I think. You'd think that would still be on ebay, but it's not. So maybe they sold it.

Lucky you. That hasn't been the case for cards I've bought. They've been cheaper than eBay after the discount but were never listed for the same price.

Anybody a regular buyer of his cards? Only customers I see would be people looking for some rare item that Dean has or people for which money is not a factor. That can't be sustainable by itself, yet he's still doing it after all these years so I must be missing something.