curiosity question on flipping

[UKCardGuy]

Originally Posted by theshleps

My question is do you think these folks are getting at or near the prices they are asking. I am not going to turn into a flipper but do you think that ebay yields higher prices than major auction houses? Also does this piss you off like it can me or is it just part of the game?

I see this with cards that I'm an underbidder on in an auction. Often it's a dealer, but I think a dealer and a flipper are operating to the some overall business model (buy low and sell higher).

To your questions:
1. Are these folks getting the prices they're asking? I think the answer is sometimes. At 5x auction prices, I doubt it. Those are often people who are deluding themselves. At 2x auction prices...sometimes but they have to wait for the perfect buyer. I see this mostly on pretty rare items. I can see some logic in the model. They have to sit on the inventory for a while which requires capital. They have eBay selling costs and need to hold enough inventory to cope with the slower sell through rates. But sometimes the mark ups seem absurd.

I also wonder sometimes whether collectors buy a piece they want and then list it on eBay with a crazy "I don't want to sell it price". If someone comes along who wants it that much, they'll take the sale and roll the proceeds into other items on their want list.

2. Does eBay yield better prices? Sometimes but it depends on how much markup they're targeting. You might expect 10 -15% higher BIN prices on eBay just to cover the selling fees and the risks of having to deal with returns, etc. As Balticfox pointed out, there's no cost for posting and waiting on eBay. An auction only runs for a short period.

3. Does it piss you off? When it's a card that I need, it absolutely does. But that's the nature of the game.