Misery Loves Company - Any Stories About Taking a Loss at Auction?

[Leon]

You didn't do anything wrong. You had a cheap learning lesson. I had to have a 19th Century card where a total of 3 were known. I paid 25k for it privately and sold it for around 16k in aucton. Sweet deal, just not for me. And I could go on and on and on......Live and learn.

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by Leon

You didn't do anything wrong. You had a cheap learning lesson. I had to have a 19th Century card where a total of 3 were known. I paid 25k for it privately and sold it for around 16k in aucton. Sweet deal, just not for me. And I could go on and on and on......Live and learn.

Thank you for your honesty, Leon. I get the sense you more than made up the margin a few weeks ago! I know I tried to do my part... (e95 cCobb - Love it!)

[Leon]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

Thank you for your honesty, Leon. I get the sense you more than made up the margin a few weeks ago! I know I tried to do my part... (e95 cCobb - Love it!)

That is a really, really great card. It has great centering and huge borders. I paid $2600 (privately) for it not too long ago. After juice it sold for $2692.

Overall my auction did very well (thanks to everyone who bid) and went a little above high estimates. Some really good friends got great deals and I made money at the end of it all. Not a bad hobby if you ask me. It is great to see some of my collection cards in good board members/friends collections. I just wonder how many I end up buying back? (actually, hopefully not too many, but no promises)

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Leon

That is a really, really great card. It has great centering and huge borders. I paid $2600 (privately) for it not too long ago. After juice it sold for $2692.

Overall my auction did very well (thanks to everyone who bid) and went a little above high estimates. Some really good friends got great deals and I made money at the end of it all. Not a bad hobby if you ask me. It is great to see some of my collection cards in good board members/friends collections. I just wonder how many I end up buying back? (actually, hopefully not too many, but no promises)

I bought my first 2 cards from my 1st collection back last night. That didn't take long . It was 2 cool D311s from our BST......thanks Brian!!

[Exhibitman]

Over the long haul it tends to even out. I bought quite a few items at the absolute market top. Liquidating them has been painful. I try to time those sales with sales of highly appreciated items so I don't feel so bad overall. On the plus side if you run your card sales as a legit business endeavor a nice loss for the year can offset other income. I always prefer to make money of course.

[oldjudge]

It really is not surprising that people have losses. If you buy and sell an item at a major auction house, and it hammers the exact same amount you are down at least 20%. If you figure in that you were the high bid when you won the item, and without you bidding the item would have gone for at least one increment less, the loss, with everything else held equal, can be even more.

[majordanby]

the hobby goes through peaks and valleys - not too many cards/players/sets, at least these days, witness continual increases or sustained values.

I got into T3's when they were super hot in the mid 2000s - I had to sell them off several years later for financial reasons and it wasnt pretty.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

It really is not surprising that people have losses. If you buy and sell an item at a major auction house, and it hammers the exact same amount you are down at least 20%. If you figure in that you were the high bid when you won the item, and without you bidding the item would have gone for at least one increment less, the loss, with everything else held equal, can be even more.

I always say if you haven't lost on a sale then you haven't bought and sold enough .