Buy It Now Reality Check

[Yankeefan51]

Recently I looked at the E Bay Buy It Now for early 20th century cards with a particular focus on high grade E93-E98s Ramly, Cracker Jack and few more unusual type cards. Whilst I was able to identify 14 cards of interest most had a Buy It Now price of between 3 and 4 x the most recent sale from the more distinguished auction houses. What is particularly striking that the five dealers who were offering these cards have listed them for at least 18 months.

Are they hoping for a miracle or a sucker? When I called a dealer to offer
a super rare e94 in PSA 8, he offered me half the price that they were selling a 7 (non HOF) for. Wonder why they waste their time, or better still who their customers are?

No wonder the hobby is so small compared to rare coins and impressionist art.

Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest WantList
bdorskind@dorskindgroup.com

[atx840]

"he offered me half the price"

I think that is how business works.....

[auggiedoggy]

Originally Posted by Yankeefan51

Recently I looked at the E Bay Buy It Now for early 20th century cards with a particular focus on high grade E93-E98s Ramly, Cracker Jack and few more unusual type cards. Whilst I was able to identify 14 cards of interest most had a Buy It Now price of between 3 and 4 x the most recent sale from the more distinguished auction houses. What is particularly striking that the five dealers who were offering these cards have listed them for at least 18 months.

Are they hoping for a miracle or a sucker? When I called a dealer to offer
a super rare e94 in PSA 8, he offered me half the price that they were selling a 7 (non HOF) for. Wonder why they waste their time, or better still who their customers are?

No wonder the hobby is so small compared to rare coins and impressionist art.

Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest WantList
bdorskind@dorskindgroup.com

Welcome to my world. I do feel your pain! Some of the stuff I collect is only offered by a handful of sellers. They also have high BIN prices. One recently added "Best Offer" to his auctions. One of these sellers puts his stuff on sale (20% off) now and then and that is when I pounce. I gather that the items you are looking for aren't discounted from time to time?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Extremely high BINs and unwillingness to genuinely negotiate are quite common at the more pedestrian levels of the hobby as well. One can only assume that the business model is working for the sellers.

[ullmandds]

I can't imagine finding high grade E98's is much of a challenge these days?!?!

[Leon]

When I am buying for resale I try to offer about half of what I think I can get. By the time I negotiate and come back to reality, I end up making 10%-20%, which is fine. If I am buying for my collection, I will pay over market.....

[auggiedoggy]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

I can't imagine finding high grade E98's is much of a challenge these days?!?!

The Black Swamp Find raised the bar quite a bit as far as high-end E98s are concerned. I pity the collector that is trying to actually build a high-end set. There have been two BSF commons (graded PSA 8) on eBay for a year or so now with no takers. The buyer is asking around $2K (to start) per card. If your name is Donald Trump however ...

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1910-E98-Set-...item20d3e27312

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PSA-9-MINT-OC...item3f25f1cc41

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1910-E98-Set-...item27d3b8f942

[botn]

Originally Posted by Yankeefan51

Recently I looked at the E Bay Buy It Now for early 20th century cards with a particular focus on high grade E93-E98s Ramly, Cracker Jack and few more unusual type cards. Whilst I was able to identify 14 cards of interest most had a Buy It Now price of between 3 and 4 x the most recent sale from the more distinguished auction houses. What is particularly striking that the five dealers who were offering these cards have listed them for at least 18 months.

Obviously they do not need to sell, if your observations are correct. Are you annoyed you cannot afford to pay their inflated asking prices or upset they have the resources by which they have the ability to do this?

Sounds like you missed some great opportunities bidding on those 14 items when offered by the distinguished auction houses. Gotta step up or step aside. Lots of guys out there with real money to toss into our hobby.

[bbcard1]

Heaven knows I'm getting closer to retirement all the time, but one problem is a great number of the dealers are hobbiest who are retired and don't really need the money, then need to keep busy. A fair number are crotchety to boot.

[johnmh71]

I am never shy about making a fair offer for a buy it now item. It doesn't cost me anything to have them say no. I often have my offer accepted or I receive a counter proposal.

[Bridwell]

Yes, they are like ebay Museums. Rarely do any of the cards sell, it seems. Why would anybody pay 3x on ebay instead of using the auction houses to buy?
They must occasionally sell a card or two otherwise why bother?

[SetBuilder]

What do you guys think this is, Wal-Mart?

You can't catch a big fish if you're not fishin'.



You know what they say about fools with money.

[SetBuilder]

Oh, and I have a theory that hasn't been discussed. Search sorting. People will usually sort by highest price first to weed out the junk. When looking through art sometimes on eBay I've seen artists asking $2,000,000 for a painting but they'll accept $200 for it. It's a free way to get your stuff featured at the top and leapfrog over the "legit" names.

So if you type in E98 and sort by price, your cards will be "showcased" at the top in page 1 instead of buried in page 6. Plus, eBay usually charges like $2 for featured listings so its a way to bypass that by putting a high buy-it-now OBO listing.

[HOF Yankees]

In my opinion I will use buy it now if the price I feel is right and best offer when I got a price in mind. If I don't win the item there are others so its not always a loss in the end when the item/items may or may not be all that rare.

[RedlegsFan]

They dont want to "show and sell," they want to "show and tell." Or, they may be trying to influence the market. I almost always use auctions to buy.

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[T206Collector]

It's called "anchoring." I found that it can work well with patience. List a$1,000 card at $3,000+ and you'll actually see people negotiate with you in the $2,000s, which is still double what you'd see in a straight auction.

I'd say your problem is with the occasional high price buyer. Not the seller, who can obviously get paid once in awhile.

[RedlegsFan]

That's interesting. Thanks for the info. I guess if it helps keep the value of what I already have, great! Just sucks if you're buying, or trying to outbid the bank.

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