Conducting a trade --the fairest way?????

[hociman]

I've conducted hundreds of trades over the years, from the beginning when 1 price guide was used to calculate book values, now there are several more ways to come to Book value to use for a trade. I would like to know what for the most part traders use (assuming near mint pricing) when making larger trades when multiple cards are involved. I've listed three I know of but if there are more please advise. thx Jim
1. Beckett price guide
2. Beckett on-line price guide
3. Ebay sold prices

There are discrepancies when comparing Beckett price guide and Beckett on-line, to me using ebay sold pricing seems to be the fairest way. It is not exact because multiple sales need to be averaged to come to some number.
Your thoughts????

 

[SymphonicMetal]

Generally speaking I use a combination of the first two. I use the Beckett paper guides for your average low value cards and I'll post a question on the Price Check room on high dollar or volitile cards like a Josh Allen RC.

EBAY sold is fine for graded or ultra modern cards tht are presumed mint but is absolutely useless for raw vintage since all raw cards are not the same. So for vintage raw cards I'll get the high BV from one of your first two options and put a value on them based on condition.

On rare occasions, I'll front the other trader some cards to put a value on them or reject them if he doesn't want them. Matter of fact I just did that moments ago with some older cards I wasn't sure the other trader would want in the condition they were in. If he did not want them he can send them back to me for the price of a postage stamp which is more fair then sticking someone with cards they don't want.

 

[cjay101]

I use a mixture of opg for lower end stuff and eBay/130point for higher end liquid cards where book value fails. It’s a lot harder than it used to be for sure as there are $20bv cards selling for $100 cash and $100bv cards selling for a few dollars

 

[Yankeeswin]

I use OPG for stuff under $20, and I don't really trade much over $20. It's just easier than looking up a few thinly traded cards.

Does anyone use COMC for pricing? If it's a popular card I feel that's the best value guide there is. It leaves out postage and provides a price that the card can be obtained for today, not an ebay comp which can vary wildly. I've never needed to trade with it but COMC is great for identifying the cards that Beckett hasn't caught up with.

 

[cjay101]

I use OPG for stuff under $20, and I don't really trade much over $20. It's just easier than looking up a few thinly traded cards.

Does anyone use COMC for pricing? If it's a popular card I feel that's the best value guide there is. It leaves out postage and provides a price that the card can be obtained for today, not an ebay comp which can vary wildly. I've never needed to trade with it but COMC is great for identifying the cards that Beckett hasn't caught up with.

I’d use COMC if they offered actual sale price without the history point junk What something lists for sale is not the value

 

[Eliatack]

I've conducted hundreds of trades over the years, from the beginning when 1 price guide was used to calculate book values, now there are several more ways to come to Book value to use for a trade. I would like to know what for the most part traders use (assuming near mint pricing) when making larger trades when multiple cards are involved. I've listed three I know of but if there are more please advise. thx Jim
1. Beckett price guide
2. Beckett on-line price guide
3. Ebay sold prices

There are discrepancies when comparing Beckett price guide and Beckett on-line, to me using ebay sold pricing seems to be the fairest way. It is not exact because multiple sales need to be averaged to come to some number.
Your thoughts????

I normally trust what other people put out about BV but when I want
to buy a card that for instance has a BV of $60 I look it up on eBay to
see what it actually sells for and then put in my offer to the trader.

 

[hociman]

I use OPG for stuff under $20, and I don't really trade much over $20. It's just easier than looking up a few thinly traded cards.

Does anyone use COMC for pricing? If it's a popular card I feel that's the best value guide there is. It leaves out postage and provides a price that the card can be obtained for today, not an ebay comp which can vary wildly. I've never needed to trade with it but COMC is great for identifying the cards that Beckett hasn't caught up with.

what is OPG?

 

[reickholt]

what is OPG?

Short for on-line price guide (Beckett)

I normally use bvs listed on OPG. Occasionally prices are not an accurate listing of their value in magazine or OPG. A recent example is (don't) recall the year, Upper Deck Triple GU of Pucket, Winfield and MJ. OPG lists at $60. Cards have been selling for around $100 or more on eBay. So, I will at times check eBay for selling values. I don't usually consider sale values to be the same as trade value. Most cards never sell at 100% of listed bv on eBay.

 

[Eliatack]

Short for on-line price guide (Beckett)

I normally use bvs listed on OPG. Occasionally prices are not an accurate listing of their value in magazine or OPG. A recent example is (don't) recall the year, Upper Deck Triple GU of Pucket, Winfield and MJ. OPG lists at $60. Cards have been selling for around $100 or more on eBay. So, I will at times check eBay for selling values. I don't usually consider sale values to be the same as trade value. Most cards never sell at 100% of listed bv on eBay.

Do you have any of my wants in my signature? I have this:

TOPPS 2014 BATTING AVERAGE LEADERS CABRERA, MAUER, TROUT #103

 

[calsp3]

Beckett OPG is my go to for impersonal, impartial, fair and sane trading. If no BV available then it's back to the old days of seat of the pants flying. Ebay completed sales can be useful for middle to upper echelon cards, if the card has enough recent sales, but commons are a Wild West of dumping by pros eager to grab funds to invest into the next release.

 

[zanderlex]

As long as both parties use the same one, either of them is fine. It's when one person uses one while the other uses another that messes things up. For instance there's one person I can't trade with because they want me to use eBay value for my card while they used BV for their card which created a huge gap. But if you have a card that says costs $40 and books for $100 you can do $40 for $40 or $100 for $100, and it can change each time as long as both parties use the same standard.

 

[bblair_2002]

I use a mixture of opg for lower end stuff and eBay/130point for higher end liquid cards where book value fails. It’s a lot harder than it used to be for sure as there are $20bv cards selling for $100 cash and $100bv cards selling for a few dollars

I also share Cory's statement.

 

[cornwellfamily]

Ive done it all ways listed. I dont mind trading cards based on beckett or ebay sales( at least 5 sales and an average) put i hate it when traders want to do both so they can get the high prices for either way

 

[hociman]

Thank you all who commented
I guess I should explain why I asked for info. I recently completed a trade using Beckett price guide which I normally do. But as I mentioned there are several other guides to use. Getting back to the trade it included below. The beckett price guide is the first $ amount and the second number is the sold value from ebay. As you see the beckett value for the raw cards for both is $200.
After we consumated the trade and mailed, tomy surprise, the other trader comes back to me asking about what we are going to do about the Acuna card because he is using OPG the value is $30. That is when I decided to check the sold values on ebay and that is the second number you see and end of each card. It came out to $55 vs. $52 +/- $3 either way. A fair trade.
I receive ($200)
Corbin Carroll RC – 2023 Topps Chrome Sepia Refractor #95 BV $50 $8
Elly De La Cruz - 2024 Topps Chrome #44 Refractor $50 $13
Elly De La Cruz -2024 Topps Chrome #44 Sepia Refractor $50 $20
Michael Harris RC – 2023 Topps #226 Rainbow Foil BV $25.00 $4
Paul Skenes – 2024 Bowman Mega Box Chrome #BCP-125 Mojo BV $25.00 $10

I send
Raw Trade I send ($200)
Acuna 18 Topps Variation #698B Bat Up $100 $13
Mattingly 84 Topps #8 $40 $18
Joey Mauer
02 Topps #622 $20 $7
02 Topps Gold Label #164 $25 $10
Jasson Dominguez 20 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP243 $15 $4

 

[Shortbus12]

Whether one agrees or not, Beckett is the one who sets the prices of cards. And, I usually tell people Beckett sets the prices, not eBay. I don't use eBay sold prices, because a lot of eBay sellers like to overcharge. You can sell a card for anything you want. I've seen cards worth $.40 selling for $1-2. That's gouging people and I won't buy from anyone who does that. I'm probably in the minority, but that's my opinion. I guess I'm old school and this is a hobby to me and supposed to be fun. A lot of people make it not fun.

 

[karikards]

FWIW - The BVs on these cards are inaccurate.

Acuna 18 Topps Variation #698B Bat Up $30.00
Mattingly 84 Topps #8 $30.00
Joey Mauer 02 Topps #622 $15.00