Bid Retractions - A Punk Move?

[MBMiller25]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Why disdain? If anything, that 8.5 was a steal buy for any collector after it, brother!

I won't lie-- The Registry mentality and some of the imbalances it fosters used to annoy me. But then you start building a collection you love, with awesome cards, and many at good prices, and you find so many collectors appreciate that-- and especially yourself.

I think every time a guy buys an undergraded card like that 8.5, it's actually a huge victory for the collector. I root for the collector.

As I've said before, I will invest my attention on what my eyes say and what my fellow collectors whom I respect say-- like so many of you here-- over what a sticker says.

If you buy that 8.5 and show it next to a worse 9, collectors like all of us will tell you all day you have the better card, as will your eyes. That's what counts. And you paid less for it, which proves you are a savvy collector.

And if you ever want to sell, recall the example of what I paid for my 57 Mick, 34 Gehrig, and lowly PSA 1.5 Paige-- as compared to "VCP," which is just an average of mostly ugly cards, as eye appeal is not growing on trees.

A dealer I respect priced those three cards well above "VCP avg." I came with very respectable offers. His stance basically was, "Look at these cards. If you want the best cards in this price range, here they are. Try and find better, or buy worse with a higher number on the sticker, your choice. But I know what I have and this is the price."

And ya know what? I agreed and bought'em, because I am an eye appeal collector. To me eye appeal is the grade. Because we are admiring our cards in hand, or in a display, or in a gallery, not under a microscope.

Honestly, I don't think I ever even glance at the sticker when I look at my cards. Hand to God, I just look at the card.

Sell side, everyone wants the higher number on the sticker, and that's understandable. But--

1. You can get your price by putting a beautiful card up there and waiting for single card, eye appeal collectors to come by. We are there.

2. Buy side, the collector side, there are undergraded cards for us to find and they are like finding treasure. And we just ignore and don't buy the overgraded junk. If another type of collector likes overgraded or will choose sticker number over card quality, hey, what another dude does with his money, not our problemo. They can pass on the better card all day and I will buy it for less

End of the day, I think one has to search inward, and ask if they are truly collecting because they enjoy the cards and talking cards/sharing them with fellow enthusiasts, if they love thinking about the artistic merits of a card, and the legacy of the player, and the journey through time that card has taken...or, does one care about things like, "What they are worth?", or, "What they can be sold for?", or, "How can that guy over there pay more for that ugly card and walk around thinking his card is better than mine?, or, "How can that grader in that office think this or that?"

Those latter thoughts, that's a dog driving itself crazy, barking at birds. Those latter thoughts in the heart of a man are negative and unhealthy. And if those are the thoughts that cards bring up, then the individual is not really about the cards or collecting.

On the personal side, I have a very analogous situation that may help: I used to get salty when things at work that were far beyond my control would not go my way. I am not prone to getting the proverbial lucky break. It was beginning to turn me negative. Then, someone close to me said, "If you are really what you say, and all about the work and the craft, then why would you not strictly and solely take pleasure in that? If you get so down and negative when the aspect beyond your control doesn't go your way, maybe you are more about the business and the money, and not the purist, the craftsman, you claim to be?" After that talk, I thought about what I was, what I wanted to be, and I instantly stopped caring about the things beyond my control; I dug back down into the simple act I enjoy, and have been happy ever since.

This is so well said. I particularly related to the part about buying cards for yourself, rather than holes in the registry. Its when I finally figured this out, that I became satisfied with collecting and the collection I have amassed. I am still doing a few sets on the registry, but I buy cards I like, and that I want when I find something that I think looks fantastic to my eyes. If it fills a hole in a registry, so be it, but I certainly do not buy cards to be filling holes.