trading bv vs sv

[markf1]

Just a quick rant about cards trading vs selling prices.hard to make trades with people when you tell them the bv of a card and they come back and say well i seen it on ebay for much cheaper.that really peeves me off.just saying

[Walter Sobchak]

I understand where youre coming from but BVs are arbitrary and so inaccurate most of the time. If I have a card that "books" for $50 and sells for $30 and you have a card that books for $50 but sells for $10 it doesnt make a whole lot of sense for me to make that trade. Id rather sell it and buy 3 of the card I want. Unfortunately ebay/forums are a better gauge of proces than BV 95% of the time. Its hard enough to get a decent return on the money I spend. Im going to do whatever I can to maximize that return and ensure that both parties receive an equal return in the trade.

[odjickfan]

I'm using SVs now. No way I'll pay to get data from a mag while a quick search among ebay sold listings will give me real market value.

[cygnusx1]

I've been told that I'm "cheap" and that I should trade for the fun of collecting when I won't trade a Datsyuk autograph for an Ilya Zubov jersey. Sure they book the same, but why should I throw money away. That's why I shy away from trading for the most part. Everyone wants a quick buck.

[canucksfan007]

Just a quick rant about cards trading vs selling prices.hard to make trades with people when you tell them the bv of a card and they come back and say well i seen it on ebay for much cheaper.that really peeves me off.just saying

While few people may agree with you ..... you must realize you will get the short end of the stick with this rant.

This isnt an attack at you, but seriously .... people need to get with the times. Things evolve, you either evolve with them or get left in the dust.

The majority of the community moves cards based on cash values. Cash values are reliable, cash values are free for everyone to use, and you can see cash values change daily with the market / hobby. The beckett is not reliable ( lets face it, its impossible for people to keep tabs on EVERY card listed ), the beckett is a subscription and not available to everyone, and the beckett comes out once a month .... are you really telling me a card cant fluctuate in that month?

Am I saying cash values are 100% accurate and the only way cards should be valued, of course not. Ebay, and cash values, are simply put ...... the best, most reliable way to get an accurate idea of what your card is actually worth.

Just do the math .......

I have card "A". Card "A" books for 100BV, and sells on average for $70 cash ( actual real money, a real figure, a real measurement of worth )

You have card "B". Card "B" books for 100BV, and sells on average for $30 cash.

Now honestly tell me, why am I trading you card "A" for card "B". Is it because a magical book tells me they are worth the same? But, but .... logic tells me, to sell card "A", buy card "B" ( possibly twice if I want ) and still have money left over for more cards.

[apice3]

Just my opinion but the people who swear by BV and use it as a trade gauge are what ruined the hobby

[joshpackham]

my opinion is that for low end like inserts/base cards and even low end game used cards beckett is fine, anything that has some kind of sale value you have to use sale value. I was at a trade day on sunday and myself and a couple others did a bunch of trading of young guns/mvp inserts and what not from ud series 1 and everything was done on bv and we were all happy at the end (which is what really matters)

[30ranfordfan]

There are lots of people who still like to use the book values to deterime what is a fair price. I'm not a big fan of that magazine (I think it's become irrelevant) and my answer to "what's the BV of your card?" is usually something like "I have no idea" becuase I haven't looked at that book in several years (though, I do find the Rookie Rolodex issues to be worth buying.... just not for the price guide).

The thing I always caution people, with regards to the BV, is there is not a single card with a "value" of $100, or $10, or $50, or any other dollar amount you can name in that book. That is NOT how the magazine prices cards. They publish a range.... high and low values.... they suggest a range of values in which the card should sell for. Of course all of us like to think that our cards are valuable, so we often ignore that low value.

When you see a card that priced $50 / $100 - chances are pretty good that it will sell for between $50 and $100.



I don't think there's anything wrong with trading based on book values - I just think that you need to factor in that range, and accept the fact that two cards having the same HI book value doesn't mean they're worth the same dollar amount.

That being said - there are a TON of people out there that still trade this way. I know I've done lots of deals where the other guy wanted to trade BV for BV. I have no problem doing this, but it depends on what the cards are...... If we're talking about something that's a pretty extreme difference in sale value... yeah, probably not going to do it. If we're talking about 25+ cards going each way, and $300 - $400 in BV going to each of us.... I'm probably not going to care if eBay sales tell me the lot I'm sending you would cost $25 more than the lot you're sending me.

Big thing - Make trades that you're happy with, and walk away from ones that you're not. This is supposed to be fun.... and you will find other members here (or people in general) that will deal in terms that you like.

[centrehice]

eBay dictates where the market flows. You can choose to ignore it and be left with an unmanageable inventory of epic proportion. You can embrace it, and sell all your cards.

But it's not going away anytime soon as the trend-setter for pricing of any card on the market. BV is only a suggestion, nothing more. That is why busting new product has never been more of a losing proposition.

Beckett will tell you that card X is worth such a price in BV, you bust a couple of boxes and get 2 of them, both on paper worth more than you paid for the boxes, when you realistically try to sell them, you end of with 20% of your box purchase price, if you are fortunate.

People that play roulette with boxes over time, lose so much money that after 2 seasons they will never recoup even that low 20% return that I stated above.

[87sluggo]

I've bought cards from here for more and less than eBay value, I've traded BV for BV for a bunch of inserts which wound up incredibly even, I've sold cards here for I have no idea what the real value was to begin with. All I know is the cards I have that I don't want are worthless (to me) and if I can get something that I actually want for one or two or a stack of them then that's a good deal. I traded away a card with actual book AND sale value, a Topps Heritage Gordie Howe auto, back on Friday for the coolest card I could ever imagine. Was it "worth" it? I have no idea. But I'm happy :)