Quote:
Originally Posted by SMPEP
The problem isn't the grading companies. The problem is the buyers.
Huggins & Scott sells this 1929 Kashin Seibold AND Todt raw for $220 (in November 2015):
http://nov15.hugginsandscott.com/cgi...m.pl?lotno=362
Now look at Ebay today. That same exact Seibold (we can tell from the stamp on the back) is being offered for $500 (and with 2 people watching there's a good bet it sells):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1929-Kashin-...gAAOSw9NdXtfDN
So someone bought the Seibold for $110, put it in a piece of plastic (we'll call the costs $45 for shipping and grading) and is going to sell the exact same card for a 200% profit in 8 months (and it got the second lowest grade you can get!).
When in reality, graded or not, it's the same damn card.
So, some buyer just made some seller rich because they didn't do their homework.
Until buyer's wise up, you're going to see a huge increase in the fraud for graded cards (for all grades). Because as this legitimate example shows, the profit margin is there. The margin for high grade stuff (cough "fake" cough) is astronomically. I'd be sacred to death right now if I owned any high grade cards. (Fortunately I don't!)
Patrick |
But buyers will not wise up because it is easier to let some third party do all the legwork for them instead of a buyer educating themselves on what a raw example of a card they desire should look, feel and smell like. Many buyers want to rest and relax on the slabs of plastic that they perceive to be correct without doing any such homework because the TPG did that all that for them. They are willing to pay the premium because of perceived scarcity.
We have seen too many cases of fraud, both on small scales and large to put any kind of faith and real money into something that the buyer just has zero clue on. As for owning high grade cards right now.......I personally would sell off everything I have and reap the profits while coming back in three years and buying the same cards at a much smaller price.