BST . . . . as slow as Ebay?
 

Seems like really cool stuff just sits and sits on BST unsold now for months. Feel like a few years ago things were snatched up quickly if there was a reasonable price for anything unique/special. Seems really slow and tough to sell anything. Particularly anything of more than a few thousand dollars.

Am I imagining this? Is this just more of the same general disconnect with pricing?

I think it is solely due to a complete change in traffic. Generally, I believe the transactions have shifted to Facebook.


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Put something really nice over there, for a decent price, and see how fast it gets snapped up.

But I agree, a lot of buying and selling has gone to FB.....however, the BST is where I still buy more than most other places (I am biased of course), besides ebay.

A BST pick up...

You can list anything nice at a giveaway price anywhere and the same rule applies. Bargain hunters are like circling sharks.

To further this point, I once accidentally left a "9" out of the price of a card. It wasn't a very valuable card; $49.99 BIN. I mis-listed it at $4.99. Literally less than a minute later, it was bought by someone who clearly spends all day pressing the F5 key for such bargains. I just cancelled the sale due to my honest mistake. I'm not too concerned if anyone disagrees with what I did, because the mistake was truly that. The buyer sent me a paragraphs-long diatribe about his feelings, and how he's picked up so many rare signed cards at bargain basement prices, ending it with, "...if you truly did make a mistake and don't wish to sell me the card, that's between you and the Lord". Please don't bring religion into an error over a paltry card. To prove my point, I sent him a link to my previous attempt at listing the card...for $49.99. I'm pretty certain God has more important matters to deal with.

Perhaps sellers are anchored to Covid boom prices and have not moderated their expectations accordingly.

The fear of missing out (FOMO) stage is clearly over.

Forgive me, I just got back into the hobby last year -- what is BST, the marketplace on this site?

Where did I say giveaway prices?

Correct.

I've found some great deals from some very reasonable sellers on BST.

eBay appears to have lots of people who are either just greedy, or -- as mentioned above -- who bought high and are still trying to sell higher. Found a card I wanted last week that last sold publicly for $172 in 2020. Seller wanted $950. I offered $600 -- 3x previous price, adjusted for inflation -- but he wouldn't budge. OK ... keep it then.

You didn't, of course. Personal experience makes me equate a "decent" price to usually being a giveaway price, hence the fast sale.

I'll propose an alternative view: I think right now, across the hobby generally, there are more sellers than buyers.

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Trying to get a few cards on eBay. Nothing major. This is my view on most of what I’m looking at.

Bingo.

Yes AND I think we are in the middle of a pricing correction where sellers are slow to realize new reality.

Oddly enough, eBay has picked up for me a bit recently.

Over the last 90 days, I've sold 8 pieces for ~$20k. Typically my sales are much slower. Naturally, this could just be a small sample size fluke, so you never know.

I'm also not a dealer, so I have a pretty limited inventory. Just 162 active items at the moment. And they're almost entirely obscure oddball issues that very few people actually want. Plus, most of my prices are high retail, approaching or some might argue even exceeding museum pricing.

But for whatever reason lately, buyers have been willing to bite the bullet and pay my asking price, or something close enough to entice me to accept their offer.

Of course, I've never been a big lister on the BST. Almost all of my stuff is postwar, with very thin demand. That and most of the buyers here aren't looking to pay museum prices. So while I've listed a few things in the past, it just didn't seem like it was going to be a great venue for me based on my inventory.

At the same time, if someone here wants to buy something from my eBay listings offline, then I'm happy to offer an offline discount. And I've managed to sell a few pieces that way over the last several months too.

I feel like this is an improv group...yes and

Yes, and the transaction costs on eBay have gone up and up to the point where they rival auction house BP for anything under $100, so it is hard for eBay sellers to discount the price knowing they will be taking a proportionately larger beating on the final value fees.

Yes, and prices are erratic, depending on what you are selling, who is selling it, and how apparently stupid the buyers are. Look at eBay listings for Greg Morris. The prices they get on raw cards are crazy, multiples of what most other sellers get. It makes it hard to price out a commodity card. Do you go with the GM price? The average other prices? Somewhere between?

eBay still has available options of vintage cards (eg Goudey Ruths, T-series Cobb’s, 50s Mick/Mays, 48 Leaf Jackie, etc.) however generally prices haven’t adjusted to current market valuations-hence the museum status and more sellers than ever seem to be brands/businesses vs individual sellers. BST does seem to have far fewer scarce gems (eg Wagner and Jackson) or $1K+ offerings, which may have been snapped up and are being held long term by collectors. Major auctions or card shows seem to be one of the best places to make a deal, which for scarce and unique items obviously requires a paid premium. Everything has an exception of course.

Leon,

It was a pleasure selling you the Champ Hats Musial.

There are deals to be had on BST at times but usually they are priced well below market value for whatever reason and are quickly purchased. I normally find them just after they sold.

But, I have bought some very nice items(post WWII of course) from time to time and look quite often for new listings.

I understand that people can ask whatever they want, but some people here are beyond ridiculous. If you’re going to take the time to type out a post and take a picture/scan of a card, I would think they would also take the time to look at comps and not price at museum pricing.

The card market is exceptionally efficient because there are so many active buyers and sellers. What sounds like another negative spin on an observation to me is just another phase the market is going through. Things go up and things go down. Demand is high demand is lower. Great stuff and even mediocre stuff will not sit if it is priced reasonably.

We are seeing the same exact thing in real estate. Not the end of the world nor anything to get upset over unless you want too much for your goods. Life requires flexibility.

It’s hard to sell something for significantly less than you could have sold it for say 2 years ago. I’ve been there and sure many of you have too.

Not just the lack of sales on BST but the lack of high end stuff. Maybe I’m imagining it, but I swear Jeff L. listed a PSA 7 amazing Joe Jackson CJ on BST once for $75,000. I’ve bought two items over the years on BST for over $15k. Dont see people selling those kind of things here anymore.

People think they're going to get a world record from every card they consign, even if relatively speaking it's a commodity card.

Trees don’t grow to the sky, as they say on wall street.

Some AHs are increasingly having a cannibalization issue too which I think must keep prices down, for example when they have 10 or more Red Cobbs in the same auction.

MINE! Well from a business POV I suppose it is better than rejecting 9 of them and letting your competitor run them all...which is what would happen in this ALL ABOUT THE MONEY industry.

I think all things considered, the card market is doing well. The economy is not really that great for most people but cards have held their own. The impact Covid had on card prices was as much a shock as it was exciting.

Oh I get it from the AH's perspective, just not sure I see the fascination people seem to have with consigning commodity cards to AHs when there are no fee or lower fee options that would net more.

From my perspective, it's about determining appropriate and fair price for the goods I have. I have historically bought cards, but am now finding myself selling more. I can figure out pricing for cards, but having a tough time finding the pricing for memorabilia and autographs.

I'm a market guy though ... I realize some days are better than others, and I'm ok taking less for my goods, as long as I know I not getting taken.

So I list high on sites like this, and hope the buyer is willing to negotiate and ask for a lower price. If i knew what a fair price was, I would list it for that!


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Bst (buy,sell,trade)
 

Both eBay and the board are streaky. Sometimes super slow and then everything shows up at once.
The BST thread has been very good to me over the years.

Some of my most prized possessions have come from our valued board members!

I have never had a problem paying a premium for an item I converted for my collection, and I also enjoyed trades where both sides were happy with the exchange of cards.

Some of my favorite pickups from the board include: Claude Berry estate cabinets, Joseph Laughlin T210 & Old Mill Cabinet, Johnny Kling T5 Pinkerton Cabinet, Johnny Kling Plow Boy Tobacco Cabinet, an orange border Yantz T210-3, and many T207s.

Patrick

Bst
 

BST has been good to me, no complaints.

Trent King

+1 the BST has been amazing for me. We have an awesome auction section that everything starts at $1. List something or place some bids in it.:D

I would have replied that my Dark Lord and Master Satan was fully in favor of my decision.

Since I can only afford beater vintage cards, I can say that 80 percent of my purchases (and several trades) over the past couple of year have come about via the net54 BST. The other 20 percent eBay and yes, Amazon.

I can't afford to drop thousands of dollars on encapsulated baseball cards.

I enjoy seeing the high end stuff, even if I can’t afford it.