What Should A Dealer Do?

[Exhibitman]

Let's be clear: no one condones capitalizing on mistakes. In the example with the Ryan rookie, obviously, the wife misread the $500 label. That's the equivalent of a clerk giving you change for a $100 instead of a $10.

Making an offer on a card or paying a buyer's ask price across a table at a collectibles show is part of the business. I (and all of you who attend shows or antique fairs or flea markets) spend days scouring through stuff looking for value. Everyone at a show knows that buyers want to get something great for cheap and sellers want to sell things as highly as they can. If everything was priced to 'market' and no one knew anything more than anyone else, many (most?) collectible sales would not happen. Wanting something shiny and new only gets you so far; there has to be a perception of value or you end up with boxes of shiny crap no one wants [sound familiar, former 1990s pack busters?].

A buyer who just takes the first dealer offer through the door at a collectibles show is lazy, dumb and blind to what's around him. I have zero pity for that guy.

We also don't know the circumstances of the multi strike back deal. Perhaps there was only one dealer who was interested in a beater McGraw at the seller's price. Until relatively recently FUBARed T206s were considered junk box bait; that's where I got most of mine. Some people still think of them that way.

One other thing to consider: in sitting at selling tables at shows over the last 30+ years [geez, I feel old sometimes] I cannot tell you how many times I am approached by someone with cards for sale who lets me go through them, takes my offer, and then walks away to try and find someone to top it. For every schmuck who hands over a rare card for fifty bucks, I bet there are twenty who waste hours of dealers' time shopping a deal around a show floor.