Thought from the 'Selling Cards' thread

[MilBraves]

I was reading through the 'Selling Cards' thread where the OP raised a question as to why folks use current sale prices on ebay when trying to deal a price for a card. While reading, a question I have had for a long time popped back in my head and that is.....why do some sellers on Ebay list BIN prices that are so high they will never sell the cards?

I collect mainly post war cards, especially Milwaukee Braves players. I've seen the same Hank Aaron PSA 5s/6s sitting on Ebay for months with BIN prices that are 50 to 100 bucks higher than other sellers BINs. Do they really expect to sell the cards? Most people in retail want to move inventory. These sellers obviously don't care if their cards sell. Is it because the cards take up very little space that they don't price to move? Or are they looking for deals on the side where they wont have to pay ebay fees?

[Exhibitman]

Don't forget wishful thinking. Some Ebay sellers aren't really in it to sell unless they get their price. Others have 'inventory' that looks a lot like a collection. That way they can tell the wife it is inventory but still enjoy a collection. Not that I would know anyone who does that.

[MilBraves]

LoL. Sounds similar to what I'm doing with my new found interest in prewar cards. I tell the wife I'm buying them low to flip them, but really have no intentions of selling them at all nor will they ever see ebay as long as I'm still able to enjoy them.......and they're kept well hidden from the wife.

[Doug]

I don't get how any of these dealers make money when they have had the same cards listed on eBay, literally for years, because their Buy It Now prices are about 50% higher than what the card would actually sell for. Even more confusing is when they have the Best Offer option available and they will decline fair market value offers only to counter with an offer of their own that's a only 1%-2% lower than the already absurdly high BIN price.

[ChiefBenderForever]

Originally Posted by Doug

I don't get how any of these dealers make money when they have had the same cards listed on eBay, literally for years, because their Buy It Now prices are about 50% higher than what the card would actually sell for. Even more confusing is when they have the Best Offer option available and they will decline fair market value offers only to counter with an offer of their own that's a only 1%-2% lower than the already absurdly high BIN price.

I guess they are going to die with a lot of cards because they will never sell them at the prices they have listed, it may take years or decades to reach the prices they have and with the trend on many items esp post war on the slide the bin is even more insane. The good news for buyers is that there are thousands of other options and for sellers it is much easier to sell at a fair price.

[Doug]

I have a heck of a time selling anything with Buy It Now, even at a fair price. I think there are so many of these overpriced cards on there that buyers just skip over BIN cards or filter them out of their searches altogether.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by Doug

Even more confusing is when they have the Best Offer option available and they will decline fair market value offers only to counter with an offer of their own that's a only 1%-2% lower than the already absurdly high BIN price.

I had this happen last night. There was a card with a BIN of $1250 with a BO option. VCP for the card in a PSA is $681 and SGC $688 (it was SGC graded). I offered $700 and received a counter offer for $1240 - $10 less than the BIN. Ridiculous douchebag!

[scmavl]

I had the same thing happen. I made a reasonable offer on a card with a $400 BIN and was countered with (get this)... $399.95

They took a nickel off. Gee, thanks.

[Robextend]

Originally Posted by scmavl

I had the same thing happen. I made a reasonable offer on a card with a $400 BIN and was countered with (get this)... $399.95

They took a nickel off. Gee, thanks.

Sounds very familiar, I sent a fair offer and got a counter of a few pennies less than the BIN price. Brutal....

[Doug]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

I had this happen last night. There was a card with a BIN of $1250 with a BO option. VCP for the card in a PSA is $681 and SGC $688 (it was SGC graded). I offered $700 and received a counter offer for $1240 - $10 less than the BIN. Ridiculous douchebag!

Sounds similar to my experience. There was a card listed for $6500 (or best offer) and I offered $4500 which seemed like a perfectly reasonable price considering it was slightly nicer than a card in the same grade that had recently sold for $3850. My $4500 offer got rejected and I get a counter offer for $6400. Lowering the price 1.5% isn't much of a compromise.

[MilBraves]

Originally Posted by Doug

I have a heck of a time selling anything with Buy It Now, even at a fair price. I think there are so many of these overpriced cards on there that buyers just skip over BIN cards or filter them out of their searches altogether.

If I am looking to buy and not just browsing, I filter out BINs. It has gotten to the point where I wont even bother with them because 95% are ridiculous.

[Robextend]

Originally Posted by MilBraves

If I am looking to buy and not just browsing, I filter out BINs. It has gotten to the point where I wont even bother with them because 95% are ridiculous.

The shame in that is the 5% or so that might be a card I need at a reasonable price keeps me searching through them. The few cards I have gotten via BIN or Best Offer keeps me going...

[Rich Klein]

I have a small grouping of "modern" cards for sale at Check Out My Cards. (Checkoutmycards.com) -- for the "older" cards I try to price at 1/2 low beckett as the cards are usually going to be off in some way -- that is 25 percent of book and if the card has some physical damage (Pen mark, pin hole,..) I'm at 10 percent of book. I still get offers of 1/2 of what I priced these cards at already.

And on the modern cards; which are usually "lower-level" inserts.... I try to be low beckett. Now if someone offers me one level below. (Going to give a real life example here --- a $6 card has a $2.50 book value and if someone offers me $2.25 -- I'll probably take the offer; if someone offers me $1 --- I'll just decline the offer and in the middle I'll think about the offer)

I realize that the people who have posted their offers here are making offers based on being close to real-world value --- but some dealers look at offers and think that everyone is ripping them off. Probably they got burnt at some time in the past. So always look at this from a dealer's side as well.

Rich

[ALR-bishop]

All a seller needs to do to make a lot is stumble across a couple of previously unidentified 1955 Topps Hocus Focus baseball cards and put them up for grabs to see if they "make book"

[MilBraves]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

I have a small grouping of "modern" cards for sale at Check Out My Cards. (Checkoutmycards.com) -- for the "older" cards I try to price at 1/2 low beckett as the cards are usually going to be off in some way -- that is 25 percent of book and if the card has some physical damage (Pen mark, pin hole,..) I'm at 10 percent of book. I still get offers of 1/2 of what I priced these cards at already.

And on the modern cards; which are usually "lower-level" inserts.... I try to be low beckett. Now if someone offers me one level below. (Going to give a real life example here --- a $6 card has a $2.50 book value and if someone offers me $2.25 -- I'll probably take the offer; if someone offers me $1 --- I'll just decline the offer and in the middle I'll think about the offer)

I realize that the people who have posted their offers here are making offers based on being close to real-world value --- but some dealers look at offers and think that everyone is ripping them off. Probably they got burnt at some time in the past. So always look at this from a dealer's side as well.

Rich

Then the question I have is why are these dealers even putting a 'best offer' option on their listings? Why even bother if you are not going to accept legitimate offers?

[T205]

As I go through the BIN prices on ebay trying to find cards for my PSA 7 or better '56 set I run across a lot of these.

One dealer in particular I have noticed that has the BIN at ungodly high prices. In fact their prices are so high it should be considered illegal to list them. These cards are on ebay for years and years. It seems that they will never take the listing down.

I am not sure what their thinking is, perhaps its the hope that someone who doesn't know anything about collecting and the true/fair market price of the items listed would come by and hit the BIN button on one of their listings. However, there will always be those collectors that don't have the patience to wait for a card they need and hit the high BIN.

I usually avoid these type of dealers like the plague even when they have the only card currently on ebay that I need. I figured eventually someone else will list the card that I need at a more reasonable priced. .

This is just my humble opinion and from my experience from buying on Ebay.

[Volod]

I used to store the collection in a locker in the garage, where there was a sizeable population of wolf spiders. The wife, who had no qualms about rifling through my indoor desks and files, wouldn't go near the arachnoid-guarded vault.

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by MilBraves

Then the question I have is why are these dealers even putting a 'best offer' option on their listings? Why even bother if you are not going to accept legitimate offers?

I can't think of others -- but until you start selling cards -- always try to look at the dealer's point of view. Some are stubborn, some may have been buried in their merchandise and others, well maybe they think offers their received from others are too low. This is not just a one-way street.

Rich

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by MilBraves

Then the question I have is why are these dealers even putting a 'best offer' option on their listings? Why even bother if you are not going to accept legitimate offers?

Agreed. In my case I offered slightly above VCP and probalby would have even gone a little higher had he sent me a reasonable counter offer. However, his BIN was $1250 and he counters with $1240. I emailed him to ask his absolute lowest price and he told me that was it. If you have a BIN of $1250 with a BO option, but you're not willing to take less than $1240, then why not just list it with a BIN of $1240 with no best offer option? Duh! The sad thing is that the retard is a board member and I hope the idiot reads this.