selling cards

[mpduq]

why is it when you go to sell a 1950's -1960's psa 8 or 9, the buyer immediately runs to ebay to see what one sold for? why does the last one sold set the market price? what happened to the smr?

[afklin]

If you were the buyer, don't you want to buy the item at the most reasonable price, meaning the most recent market price, rather than an artificially set price such as SMR, which quite often are too high.

[fkw]

eBay is the "real world" value.... ie what it really sells for is what its worth.

SMR is not.

[Exhibitman]

Smr = pos

[novakjr]

SMR for the most part is a fictional fluff piece. It's honestly not much more than just advertising for the grading companies...It's purpose it to basically say "hey...look what your cards could sell for if you get them graded with us." In the long run, most people find these prices completely off. Don't get me wrong, I still pick up an SMR every now and then, there's usually some decent articles, but that's really about all I find it good for.

Now as far as someone checking ebay. That is the market value. Let's say SMR says something is worth $100, but cards in that grade typically sell for $50 on ebay, then that card is only worth $50.

It all boils down to, a card is only worth what people are willing to pay for it, and not what some book says.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by mpduq

why is it when you go to sell a 1950's -1960's psa 8 or 9, the buyer immediately runs to ebay to see what one sold for? why does the last one sold set the market price? what happened to the smr?

If I am selling you a '57 Mantle......and I want $1000 because SMR said it is worth that much in a 6 holder (for example, I don't know the real value or SMR value), but 3 sold on ebay, in 6 holders, in the last month for $650.....are you going to pay me $1000 because the SMR says so?

[hangman62]

As much as I enjoy the Net54 site, selling cards on this site always seems to be a back and forth, point-counterpoint -fight,
Guys are always looking for bargains/steals/ rock bottom prices/etc.. ( Not that I really blame anyone,Id want to buy someting as cheap as possible also)
But it seems it always goes back and forth about.. " wait a minute, I saw that go on ebay for XXX",.. " whoa, thats a price a collector would pay,I need to resell this item",etc.., personally Id rather see a lot more trading then selling on the site.

[k-dog]

Originally Posted by hangman62

personally Id rather see a lot more trading than selling on the site.

That doesn't really work too often either. Unfortunately, I have had several trades fall through for reasons other than the agreed on value/prices of the cards.

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by hangman62

" whoa, thats a price a collector would pay,I need to resell this item"

There's certain items that you're just not gonna be able to flip. Quick flips are few and far between. but they do exist. However, a patient "seller" isn't going to sell to another "seller" at a "sellers" buying price, when there's collectors in the mix looking to buy as well.

When I was growing up, if you wanted to trade or sell a card to a dealer, you'd be lucky to get 1/2 book. But that was really all you could do.

The days of dealers offering lowball prices for buy/trade from collectors is long gone. With the internet and ebay, everyone is a seller. Unfortunately, it's also dropped selling value down to right about what a dealer would give you back in the day.

[hangman62]

Its very rare that you see a good vintage card at an attractive price on the B S T.
I see a large % of stuff that guys are trying to sell at prices that are pretty much book value.... and cards like that can be found easily in other ways .

Most guys on this site are hard core knowledgable collectors,they know deal when they see it.
More times then not..a seller who lists a 55T Killebrew in VGEX for $100 +, doesnt get a single response.

[yankeeno7]

Isnt it normal to want to get best price as both buyer and seller? It boils down to a meeting of the minds/wallet. If a person wants more than what an item generally sells for, maybe there is a reason for it but more than likely it will stay in his collection and he is fine with that. The buyer is left looking elsewhere or possibly even over paying.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by novakjr

The days of dealers offering lowball prices for buy/trade from collectors is long gone. With the internet and ebay, everyone is a seller. Unfortunately, it's also dropped selling value down to right about what a dealer would give you back in the day.

The internet has leveled the playing field, and I consider that to be a good thing.

Sellers will always want to sell at the highest price they can get.

Buyers will always want to buy at the lowest price they can get.

It's always been that way, but now the internet gives (both sides) more options, with the seller having far more than they did "back in the day".

I made an offer on an ebay item today for less than 20% of the BIN price, the seller responded with an offer of 25%. I took the deal, and I assume the seller made a profit, if not, oh well, bummer for him.

My point being, it couldn't hurt for both of us to ask for the numbers we started with, and ultimately we made a deal, which we are both (hopefully) happy with.

Doug

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

The internet has leveled the playing field, and I consider that to be a good thing.

I agree. I think it's a damn good thing. As a kid, there was nothing worse than finding a card you wanted at the local shop, then deciding which cards from your collection that you wanted to trade in towards it, only to find that he offers you $6 in trade for a mint card that booked at $40, and then the next time you go in, he's selling it for $35.

Experiences like that, are the kind of thing that drove people away from the industry. Now I think I know why I stopped collecting when I was 13, and then started again 6 years ago when I started buying off the net.

[Railroad Bill]

Bought the guide to find out book value. It seems like everyone refers to book value on cards. There are 2 prices for each card. I assume that the lowest is what you can sell it for and the highest is what you would pay a dealer. Is that correct?

Also, it doesn't say anything in the book about the grade of the card that is priced. Anyone know what grade the priced cards are?

In my opinion, book isn't done very well.

Thanks,