It's so hard to win Ebay auction at decent prices....

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Posted By: Mark Turner

It seems there are so many people going after the same card or cards you want. I guess it comes down to supply and demand. The newer (crap) cards are worthless while the older or pre-war cards are always in demand. Any Honus Wagner card in any condition is king. I wish i had known that 10 years ago when everyone wanted the t206, i would have loaded up on others. Just wanted to vent. By the way , anyone from Connecticut here.

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Posted By: jP

i agree it is getting much more competitive on ebay nowadays. there are much more richer cats out there than i.

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Posted By: dave

well some of the rich cats need to bid on my items...lol

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Posted By: Keith O'Leary

Like everything else in life, it was just me .

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Posted By: T206man

I like to stay patient if another will come along. Unfortunately for items that are rarely up for sale you can't afford to be patient.

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Posted By: Cat

Prices on EBay are high, but I think the auction house prices are higher. The popular players who are not in the T206 and T205s (primarily Wagner and Jackson) are going crazy and it is not going to get any better.




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Posted By: Lee Behrens

Pateince is the biggest thing in trying to obtain cards at decent prices and having knowledge of the market. You can't expect to win auctions when you are bidding only what you are willing to bid, you need to know the market and where the highs and lows are. I got on ebay in Oct 2000 and you could pick up decent T206s for $5 and there was no way I would have paid $50 for a raw card, know you have to pay at least $50 or more for a graded VG/EX. What you feel might be overpaying today may be a bargain in a year. If you want the cards go after them if you want something reasonable this is the wrong market right now.

Do some research into the pricing of the cards you are looking for. I still lowball lots of cards and am lucky if I win 1% of what I bid on, but I also watch prices of the cards on bid on and keep track of the highs and lows for the cards.

Good luck with your purchases, but also be realistic of the market,

Lee

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Posted By: jay behrens

Where all these bidders when I sell cards? I buy and sell crapy cards, yet the ones I want, others bid on, but when I sell off my dupes, no one wants them. It's shills I tell you!!!

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: T206Collector

The lower threshold you have to spend, the more auctions you have to bid on to win anything.

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Posted By: J Levine

I use the shotgun method, I spray bids all over ebay and hope that one hits. I usually win about one thing a month now...used to be I would win 5-10 things a month. Just more competition I guess.

Joshua

PS I will bid on Jay's stuff if he bids on mine!

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Posted By: Brett

I know the feeling about not winning anything on ebay. i'm always outbid with 1 or 2 seconds left lol. i'm trying to collect some e93s and e98s, but not many people are selling them. when i see a few on ebay in poor shape go on ebay, the prices are rediculous, just because so many people have been looking for the same and they just have a bidding war spending way more then its actually worth. i get screwed over that way alot

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Posted By: dstudeba

How do you guys figure out what something is actually worth? I always thought it was what an item sold for between a willing seller and buyer. eBay seems to be willing sellers and buyers to me, but maybe that is just my neophyte understanding of economics.

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Posted By: David B

For quite a while you could usually get better deals on Ebay than at card shows, but that doesn't seem to be true any more. If you're lucky enough to live in or near a big city with several large shows a year, you can do better buying at shows than online - especially if you buy multiple cards from one dealer. Save up your money for the big shows. Of course, that's hard to do for those of us who need a weekly (daily?) card fix. Good deals on Ebay are few and far between these days. I don't know what it is - fewer cards available, more collectors coming into the market, maybe a few shady sellers using shill bids. If you want to buy your cards on Ebay you have to be willing to accept the fact you're going to lose most of the auctions you bid on - especially if you're on a budget.

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Posted By: Jason

at which you no longer want the card, regardless of whether you are a collector or looking to flip the item...
That is how I phrase the question in my head when I place a bid...it's just unfortunate for my financial future that my answer is always the exact amount in my checking account!!!

I very much want to get started on collecting T-cards, but I don't see the fun in this market...so I am marking time by knocking out items from my 50-70s wantlist, which is much milder market right now, in my opinion. (That said, if anyone has some tobacco cards of Chicago Cubs in PSA1 or 2 type condition that they would like to get rid of in a lot, lemme know!)
leinbergeranz@yahoo.com

Jason

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Posted By: Bob

If there is a card set that appeals to you and one in which everyone else in the world is not bidding on, you can still find some bargains on ebay. Unfortunately if you land on a set and start bidding and winning some nice cards, it seems like the bandwagon effect takes hold-people notice and jump on board. Two years ago no one wanted Zeenuts, especially the 1911s and 1912s, now everybody and their dog bids on them. Ditto sets like the bakery card ("D") sets. It's so much a matter of timing. There are still bargains to be found in the Goudeys right now and Sporting Life and Obak sets, but other than that bargains are few and far between...

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Posted By: Steve M.

my cats bidding on them.

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Posted By: Brian Goldner

Darn it Bob.

Ssshhhhhh!!!!

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Posted By: RayB

This is exactly why the whole B/S/T area of this Board functions so well. Most of the stuff I sell moves, and most of the stuff I want gets offered at a fixed price in a non competitive environment (other than first come/first serve).
The B/S/T is a huge benefit of a great community of trusted bretheren.
RayB

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Posted By: edacra

It really depends on the specific card. It's not like you're going to find them all that much cheaper at a show, unless the dealer just wants to move the stuff, without keeping up with buying trends. Some stuff sells on Ebay for a fraction of card shop prices.

It goes in waves, don't you think? The month of June was an amazing month for Ebay buys. Tons of good cards going without any bids. August was pretty busy on Ebay. I find I mostly win the stuff I'm the only bidder on.

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

If you are looking for decent prices for EX graded cards here you go:

T206 SGC 60/5 go for $100 or over, the recent prices for T205 SGC 60/5 have gone as low as the $65 range. To me this is a decent price for a card that is more condition sensitive.

The decent prices are out there you just can't have a narrow focus and zoom in on one issue (especially T206s).

Lee

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Posted By: Trevor Hocking

I think there are a ton of great values out there in this hobby and on Ebay. Sometime you just have to switch gears a little. Like I collect more display items now rather than cards. The problem I run into is that most newer collectors want to find a SGC 50 E95 Wagner for $250, it's not going to happen and if it does it would be so rare in todays internet information generation. Most people, with a few clicks of a mouse can see that there items are rare and desirable. Ounce they figure that out they want more than a fair price and then we now have a higher price than before. I think it was said here before but it is the best lesson I have learned in this hobby, "Pay tomorrows price today and you will not be disappointed." Nice vintage baseball items have never gone down in value. We have all been saying this is a bubble for 5 years now. I don't think it is a bubble at all I think it is a trend. Don't give up the hunt on Ebay or anywhere else for that matter, that's what makes this hobby great!!!!

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Posted By: leon

Good points....BTW, myself and few buddies have a little ongoing joke about Terry Knouse's stuff. Some have said he has some stuff overpriced. (myself included sometimes)....and myself included on having stuff a little overpriced sometimes, no big deal. But the saying is "his sales follow a 2yr rule". Buy it and in 2 years the market will catch up or surpass at what price they charged. And I say this in good fun as Tik and Tik are 2 of my fave hobbyists. They always make me feel welcome and at home. Wonderful folks they are.... and about 4-5 yrs ago I paid 1k for this from Tik n Tik...I would say the price I paid caught up with the current value very well....regards

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Posted By: jP

i agree with you Joshua.

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Posted By: Anonymous

I too have been frustrated as of late, increasingly so over the last year. Some sellers will be taking a hit if I decide to downshift as I seem to be the underbidder on an awful lot of items recently.


Adam B

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Posted By: Chris

I switched gears a little. There are some good deals out there. I side stepped the prewar market and picked up this beauty for less than $75. Not prewar, but I like it.

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Posted By: T206Collector

...Leon, now that you know that your Cy Young is really Irv Young???

http://www.sgccardregistry.com/images.asp?cardid=28456&usetid=535

...or does this mean that Irv Young was really Cy Young all along????!?!?!

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Posted By: leon

I know the E97 series, as well as one or two others, I think, have always had Irv labelled as Cy. It is listed as Cy and has always been sold and collected that way. Never was him though....

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Posted By: T206Collector

The story is better if you pretend that I made the discovery.

Also, I like the story better if my T206 card actually pictured Cy Young in a Minneapolis jersey.

But suit yourself.