How much is that Ruth autog. worth?A spat between a collector(MLB player)and a seller

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by packs

It's not about finding a replacement, its about paying a fair price for the item you want. If you're saying you've got this offer or that offer because you have no offers and want to push me to my limit, that is the definition of ripping me off.

Sorry, my friend but you are wrong. What your real complaint is is that the seller won't give you the item at your price. He doesn't have to accept your evaluation; as I tell buyers taking that tack please go find the item elsewhere

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Sorry, my friend but you are wrong. What your real complaint is is that the seller won't give you the item at your price. He doesn't have to accept your evaluation; as I tell buyers taking that tack please go find the item elsewhere

that is very right, the seller can offer the item at whatever price he wants to. if it is considered too high by most, they dont have to buy it. no one owes another person a price at which they consider fair. what is a fair price? we have all seen autographs we believe to be too highly priced, or out of line from what we see similar autographs being offered, but that's life. once the buyer saw that the seller wouldnt move, he should have dropped it.

i sold corrie sanders boxing signed 8 x 10 photos for 150 dollars, he recently died, but the 150 price was when he was alive. no one thought that was reasonable, but they really couldnt get them anywhere else. i simply told them that corrie set the price, and they were free to find them elsewhere. 90% of the people that told me i was nuts ended up buying it. so was 150 unreasonable for a wbo champion of moderate success? it was supply and demand.

a guy from europe really wanted one bad and when i told him the price, cussed me up and down a blue streak through an email and told me i was crazy, should be locked up and if corrie thought his autograph photo was worth 150, he was crazy and why are we allowed to walk the streets and not in straightjackets on a locked down floor?

I simply told him that was the price and he could easily take the alternative and not buy one and he wouldn't get one from me, he was more than welcome to contact anybody else he wanted and buy from them. i knew he would email me again.

a few days later he emailed me and said that he was totally insane to offer me 75 dollars but if i took his offer he would pay and we could all have what we want, and he was doing me a favor by going so high with his offer. I told him nicely it was 150 or he could look around elsewhere, but the price was firm. he got mad again and really let me have it again, and said goodbye for good and that hell was too good a place for us. I knew he would email me again so i wasn't worried.

a few days later I get another email, this time asking me if i had come to my senses and was ready to take his 75 dollar offer, which he thought was 3 times more than it was really worth. I declined again because I knew i would hear from him again, it was guaranteed, I held the cards, he held none, and i knew it.

A couple of days later he emails again and says that he was must be out of his mind and was probably in need of a psychiatric checkup but he was willing to pay the 150 dollars but it was crazy for him to do so, but he really wanted one. I accepted his offer and collected the money and shipped the photo but I got no apology for him calling me every name in the book and a few I had never heard before. So the price may have seemed high, but comparative shopping and buying elsewhere usually solves the problem for the buyer and the seller too and there is no need to get hostile on either part.

It comes down to what it is worth to both parties and if that number is far apart, and no one is willing to move, just part ways and God bless everyone, the hobby is big enough and fun enough to just let it go.

[GrayGhost]

Good story Travis, and very true

[packs]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Sorry, my friend but you are wrong. What your real complaint is is that the seller won't give you the item at your price. He doesn't have to accept your evaluation; as I tell buyers taking that tack please go find the item elsewhere

We will agree to disagree. In principal I agree with you. A seller can ask whatever they want. My complaint is not that I can't have the item for what I want to pay, my complaint is that a seller is sometimes just trying to rip me and anyone else off that they can. I also believe in such a thing as a fair price. There are frequent posts on the card side about sellers and their outrageous BIN pries on eBay and a new thread about the inflated prices in the Memory Lane catalog, as well as frequent posts about outrageous asking prices at card shows. I am not alone in my opinions. Sometimes people really are just trying to rip you off.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by packs

We will agree to disagree. In principal I agree with you. A seller can ask whatever they want. My complaint is not that I can't have the item for what I want to pay, my complaint is that a seller is sometimes just trying to rip me and anyone else off that they can. I also believe in such a thing as a fair price. There are frequent posts on the card side about sellers and their outrageous BIN pries on eBay and a new thread about the inflated prices in the Memory Lane catalog, as well as frequent posts about outrageous asking prices at card shows. I am not alone in my opinions. Sometimes people really are just trying to rip you off.

its an autograph, no one needs it to save their life, its not ripping anyone off to offer something for sale at a high price, it happens all the time. outrageous doesnt equal ripping someone off. people can clearly see the price and they can choose to buy it or not, ripping someone off is hiding or concealing something, tricking someone. if people can see what they are getting and the price is clearly marked, they can choose to pay or not, but its not ripping anyone off. ripping someone off implies illegal activity.

[packs]

I don't want to argue with you so I'll just agree to disagree with you too.

[dgo71]

I just got back from a week and a half in Florida for ST, and I spoke with a couple players who know Ziegler well. They both told me this article was blown WAY out of proportion. Sounds like the seller was angling for free advertising, which Yahoo was more than happy to oblige him with. Publicity = a million new potential buyers.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by dgo71

I just got back from a week and a half in Florida for ST, and I spoke with a couple players who know Ziegler well. They both told me this article was blown WAY out of proportion. Sounds like the seller was angling for free advertising, which Yahoo was more than happy to oblige him with. Publicity = a million new potential buyers.

I'd probably agree with you if Ziegler hadn't used the "I'm a major leaguer" line. As far as I'm concerned he came off as a real douchebag.

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I'd probably agree with you if Ziegler hadn't used the "I'm a major leaguer" line. As far as I'm concerned he came off as a real douchebag.

it's probably been working with girls. he thought he'd get the same outcome when buying cards.

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I'd probably agree with you if Ziegler hadn't used the "I'm a major leaguer" line. As far as I'm concerned he came off as a real douchebag.

I guess it's not possible that what was said and what actually made it into the article are two different things? I'm not really trying to take sides or go so far as to say Ziegler was completely in the right. I'm just saying take what "news" Yahoo provides with a grain of salt.