Overpriced cards

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

I have had dealers on ebay tell me they have "200k+ etc of inventory" and do not need to sell" So im basing it out of experience and if a card is listed for a year, they obviously arent selling it at market price or have a real interest to sell. Proof is in the pudding.

Not saying all dealers of course.

The dealer who is telling you he does not need to sell, is probably responding to some needling you are giving him - we are only hearing one side of this. Dealers can be offended by lowball offers and say rude things. Embarrassed to say that I have responded unprofessionally at times when needled by a buyer who is trying to guilt me into giving him a deal, or who is simply trolling out of boredom.

Also, the fact that it's been on ebay for a year, does not mean it isn't at 'market price'. Items get stale and if something has been up on ebay for a long time as a BIN, the perception is sometimes that it is priced above market value. Or there might be legitimate buyer who feel like it's been available for a year, so it will be available 3-6 months later when they have the cash. The same item could be removed and placed in an auction outside of ebay, and sell for more. I often take 'stale' items and run them as straight auctions. Often they sell for more than my BIN price, even on ebay.

There are a lot of dynamics going on on ebay, which is why seller strategies vary so much. I recently put a bunch of autographs up at prices such that the offers I get would be hopefully be right about at my cost. Guess what? The offers are coming in below my cost. Could be that I paid too much, but it could also be that if I marked them up another 20-30%, the offers would come in either at cost or slightly above. Ebay can really be a head-game at times.