Reselling on ebay so quickly?

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Posted By: George L

Guys, how does everyone who adds to their prewar collection by buying on ebay feel about this scenario? I know on a personal level it seems a little ridiculous. Let me explain myself clearly. I am not referring to buying a $100 card and then re-auctioning that same card with a starting bid at 99 cents because you find later you don't need it or want some money to buy something else you need more.

I am referring to the buyer on ebay who buys something he feels at a "steal/bargain", receives it in the mail and lists the card the next day or within a few days for 50% higher than they just paid for it. Many times I will use ebay completed listings-besides other avenues to guage what a card typically sells for. When I see that same card listed for hundreds or thousands higher than it just sold for 5 or 6 days earlier, it seems ridiculous. I mean, I have NO PROBLEM with someone buying low and selling high if they are a speculator/investor..whatever..to each his own. But, atleast wait a month for it to be out of ebay's completed listings.

For example, person buys card on Monday for 1,000 dollars. Receives card that Thursday and lists the card the day he receives it on a buy it now for 1,800 dollars. If you purchased it on ebay and sold it at another site, then, maybe..but the same site, that you could see clear as day what was just paid for it less that a week earlier. As my friends and I say...show some couth! Is it just me that this annoys, anyone else out there?

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Posted By: Joe

I don't do it, but it's a free country, a buyer can do whatever he wants to do with the card or whatever he buys on ebay. He may lose or make money, it's a crapshoot.

Joe

Ty Cobb, Spikes flying!

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Posted By: Doug

I've done that when I either wasn't happy with the card after seeing it in person or I needed the money for something else (card or otherwise), but I listed the cards at what I paid instead of raising the price. Once someone owns a card they are pretty much allowed to do whatever they want with it (as was stated above).

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Posted By: Anonymous

With VCP it does not matter if you wait 30 days or not....the history is still there for many people.

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Posted By: George

Hello, I am not referring to getting a card and being unhappy with it and relisting it. I have received a card with a seller who never disclosed a crease or paper loss and had to relist it the day I got it(and yes, I included it in the description). I understand its a free country and people buy and sell all the time. What I was referring to is the specific instance of buying a card on ebay and listing it the day, or 2 or 3 days after it was received in the mail for hundreds and even thousands of dollars higher than you just won it for. I am not saying I am aggravated with someone EVER selling a card on ebay they previously purchased on ebay prior. I mean specifically listing/selling the card for a 2000 dollar buy it now, when the person just won it for 1000 dollars 4 days earlier. I mean I would atleast try to wait for it to be off the completed items search. I am referring to those who just do that. Make money, no problem..whatever. But, atleast wait a short period if you are going to try and find some schmuck to pay double, triple what you just paid for the card 96 hours earlier.

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Posted By: George

I agree with the VCP line about the history being there, but that was my point. In order for someone to find out about the previous price paid it would take some diligence and research, ie...signing up for the vcp...a separate site from ebay. (Or tracking prices paid for cards on a spreadsheet..which I can't imagine most people tracking every T206 Psa 5 hall of famer sold in the previous 2 years.)

I am fine with that.

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Posted By: Scott Mt. Joy

Seems like normal business to me. Whenever you sell an item in a 1-3-7-9 day auction you are selling to get the money now or in hopes of a bidding war, otherwise put the item in a bin at a high price and see if anyone bites, it cost less than a buck a month to find out. If someone else wants to wait 1-24 months to try and make more money with no idea it will sell above what the auction went for, go for it, they are taking the risk. To me nothing to compain about.

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Posted By: Fred C

George,

I think I know what you're trying to say. It would be nice if people would just let others win an auction so that they can get a card that they want. It would be much nicer than buying a card just to make a buck. The only problem with that thought is that the underbidder could be looking for the same bargain to resell that same card.

As a general rule I don't bid on cards that someone won and put up with a larger BIN. I just watch to see what happens with the card. In a lot of cases the seller ends up keeping the card because it doesn't sell.

In the world of ebay where trying to get an unknowing seller to end an auction early, there is no etiquitte to buying or selling cards.

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Posted By: James Gallo

I just sold several cards to a guy at $100, he relisted them for $1300. This is a common card and I actually sold him 3 of the same card in the same grade.

I just don't get that. There is fishing but this is insane. I do think that on rarer cards you can bend a bit more as if something doesn't come up often and someone down the line wants it what else are they supposed to do, they either pay the price or hope another shows up.

Then again if someone were to pay $1300 for a common card that is really only worth $100, well a fool and his money...

I just hope that I get one of those fools one day.

James G

Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.

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Posted By: Zinn

I agree the buyer can do what he/she wants. I'll do my due diligence regardless.

A slight digression: I was just offered a card that the seller had purchased on ebay last January. He couldn't remember what he had paid so I looked it up on VCP and we were able to strike a deal fair to both of us. He made a little and I saved a little.

VCP rocks!!

Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in VCP.

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Posted By: Rhys

I think that people sometimes buy things they really want but would be willing to "maybe" part with something for the right price. Maybe this is a way of justifying the spending.

The laws of economics would imply that if you won it simply for resale and had no legitimate interest in it at your bid level, than the actual value of the item would be the next bid higher than the third bidder in line. So the idea of buying it and then marking it up and hoping for a sale is absurd unless there is a strong midigating factor involved like getting it graded or authenticated etc.

I think these people will be sitting on the inventory for a long time.

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Posted By: Rhys

I think that people sometimes buy things they really want but would be willing to "maybe" part with something for the right price. Maybe this is a way of justifying the spending.

The laws of economics would imply that if you won it simply for resale and had no legitimate interest in it at your bid level, than the actual value of the item would be the next bid higher than the third bidder in line. So the idea of buying it and then marking it up and hoping for a sale is absurd unless there is a strong midigating factor involved like getting it graded or authenticated etc.

I think these people will be sitting on the inventory for a long time.

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Posted By: T206Collector

...that if you could have gotten $1,300 for a $100 card, you woulda asked for it. And, thus, that the new owner is somehow calling you an idiot for selling it to him so low. Try not to take it personally.



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Visit http://www.t206collector.com for Net54 T206 archive, signed deadball card galleries, articles and more!

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I never worry about what someone does with something after it's out of my hands.

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Posted By: Dave

It's a two way street. I've sold cards on the BST here and seen them on E-Bay a couple days later... and they sold for LESS than what the buyer paid.

And the flip side of that is that I have listed cards on the BST here that have gotten interest but not sold at my asking price, only to flip them to Ebay and have them go for a lot more (of course Whale interest helps on Ebay).

To each his own.

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Posted By: Jason

I suppose this would only be irksome if I was the bridesmaid on the card the first time around. As I would perceive it as something I wanted for my collection but the other guy just wanted to resell.

Then again, they wanted it more kudos to them.

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Posted By: David R

I don't mind people relisting cards off eBay. I feel a little differently about the BST, particularly when someone solicits to get that last card to complete their set or sub-set or a particular back for a set they are working on. I have felt a little duped when I've sold that last card or rare back at a very reasonable price (because we're all in the same collector family and you want to help other collectors, right?), only to see that person trying to sell the card or set shortly thereafter at a nice profit. From my perspective, I would have sold the card myself to the highest bidder if I thought profit was the motive.

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Posted By: George

I was not venting frustration on a card I was looking to buy or showing sour grapes in anyway on a personal purchase. I guess after reading everyone's post, yes, it is a free country and I guess if someone wants to bid and win a card for $500.00 and list it 5 days later(the day they receive it in the mail) for $1400 on a buy it now or best offer, that is their decision?? If I see that happen and someone pays say $900.00 I always cringe..there is technically nothing wrong with doing the above, I just wouldn't list it so soon that it would still be right there in completed listings a week earlier for everyone to view. But, after thinking about it, these days with the wealth of information..ie..google..vcp..the oppurtunity to research a card's going price is pretty readily available. If I sell a card a few months down the line and it sells for a couple hundred higher than I paid, fine. That doesn't bother me. Just when it gets listed a couple of days later. I also feel bad when I see people pay OUTRAGEOUS prices on a buy it now for a card that sold substantially lower in the recent week...but, whatever. I guess most people will say in response...it's their own fault for not shopping around.

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Posted By: Steve

Maybe this is how they feed their family and pay the bills.
They buy and sell on ebay.


The only time it may concern me is if I need or want the item. If it is
priced right I buy it, if not I move on.


Steve


edit typo

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Posted By: boxingcardman

that I share with any buyer who tries to argue from prior transactions with my prices: don't buy it if you don't like the price at which the item is offered.

I don't mean to be flippant or nasty about this and if I come across that way I apologize, but I find posts like this irksome in that they seem to assume that economic values we generally accept as a capital-based society (buy low, sell high; achieve the highest possible returns on investments; allow people as much freedom to contract or not contract as possible within the structure of the civilization, etc.) somehow should not apply to card transactions. But, philosophically, why should a seller leave the last increment(s) of value of the item to the buyer just because it is a card deal; what's the buyer done to merit that special dispensation from the rules of commerce that govern every other sort of transaction? It's like the buyer who asks for a break with some variant of "I really need it" as a justification. Setting aside what a terrible negotiating strategy that is (Don't tell the seller you really want the item if you expect a discount), how is the buyer's desire the seller's concern.

As far as speed of the second sale effort, that has no relevance at all. I've made deals where the cards literally were sold at a profit before I even received them from the person who sold them to me. It all depends on supply and demand. If the demand is there, nothing wrong with fulfilling it.

Finally, in terms of whether a seller may have to carry an item for a while, again, not a relevant issue as it pertains to the question at hand. As far as I know, a seller has the right to sell or not sell an item the moment after he takes title. It should not make a lick of difference to a buyer rationally analyzing the offered item whether the seller bought it yesterday or in 1999.



Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc

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Posted By: George

once a person buys it they can do whatever they want. We can move on now..I've wasted enough time bringing up a pet peeve

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Posted By: Steve

George

Actually you made a good point in that someone that buys something
that can be so easily traced should not want that info out there
for potential buyers to see. Others could care less as they do this for a living
and ebay is just one avenue for them to buy and sell from.

As a buyer we have a choice to either buy the item or not.

2 years ago someone listed a 1969 Brock in PSA 8 for 50.00 even though
it at the time was a 500.00 card. It was snapped up within minutes of it being listed.
Within a month the same card was on ebay again for, yep, you guessed it 459.00.

Many thought the original seller listed it incorrectly and meant to say 500.00.

Nope the sale went thru and the buyer sold it for 459.00

The buyer was a well know card dealer.


Steve

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Posted By: Michael Steele

Understand where the poster is coming from and you really wish all cards could go to collectors who need and love the card but that is not the real world.

2 recent cases for me:

Ramly auctioned on e-bay a few months back and I was the underbidder only to see it a couple of days later as a BIN at almost double the winning bid.

I was one of the close underbidders on a purple Close card in the recent Barry S auction and that is now listed on e-bay at about +40% of the winning bid.

I find it all interesting but nothing more as that is life and you had your shot.

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Posted By: marshall barkman

I agree with Dan Bretta's statement 100%

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Posted By: George

Steve,
Yes this is what I was trying to say, but after all the responses, it seems like its just everyday business on ebay. Personally, if I were selling something, I prefer to wait for it to get out of completed listings in ebay. Most of the time for the sole purpose of them knowing what I paid for it and using that fact to determine price. I also know that many on ebay will have a separate buyer and seller account because people used to go view feedback to see if they could find out prices paid. If you separate the accounts, after a month the only way to find out is vcp.

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Posted By: Matt

On topic, a huge amount of cards that sold in Mastro's auction last month just showed up on eBay. VCP doesn't have the prices recorded yet.

My Trade/Sale Page