The Old Brick and Mortar Card Store

[JollyElm]

I love going into baseball card shops just to soak in all of that old cardboard, but the business models of virtually every store I enter is just plain ridiculous. As others have noted, there is no doubt that if you went back to the same shop 5 years from now, the same vintage cards you see priced in the display cases will still be there...forsaken.

I'm trying to finish my 1961 set, so I stopped in at a local place. A big store with a ton of inventory, but 90% of it was shiny new stuff, so it took him forever to even find his 61's. Clearly there aren't a lot of people coming in off the street asking to peruse them. After I asked him how much he wanted for a few commons and a way off center high number, he went about his 'pricing policy.' First he checked a Beckett guide and I loudly scoffed. "What?" he said. And I answered him that a Beckett guide doesn't come anywhere close to reality in pricing cards accurately. His response was that he checks that guide first, then some huge annual pricing guide (I didn't get the name of it) and then he goes on ebay to see what each card is selling for. He went on and on about how the guides give you nr. mt. pricing, so you have to know how to raise or lower the price based on condition and what not. I said, "Sure. You have to take everything into account, especially any problems with the card."

Whoa...long story short. Sorry. It took him forever doing his 'research' and finally came back to me with prices that were at or above what's in Beckett and he wouldn't negotiate. His reasoning? Well, on ebay they're 'selling' for these prices. Again, these cards were all commons (well, one of them was a Yankee). I said, "Are you checking sold listings or just listing price?? Because listing price has no bearing on reality. And the high number is 90/10 o/c both ways." He just gave me a confused look and said, "That's what they're going for. If you don't want them I'll easily sell them to someone else." I chuckled, wished him a good day, and left.

I'm sure, much like the final scene in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' he went and put that box of 61's back in his endless warehouse of vintage card boxes.