A Player Passing Away & Selling Etiquette

[mintacular]

Was wondering if there was an unwritten hobby rule about how long to wait to sell a card of a player that has recently passed away (as I have such a card). I recall early this year that when Kobe passed many speculators started to quickly list cards with inflated prices to take advantage of the new interest in Kobe cards--and that bothered me as I thought it was a bit classless and greedy. Thanks for your opinion.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by mintacular

Was wondering if there was an unwritten hobby rule about how long to wait to sell a card of a player that has recently passed away (as I have such a card). I recall early this year that when Kobe passed many speculators started to quickly list cards with inflated prices to take advantage of the new interest in Kobe cards--and that bothered me as I thought it was a bit classless and greedy. Thanks for your opinion.

By definition doesn't selling a card involve a bit of greed?

The best time to sell is when interest is high, and interest is never higher than when somebody famous dies.

[iwantitiwinit]

When you sell a card aren't you trying to realize the most profit possible? I say unless you're related to the player the proper ediquette is immediately following the service and burial.

[Koufax32fan]

This is not an ethical issue. It is unethical to purchase the autograph of recently deceased individual? The goods involved in our transactions are, by definition, not necessities. As long as the buyer and seller are honest with each other and treat each other as expected and appropriate to the situation, then they are acting ethically.

If Kobe's death (or Seaver's or Brock's) prompts interest and you want to sell, then sell. Or, if you want to buy, then buy. The same goes for getting a 3,000 strikeout or hit or being elected to the hall of fame.

[Mike D.]

When a player passes, the interest spikes. Honestly, that’s how I knew Seaver had passed. Two low-cost lots of his cards I’d had listed for months sold within 30 min of each other. I was like “oh oh”. Sure enough I hit ESPN and there it was.

Reminds me of the day I flipped on the radio in the car and started working through the local FM channels. When I hit the 4th station playing “My Sweet Lord”, I knew George Harrison had passed away.

[Bpm0014]

“Mickey Mantle don’t care about you. Why should you care about him?” “We’ll see if your father can’t pay the rent, go ask Mickey Mantle. See what he tells you...”

[Bram99]

Originally Posted by Koufax32fan

This is not an ethical issue. It is unethical to purchase the autograph of recently deceased individual? The goods involved in our transactions are, by definition, not necessities. As long as the buyer and seller are honest with each other and treat each other as expected and appropriate to the situation, then they are acting ethically.

If Kobe's death (or Seaver's or Brock's) prompts interest and you want to sell, then sell. Or, if you want to buy, then buy. The same goes for getting a 3,000 strikeout or hit or being elected to the hall of fame.

this is all true. However, it is unethical to sell an autographed item of a deceased player that is signed after the players' death.

[Snapolit1]

Don’t think the athlete cares much. And the family, to the extent they are aware of the secondary market on cards and paraphernalia, would prob be either completely indifferent or thrilled.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by mintacular

Was wondering if there was an unwritten hobby rule about how long to wait to sell a card of a player that has recently passed away (as I have such a card). I recall early this year that when Kobe passed many speculators started to quickly list cards with inflated prices to take advantage of the new interest in Kobe cards--and that bothered me as I thought it was a bit classless and greedy. Thanks for your opinion.

I think based on the response of peers, 36 hours is the proper waiting time. One day to honor the dead and allow a moment of silence - so as not to feel unethical about your decision to sell. And the next 12 hours to list the item.

[drcy]

There is no rule.

That some people don't like it or complain about it doesn't make it a rule nor is proof that their opinion is in the majority.

Some people complain when someone "outs" an ongoing auciton, but that doesn't make it a rule or a board rule. We've never even had a poll about Net54 members' on the topic so don't even know prevaling opinion. Though you will get some people mad at you if you do it.

Though there are some offical board rules.

[glynparson]

When other people
Start paying your bills they can start telling you when you should or shouldn’t sell something. Until then do what you are comfortable with.

[lowpopper]

Sell immediately. It’s memorabilia, not crime scene evidence or anything directly correlated to their passing. Don’t let others guilt you into not selling something when it’s hot.

[rhettyeakley]

Not really an ethical dilemma in my opinion. I know that as soon as a player passes away any autographs that I have in my ebay store get snatched up super fast. I learned that Al Kaline had passed away a little while ago as between working on patients I happened to look at my phone and noticed I had sold 5-6 different signed Kaline cards within a 15 minute period and didn't even have to look at the news, I knew what that meant. Same thing happened the other day with Hockey player Dale Hawerchuk.

I think the only unethical thing could be to list at an astronomical price (10-20x what they were going for previous) to try to cash in on the craze, even that is a bit debatable.

[bnorth]

The only unethical thing I can think of is canceling winning bids to relist the item at a much higher price. Selling ASAP is only good business.

[todeen]

Lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk