Considering selling everything - Final Update/Tally

[kailes2872]

But can someone tell me if this is a unique back - I.e Ty Cobb w/ Ty Cobb back?

[chernieto]

Kevin,
We have all made mistakes and sometimes those mistakes are a great opportunity to evaluate life and see the positive.
1) a supportive wife? .....priceless
2) an experience to help you focus on what's most important? ( family) -excellent
3) You live in the U.S. of A & not Iraq....very lucky
4) the cards you got are not reprints and you can sell them- cool!
5) A N54 group of folks to hear you out who can relate- very nice too.

Count the blessings and learn from the mistake and hope it is the worst that you experience. that would be very fortunate. Enjoy the weekend

[Luke]

Originally Posted by chernieto

Kevin,
We have all made mistakes and sometimes those mistakes are a great opportunity to evaluate life and see the positive.
1) a supportive wife? .....priceless
2) an experience to help you focus on what's most important? ( family) -excellent
3) You live in the U.S. of A & not Iraq....very lucky
4) the cards you got are not reprints and you can sell them- cool!
5) A N54 group of folks to hear you out who can relate- very nice too.

Count the blessings and learn from the mistake and hope it is the worst that you experience. that would be very fortunate. Enjoy the weekend

I agree with all of this. Also, if this really is the worst mistake you have ever made, that's something to be proud of. It's just money after all. Family, friends, and your health are what's most important.

As far as what to do next, I think autograf nailed it.

[btkpath]

Originally Posted by chernieto

We have all made mistakes and sometimes those mistakes are a great opportunity to evaluate life and see the positive.
1) a supportive wife? .....priceless

Familes have been torn apart from much less than this experience.

Take your wife out for a romantic dinner and revel in how this current error in judgment has made you realize just how lucky you are to have a wife like yours, and has served to strengthened your relationship.

You are truly a lucky guy.

[kailes2872]

Originally Posted by btkpath

Familes have been torn apart from much less than this experience.

Take your wife out for a romantic dinner and revel in how this current error in judgment has made you realize just how lucky you are to have a wife like yours, and has served to strengthened your relationship.

You are truly a lucky guy.

+1

[glchen]

You have a very understanding wife. If I had done this, my wife would have kicked me to the curb yesterday. Treasure her. (Your sig line of Proverbs 27:15 is somewhat strange, however. I hope you're not referring to your wife here.)

I would print out your opening statement on this thread detailing what happened, and put it in a very obvious place, so that you can see it whenever you make any large and spur of the moment purchases, so you can really check yourself to see if you're doing the right thing.

As others have said, everyone makes mistakes in buying things. I have made plenty myself in buying fake stuff, way overpaying, many, many times where I have lost plenty of money purchasing things that I should not have. Obviously nothing as large as you did this time, but still adds up. Each incident for me is something that I have learned from, and hopefully, you can do the same. You have your health, a wonderful wife, and it looks like you can still recover from this financially albeit it will take a little while. Good luck!

[kailes2872]

You have a very understanding wife. If I had done this, my wife would have kicked me to the curb yesterday. Treasure her. (Your sig line of Proverbs 27:15 is somewhat strange, however. I hope you're not referring to your wife here.)

It was a joke between the two of us. The pastor used it last week and told the men in the crowd that we could use it as a life verse. I put it into the sig line to see if anyone would see the reference. She got a kick out of it.

She is a proverbs 31 woman - through and through. It is probably time to change it to that. Thanks for the prompting.

[drcy]

If you were going to spend it on a car for sons, you would have spent in to on something that depreciated quickly anyway. In the strictly financial scheme of things, you may come out better financially having spent it on the collection.

And some people spend good money on fakes. There are real horror stories there. You got something authentic and worth money out of it.

The autographs are the wild card here. Along with what you get for the entire collection. In your funk, perhaps you'll get more than you're thinking right now.

Overspending on a collection happens to everyone, even experienced dealers. Even the Mr. Mint you mentioned has overspent. He wrote about buying super rare football card boxes sitting in a garage or warehouse, only to discover when approaching them that they were infested with bugs. I know a well known dealer who bought a high grade 1971 Topps, but when he took the cads out of the binder he discovered many to most were recolored in black pen.

The best thing to do to make up for a bad deal, overspending or whatever, is to save some money and cut spending that you already wouldn't have-- a little here and a little here. Over time, you will make up the lost money by saving money you wouldn't have spent if this situation hadn't happened. If a loss causes you to alter your actions and habits for the better, it can actually lead to profit.

They say a difference between people who are overweight and healthy weight is both will sometimes overeat way more than normal at a meal, but the healthy weight person will make up for it by eating less at the next meal (a light dinner after a big restaurant lunch) or by skipping some snacks he or she would ordinarily have, while the overweight person will continue to eat the same amount as normal.

Personal setbacks and mistakes can make for a better person, short term financial losses can lead to long term profit and a big early season loss can make for a better football team. It's all a matter of how you handle and react to them.

[buymycards]

Hi Kevin, I buy several collections a year. I learned the hard way not to commit to a purchase until I have thoroughly examined the cards. People always over value their collections. I have made many mistakes buying collections and when I get them home and look closely, my first thought is - "Wow, I screwed up on this one".

It is really difficult to drive 200 miles to look at a collection and then say "no thanks", but it would be even more difficult to buy the collection and regret it later.

You made a mistake. Learn from it, continue to collect and move on. Aaron Rodgers doesn't quit when he throws an interception, he comes back on the field and tries again.

Rick

[Tao_Moko]

Originally Posted by kailes2872

But can someone tell me if this is a unique back - I.e Ty Cobb w/ Ty Cobb back?

This is by far the coolest piece.

I lost $32k on a house recently and other sizable mistakes like dropping a huge chunk on a SeaRay when I got back from Afghanistan. Nothing is a worse investment than a boat. My humble opinion is that this it's important to remember this is a hobby(for most) and mistakes are just part of it. Everytime I buy or sell something "rare", I find another right around the corner. The reality is that we should probably all use our money foy helping those in need and not cards, but we are spoiled animals.

[drcy]

I agree with Tom to not compound a bad, hasty decision with another bad, hasty decision. Don't liquidate just to get it out of sight. Take your time and you'll get your best return.

And a key to remember is everyone on this board has made bad buys. Don't be too hard on yourself.

[Econteachert205]

Everyone should check out the lots Kevin has up on ebay. Like when do you see that many red mans up in one lot, and the auto one as well. Take a look and maybe leave a bid, I know I'll be watching the red man lot closely.

[buymycards]

ebay link?

[kailes2872]

Username is kailes2872

I am away from the house and on my mobile. I will edit in links when I get home tonight. Thanks for the support!

[drcy]

I don't think selling the autographed lot as one 600 group lot as you're doing is a good idea. With the star power and HOF signatures on vintage cards I see there (such as a Gaylor Perry signed rookie,a Frank Robinson signed 1967 Topps and Yaz 1970s Topps), you could at least consign it as one lot to a big auction house like REA or an autograph house like RR Auctions. You could also have it broken up and sold at places like Love of the Game Auctions. Some of those cards are worthy of being sold as singles. Call REA or send LOTG. I'm sure All would be happy to handle it for you.

People buy a group lot of 600 autographed cards to get a deep discount and, if you're fixed on selling it as one lot, you should consigned it to one of the above. People will pay more when it's offered by a place like REA, in part because they've been authenticated. People will be hesitant to buy from someone on eBay who says he's unfamiliar with autographs.

Most single collector in person autographed card collections like that are a mixture of stars and commons, vintage cards to modern cheapo and old timers on reprint/commorative cards. That's all standard for a big lot like that. If they were all got by a single collector who got them in person, that will be a good selling point. But there's no way I'd auction a collection whole like that on eBay, unless I was willing to sell for a deep discount. Those are the kinds of lots dealers buy to break down and resell for profit.

Just my 2 cents, as someone who's collected and sold autographed baseball cards.

And, for all your stuff, I'd be careful about doing a hasty firesale.

[Exhibitman]

The other posts here have covered it well but I thought this:

Earlier this year I needed to sell off some cards. I consigned the cards to an eBay auctioneer. I got slaughtered. I netted less than 50% of what I spent on acquiring the cards, many of which I purchased in the heady market of 2004-2008. I moped around for a while then thought about it and realized a few things:

1. I wasn't using the money anyway. It wasn't the rent money, just some excess cash I spent in cards. I'll earn more.

2. If I spent the money on any number of other things I'd have nothing to show for it anyway. The money I lost is roughly the cost of season tickets to the Dodgers over the last few years and if I'd had that I'd have nothing, not even a World Series to attend. So from that perspective I am no worse off. Probably even had a less frustrating time and definitely ate way less junk food.

3. As compared to what my wife and I have lost on stocks and real estate over the years, and even bad receivables in my practice, the card loss is a drop in the bucket. Heck, I'd be halfway to retired right now if we'd made a few decisions slightly differently. If that doesn't chew my guts out, some freakin' baseball cards won't either [see my tag line below].

It feels lousy but it will pass.

Your mistake, if you want to call it that, was getting emotional about a business transaction. If you are going to be a dealer you need to be detached about the dealing: "no deal is better than a bad deal" has to be your mantra. I went through a small collection at our show in May, made an offer, and got outbid by another dealer. So be it. The seller tried to get me to compete but I had my methodology for valuing the lot, my valuation dictated the offer I made, and that was the end of the story. If I upped my offer I'd have fallen out of my valuation range and been reacting with my heart not my head. Sounds like that is where you went astray. Chalk it up to inexperience and learn from it.