"Ebay is not a price guide" explored: What's your take?

[frankjames87]

So I decided it's time to share my thoughts on a topic/statement in our hobby that I have not agreed with for awhile;

"EBAY IS NOT A PRICE GUIDE"

I have a feeling that I am going to be on the unpopular side of this debate. But I am of the opinion that ebay IS one of the best price guides. As sports card collectors the vast majority of us use the Beckett publication to put an approximate value on our latest pull or potential new addition to our collection. Great. It is nice to have an APPROXIMATION of what a card is worth. But to me what my card should be worth and is worth are usually different things.

I'm not saying Beckett is a bad thing, I think it's a great thing. But ultimately our cards we all love dearly are only worth what other collectors feel their worth. To us cards are rectangular pieces of hockey history, parts of our favorite players immortalized. To others a cavalier waste of money. Ebay or any another other form of a direct cash-for-card purchase is at that moment, to that collector exactly what that card is worth. I have tried to sell a card to people and have got the ol' "I can get it cheaper on ebay". I'm sure we all have, to me this shows that people DO use ebay as a fairly accurate price guide.

I'm not saying that ebay sale prices are always reflective of what the collecting market will pay. But I think their usually fairly close. Like I said at the start I think my opinion on this matter is not the popular one. Also, I am in no way saying or advocating we should start burning Beckett's. Beckett is still a very useful pricing tool, I just don't think it's the only one. And I obviously feel ebay sales should not be dismissed when placing a cash value on a card. I am curious to see what your take on the matter is. I have tried to be respectful to both sides to the argument so I ask if you reply to this thread you please do the same. Thanks for your time!

[KangoBass]

You shouldn't rely on just one source for pricing info. Although I think beckett bases a lot of current prices on completed ebay sales.

[Lemieux_Gretzky]

The way i see it is, that a card is only worth what value you put on it and what others are willing to pay for it. If you want to sell a Gretzky RC for $500,000 that is totally up to you, since it is your card.

[JHEYKID]

Beckett is useless, atleast with eBay you know what people are actually willing to pay. Only thing is if Beckett was reflective of actually sales everything in the book would drop atleast 25%. Then some people would realize it is near impossible to break even on boxes.

[mugatu471]

I know when a pull a card, the first place I look for value is eBay, not Beckett. Beckett is a GUIDE, not the be all end all for price values. I try to combine both Beckett and eBay when making a trade or sell, not just one or the other.

[mingus_md]

I have to agree with the OP that E-bay is a great guide for prices. For older stuff, Beckett always seems to be a little high compared to what cards actually sell for on E-Bay. I hate when I see a card that I need for a set on E-Bay for a "Beckett price", when I know from watching other cards from that set, that the value based on E-Bay is significantly lower. I know that the value of a card is "what someone is willing to pay for it", but at the same time if the market says it is worth X, based on E-Bay, why does it seem like Beckett is always 2X or more.

[IrbeFan4Life]

With e-Bay, the problem is that you never really do know what someone is willing to pay. If you could see someone's maximum bid that is never reached, only then do you know what someone is willing to pay. If a card sells for $5.00, but has a max bid of $30.00, does that mean that $5.00 is the price to go by? I would say no, because someone who needs said card will pay the higher "max" price.

For an Irbe I need, I don't assume e-Bay values, I go by the book as real Irbes tend to go for the book value or higher. As such, I bid so I cannot be beat on things that I need.

When trading, I use a hybrid model. I would never trade a Crosby/Lemieux dual jersey card for $14.99 because of what it went for "that one time", nor would I trade it for $100, as that is also unrealistic. A mediation in between must be met to make it fair for everyone.

I often find that in the buying/selling section here, many people (but not all) are extremely contradictory in their methodology. Some of these people want to sell everything for profit often saying things like "one of these recently sold for $XXX over book value, or this recently sold for $XXXX, therefore I want this much", yet some only want to buy " way below e-Bay value" sayihng something like "this card sold ten minutes ago for $XXX, so it must be worth less", yet these same people could see that for said card, others have sold in the last week for $XXX more than the one ten minutes ago.

That's why I believe in the hybrid model.

[Kipper_Backlund]

Ebay is actually quite effective, because it reflects a cards actual market value, not what a shop owner thinks he can get for it.

Just my 2 cents.

[marekschwarz33]

I think Beckett tends to work well for trades, however it's pretty useless when selling cards in my opinion. With that being said, I haven't bought a Beckett in over a year. The eBay completed listings provides up to date pricing on what cards actually sell for currently and I like to use it to value my cards.

[PattyLafontaine]

Ebay isn't really a guide ... it's the market itself. Whereas Beckett is an estimate.

Beckett gives you a conceptual idea what card's value could be Ebay tell you what the market is willing to pay at that time.

Theoretical value vs. real value