Flipping Cards

[old-baseball]

From time to time I get the feeling that quite a few members look down on flipping cards. If it's done with complete transparancy, what's difference does if make. I probably say that 50% of my collection has been put together by some kind of flip. If I buy a group of 50 VG T206 cards for a $1,000, keep 10 and sell the Remainder at something like $25 each so that I paid nothing for the 10 that I chose to keep, Is there something wrong with that?

A couple of years ago I had one grade E121-80 in my collection (Burns - Cleveland I think it was) that was an SGC EXMT card - the highest that they had graded at the time. At the time there was a "whale" buying up highly graded E121's on Ebay and watched him do so for several weeks before I put my card out there with a reserve of $275 or $300 to see if he would buy it - which he did. I had paid maybe $40 for the card a couple of months prior. I took my $260 profit bought another raw EX Burns card at the National for about $30 and spent the rest on other cards to put into my collection. The funny thing was within hours of the sale the was a Net54 thread going concerning my sale, asking what's up with this Ebay auction. There was no conspiricy to defraud anyone, I saw a situation that I could take advantage of and I did. The guy had bought 50 cards before he bought mine, probably many from guys that post here.

What's the big deal with card flips? (Beside my father doing it with most of his '33 goudey as a kid and ruining the corners for me!)

All in all, I don't get it.

[Jim VB]

I don't think there is anything wrong with flipping cards. I'm fine when someone does it and makes a modest profit. I'm fine when someone does it and makes a killing. I feel sorry when someone tries it and loses a bundle.


I get upset if/when someone uses different IDs to flip a card multiple times to inflate the price. And that happens all the time in this hobby.

[mintacular]

Maybe people are jealous I don't consider your experience as "flipping". I think of a flip as you buy 1 card for a low price and immediately relist it for much more. Even in that instance there's really nothing technically wrong with this but perhaps some might think you took advantage of the first seller or could've resold the card more discreetly and at a later time.

[Mikehealer]

I would think that nearly everyone has bought a card at a certain price just
because the price was good with the intention of selling for a profit. I don't
see anything wrong with it all.

[tiger8mush]

Lets say you put a card for sale on the net54 b/s/t. Its a $100 card, but you need some quick money so you offer it for $75. 2 minutes later you get an email from a buyer and the deal is done. All is good. Before you can even post "sold" on the b/s/t, you have a handful of emails from other collectors also committing to buy the card. But you write them back saying its already sold. A week later, u see the card as a Buy-It-Now on ebay for $125.

Wouldn't you have rather seen it go to a fellow net54 collector who would've kept the card in their collection, than a business man who ONLY scours net54 looking to make money?

Its a hypothetical scenario; not one I'm saying has or hasn't happened. But when the opportunity for a collector to get a card for a good price is taken away from someone who has no appreciation for the hobby other than to solely make money, and now the collector has to pay $125 instead of $75 and a business man makes $50 off of OUR hobby, it may lead to bad feelings towards "flippers".

Many of us will certainly change focus over the course of our collecting lifespans so of course we'll sell cards that we previously purchased. And if I can't find a partner to go in on a lot, I too have sold off the rest of a lot to get the cards I wanted. A flipper to me, though, is someone whose ONLY interest in sportscards is to make money on it and is making it a more expensive hobby for the real enthusiasts.

But its a (mostly) free country, to each his own.

Rob


p.s. If a whale wants to buy any of my cards for 10x more than I paid for it, I'll be happy to sell!
p.p.s If i put a card or cards for sale on the b/s/t and get 2 emails at "about" the same time - one from a known enthusiast of the set, and one a known flipper - I'm selling it to the enthusiast.

[Frank A]

To many people on here have to much to say about what someone does with thier money or cards. If a person wants to flip a card, what business is it of anyone but the owner. NONE. you guys need to lighten up.

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by Frank A

To many people on here have to much to say about what someone does with thier money or cards. If a person wants to flip a card, what business is it of anyone but the owner. NONE. you guys need to lighten up.

Frank,

Who needs to lighten up? I think everyone that posted said they have no problem at all with someone flipping a card.

[andybecker]

if i sell a card, i sell a card. what the buyer does with that card is the buyer's business....not mine.

[ChiefBenderForever]

Its not easy being a small fish in a sea of dolphins, sharks,and whales.

[old-baseball]

Rob - I agree I'd much rather sell to someone in the hobby than someone that is solely here to turn cards for a profit. But I have to say that in your example, the the $100 card is sold for $75 thats the sellers fault not the buyer. I think we all know who else collects what we collect and have a fairly good idea what the other guys need. If you put a card out on B/S/T for 75% of what a fellow collector would pay, and it's snatched up by a "flipper", that's your fault. There's no reason that it couldn't have been offered directly to a group of fellow collectors.

Fast forward to a week later, this time the card's on Ebay $125, too bad for the previous owner, but he got the $75 he wanted. Now if one of his fellow collector pays $125 for the $100 card because he's been looking for it forever, that his business. He doesn't have to part with the $125, it's completely his choice. We, the collector (I don't consider myself a "flipper") really control the hobby because we pay what we think something is worth, not because of the price in a guide or what somebody has it listed for on Ebay.

I know were on the same side of this issue but cards only have the value that they do because we're willing to pay.

Jim - I too hate to see people take a beating on a flip but like everything else you have to understand what you're getting into. I now also understand what you're driving at in talking about artificially driving up the value of a card. It's not right.