Anyone Else Feeling Marooned on Vintage Collector Island??

[JollyElm]

(Forgive me for sounding like a sharer from a Card Collectors Anonymous meeting.)


This is a perfect metaphor for my current collecting 'journey'...

USSelms.jpg


I can't remember the last time I saw something on eBay that was a combination of both great and affordable. There's nothing. Everything I look at is even more stupidly priced than before, despite people (who knows what fantasy world they live in) claiming that prices across the vintage board have dropped. I even used to love picking up things with qualifiers at nice prices. Wow, dem days are over!!

I find myself beached aground at the lowest of low tides, without even a chance of a rising current sweeping in to lift my collecting ship once again. So depressing.


Anybody else??

[mrreality68]

Great way to put it Darren love it

And yes eBay does that to you.

Many of my wishlist cards are on there and have been for years. yes I said years and the prices keep going up even though they never sell.

They are way to overpriced or someone would have bought them by now.

[raulus]

Waiting for crazy prices to come down a bit, while watching them continue to shoot to the moon.

Luckily, there are plenty of other places to redirect your efforts, most of which are almost as satisfying.

I’ve been mostly focused on picking up nice pieces of my childhood heroes from the 1980s-2000s, which can still be had for a relative bargain. And every once in a while, a rare vintage piece that I can’t live without will come along and I’ll spend all the money I saved by passing on everything else.

Time to channel your inner Miley Cyrus and focus on the climb. Even if it seems like the pace is glacial sometimes.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Most ebay fixed prices are not real, just ignore them. There are still a fair number of ebay auctions, and of course tons of other auctions.

[NiceDocter]

I have branched out into odder versions of collecting and can still find a few things to buy at a reasonable price...... but it seems even the unusual and off beat items have gone up too so it is getting kind of rough to find a quality piece at anything close to reasonable on price. Looking at prices from even a year ago a lot of things get priced at double or triple and you cannot really negotiate. Cant blame the sellers if they can get it.... Id like to know however why a recent auction price for an item sets the floor at which it can be sold.... shouldnt it be more like the maximum rather than a minimum?

[todeen]

These are my last two bigger purchases. Neither came from eBay. First was from a fellow board member who reached out to me, and the other was an antique store find. The Topps Now cards I buy are on subscription. So while I like them, I'm more of a memorabilia guy. Before these, my big purchase in May was from ebay, a Tucker Barnhart hat he was issued for Wade Miley's no-hitter. That was a lucky find, and the last good deal I would say I found. I posted it on a Reds thread, and the guy who owned the Barnhart jersey reached out to me if I would sell it to him, disappointed he missed it.

I often feel that photos have become over priced on eBay compared to what I was paying pre-COVID.

Sent from my SM-G9900 using Tapatalk

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I can't remember the last time I saw something on eBay that was a combination of both great and affordable. There's nothing.

I've made some pretty great ebay pickups recently, of course I collect stupid sh*t that few others care about, so that helps.

Doug

[egri]

It happens; at this point, if I can make one pickup a year for my signed 1953 Topps project, I'm happy. In the meantime, I inevitably find side projects to keep me busy.

[cubman1941]

Great way to put it. I feel the same way, dead in the water. I have decided to re-group and put together a 1975 Hostess set and see if I can wait it out.

[toledo_mudhen]

So I ran into the same feeling (probably 1 year ago) and ventured out into the FB Groups and I gotta say all of my transactions (both Buy & Sell) have been flawless.

I can give a positive recommendation for both

https://www.facebook.com/groups/t206cards

and

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2235724183379176

[Exhibitman]

Me too, Doug, as we've discussed. My stuff is the Festival of Bric-a-Brac.

Darren, you're not marooned, you just need to change ponds. I don't see a shortage of stuff with the bajillions of auctions nowadays. A lot of the more modestly-priced items you crave have migrated from eBay to some of the AH's online catalog offerings since they sell cards singly starting at ten bucks a pop. I know I shifted my selling from eBay to REA's Encore auctions when eBay started raping me on sellers' fees after a few double listings landed me in "Below Standard" purgatory until next May. While I'm in eBay's clink, what I list on eBay is stuff I am trying to get rid of. It is good for that, at least.

[conor912]

To stick with your boat analogy, prices saw a titanic shift in the last few years. If they come down, it won’t be for a while til sellers realize the market wont support said prices. 40-70 year old white guys aren’t typically known for their brain elasticity or quickly adopting new prices in the downward direction,, so it’ll take some time to “right the ship”. Either that or things never go down, and everything is at its new justified FMV.

I for one have pivoted to Japanese cards and and having a blast. There’s always another niche. Even the niches have niches!

[Rich Falvo]

I’m feeling a little marooned also. Not just because of prices, but because I had narrowed my collecting focus and material just hasn’t been available. Time to refocus.

[Exhibitman]

Good one, Connor. I guess we all need a few ketamine trips to reset the ol' brains.

Raulus, spot on. I saw a grail card come and go tonight because I just could not justify the outlay. My last (inadequate) bid was painful.

[Svabinsky78]

Even the oddball vintage which the mainstream of the hobby would not sniff at years ago....and even the lower tier HOFers....has gone off the rails.....

Case in point, I was keeping an eye on a 1921 Exhibits Burleigh Grimes that was listed on the recent REA auction......it ended up selling for $2400 (plus the 20% buyer's fee + taxes and shipping....when all said and done, about $3000). I know that it is a pretty scarce card...and it is his rookie, but $3000....I passed. Just crazy....

You can still find reasonable prices at smaller regional shows (not the national)....if you run into the right dealer.....

[Hankphenom]

I'd really love to get a breakdown of where all this money is coming from. Auction honchos could tell me, if they wanted, but I'm not sure I've ever asked. It's not us here on Net54, that's for sure, unless we're cashing in something we bought years ago when things were more affordable to buy something today. I'm guessing some pure investor and investor groups have noticed the dependable 50-year track record and ROI of this asset class and come in with guns blazing. And how about these tech billionaires and wealthy boomer lawyers, doctors, and other professionals who basically have the wherewithal to pull the trigger on anything they see in auction catalogs as often as they feel like it. And they can do it with the reassurance of the above mentioned track record. There is so much money sloshing around out there now, so many fortunes that would have been unimaginable in my youth when there were a few old-line fortunes known by name and that was about it. Venture capital? What the heck is that? Don't get me wrong, I have no complaints. I'm very happy with my little house in my beautiful little town and my fabulous old Highlander and Martin D-35, etc., and I have some cool stuff grabbed in the old days in niches that not many others cared about, but I can easily understand how frustrating it must be for ordinary schmucks who just love old cards to now be faced with choices like replacing the beater second car or moving forward with their collection. Frankly, the financial profile of the average Net54 collector must be in the top 99% of the country to even be able to play in this sandbox at all. For that group, who has gotten used to having pretty much whatever they set their sights on, this must be a very tough time to be in the "hobby."

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by conor912

To stick with your boat analogy, prices saw a titanic shift in the last few years. If they come down, it won’t be for a while til sellers realize the market wont support said prices. 40-70 year old white guys aren’t typically known for their brain elasticity or quickly adopting new prices in the downward direction,, so it’ll take some time to “right the ship”. Either that or things never go down, and everything is at its new justified FMV.

I for one have pivoted to Japanese cards and and having a blast. There’s always another niche. Even the niches have niches!

Thanks for not including 70-80 year old white guys.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Thanks for not including 70-80 year old white guys.

I can attest that Frank's brain is as elastic as anyone's.

[jingram058]

From the monthly pick up thread, where anything I pick up is ignored, there are most definitely a number of upper 99% and some 1%ers who make up the country club of net54 and all the other high-value card forums. Just look at the monthly pick ups, and the congratulatory pats on the back from the other country clubbers, the shiny beautiful people who can easily afford Wagner, Mantle, Ruth and Cobb and all the others. Pocket change. Nothing more than trinkets and geegaws when you have that kind of change burning a hole in your pocket.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by jingram058

From the monthly pick up thread, where anything I pick up is ignored, there are most definitely a number of upper 99% and some 1%ers who make up the country club of net54 and all the other high-value card forums. Just look at the monthly pick ups, and the congratulatory pats on the back from the other country clubbers, the shiny beautiful people who can easily afford Wagner, Mantle, Ruth and Cobb and all the others. Pocket change. Nothing more than trinkets and geegaws when you have that kind of change burning a hole in your pocket.

Maybe, but there's a whole bunch of middle/working class members here who scrimp, save, and sacrifice to add to our collections. I for one am happy to see members pick up cards for their collection that I could never afford. A lot of them are hobby friends, why wouldn't I be happy for them?