[notfast]

Originally Posted by brunswickreeves

Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.” -Christian Louis Lange

What are thoughts (dealer/vendor and buyer/show attendee perspectives) on VCP tech use at live shows? Good, bad, or indifferent?

When deals were going down at the GBSCC show, I observed every dealer use VCP and took a lot of time to search for averages and lowest available comps of cards in same grade (despite in some cases dismal condition of those referenced in VCP, in comparison to a same grade card of better condition attempted to be sold or traded to the dealer by show attendee). Dealers reduced that lowest comp by 15-25% or even turned the attendee’s walk up card away completely since not enough margin in it. Great for the dealer to pay the least possible money for the best possible ROI.

Similarly, show attendees looking to sell or trade with dealers utilize VCP to rationalize why their card deserves a certain amount of money or trade value based on trending or same grade/same condition comps. Great for the show attendee who otherwise may not have had a clue about their card’s value.

However, for both stakeholders further along the card value maturity curve, antidotally dealer’s listed card prices for top-notch vintage are still aligned to the 2021-2023 Covid-boom, causing VCP to create an impasse (unstoppable force meet immovable object) and impediment to a square and expedient deal.

So has VCP tech been a useful servant or a master?

What is the alternative? A notebook with pricing? Going off memory?

Originally Posted by gunboat82

You're probably right that there's a bit of an impasse. I left GBSCC after an hour because I saw many of the cards I saw last year and the year before at the same or higher prices.

Even when there are cards that are priced to move, it seems like the dealers cannibalize each other's inventory. I had my eye on a particular slabbed Cracker Jack card that was at one GBSCC table last year, and I was close to pulling the trigger but held off. This year, the same card was at a different dealer's table but was marked up about 45%. I don't know if they're all consigning to each other, but it feels like the circle is getting smaller.

A year is a VERY long time…for cards to be bought and sold and for pricing to change…