Traders BEWARE

[Sportnut08]

I believe that's only available if you have a store subscription? I do agree that's a great way to see actual sold prices on B.O. and you can see years of data and you can even use the graphs to see trends over time.

I do not have a store subscription. Perhaps you just need to have active listings?

 

[Boots]

I have several sources I use. Depending on the cards involved, I may or may not look at several or all to try to get an idea. In no particular order:
SportscardPro.com
Ebay past sales
Beckett OPG
Sportlots

 

[swish54]

I do not have a store subscription. Perhaps you just need to have active listings?

Interesting, good to know!

 

[bblair_2002]

I've noticed a few change their sig from time to time with who they "collect",and then list every single hot player at that time. I couldn't give a rat's behind about players like Ohtani but I'm smart enough to know that if you want one from me,you better not be offering me common stuff for it.

I watch eBay and Whatnot so I know who those players are. You think people pay stupid prices for cards on eBay? That's nothing compared to the lunacy on Whatnot.

 

[metsman1986]

I think I know who one culprit is but will plead the fifth…….Use to post all the time but has gone dark lately…….Offered me a bunch of low BV cards for colored/#’d RC’s…….Looked at his eBay store and lo and behold, was selling the same kind of stuff for $50 each……..Profiteering at its finest……

 

[horfin]

another example:
1989 UD Dale Murphy Reverse Negative ERR
$30.00 (Beckett)
$110.00 (Actual Sales)

 

[SymphonicMetal]

another example:
1989 UD Dale Murphy Reverse Negative ERR
$30.00 (Beckett)
$110.00 (Actual Sales)

This is the thing that confuses me with people paying way over book. My philosophy is there are many, many, many more sellers than buyers and if you exercise a little discipline and patience you can find tons of great buys. $110 for THAT card? You cannot be serious! Like P.T. Barnum said...............

 

[metsman1986]

I think there’s going to be a bubble pop in the hobby in the next year or less……Novice collectors are going to catch on and find they’ve been buying crap when they should have been purchasing gold………When they go, so will the crazy prices………It’s bound to happen if you’ve been in the hobby long enough…..

 

[SymphonicMetal]

I think there’s going to be a bubble pop in the hobby in the next year or less……Novice collectors are going to catch on and find they’ve been buying crap when they should have been purchasing gold………When they go, so will the crazy prices………It’s bound to happen if you’ve been in the hobby long enough…..

And that will be the third bubble pop in the last 30 years. The first was the junk wax bubble which most everybody, including me, got burned on. I thankfully learned my lesson from that disaster. The second was the Post Pandemic bubble where prices went crazy and everybody was an expert. Once the demand greatly softened most of those newbies are long gone. And now there is what I call the dumbo bubble. While things are not as crazy as the previous two bubbles, there seem to be a lot of mercenaries in the hobby that think all of this new garbage with 10 adjectives in the description of the card are going to hold their insane values long term. If Michael Jordan's Fleer Rookie card suffered a major collapse in value a few years ago what do you think will happen to today's "special'cards" with their endless 10 adjective names??

 

[DaBaddestHic]

This thread is a good callout. I've been watching the griffey surge in particular recently - even went through my 90s box this week and pulled out some griffey cards that were worth putting in my PC box now. Then last night I saw a thread of someone looking for 90s inserts/parallels and I thought to myself, no way.

For me, I've always hated negotiating with people, so trading by BV let's me avoid that. But I also only trade for set needs or Delgado cards (and it's rare I find someone with a Delgado card I need anymore). So not usually high value stuff. There's been a few times I kept a card because I saw it sold for much more than BV, and one time I let someone know a Delgado card they had sold for above book, but typically I think I'm not really affected by this. Other than sometimes I end up needing the cards for sets that sell for far above BV and I'll have to just buy them at some point lol. But I don't wanna see other people get taken advantage of!

 

[SymphonicMetal]

I think sell value is only applicable for graded cards and some cards that are really, really hot. I have no idea how you would use sell value for raw cards and that includes cards even in the 80s and 90s (ie Tony Gywnn RC). I just checked 130 point for 1961 Fleer Football Jim Brown cards and most were graded so I get sell value for those, But there were also 3 raw cards ranging from about $70 to $200. So exactly what does "sell value" tell me from looking at sales of those raw copies? Nothing actually since all the cards were in widely varying conditions.

So for me, sell value is extremely limited in its usefullness as I only trade for set needs and sometimes raw vintage.. On older cards, I'll take high Becketts bv, give them a look-see and discount value for those if conditions warrant it.