Pricing Opinions Sought

[JollyElm]

I don't sell anything, as I am more of a trader. My question is, if I did put these two cards up for sale what do you think I could get for them?
They are both in really nice shape with no hidden flaws. (Ignore the rough areas of the scans. There's a little junk on the holders and I erased some gunk that appeared on the scanner outside of the cards.)

There are two ways to look at it:
1. If you were looking to buy either of these cards, what price range would you be willing to go to?
2. If you were a seller, what would be your firm Buy-It-Now price?

Choo Choo is a tough 1966 high number and Tom Terrific is a HOF'er.

I'm not looking for anything like, "Just post them in an auction and see what happens," or anything along those lines. I would like honest, non-binding opinions. Thank you!!

[swarmee]

Are you open to grading them? Why sell raw?

[Rrrlyons]

50-60$ choo choo
$5 Seaver

[JollyElm]

Okay, time to let the cat out of the bag. The reason for this thread was a fun attempt to show the (to me) laughable disparity between what the very same card is 'worth' before and after grading. The problem is almost nobody (thanks, Rick) posted prices in the thread. However, I did get quite a few offers to buy via PM. Each was less than $4 for the Seaver card and less than $50 (much, much less) for the Choo Choo. (There were also others with trade offers, but those aren't pertinent to the topic at hand.) Granted, I only had the thread up for a day, and the people trying to buy were obviously vying to get the cards for as little as possible, so it's not really a great experiment , but here are the same cards shown residing in their new slabs...



If I asked for prices now, certainly everyone would agree (except for the usual contrarians) that $4 and $50 are waaaaaaaaaaay off base, right?

[swarmee]

Yeah, the exponential increase in cards based on high grades is something that shocked me when I came back to the hobby about three years ago. I don't really play in the "big leagues" of the set registry competition, but I like self-submitting cards and seeing what happens.

[rats60]

And if they had come back both 7s, they would be worth about what the offer was. People offer on the low end because they don't know what they are going to grade. I just got back an order with 2 9s and the best condition card came back a 7. I got a 6 on a card that should have been 8, it was nicer than the other 7s I got. I also got some favorable grades. It is all a crap shoot. That is why people will crack and resubmit, and why I don't buy ungraded vintage. Congratulations on the grades and the extra profit.

[Exhibitman]

That’s accurate. I buy raw assuming that the cards either were not good enough for the seller to submit or that the cards are ok but there is a risk of drawing the grader of death at PSA and getting screwed. There is also the cost of grading to consider. It just isn’t financially realistic to crack and resubmit cards like this so the first grade is going to be the grade.

Getting a nine or ten is just one of those lucky things that happens now and then. My favorite is a 1969 card that I picked up raw for $15 and came back a 9 that had a three figure VCP history. No rhyme or reason to it; just freakish spontaneous wealth. Consider yourself the beneficiary of a lotto pick.

[mechanicalman]

Perhaps the offers would have been higher if there was a bright blue background behind the raw images.

[profholt82]

I do not appreciate your ruse, sir. That was a cunning attempt to trick us

[irv]

No offense, Jolly, but your original, raw card scans, look a lot different, condition wise, than your slabbed scans do.

Personally, just looking at the raw card scans, I would have never guessed those grades, and I don't think others would have either unless they were just guessing.

[STL1944]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

Perhaps the offers would have been higher if there was a bright blue background behind the raw images.

That is really funny...

"Love is a Battlefield...