What % BV do you pay for trade bait?

[tygercub12]

What percentage BV do you normally pay for moderately sought-after autos? For example, is $18 reasonable for a $40 BV Hosmer non-serial numbered auto? Keeping in mind, it would be a purchase only as trade bait and not for my PC.

The exact card for sale: 2008 Razor Signature Series Exclusives Autographs #ES03 Eric Hosmer

 

[mj23bullsfan]

it's pretty much whtever he person wants to pay. for the most part tho, any superstar, i would think 25-30% would be fair. i usually shoot for at least 25%.

paul

 

[dp33]

Without knowing your trading habits or requirements, it's hard to offer valuable advice. But in general, cards do not sell for 45% of their BV, so unless you're trading it for someone like Jeter who probably does, it's not really worth it. You'd be better off buying the $40 card for $10 or $12 than trading one that cost you $18.

In regards to the Hosmer itself, it seems to sell for slightly more than $18 on ebay, so it's probably a card worth spending the money on if you can get it for less.

 

[tygercub12]

Thanks for the advice. I'd buy it only to trade it for a Jeter.

I spent about 3 years away from buying and trading... I used to be able to pick up Jeters for 20-25% of BV, sometimes now it's as much as 33% or 40% for GU or nicer inserts. Some people want full book for base and low-end inserts, so it's tough to know what is "standard" buy and trade values since a lot seems to have changed in the past couple of years.

 

[Dilferules]

Sounds like you'd be better off just spending that $18 on a Jeter if his GU/inserts sell for 33-40% of book. You wouldn't really be able to trade the Hosmer for anything nicer than that, like a Jeter autograph or anything. Razor is a pretty weak brand.

The trick to spending money on trade bait is to buy it for a low percentage of book then trade it for something you would have been willing to pay a higher percentage of book for, or else you're better off just skipping the middle and buying the stuff you really want in the first place. For example, I typically buy cheaper trade bait (inserts, #ed, low-end non superstar GU autos and RCs) for around 8-15% BV depending on the card, then some day down the line I'll trade it for cards I would be willing to pay 20-40% BV for. That way I come out a little ahead, plus I have fun trading and can help other people with their collections.

Richard

 

[tygercub12]

Sounds like you'd be better off just spending that $18 on a Jeter if his GU/inserts sell for 33-40% of book. You wouldn't really be able to trade the Hosmer for anything nicer than that, like a Jeter autograph or anything. Razor is a pretty weak brand.

The trick to spending money on trade bait is to buy it for a low percentage of book then trade it for something you would have been willing to pay a higher percentage of book for, or else you're better off just skipping the middle and buying the stuff you really want in the first place. For example, I typically buy cheaper trade bait (inserts, #ed, low-end non superstar GU autos and RCs) for around 8-15% BV depending on the card, then some day down the line I'll trade it for cards I would be willing to pay 20-40% BV for. That way I come out a little ahead, plus I have fun trading and can help other people with their collections.

Richard

I never have luck buying trade bait cheap! I try and sometimes I'll land a $15 GU for 2 bucks (including shipping) that I can trade easily, but usually not!

 

[David K.]

Normally about 30 to 35% range.....Best regards, David

 

[Yankeeswin]

Remember to factor in shipping and your time in shopping the card to trade also- in this case it's better to just buy the Jeter card. If a Hosmer autograph is high demand, you certainly are justified to ask more than book in trade.

I generally don't obtain anything for trade bait unless it's 10% of book or less (with postage). Cards I'm looking for I generally pay no more than 20% so it's not worth it otherwise. Figure into your buying that some cards will be difficult to trade. I have some cards that have been on my trade list for 10 years, then again I have "paid" for those cards years ago by trading others from the lot.

 

[tygercub12]

Remember to factor in shipping and your time in shopping the card to trade also- in this case it's better to just buy the Jeter card. If a Hosmer autograph is high demand, you certainly are justified to ask more than book in trade.

I generally don't obtain anything for trade bait unless it's 10% of book or less (with postage). Cards I'm looking for I generally pay no more than 20% so it's not worth it otherwise. Figure into your buying that some cards will be difficult to trade. I have some cards that have been on my trade list for 10 years, then again I have "paid" for those cards years ago by trading others from the lot.

Besides eBay, I pick up cards in sale threads for 80% off book but have rarely ever found anything for 10% or less! Way to go!

 

[Yankeeswin]

I never have luck buying trade bait cheap! I try and sometimes I'll land a $15 GU for 2 bucks (including shipping) that I can trade easily, but usually not!

I've been hitting the card shows lately (granted, not everybody has card shows). You'd be surprised how many decent cards are in 10c/25c boxes. From a 10c box, I'll take pretty much every insert, parallel, and Pujols, Jeter, and Ichiro there. Also, if you have good knowledge of parallels and the relative values, you can get some real steals. I found 200-300 A&G minis at one dealer- after grabbing the A&G backs I also found in my stack some unnumbered parallels that book $20 each. Best hit ever was a $50 Ripken insert for 25c.

I go for cheap stuff so I get it to trade, if you're into high demand autographs you're going to have to pay big bucks for trade bait too.

 

[tygercub12]

Yeah, definitely no card shops here in Germany... and buying on eBay here stinks cuz the Euro/dollar conversion has to be factored in. The only options for me are fellow traders who list stuff for sale or eBay. I try to buy cards I see people looking for as trade bait, not cheap Shawn Green inserts... but I rarely find things for less than 20% BV. I wish we had shows!

 

[tygercub12]

I've been hitting the card shows lately (granted, not everybody has card shows). You'd be surprised how many decent cards are in 10c/25c boxes. From a 10c box, I'll take pretty much every insert, parallel, and Pujols, Jeter, and Ichiro there. Also, if you have good knowledge of parallels and the relative values, you can get some real steals. I found 200-300 A&G minis at one dealer- after grabbing the A&G backs I also found in my stack some unnumbered parallels that book $20 each. Best hit ever was a $50 Ripken insert for 25c.

I go for cheap stuff so I get it to trade, if you're into high demand autographs you're going to have to pay big bucks for trade bait too.

I picked up a Pujols in a 10 cent box one time. I took it home and looked up the BV and it was quite a bit (can't remember). I didn't put it away right away and it somehow got lost. I just asked my husband "Remember that time...?" I wish I knew what card it was... but that was probably the best pickup. Some of the worst deals I made were when I was 10-12 years old in the card shop and the old men would sell me stuff for more than high book. I had no clue. I still don't!