Buying from a BIN or waiting it out?

[Joshchisox08]

I guess I'm like your buddy I never use BIN. Now if they have the option to make an offer then I will do that. There are only certain sellers whom I deal with for that though. There's notorious ones at least in my book and sorry if you're a member but 707 or 787 sports doesn't even allow you to enter a reasonable offer.

I'll wait out auctions as well. I need to try and be a sniper because I don't have the money to BIN with those eBay prices. I've probably NEVER seen a price on eBay I thought was fair, on a BIN level. Just my two cents though.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Joshchisox08

I guess I'm like your buddy I never use BIN. Now if they have the option to make an offer then I will do that. There are only certain sellers whom I deal with for that though. There's notorious ones at least in my book and sorry if you're a member but 707 or 787 sports doesn't even allow you to enter a reasonable offer.

I'll wait out auctions as well. I need to try and be a sniper because I don't have the money to BIN with those eBay prices. I've probably NEVER seen a price on eBay I thought was fair, on a BIN level. Just my two cents though.

You aren't looking hard enough then. I CONSTANTLY have BIN's that are cheaper than everyone else. Hell, they are even cheaper than some of the auctions I have seen run to completion!

[jimivintage]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

You aren't looking hard enough then. I CONSTANTLY have BIN's that are cheaper than everyone else. Hell, they are even cheaper than some of the auctions I have seen run to completion!

Shhhhhhh.....don't give away our secrets! 😉

[bnorth]

I usually only look at BIN's on oddball items that I didn't find any up for auction. There is an item I want very badly with a BIN at $150 on eBay. I think the item is worth $120 max but because it is a very rare item I really want I offered $140 3 different times. It has been on eBay for months now and I don't expect it to sell anytime soon.

[sbfinley]

About a year ago I noticed my wife almost constantly would come home from shopping with random crap we or she didn't need. The near universal excuse was "it was on sale" or "if I spent $100 instead of $50 I got an extra $10 in (insert department store name) cash," etc. It dawned on me how people perceive the cost of something vs. the cost of missing out on something and I decided to use the theory on eBay. I canceled every BIN I had going and relisted them exactly the same but with additions to the titles such as:

"CHEAPEST ON EBAY!!!"
"10% OFF VCP!!!"
"LAST ONE!!!!"
"LOWERED FOR A LIMITED TIME"

No statement was a lie. If it listed as cheapest, it was the cheapest. If it was listed as lower than VCP or previous sales, it was lower. If it was listed as lowered, then the price was 10%-20% less than what I previously had it listed for. I also started sending extras with almost every purchase. If someone purchased a graded single I included a few raw commons from the same set. If someone purchased a newer high priced auto, parallel, or SP I included a pack of Topps or a team bag of base of the star player. I also removed the best offer option. The result was unbelievable. Items that sat in BIN purgatory for months with nothing but low-ball offers sold in hours and days. I was able to clear out crap sitting on my desk for years in a matter of weeks and most of it was priced the exact same as it had been previously.

Yeah, there is the occasional $30 card listed at $300 that you can shake your head at, but the vast majority are within range of a fair price, the main problem being the difference between what a seller wants to get for an item and what a buyer wants to pay for the same. If there is a discrepancy between the two it doesn't necessarily mean the seller is wrong, it means there is difference in the assumption of the item's value. This isn't Wal-Mart and there isn't a MSRP for most items we sell so transactions only take place when both parties shade into common ground. I discovered that when pressed with the possibility with missing an item they want to add, both the mentality and the amount a buyer wants to play can be manipulated. - Lord, that sentence sounds so evil when I type it.....

[unamuzd1]

I mainly try to be patient, but I recently BIN'd 5 cards from the same seller. They posted a slew of cards at once, many with really good eye appeal but identified by the seller as being trimmed (presumably due to being undersized), and there were a few non-altered bargains in the mix. I'm vaguely kicking myself for not buying the Doyle NY that was trimmed on multiple sides but that looked nice for $22.

It's all the thrill of the hunt; with t206, I know if I miss out on a card, there will be another.

[bobbyw8469]

It's all the thrill of the hunt; with t206, I know if I miss out on a card, there will be another.

Tis true, although maybe not at the same fantastic pricing.