Greg Morris

[carlsonjok]

TL;DR but:

I am a vintage set builder. I like nice quality cards, but I am not a high roller, so I want to do stay within my budget. When I start a set, I pull down the checklist and add in the Beckett book values, which I use as my guide for bidding. I normally looked to get EX-NRMT cards at 35-40% of Beckett high book value and go down from there for lower quality. Over time, I've limited my sources of cards to local shows and Greg Morris' Ebay auctions. That's it. I've dropped all other on-line sellers.

So, I have a few observations about Greg Morris:

1. He tends to grade conservatively. I will actually bid on cards he grades at VG-EX because they tend to be of equivalent to other sellers EX+ cards.
2. I used to clean up on his auctions using my 35-40% rule. Over the last year, this has changed. Where I used to get 10-15 cards in a particularly set break, I now get 2-4 and cards are selling way, way above what I am comfortable buying at.
3. Yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition.
4. On a related note, when I put together my 1955 Topps checklist a couple years ago, Beckett listed the Clemente RC at a book value of $2,200. When I looked the other day, it was up to $5,000.
5. My conclusion is that we are in a market bubble right now and auction results are just way out of line with longer term trends and what we have come to expect having been in the hobby for a long time.

YMMV

[Bram99]

Originally Posted by carlsonjok

TL;DR but:

I am a vintage set builder. I like nice quality cards, but I am not a high roller, so I want to do stay within my budget. When I start a set, I pull down the checklist and add in the Beckett book values, which I use as my guide for bidding. I normally looked to get EX-NRMT cards at 35-40% of Beckett high book value and go down from there for lower quality. Over time, I've limited my sources of cards to local shows and Greg Morris' Ebay auctions. That's it. I've dropped all other on-line sellers.

So, I have a few observations about Greg Morris:

1. He tends to grade conservatively. I will actually bid on cards he grades at VG-EX because they tend to be of equivalent to other sellers EX+ cards.
2. I used to clean up on his auctions using my 35-40% rule. Over the last year, this has changed. Where I used top get 10-15 cards in a particularly set break, I now get 2-4 and cards are selling way, way above what I am comfortable buying at.
3. Yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition.
4. On a related note, when I put together my 1955 Topps checklist a couple years ago, Beckett listed the Clemente RC at a book value of $2,200. When I looked the other day, it was up to $5,000.
5. My conclusion is that we are in a market bubble right now and auction results are just way out of line with longer term trends and what we have come to expect having been in the hobby for a long time.

YMMV

I have bought a lot of cards from Greg Morris. I have lost more auctions than I have won. I have never gotten a card from him that was over-graded.

I probably have about a 33% to 50% rate (with other eBay sellers) of getting raw cards that are over-graded. Another poster above mentioned problems on a card that you cannot see in the scan. I just bought a group of raw Early Wynn cards from different seller and lo and behold, surface issues not apparent on the scan of the key card. It was $50 total for 4 cards, but kind of a waste of money now. I don't have to worry about that kind of stuff with GMC.

I sold a bunch of cards through Greg Morris too. He graded them probably more harshly than I would have. In the end, the cards sold for fair prices. I don't usually get awesome deals anymore when I buy from GMC because they have such a following, but I also never get surprised to the downside with what I get in the mailbox.

Tony

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by carlsonjok

He tends to grade conservatively. I will actually bid on cards he grades at VG-EX because they tend to be of equivalent to other sellers EX+ cards.

Unfortunately I've always attributed this more to GM grading fairly (compared to most other sellers overgrading).

Knew that obviously caveat emptor would always be front-and-center once I got back into the hobby and got acclimated to ebay, but it's even worse than I would've expected.

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by carlsonjok

I used to clean up on his auctions using my 35-40% rule. Over the last year, this has changed. Where I used to get 10-15 cards in a particularly set break, I now get 2-4 and cards are selling way, way above what I am comfortable buying at. On a related note, when I put together my 1955 Topps checklist a couple years ago, Beckett listed the Clemente RC at a book value of $2,200. When I looked the other day, it was up to $5,000.

My conclusion is that we are in a market bubble right now and auction results are just way out of line with longer term trends and what we have come to expect having been in the hobby for a long time.

Could be a bubble, or could just be the market becoming more efficient. If it has to be one or the other, hoping it's the latter

[mattsey9]

Originally Posted by carlsonjok

TL;DR but:

I am a vintage set builder. I like nice quality cards, but I am not a high roller, so I want to do stay within my budget. When I start a set, I pull down the checklist and add in the Beckett book values, which I use as my guide for bidding. I normally looked to get EX-NRMT cards at 35-40% of Beckett high book value and go down from there for lower quality. Over time, I've limited my sources of cards to local shows and Greg Morris' Ebay auctions. That's it. I've dropped all other on-line sellers.

So, I have a few observations about Greg Morris:

1. He tends to grade conservatively. I will actually bid on cards he grades at VG-EX because they tend to be of equivalent to other sellers EX+ cards.
2. I used to clean up on his auctions using my 35-40% rule. Over the last year, this has changed. Where I used to get 10-15 cards in a particularly set break, I now get 2-4 and cards are selling way, way above what I am comfortable buying at.
3. Yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition.
4. On a related note, when I put together my 1955 Topps checklist a couple years ago, Beckett listed the Clemente RC at a book value of $2,200. When I looked the other day, it was up to $5,000.
5. My conclusion is that we are in a market bubble right now and auction results are just way out of line with longer term trends and what we have come to expect having been in the hobby for a long time.

YMMV

My thoughts exactly. I've never had a bad experience with Greg, and I'm prepared to bid on 50 more cards this weekend.