Posted By:
Paul MossOff-topic? Since when has a thread ever gone off-topic on Net54?
"For our purposes, I'm using "established market value" to mean the price an identical item has sold for on multiple occasions."
Already we hit a stumbling block with this statement. Please understand that I am refering to vintage cards and not the shiny-shiny modern commodity cards. Having said that, I will state that rarely will two vintage cards are truly identical despite the holder and assigned grade. There are God awful ugly looking 4's, 5's, and 6's, and then again, there are 4's, 5's and 6's that take your breath away with their appearance. Are they truly worth the same (+/- 10%)?
"1) An item sold on open auction will always realize its established market value (barring an act of God as you say)."
Most of the time, yes. Sure there are exceptions, but MOST of the time, an item will bring what it's actually worth for that specific item.
"2) By definition, an item sold on open auction is worth whatever it ends as.
If you are only stating #2, I don't see how that is relevant to a discussion of a seller taking an offer to end the listing early; after all, if the established market value is more then the item will end up at it, he would be making a wise decision in taking the offer at the established market value. Of course this is a gamble, but it's not always a bad move by the seller as you suggest."
Hell if I know. Everyone has to operate their business as they see fit. The thread regarding "Why did this card sell so high" on this page of the board certainly supports my stance. What is the "established" value of this item? When bidding was around $40, I received offers of 200 and 250. A neophyte seller might have jumped, but as I stated previously, 99.9% of the time, these offers are lowball at best, or attempts at outright thievery at worst.
The matter of "established value" can be debated ad infinitum. Sure there are instances where items slip under the radar, and times when they sell at ridiculously high levels, but overall and on average, the field has a tendancy to be level.