$OLD pet peeve

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

Originally Posted by PhillipAbbott79

I believe that a person may be wiling to make one offer, that completely differs from another offer that they make, if they know what the buyer has paid for an item.

In a thin market it greatly affects the price.

Think about a card that may be really hard to get. Lets say that only 5 exist. The last time one sold was the exact card you are looking to buy. There are rumors and rumblings you hear through conversations with others, that the card may be worth 30k. You look up and find that the buyer bought it for 15k about 4 years ago. Long enough that you had some trouble finding the price but were able to find it.

Since the price is so subjective, because it doesn't sell often, do you offer him 20k knowing he paid 15k as to allow him to make a nice profit (enticing price just large enough to loosen the card out of his collection) and still leave room for you, having that inside knowledge that the card may now be worth 30k, hoping that he may not have kept up on it or know what you know?

Knowing the exact previous sale price of a card is a MAJOR advantage to the buyer in a negotiation. I have never asked anyone to take down the price, but I definitely am not going to advocate for someone to leave my buy prices up. Ever.

I understand your point but find it laughable that the seller in your scenario above would be at a disadvantage. A deal will be made or not regardless of the buyer knowing the price paid (which btw they usually do to Jesse's point above). It's up to the seller to negotiate his price based on what he thinks he can maximize from the market with knowledge that most buyers are trying to get the best deal. If the cards worth $30k who gives an Eff that I paid $15k? Totally irrelevant to the negotiation. I could have received the card from a long lost uncle Joe for free, does that mean I'm more susceptible to selling it for less than its worth? Maybe. But that's the buyer's job to find out. Going back and erasing asking prices is silly