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

[afholmes87]

I'll use beckett for low end trades(inserts, common YG's, common jerseys, etc.) to find common ground with a fellow trader, even if it means I trade a card that books at $15 and sells for $10 for a card that books at $15 and sells for a couple bucks. I use ebay though when I'm trading higher end. I'm not about to trade a Stamkos YG that books at $60 but sells for $65+ on ebay for a Datsyuk jersey card or auto that books at $60 but sells for $15. Low end doesn't matter to me, it's all about the trading and fun, but when it comes to the higher end stuff, I'd rather use cash values(I consider ebay to be cash value).

[nelfig]

my honest opinion is i believe ebay is what screwed the market and i will forecast now in a few years another crash in the hobby market you know sure its great to get a 50 to 100 bv card for .99 cents plus the $4-$5 shipping but i cannot say that it is what the card is worth im saying that the person who wins that high end card cheap got lucky not all collectors can be watching a card till the last second to get it as cheap as possible now i will say it can help out a trader who needs to get a close enough bv on the cards that are low numbered and beckett dont put bv on if its for a trade but that between both parties really as for me i use beckett for my trades and for selling i try and put up decent prices here on scf for instance i sold a 1 of 1 auto of david gettis for $60 which to me its a good deal
if i put it up on ebay i would have gotten what $20 to $40 on that card like it just wouldnt make sense its 1000's of people looking for that .99 cent deal is what kills the value of today's cards and as for beckett well no company is perfect but at least they have sense most of the time when it comes to bv

thanks for the post

[jeeptrader]

My opinion.......Ebay has ruined this hobby. When you get a players card selling for hundreds of dollars and they have not even played a down of football in the NFL yet is ridiculous to me. When a player has a great game....he is the next Jim Brown.......never have understood this thought process. Curious as to why anyone would even wish to pay an ungodly amount of money for a Tim Tebow Auto is beyond me. I remeber this kid named Ryan Leaf whose stuff did the same thing on the bay when he was drafted too! I think we all know what the rest of the story is there....I have used Beckett for many many years and I have normally been pretty staeady with the worth of the cards. I will continue to use Beckett as well. I have lost out on many deals because of it, however, I have made many more because of it too! Ebay is a supply and demand community...nothing wrong with that.....but to the hobby, I believe it isn't a useful tool. I lost a trade tonight because Best's autos are "cooling off" was the quote....was trading for a Santonio Holmes.....needless to say has cooled off too! LOL! Nice thread, I have enjoyed the read of all the comments.

CW

[Charlie Hustle]

VERY WELL SAID CARL!

My opinion.......Ebay has ruined this hobby. When you get a players card selling for hundreds of dollars and they have not even played a down of football in the NFL yet is ridiculous to me. When a player has a great game....he is the next Jim Brown.......never have understood this thought process. Curious as to why anyone would even wish to pay an ungodly amount of money for a Tim Tebow Auto is beyond me. I remeber this kid named Ryan Leaf whose stuff did the same thing on the bay when he was drafted too! I think we all know what the rest of the story is there....I have used Beckett for many many years and I have normally been pretty staeady with the worth of the cards. I will continue to use Beckett as well. I have lost out on many deals because of it, however, I have made many more because of it too! Ebay is a supply and demand community...nothing wrong with that.....but to the hobby, I believe it isn't a useful tool. I lost a trade tonight because Best's autos are "cooling off" was the quote....was trading for a Santonio Holmes.....needless to say has cooled off too! LOL! Nice thread, I have enjoyed the read of all the comments.

CW

[mortuus]

I agree ebay is not a price guide, but it is good to check what a card went for and that but it should not be used as a guide and just because a card went low doesnt mean the card itself is worth what it sold for, its an auction site afterall people bid how much they want low or high so it cant really be used as a guide that much.

[UltimateHockeyFan]

I'd rather use a site that shows legit proof of what a card sold for than values made up by a company. Is beckett actually buying those cards for the stated values? No. Are cards on ebay selling for the stated final sale price? Yes.

Therefore, ebay wins because ebay has people paying real money while beckett has prices made up by a company.

[Phoenix]

"EBAY IS NOT A PRICE GUIDE"

It really isn't, and neither is Beckett. Both are good for ballpark figures, but the final decision should come down to instinct...what is this card worth to me.

Remember, the hobby hasn't always had Beckett and Ebay, but it's always had people buying and selling cards.

I'll be honest and say that I use Ebay first to check values when SELLING, but but not as much when buying. I've only been involved in the online part of the hobby for 4 years, but I think I already have "a feel" for what a card is worth without check sale prices (in my naive youth I still ocassionally become "blinded" by a card and knowingly overpay, but that's starting to change). 9 times out of 10 I'll be close enough that I'm comfortable with it and the tenth time where I greatly overpay I accept as lesson learned.

When I started online I used Beckett as gospel, but soon realized it's very limited. I know they say they take into account sales from shows, shops, dealers, and Ebay and that's why the prices are skewed. That may be true as there is a HUGE section of the hobby that is still not online, and they only deal and shows or shops where prices can be significantly higher. But, it's hard to use a guide that encompasses the entire hobby when your an online trader.

More annoying to me though is this statement,

"I can get it cheaper on ebay"

Of course you can, and I can get all my clothes at the thrift store (and I do).

People are getting way too uppity about saving a buck nowadays. I know the economy is rough right now, but the simple fact you're in this hobby, shows you aren't hurting. Is that $5 REALLY going to break the bank (I hope not) or are you just being cheap. I see that little bit extra as the price of membership in a wonderful community that has helped my collection grow and introduced me to many great people.

We are blessed (or cursed depending on your attitude) to have both extremes of the social classes in our hobby. If you're an uber wealthy collector who feels it necessary to ream every last dollar out of me for a card, that's on you. I lose respect for those people quickly. On the flip side, if you're a kid, student, or just a casual collector and giving you that extra $5 or $10 means you get one more special (to you) card I have no problem doing it. Is that completely discriminatory? Damn right!

NEVER FORGET IT'S A BLOODY HOBBY!!! AND FOR THOSE THAT AREN'T SURE WHAT THAT MEANS....

Definition of HOBBY
: a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for pleasure or relaxation

[RGM81]

I tend to use eBay more as a reliable guide these days - I look at the odd Beckett magazine to see what they may have to say about Card X that's in my PC but that's really about it. My feelings are well known in light of their debacles on Canadiens Centennial Habs Inks and 09-10 UD1 Young Guns, and I won't rehash that here.

My general approach these days is that if I pull an insert or parallel out of a box and somebody asks for me, my standard response is $4 to Canada or $5 to the US. Basically I'm asking for a couple bucks plus the cost of my shipping. I always laugh when somebody retorts "I can get it for a dollar on eBay" as if the eBay auction price of .99 includes free shipping, and that's fine if somebody wants something for free.

I consider myself a fairly reasonable person and I consider my prospective trading partners to be reasonable people too. We're all intelligent people and we have all done our research, and we all know that no matter what he does on the ice or what letter he has on his Habs jersey a Brian Gionta autograph just won't top $10 on a regular and consistent basis on eBay. So when I have a nifty parallel /25 of a trade partner's PC guy, I don't hesitate to ask if he'll swap it for his Gionta auto - it's a wash, regardless of whether Beckett may say that one is worth $15 and the other is $25.

The essence of trading is very simple: I have something you want, you have something I want - unless what I have is a Victory RC and what you have is a Cup patch /25, usually it's pretty easy to make something happen.

[roy.the.greatest]

On eBay you can CREATE a sale, then 95% of people will think the card is worthing that value. It is as simple as that. Too many people don't follow the market on a long term period. For rare cards, without other sale information, people will think what you want to let them think. In reality, we don't need to see an eBay sale to know the value of a card when someone knows the market.

[Tachyon]

The beckett prices seem way off to most people. That is because most people would not pay that much for almost any of those cards except rookies or low serial numbered cards. I wouldn't even pay 100% BV for a card unless it was the last card I needed of the set. I know there are tons of people out there that do pay full price for some cards because they're actually putting the set together. That's literally how much the cards cost. Beckett is right on, for the most part.

I am glad to have beckett for the price guide. I would only ever like to pay up to 50% cash money on BV for a card I want. I have also been known to pay quite a bit for low zetterberg cards. Cards that don't even have a price on them. I would easily trade BV for BV for any card.

You have to remember most of the cards that go for 25% of their BV on eBay is because a lot of people have those cards or there is just not enough interest.

If I have 199 of 200 cards and the only card left is a common $4 rookie card I may even pay more!

Beckett tells you how much your card is worth to a collector, as part of a set. eBay tells you how much you should expect to get for it, cash money, if you wanted to sell it that day.