Cards making the rounds

[Rob D.]

Alleged questionable activity by auction houses aside, one facet of this board is the number of people who will buy a four-figure card, post it in the pick-ups thread and then two weeks later offer it for sale on the B/S/T for up to 40 percent more than they paid. If this board is a microcosm of the hobby, then my guess is that people are doing the same things in the major auctions, except instead of posting on the B/S/T they consign to the next upcoming auction. When the card doesn't sell (or "sells," if you know what I mean), it will soon turn up again.

Coupled with this practice is what motivates people to collect. My modus operandi has been, for the most part, to buy or trade for things with the intent of keeping them a long time. I know what I enjoy collecting and owning, so there are few instances in which I decide to get rid of something I've acquired. (The main exception being the purchase of a large group of cards in order to acquire and keep a few.)

But I see a lot of threads asking which sets people think are hot or which set is "better" to collect. There's certainly nothing wrong with gathering input from fellow collectors, but again, if someone isn't 100 percent sure when he or she begins pursuit of a set, then I suppose there's a good chance that within a year he or she will be looking to sell the cards that were just acquired. And if the person aggressively pursued the cards and overpaid, then he or she likely will take a loss when selling.

Simply put, if one of the reasons a person buys cards is to elicit "Great pickup!" responses on the board (or from a circle of collecting friends), as opposed to really liking the card or the set, then it makes sense to see the same cards being offered repeatedly.

[botn]

Jeff,

I was the consignor of the Cobb in Mastro's April 06 and was paid for the card.

Greg

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by botn

Jeff,

I was the consignor of the Cobb in Mastro's April 06 and was paid for the card.

Greg

Wow, so we've got two of the four sales covered, the first and last -- but these were the most likely to be legit. What are the odds the other two are real?

[botn]

Maybe it was Wes who won the card from the Sept 07 auction which would leave one auction unexplained. If not, it would be interesting to know who Wes bought the card from.

[mikedenero]

[QUOTE=Rob D.;735235 My modus operandi has been, for the most part, to buy or trade for things with the intent of keeping them a long time. I know what I enjoy collecting and owning, so there are few instances in which I decide to get rid of something I've acquired.[/QUOTE]

Great comment. As a former collector and now a dealer, I have always tried to follow the philosophy to never buy a card unless I would be comfortable holding it for five years. Whenever I have wavered from that fairly disciplined approach, I have typically regretted my actions. As for buying what's "hot"; I'd rather own what's timeless!

[kcohen]

"Buy high, sell low--not a formula for success..."

Unless you make it up on volume.

[SteveVerkman]

I think that Peter Spaeth's point about anonymity with grading and auctions is absolutely brilliant and something that never occurred to me in those terms.

This is also true for autographed items and single signed balls with removals - knowing the owner of the item often makes it easier to get a feel for the piece and possibly its history. I suppose there is no way around this with current auctions as consignors naturally want to remain anonymous...