Card prices skyrocketing

[japhi]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Here is Mr. Shiller’s checklist.

--Sharp increases in the price of an asset
--Great public excitement about said increases
--An accompanying media frenzy
--Stories of people earning a lot of money, causing envy among people who aren’t
--Growing interest in the asset class among the general public
--“New era” theories to justify unprecedented price increases
--A decline in lending standards

This fits modern collecting very well but I question the last five as to vintage cards. I see a lot of people who were collectors getting back into it and a lot of long-time collectors getting into it heavily on a FOMO basis, but not members of the general public going nuts. Little media that isn't focused on modern or that damned 1952 T Mantle. Don't know about new era theories; the song remains the same as far as I can tell. The greats are still greats. And if I ask someone to borrow money to buy old baseball cards they still look at me like I'm nuts.

On that last point, you wouldn't have to ask the bank to borrow money to buy cards. You would walk in, ask for a HELOC, and come out with 200K @ 1.75%. It is that easy for most Americans to scratch up basically free money.

[BobbyVCP]

I think most of these crazy prices are being fueled by BIN's....a few years ago all the eBay stores were full of WAY overpriced cards looking for a sucker to bite. Now they are all starting to sell, and the stores can not raise their prices fast enough. It has become a feeding frenzy....