Down market? Economy effecting the hobby?

[Hawaiian BamBam]

no prob, some other cards i sold for 99 cents today on ebay
wade boggs gu
carlton fisk gu
tony perez gu
gary sheffield gu
tom glavine gu
miguel tejada gu
sammy sosa gu
roy halladay gu
mark texeira gu
taylor teagarden team usa auto rc

not a good day to be an ebay seller but a good day for me as a buyer just mixed emotions right now as you can understand. i think this is how the hobby is going to be from here on out.

 

[Tim Carroll]

I see what you are saying with the cards selling so cheap, but the listed cards below are GU with 1 auto of a guy that played for Texas in college (I couldn't tell you who he was even drafted by). Like the above mentioned, Brett Anderson isn't exactly a household name (yet). I know who he is, but I wouldn't consider him a "superstar".

Good Autos can be had for under $5. If you see them (superstars and retired greats) selling consistantly for around $1........I can come up with as much cash as ebay will allowing me to spend.


Tim

no prob, some other cards i sold for 99 cents today on ebay
wade boggs gu
carlton fisk gu
tony perez gu
gary sheffield gu
tom glavine gu
miguel tejada gu
sammy sosa gu
roy halladay gu
mark texeira gu
taylor teagarden team usa auto rc

not a good day to be an ebay seller but a good day for me as a buyer just mixed emotions right now as you can understand. i think this is how the hobby is going to be from here on out.

 

[David K.]

economy is slow right now......but much then it was two years ago. Next looks even better! Best regards, David

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

thanks guys for your input.

i agree with you tim about brett anderson. i think my thinking was if every baseball website, article and magazine is tabbing him oaklanda"ace" or oaklands #1 starter, then surely i could get more than 99 cents for him! especially since i was getting $20-30 for him when he was in the minors, now 99 cents when he is an "ace" in the majors? dosent make sense to me, but i guess thats the way of the hobby. i think another factor (which is my fault) is in the back of my mind, i keep thinking, darn, i spent this amount of money for the card and now i can only sell it for this much! darn, i got jipped! i think the lesson i learned here was to stop my foolish spending on cards acting like pac man buying every card placed in front of me 9have been doing that for over 37 years collecting!) and now focus only on buying/trading for cards that i will keep in my pc forever (meaning i wont sell them on ebay, so it doesnt matter if i get 99 cents or $100.00) i think that approach to collecting is better as then someone wont be let down when their"prized card" sells for 99 cents. just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Tim Carroll]

thanks guys for your input.

i agree with you tim about brett anderson. i think my thinking was if every baseball website, article and magazine is tabbing him oaklanda"ace" or oaklands #1 starter, then surely i could get more than 99 cents for him! especially since i was getting $20-30 for him when he was in the minors, now 99 cents when he is an "ace" in the majors? dosent make sense to me, but i guess thats the way of the hobby. i think another factor (which is my fault) is in the back of my mind, i keep thinking, darn, i spent this amount of money for the card and now i can only sell it for this much! darn, i got jipped! i think the lesson i learned here was to stop my foolish spending on cards acting like pac man buying every card placed in front of me 9have been doing that for over 37 years collecting!) and now focus only on buying/trading for cards that i will keep in my pc forever (meaning i wont sell them on ebay, so it doesnt matter if i get 99 cents or $100.00) i think that approach to collecting is better as then someone wont be let down when their"prized card" sells for 99 cents. just my 2 cents worth.

You got it. Also, I just reread up above. I see where you said Brett Anderson "USA" auto/jersey. Now, I personally think a USA Auto printed by UD or Topps should carry the same weight as any other Auto by the same player. However, the trend has always been that once the player has an Autograph with their big league club (ex. Bowman Chrome, etc.), those USA Autos PLUMMET. I don't agree with it, and I am usually one that will go after the USA Autos of the players....because they are less expensive, they are still certified AUTOS from major brands, and if the player is ever traded - it will not matter because it is a Team USA card.

Whatever the case, it has definitely become a buyer's market on single cards.


Tim

 

[jrchoholic83]

It seemed a lot worse last year! This year it seems to be picking up, not only in the hobby, but the economy in general, tough times are on the outs, at least here they are.

 

[mr.js36]

no prob, some other cards i sold for 99 cents today on ebay
wade boggs gu
carlton fisk gu
tony perez gu
gary sheffield gu
tom glavine gu
miguel tejada gu
sammy sosa gu
roy halladay gu
mark texeira gu
taylor teagarden team usa auto rc

not a good day to be an ebay seller but a good day for me as a buyer just mixed emotions right now as you can understand. i think this is how the hobby is going to be from here on out.

I think you would have gotten more $$$$ selling them here on The Bench than the 99 cents you got on ebay

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

thanks guys...tried selling here on the bench...only one person bought something!

that sucks about the team usa autos because i bought a ton of them years ago. whats scary is, if i just sold a chad billingsley auto for 99 cents, i dont think id get much for the 200 team usa autos of bob" whats his name" smith and dave "never made it" jones! a HUGE lesson learned after 47 years of collecting. the big one is, cards as a general rule of thumb never sell for what you bought them for! (im not talking about if you have jayson heyward, buster posey, bryce harper or stephen strasburg!) but as a rule of thumb, cards dont seem to sell for the price paid for (try selling your cards and you will see what i mean!) a huge lesson learned, but also it was good i learned this lesson because now i am VERY careful at what i buy now..only cards for my PC from here on out! im not complaining at all guys, because to be honest im getting some pretty amazing deals myself on ebay. just trying to figure out the card market. and maybe someone can learn from me as i have spent a ton of money on cards that are just sitting in boxes of players that could of, should, but never did. the lesson learned is for every strasburg and posey there are hundreds of mark priors, todd van poppels and kevin maas.

 

[TheDogHollerer]

No one wants to pay for cards anymore..They all want them cheap as they can.

You say that like it is a bad thing.... don't you want cards for your collection as cheap as you can? If you see two of the same exact Biggio autos listed on Ebay, one for $10 and one for $30 which one are you going to buy?

 

[Tim Carroll]

thanks guys...tried selling here on the bench...only one person bought something!

that sucks about the team usa autos because i bought a ton of them years ago. whats scary is, if i just sold a chad billingsley auto for 99 cents, i dont think id get much for the 200 team usa autos of bob" whats his name" smith and dave "never made it" jones! a HUGE lesson learned after 47 years of collecting. the big one is, cards as a general rule of thumb never sell for what you bought them for! (im not talking about if you have jayson heyward, buster posey, bryce harper or stephen strasburg!) but as a rule of thumb, cards dont seem to sell for the price paid for (try selling your cards and you will see what i mean!) a huge lesson learned, but also it was good i learned this lesson because now i am VERY careful at what i buy now..only cards for my PC from here on out! im not complaining at all guys, because to be honest im getting some pretty amazing deals myself on ebay. just trying to figure out the card market. and maybe someone can learn from me as i have spent a ton of money on cards that are just sitting in boxes of players that could of, should, but never did. the lesson learned is for every strasburg and posey there are hundreds of mark priors, todd van poppels and kevin maas.

Also keep in mind that the players that start out with hype tend to fall off as well. For those that that shelled out thousands on Strasburg, they will never recover any significant portion of their money if they choose to sell. Buster Posey - as good as he is - is one of the guys you want to sell now (unless you collect him). History shows us that the chance of his cards bringing in significantly more money in the future just isn't going to happen. Pujols has been the only modern exception to that rule. Everyone else peaks and falls off. Prospecting like this is a huge gamble. I dabble every year with one or two players, but those are players that fly under the radar (hence more of a chance to make money, and less sting if I don't). Example: In 2000, while people were shelling out big bucks for Barry Zito and Ben Sheets, I spent a little money on Braves pitcher Adam Wainwright. I gave a little over $8.00 for a 40 card lot of his 2000 Bowman Chrome Draft RC. I stuck them in a box and left them alone. I checked Baseball America & minorleaguebaseball.com periodically to see how he was doing, along with other players I had been picking up along the way. Once he went to the Cardinals, I started to sell - but the Cards were using him out of the bullpen. I saw one little post/blurb online talking about the plans to convert Wainwright into a starter. I held on to the cards until a couple of years ago when his 00 BCDP cards were going for about $4 per. Not massive money, but I sold the entire lot at a net profit of over $150.

Other players I have made decent money on: Clay Buchholz (no-hitters are always awesome!), Ubaldo Jimenez, Cliff Lee, Travis Snider, Robinson Cano

Guys I have taken a loss on: Delmon Young, Billy Butler, Ryan Zimmerman, Gio Gonzalez, Khalil Greene, Conor Jackson

Look at the lists above. The players I made money on could be had very cheap - except for Snider - when they first came out into the market. The players I lost on are still good players with potential, but the chances of making money on them are pretty much gone. I use the money that I make from transactions like these to fund my COLLECTION. I collect Bill Hall. I know that every time I buy a Bill Hall card, I have no chance of ever selling it for more than I paid. That's ok. That's what collecting is about.


Tim

 

[JamesNevans]

Collecting should always be about enjoyment, not about profit. Every other hobby whether it be golf, video games, book reading, movies, music, sports events, and anthing else is going to cost money so why the focus on profit motive in this hobby? That doesn't mean with a little inside knowledge and insight that one couldn't lessen the overall cost by being smart about what you can turn into extra money or trade value every now and then.

 

[mrmopar]

Comparing selling here to ebay is the first mistake. Sellers here naturally want more and can ask more (although the items may not sell for a while or at all, unless discounting is offered). There are plenty of sellers willing to start decent cards at 99 cents and hope for the best on ebay though. I have bought hundreds of great autos for $3 or less on ebay, yet when I offer to buy here, I rarely get any cards worth considering. I see a lot of those $0.75 autos Tim was talking about with $2-5 price tags from hopefull sellers. I assume it is tougher to find deals on the bench because the trade value of these cards is BV and that if they don't sell, someone may offer egual value in trade at some point.

 

[RyanL24]

Nobody seems to have mentioned that it's not baseball season. Prices are always lower in the off season. If you can afford it, buy those $1 autos now and flip them when baseball starts up again...

brett anderson is the ace (#1 starter) on the oakland a's pitching rotation.(their best pitcher going into 2011)

Oh ok...Sorry I dont follow prospects

Wait wut? The Oakland A's is a major league team. The best pitcher of a major league team isn't really considered a prospect anymore. Just thought I'd throw that out there...

 

[BiggioDiogu759]

Nobody seems to have mentioned that it's not baseball season. Prices are always lower in the off season. If you can afford it, buy those $1 autos now and flip them when baseball starts up again...







Wait wut? The Oakland A's is a major league team. The best pitcher of a major league team isn't really considered a prospect anymore. Just thought I'd throw that out there...

Did he pitch last year? Was he in the minors? Then i consider him a prospect

 

[robert326]

Did he pitch last year? Was he in the minors? Then i consider him a prospect

He pitched last year, and 2009 as well. He was hurt much of last year, but put up good numbers when he was healthy.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/anderbr04.shtml

 

[RyanL24]

Thanks Robert.

Brett Anderson did play in the minors last year. Rickey Henderson played in the minors when he was 42 years old. Playing in the minors does not automatically make you a prospect. Many times it's because you're recovering from an injury.

Poor Brett Anderson! He needs to throw a perfect game or yell at ARod to get off his mound or something, dude get's no attention.

 

[robert326]

Thanks Robert.

Brett Anderson did play in the minors last year. Rickey Henderson played in the minors when he was 42 years old. Playing in the minors does not automatically make you a prospect. Many times it's because you're recovering from an injury.

Poor Brett Anderson! He needs to throw a perfect game or yell at ARod to get off his mound or something, dude get's no attention.

That's the truth. He was 6th in ROY voting in 2009, and was even better in 2010 (in between injuries). He made a good fantasy spot-starter for me last year, and only issued 22 walks in 19 starts last year, with a 2.80 ERA. Sounds like a fantasy baseball darling to me!

And yet, thoroughly overshadowed by Dallas Braden now lol.

 

[valediction]

That's the truth. He was 6th in ROY voting in 2009, and was even better in 2010 (in between injuries). He made a good fantasy spot-starter for me last year, and only issued 22 walks in 19 starts last year, with a 2.80 ERA. Sounds like a fantasy baseball darling to me!

And yet, thoroughly overshadowed by Dallas Braden now lol.

He has good numbers, and some very good numbers. Problem is, they are not insane numbers. His WHIP wasn't sub 1.00, his K/BB and K/IP both went down from when he was a minor league prospect. He was injured, people get nervous about pitchers who get injured, especially guys who weren't dominating the league BEFORE they got injured. He went from being a #37 prospect to a top 10 prospect, to a very good, not quite overwhelming starter, to the DL. Prospectors stopped putting money in him, people got nervous. Plus, when he did come back, he needed to work the rust off and ran into some rough luck, going 1-5 with a No decision before he found his groove to end the year. He's not the type for a bunch of 10-15K games, sub 2.00 ERA type domination. He's an effective pitcher who gives his team a good chance to win. He's lacking 'hooks'. He's not a power pitcher, he doesn't have insane control that leaves you shaking your head, he didn't throw a no hitter, he didn't chase A-Rod off the mound, he doesn't have the Tiant/Fernando/Dontrelle delivery that sticks in your mind, he doesn't have the feel good 'overcoming nearly impossibe odds' story of Ankiel or Hamilton, etc. He's a good young pitcher who may get better, may not. Nothing in there to make people need to shell out money for his cards at the moment.