Pull of a lifetime (Strasburg)! Need advice!

[chief wahoo]

I just realized that you have this listed under: Collectibles > Trading Cards > Other. This really needs to be moved to: Sports Mem, Cards > Cards > Baseball to get the most possible looks.

It's also interesting to note that a graded 2010 Bowman Chrome Strasburg rainbow auto lot listing sold for $7,495, which included a red refractor auto numbered to 5. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-Bowman...0868323755?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item460d2649ab
What do you value more? A superfractor 1/1 or a graded auto /5? Either way this seems like a reasonable comp and would lead me to think yours is more in the $5k to $10k range.

Good luck!

 

[David K.]

Good luck! Best regards, David

 

[forester7]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I might try to get a better scan (problem is I don't have a scanner of my own).

I brought down the asking price to $15,000, which might still be a little high, but I just want to feel things out right now anyway... I might even keep it in the end.

His bad outing today won't do anything to promote his card sales this week! Arrrghhh! I was hoping for more of what he had last outing!

 

[David K.]

I would lower the asking price....$12, 500 Bin and if someone offers about $9,000.00 take the offer. Best regards, David

 

[mrmopar]

Unless you ended it early, 1 offer tells me that you were asking way too much. People are generally willing to make serious offers, but if a potential buyers offer price is significantly below the BIN price, there is a good chance that sellers will be jerks about it. Not saying that you would act this way, but an inflated asking price can often give you a stereotypical idea about the seller and how they act/react. I've made what I considered very fair offers on what I also thought to be ridiculously priced items because i really wanted the item and felt my offer was fair and realistic. Sadly, just about every seller in that situation has a smart remark to make about the offers. Buyers may judge their offers off the asking price at times, but generally you should get a realistic idea of market value if you have something people want, and I believe a starting price that is too high will scare or turn off serious buyers.

Good luck with it, but my advise would be to get as much as you can, as fast as you can, and never look back!!

 

[forester7]

MrMopar: I do realize my selling price was high, but I did that to gauge the value. With a card like this, it is very hard to know the true value and one thing I didn't want to do is underprice it. The offer I did get was not reasonable... at least the card is worth more to me than what I was offered... even with his mediocre start this year. I will repost it again sometime. I have a rough price range in mind that I would accept. If I don't get that, I will just keep it. A card like this really is a once-in-a-lifer.

 

[TJCloutier]

I would sell it as soon as possible if that was my card. Waiting until the season starts may only hurt you and not help really. If he makes the All-Star team and is 10-3 at the break his value isn't going to increase much because his value is already as high as it's going to get, outside from when he debuted. Every day you don't sell is another day he has a chance to blow out his arm again. What valediction said is dead on, cards for pitchers do not regain the intial value of when they were hot and hyped.

Well said. Put it in perspective... How much did the box cost that you pulled it from? How much profit will you make? It's a gamble to not sell it immediately and wait. You could get a little bit more or you could get A LOT less. Cons outweigh the pros in my opinion. No need to get graded. Only going to prolong the sale and it could get one bad grade and be shot to hell.

 

[valediction]

MrMopar: I do realize my selling price was high, but I did that to gauge the value. With a card like this, it is very hard to know the true value and one thing I didn't want to do is underprice it. The offer I did get was not reasonable... at least the card is worth more to me than what I was offered... even with his mediocre start this year. I will repost it again sometime. I have a rough price range in mind that I would accept. If I don't get that, I will just keep it. A card like this really is a once-in-a-lifer.

Actually the true value is easy, put it up with a .99 open and see where it ends. It's a rare card of a high profile player. Unless you absolutely mess up the title and description, the bidders WILL find it.

You have already missed the peak market by a long shot, once he was dominating the minors, got called up and had those two or three great starts, all bets were off. After that, every sore elbow, every lackluster start, every new prospect that comes up is pulling the price down a little more. He could well be a HOF'er in the making, or he could be on the Dwight Gooden career path and be on the downside by age 28, maybe he'll dominate like Pedro in his prime without the last few injured years, maybe he spends the rest of his career hopping from one DL stint to another like Kerry Wood or Prior, (or Johan Santana). Realistically he is four months younger than Clayton Kershaw, but 42 wins and 650 strikeouts behind. You seem to be falling into the trap of overvaluing a great card. There is nothing wrong with having a great card and wanting to keep it, just be realistic about it. People are sitting on a lot of once great cards that are now just a memory. Very few modern cards can hit a four or five figure price, and even fewer of those can stay there for any length of time. It could become the next 2001 Ultimate Collection Mark Prior or the 1984 Fleer Update Dwight Gooden just as easily as becoming the next 1998 Rookie Ticket Peyton Manning or 2001 Bowman Chrome Pujols

 

[bouncer]

One thing that could hurt the sale of the card is you’re from Canada. I believe any cash transaction over $10k will be flagged. Seeing a large transaction go to Canada might raise some red flags.

 

[mrmopar]

You can't fault anyone for wanting to maximize a pull of a lifetime, but I agree 100%. Blame it on bad timing, a gamblers mindset, greed or whatever, but knowing when to the pull the trigger is a critical aspect of selling/flipping a card. if you are OK holding onto a card that might have netted you $100s or even $1000s, but won't sell for $50 down the road because you collect for fun and don't have much into it, there is nothing wrong with that. We all probably have cards we SHOULD HAVE SOLD WHEN WE HAD THE CHANCE. We also all probably sold cards to soon as well. The best part is most got those cards in packs vs paying top dollar in hopes of making a profit, so nothing was really lost in the process. On the flip side, if this is a card that turns out to be a cornerstone of the hobby, you sell it now for a tidy profit and then feel regret because you didn't sell when it might have reached the $10,000s, well that is a whole other issue but you still made out like a bandit now. You really can't lose either way (you may miss a great opportunity, but you don't lose anything) by pulling a card like this from a pack.

You seem to be falling into the trap of overvaluing a great card. There is nothing wrong with having a great card and wanting to keep it, just be realistic about it. People are sitting on a lot of once great cards that are now just a memory. Very few modern cards can hit a four or five figure price, and even fewer of those can stay there for any length of time.