Selling cards at a loss

[RichMcGillicuddy]

Wait. There was a thread yesterday saying to take money out of your 401K to "invest" in cards. Cards can go down???

[raulus]

Originally Posted by RichMcGillicuddy

Wait. There was a thread yesterday saying to take money out of your 401K to "invest" in cards. Cards can go down???

That's a myth. It's been disproven here many times.

[RichMcGillicuddy]

So if the Mantle went from 50K to 12+ million.. if it goes up another 240x , it should be 2.9 billion in a few years, right? Phew...

[raulus]

Originally Posted by RichMcGillicuddy

So if the Mantle went from 50K to 12+ million.. if it goes up another 240x , it should be 2.9 billion in a few years, right? Phew...

Inflation…

[G1911]

Originally Posted by RichMcGillicuddy

So if the Mantle went from 50K to 12+ million.. if it goes up another 240x , it should be 2.9 billion in a few years, right? Phew...

That’s why I’ve drained my 401K and IRA, as well as my stock investments and savings account. I’ve got $3.50 left for food this week to hedge my bet. Money printer go brrrrr

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by RichMcGillicuddy

Wait. There was a thread yesterday saying to take money out of your 401K to "invest" in cards. Cards can go down???

Well a SGC 5 1952 Mantle just recently sold for a little over $300,000. It would not shock me to see PWCC or any other Major Auction House list another 1952 Topps Mantle SGC 5 with very similar centering in the near future. It will be interesting to see what happens. I think it's maxed out in lower grade 5 and under but I've been dead wrong on it for the past two years. Time will tell.
It's all timing.

[RichMcGillicuddy]

$3.50? Almost buying a gallon of gas...

My daughter spent $20 on Taco Bell for her and a friend last month. That used to be a lot of tacos.

[obcmac]

I think using the "what do I have in it approach" is actually a decent strategy. My goals are trying to have fun and try not to lose money while doing it. If I am selling for more than I paid, then at least I'm not going the wrong direction. As a buyer, if I know someone paid $500 and is asking for $600, then a $400 offer probably won't work. Of course, people manipulate this idea when trying to get more money out of a buyer...so not always an honest negotiating point. If I NEEDED to sell something, which is almost never the case, then I would change from a basic rule of thumb approach to assessing the current market conditions.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by RichMcGillicuddy

$3.50? Almost buying a gallon of gas...

My daughter spent $20 on Taco Bell for her and a friend last month. That used to be a lot of tacos.

$3.50 a gallon of gas and .79 soft tacos was how I survived college. The food inflation hurts the most.

[Johnny630]

I know of a dealer at the National that has the same stuff and prices for at least 20 years. Nothing sells. I am not sure why he continues to come. I would guess it’s for the fun and memories of the past.

[Mark17]

To put things in perspective, and to make me feel better, I look at it as a trade.

Suppose there's something I'd like to add to my collection that I can get for $1,000. I have something else that I paid $1400 for, but now could only sell for $1000. Rather than looking at it as taking a $400 hit, I ask myself if I'd make the trade - the thing I want to sell for the thing I'd like to get.

If the answer is yes, I do it and have no regrets.

[Exhibitman]

For genuinely rare items, there is no need to compromise a price. My general reaction when someone wants a rare item is to set a price and if they haggle, tell them to go find one somewhere else. Nearly always results in capitulation.

But I digress from the OP.

One more reason to take losses is the same one you use in balancing a stock portfolio: offsetting taxable profits.

[oldjudge]

Cards are like any other asset, they go up and down in value. You can maintain a posture of never selling a card at a loss but that may result in you waiting years to sell it, or having your heirs sell it at a loss.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

For genuinely rare items, there is no need to compromise a price. My general reaction when someone wants a rare item is to set a price and if they haggle, tell them to go find one somewhere else. Nearly always results in capitulation.

But I digress from the OP.

One more reason to take losses is the same one you use in balancing a stock portfolio: offsetting taxable profits.

You have to be careful though. If you are operating as a dealer in business, then you can offset the losses. If you are a collector/hobbyist though, and not in a formal business as a dealer, you CANNOT offset any losses from a hobby activity against any hobby gains.

Technically, if you are strictly an investor in cards, you could then offset card losses against card gains, but you'd have to convince the IRS that cards they consider as hobby collectibles can be differentiated and shown/proven to be investment assets held by you, like stocks and bonds. If you claimed the card losses as an investor and went to deduct them on your tax return, and the IRS came back at you, you may not be able to get them to agree with your thinking and reasoning that they are actual investments. I've said this before, an investor would more likely keep their cards in a safe deposit box or with one of these Vault operators, a collector/hobbyist would more likely keep and display them on the walls/shelves in their man cave/office.

[BobC]

Double post.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by RichMcGillicuddy

Wait. There was a thread yesterday saying to take money out of your 401K to "invest" in cards. Cards can go down???

On the bright side, at least my 401K can't go down...

[Brian Van Horn]

Shill bidding is a contributor to selling cards at a loss.

[bbcard1]

Of late I have see a lot of "just selling it for what I paid for it because of a new opportunity" posts both here and on Facebook. The problem is that in many cases the seller bought at the top of the market and what they are offering the card/piece for no longer accurately reflects the current market.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

Shill bidding is a contributor to selling cards at a loss.

Because the original buyer overpaid in order to outbid the shill bidders, and now that they're trying to sell, nobody wants it at that price?

[Brian Van Horn]

Originally Posted by raulus

Because the original buyer overpaid in order to outbid the shill bidders, and now that they're trying to sell, nobody wants it at that price?

Yes.