Book value vs Recent sales price for when you make trades and sales

[vikesfan40]

HI everyone,

I thought this would be a interesting talker because for me its always a difficult thing to decide when making deals. You see a lot of the times that BV for a card and recent sales of a card vary greatly. I am curious on how people decided what to use when making deals. I personally use recent sales prices when trying to buy cards and with trades I usually will use BV unless the price for recent sales on cards are way difffernt. So what do you guys usually do and whats your thought process behind how everyone else makes deals.

[pwaldo]

I do whatever the other trader does just to make some deals. Usually it is difficult to make deals now. I always use sell value though when buying or selling.

[vikesfan40]

I do whatever the other trader does just to make some deals. Usually it is difficult to make deals now. I always use sell value though when buying or selling.

I agree with that completely, I just have never understood when buy and selling cards how people can ask for book value when the sale value is greatly different. I am all for getting the most cash for your cards but you have to be semi realistic with it.

[krunchtyme]

I personally hate BV. Beckett is a guide, not a law. Example: would you really pay $3 for a Topps Chrome refractor of a a common player? You can usually buy them at about .05-.15. I agree stars, such as Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, etc, should command a premium, but I don't see the sales of refractors as high as the BV.

Same with base cards. Anyone buying a 2015 Tom Brady base card for $2-$4? Not likely. Again, I agree they should be higher, but value is what an individual will pay and what an individual will accept based on demand. I had a bunch of GU/Auto's I couldn't trade to save my life. So I assigned an arbitrary value to them and traded 50 of them to BuyingGameUsed for a few cards that have value to me. So I basically traded 50GU/.Auto cards for 4 cards. I was happy to be rid of the 50 cards that, to me, had no value in my collection, for 4 cards that I would rather own. I am trying the same thing with refractors.

Everyone has refractors and place a large value on them because of the BV. But I bet if you asked, no one is selling them at BV. On other sites, COMC.com for instance, they sell (minus stars) at about 90% less than book value. I just bought a bunch for less than .07 each for base refractors and less than .10 each for some colored refractors.

In short, it really comes down to what you consider something to be worth. The BV is a Guide, but if no one will trade for it because the BV is so high, then is the BV wrong, or the sellers perception of worth is wrong? Just my 2 cents. I know some guys go strictly by BV, which is fine, if they feel that way then I try to do the same with them, or even, give them the better deal, because to me the cards weren't worth that and I would rather have cards I want, then cards I don't want. Of course, I'm not going to lose my shirt either. It's a guide.

Another example: Guys are selling Joe Montana, Steve Young, Emmitt Smith and others for .10 a card. What does the book say they are worth? If everyone on these boards didn't jump to buy them even though the BV was at least $1, that kind of tells you, the BV is inflated. That being said, it is a good guide for everyone to be equal in theory. So ask yourself. Is a 1978 Topps common, worth the same as a 2018 Topps common? Is a 1978 Topps common you don't own of your favorite team/player, worth a 2018 Topps common of a player who was out of the league before the season started on a team you couldn't trade away to you offered 3 for 1?

Would you buy an autographed card of a player you never heard of for $3. The BV says that is the price. But price is relevant to supply and demand. No demand...price should drop, higher demand, price should rise. How bad do you the buyer want it or you the seller perceive the demand to be?

Now after all that....Let's trade something. LOL

[baystate123]

In a perfect world, as long as you both use book values for the trade, things should be even. Unfortunately the card collecting world is not perfect. Lots of variables. So it may take a bit more work to determine the real world value(Ebay), you should both do it that way.
Even then things can get hairy. Here's an example. Recently I was trying to make a deal with one of my PSA graded cards. I checked the auctions for about a month or 2, bid on several auctions and lost a bunch. Eventually, I was able to get the card for $65 delivered. The average auction sale is about $75. The average buy it now price is about $95. What does this mean. Is it worth what you can get it for ($65) with lots of patience at the auctions? Is it worth what you can get it for semi-regularly ($75) at the auctions. Or is it worth what people will pay for occasionally ($95) when your nephew would really love one for his birthday and you just have to have it by Friday? I don't know. Personally, it definitely isn't worth $65. That's my reward for stalking the auctions to the point of insanity. My vote is for average auction price. throw the BINs out the window unless they're moving 10 a day at that price.
Don't get me going on comparing vintage trade values to newer cards. That's a whole different topic. Maybe I'll start a thread later.

[vikesfan40]

Start that thread, they are all intersting talkers in the collecting world. I personally don't collect much vintage so I don't really know much about vintage markets but comparing values between differnt decades has to be difficult. Personally with trades I treat them differntly than I do when buying cards. For me, if I am trading for something I tend to go off of if I think its a fair deal, Like if I want a card that the guy has and I have a card thats a little higher value I am more than willing to make that trade bc I would rather have the other card in my collection.

In a perfect world, as long as you both use book values for the trade, things should be even. Unfortunately the card collecting world is not perfect. Lots of variables. So it may take a bit more work to determine the real world value(Ebay), you should both do it that way.
Even then things can get hairy. Here's an example. Recently I was trying to make a deal with one of my PSA graded cards. I checked the auctions for about a month or 2, bid on several auctions and lost a bunch. Eventually, I was able to get the card for $65 delivered. The average auction sale is about $75. The average buy it now price is about $95. What does this mean. Is it worth what you can get it for ($65) with lots of patience at the auctions? Is it worth what you can get it for semi-regularly ($75) at the auctions. Or is it worth what people will pay for occasionally ($95) when your nephew would really love one for his birthday and you just have to have it by Friday? I don't know. Personally, it definitely isn't worth $65. That's my reward for stalking the auctions to the point of insanity. My vote is for average auction price. throw the BINs out the window unless they're moving 10 a day at that price.
Don't get me going on comparing vintage trade values to newer cards. That's a whole different topic. Maybe I'll start a thread later.

[Spiderpool]

I do whatever the other trader does just to make some deals. Usually it is difficult to make deals now. I always use sell value though when buying or selling.

This!

It is so hard to make deals today. I can't even give people cards to make a deal where I send them cards for free and I pay the shipping, and they send me nothing. I can't even find anybody to take that deal. They somehow think they are getting scammed.

But then again it is not surprising given the relative anti-social nature of card collecting.

[baystate123]

I've now been motivated. I think I'll start one or maybe similar.

Start that thread, they are all intersting talkers in the collecting world. I personally don't collect much vintage so I don't really know much about vintage markets but comparing values between differnt decades has to be difficult. Personally with trades I treat them differntly than I do when buying cards. For me, if I am trading for something I tend to go off of if I think its a fair deal, Like if I want a card that the guy has and I have a card thats a little higher value I am more than willing to make that trade bc I would rather have the other card in my collection.