Hobby Myths Most Accept as True

[ChrisStufflestreet]

Originally Posted by bcornell

No offense taken, Blair. I thought that snarky line was one possible reply to being quoted book prices, which are often wildly wrong. However, those prices are sometimes a starting point in a face-to-face negotiation between a buyer & seller at the National.


Bill

As far as buying at shows, I have always taken the position that I decide what I want to pay. If a seller wants to bargain, that's fine, but I've always understood that it's my ultimate power to say "no, thanks" and walk to the next table.

As for the sellers who rely too much on "book" values, I've always gotten a kick out of sellers who:

#1. Don't put prices on their cards
#2. Can't tell you what the price is without consulting the Great Oracle of Beckett
#3. Pay little attention to the condition when they assign a price.

One show I attended in a local mall a few years back had one of these moments. I saw a beat-up '51 Bowman high number. It was a common but the paper had darkened, the corners were missing and several creases were evident even inside the top loader. Asking what he wanted for it, the seller took out his Beckett, looked at the listings for a minute and said, "twenty."

I thanked him for his time, but then he started saying, "But look right here!" (pointing at the guide) "This here is a $30 card!" So I took the guide, opened it to the section that explained condition...showed him that a card that rated Fair/Poor should only command about 15-25% of the value at most...but he wasn't quite so eager to follow The Book at that point.

But...I know that goes both ways. Most of the 54 guys who also sell are sure to have plenty of stories where somebody brought in a childhood collection that had been thoroughly thrashed and had calculated the Hi Beckett value of every single card before walking into the store to sell them.