Paying a premium over VCP and SMR

[MetsBaseball1973]

I will happily set a snipe that is 2X the VCP average for a card with great centering, when I see every card pictured on VCP's past sales has bad centering.

Average prices are for average cards.

[pokerplyr80]

It all depends on the card and the eye appeal. Look at that SGC 5 52 Mantle that sold for over 70k or the 4 for at goldin for over 50k. VCP on both is less than half of that. If a card is hot, or so rare that there isn't much data VCP can be way off. And I rarely worry about SMR. You can throw VCP out of the window on any well centered Mantle or other high end card these days. People are paying big premiums for nice cards.

[Neal]

Originally Posted by MetsBaseball1973

Average prices are for average cards.

well said!

[Exhibitman]

VCP is a tool, not a rule, a snapshot of what an average card sold for at a specific time. It is actually a deflationary force if used as a rule because if you refuse to pay more than VCP, you will only buy at or below VCP. That means the next guy who follows the rule will use your sale as a benchmark and so on, which stagnates at best. I think of it more as an idea of what something has sold for, so that I don't wildly overpay.

[aconte]

When I nice card comes up on ebay and it's right for you, sometimes
you got to go big or go home.

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I think of it more as an idea of what something has sold for, so that I don't wildly overpay.

Exactly!

[hcv123]

My best advice is to be an educated consumer. The better you know the card and market for it, the more informed (better) decision you can make about it.

[begsu1013]

even though smr comes out a month early, it and vcp are already yesterday's news already.

literally. pun intended.

i've gone well above both for shining examples.

and was worried about it (for a month or so).

a few years later, they seem to have been absolute wonderful decisions.


and for the record, i would never think that smr is even remotely close on cards on the high end of the grading spectrum.

commons and low grade example of stars are closer to correct, but for the high end stuff smr is sometimes a solid 6 months to years behind today's pricing.

and probably intentionally done for "replacement value" should something transpire while a card is in their possession.

[jmb]

Originally Posted by begsu1013

... and probably intentionally done for "replacement value" should something transpire while a card is in their possession.

Great point. Hadn't thought of that.

Just checking completed ebay auctions of cards I'm buying the prices on SMR are much lower.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

VCP is a tool, not a rule, a snapshot of what an average card sold for at a specific time. It is actually a deflationary force if used as a rule because if you refuse to pay more than VCP, you will only buy at or below VCP. That means the next guy who follows the rule will use your sale as a benchmark and so on, which stagnates at best. I think of it more as an idea of what something has sold for, so that I don't wildly overpay.

Adam, very well said and oh so true.

It comes down to this, if you want a "nice" card, you will usually have to pay a "nice" price.

Otherwise, you will have years and years worth of missed opportunities, and whenever those threads along the lines of THE CARD I COULD HAVE BOUGHT, BUT FAILED TO DO SO pop up, and they always will, you will have so many occurrences to select from, based on your stupid, fathead, chintzy, tightwad, cheapskate ways, you will come off as quite the dumb a-- and it will not be funny.

Having said that, I must say my own sad sack scenario comes down to SELLING a lot of great cards before the advent of the third party graders. You'll have to pass up a lot of great cards before you will feel worse than me. ---Brian Powell