Do people even know what "SV" means?

[Nasty_Boy]

What is up with this non-sense? I mean, I'm sorry but I keep seeing more and more people, trying to pull the SV flip in a trade.

No offense to all you people who trade by SV but accept the trade or decline it. Don't sit there and try to pull a fast one on people. Point Blank. If someone offered me a Peyton Manning Auto for my Brett Favre Auto and they book the same, I can either say "Yes" or "No".

But I have seen BOLD people say Yes to a trade and then turn around and say "Brett Favre = 180SV. Peyton Manning = 120SV. I also want this and that."

Seriously, I know when "Street Value" is needed and when it is just a plain disrespect. I turn down offers daily for the Jordan/Lebron/Kobe Auto daily because I know I can't get what I think is fair BV/SV/Cash for the card. I don't sit there with a guy full of high ends and try to extort $50K in BV because it only totals up to $xxx SV because the last Jordan/Lebron/Kobe Triple Auto out of Exquisite sold for that same amount.

So is my card worth $50K in BV? I'll trade the card for a Bill Buckner Autographed Shoe 1/1 if I thought that would make my day or a Lou Gehrig/Babe Ruth Cut Dual Auto, if the other trader thought mine was worth more than his.

But 98% of the people that try to pull that "SV" trading on $40-$60 dollar cards, don't even know about "SV" because you only know "eBay" Values. I know "Street Value" and everybody who has sold cards at Shows, in a card shop, to customers who want certain cards locally, they know Street Value. eBay is not Street Value.

Real Street Value

I get good money for Ryan Mathews because I am from Fresno, California. Ryan Mathews went to school at Fresno State. He was born and raised about an hour away. And plays for a California team. Anything I move of his, even his rookie cards, base, inserts, etc., are 200% Beckett Value and Autos vary from 150-200%.

But if I offer Ryan Mathews in a trade, am I expected to get 150-200% BV because it's "Street Value"? Or I get 70-90% BV on eBay? Or a person offering me Ryan Mathews expected to offer me Mathews at 150-200% BV because that is what I would get in Fresno?

What I get on the street is "my business". What you get on eBay is "your business". What it is in the book, is what is in the book. It is a medium. It is what the majority agree to trade on. What makes you think you have 1 card that books the same but gets more money on eBay worth more than mine, which books the same?

I can honestly say, if that was the case, I'd turn down your higher "SV" card and raid your whole bucket for cards that had low "SV" on them and you'll be on the opposite end. Would you agree to that?

When Not to Trade

No one said you gotta trade. A perfect example is my Jim Brown Auto from Donruss. It only books $50 or so bucks. Probably gets 60% of BV on eBay because its a low BV card of on of the Greatest HOF'ers of all time.

I'm pretty sure there are about 10 guys that are nobodys, that have $50+ BV cards of 3rd String QBs, 3rd Down RBs, etc.

Do I have to trade?
No

Would I trade it?

Depends. If its a player I need, yes.

Why in the world would I trade it?

Because I know I can sell it for quicker than Jim Brown. And if I can get more BV. And that's locally at shows, the card shop, or to my customers. Because why wait to get $50 bucks for Jim Brown, 6 months for now, when I can get a Russell Martin Auto that I have a buyer who will give me $50 bucks now.

Conclusion

Seriously, what did we do as kids, when Becketts were hard or not current. eBay hadn't existed yet. And people bought and traded cards for fun locally not through the mail, 3000 miles away from each other.

I remember swapping a Nolan Ryan and Don Mattingly for a Rickey Henderson and Dennis Eckersly and swapping them to my friend for his Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell because I didn't care about the other 4 players.

Yet the 1st time some kid bickered about their card being 50 cents and yours was a quarter, you never traded with that kid again because he was too snobby for using Beckett. But the kid that traded only for Oakland As stuff and didn't care if he gave you a Nolan Ryan or Don Mattingly or Will Clark, was your favorite person to trade with.

We are killing the hobby.

Please people, stop making up "Street" Values because really, "Street Values" is a wide array of different opinions. My Michael Crabtree RC Auto has tremendous value since I'm in the 49ers neighborhood while your Andre Johnson RC Auto books 3x my Crabtree, sells on eBay for 3x my Crabtree but fetches 1/2 of my Crabtree locally because there is probably 1 Texans/Andre Johnson Fans for every 250 Raiders and 49ers fans. Which my Crabtree probably has no value in Philadelphia because your the only 49ers fan in the whole state.

Does that make perfect "Street Value" sense?

[Qwikflipz]

The thing is, would you trade $180 for $120? People use sale value because eBay, the biggest market for cards. If they have the $180 eBay Favre card and live in Minnesota, it may be worth $250. But they need to use the $180, not this $250 crap. As long as people use eBay only to gauge cards, it is okay. But if people throw in facts of other things, it is too much.

If I have a $180 card, and you have a $120 card, I will sell my $180 card to pick up that $120 card and a $60 card. You got to look at it from that aspect.

People need to keep it simple, if you want to use eBay sales to trade (high-end only only, no sense trying to get SV for low-end stuff), do it. But don't through in stuff because they play here, born here, etc.

[Nasty_Boy]

Qwikflipz: Seriously, even on high cards, don't flip if you don't think it's right.

What gets me is, when people come up to me at shows and asks me if I will accept "Half" for a Ryan Mathews Auto, when I just sold 4 Ryan Mathews for 150% BV. I'm shaking my head like "What is this, eBay?"

eBay and Beckett don't determine nothing. But eBay is not the medium you use. Beckett is the more accurate medium. Because eBay becomes argumentative about what is the medium and what is not. You watch an Auction for a card you have and it gets $100. Then you list yours 10 seconds after that Auction ends and it gets $50. Then you factor in all kinds of things in that case. Ratings, Feedback, Location, Shipping Cost, etc. Then it becomes a matter of personal opinions not PROFESSIONAL OPINIONS.

Because I will swap you Tim Tebows for Ryan Mathews all day, if they book the same. Because you and I both know that Tebows got a bigger fan base and sells higher on eBay than Mathews, but do you need to know what I get for Tebow? Not really. If I can get that, why am I even offering it? All I have to say is NO and not even bring up SV.

Using eBay to gauge non-listed Beckett items is another thing. You don't have anything else other than eBay for that item.

But I have seen a lot of rookie mistakes in trading by guys who wanna do "SV", when you have a rare item like a 1/1 Auto, you don't base it off of eBay, you base it off of what they are willing to offer you in return. Because if you base it off of eBay, your selling yourself short. And also, it leaves the ball in your court on trading the card.

A long time ago, I traded a Jake Plummer Serial #d 1/1 to a big Arizona Cardinals fan. I didn't know how to figure out what is was worth and so he offered me a 2 Jerry Rice Rookie Cards from 86. Which was probably $200 bucks at the time and 1/1s were just priced stupidly.

Do you think I thought for 3 seconds on whether to take the deal or not? What do you think sold quicker? Did you think I even bothered to check eBay or Beckett?

[Qwikflipz]

If you think Beckett is more accurate than eBay...

Most items on eBay all end around the same price. All you need to do is throw out the outliers, and than average the price. You may see something like $65, $79, $81, $84, $87, $110. You see the outliers, average is like $85, card is worth $85.

There are many factors to use, but don't dig deep, just average out prices on cards that you can. Use judgement, but once again, eBay is the biggest market out there.

You collect Matthews, so obviously personally you want him, but what if someone wants a card and he has no Matthews? Let's say he wants your card worth $150, BV 300. He offers a BV 300 worth $75. You would do that? I don't think so. Now if you are helping him, you may be more incline to try and work out a deal, but if you aren't getting a card for your PC, you look at SV a lot more than personal value.

[Nasty_Boy]

If I have a $180 card, and you have a $120 card, I will sell my $180 card to pick up that $120 card and a $60 card. You got to look at it from that aspect.

No offense, but thats a Rookie Trading Mistake. If we had a $300 dollar card and one got $180 and the other got $120 on eBay, do you think I'm trading up or down because I'm going to post it on eBay?

I'm doing the deal because in my opinion, I could get $300 dollars for your card quicker than mine and I already had 3 months with my card and had no biters.

Not trying to squeeze a nickle out of a penny. I'm trying to trade you my junk for what I think is gold and vice versa. Thats how trading was and still is to a lot of people.

That is why people are mad about SV trading because people are trying to pinch corners.

[Qwikflipz]

No offense, but thats a Rookie Trading Mistake. If we had a $300 dollar card and one got $180 and the other got $120 on eBay, do you think I'm trading up or down because I'm going to post it on eBay?

I'm doing the deal because in my opinion, I could get $300 dollars for your card quicker than mine and I already had 3 months with my card and had no biters.

Not trying to squeeze a nickle out of a penny. I'm trying to trade you my junk for what I think is gold and vice versa. Thats how trading was and still is to a lot of people.

That is why people are mad about SV trading because people are trying to pinch corners.

I have done trades where I trade a card worth $200 and I got 4 cards worth $50 a piece. At the end, it is worth $200 total.

And I don't use SV in trades unless it is high-end, and even then, I use a lot of personal preference. If I get a PC card, I will be willing to lose a little, and if I get just get traders, I care more about SV being similar, because I'd rather sell my card and get PC than tarde my card for more traders.

[Nasty_Boy]

If you think Beckett is more accurate than eBay...

Most items on eBay all end around the same price. All you need to do is throw out the outliers, and than average the price. You may see something like $65, $79, $81, $84, $87, $110. You see the outliers, average is like $85, card is worth $85.

There are many factors to use, but don't dig deep, just average out prices on cards that you can. Use judgement, but once again, eBay is the biggest market out there.

You collect Matthews, so obviously personally you want him, but what if someone wants a card and he has no Matthews? Let's say he wants your card worth $150, BV 300. He offers a BV 300 worth $75. You would do that? I don't think so. Now if you are helping him, you may be more incline to try and work out a deal, but if you aren't getting a card for your PC, you look at SV a lot more than personal value.

I don't care. I'll do the deal if I think I can flip a $300 dollar card of his for $300 dollars cash vs. mine.

Do you think I sell cards at Half BV? I only sell them if I think I can't get a fair trade and if I think they would be slow movers.

I don't collect Ryan Mathews, BTW, my customers demand Ryan Mathews. I collect Karl Malones and only rarity stuff. What my area and customers demand, is "SV", "Street Value", "Sales Value" etc.

I am more than willing to trade anything BV for Ryan Mathews or Buster Posey at BV to BV. If it books the same, u want mine, I'm on it.

Ask that guy that offered me that Ryan Mathews Auto for my Sam Bradford Auto. Quickest trade ever on here.

Took 3 replies.

[Nasty_Boy]

I have done trades where I trade a card worth $200 and I got 4 cards worth $50 a piece. At the end, it is worth $200 total.

And I don't use SV in trades unless it is high-end, and even then, I use a lot of personal preference. If I get a PC card, I will be willing to lose a little, and if I get just get traders, I care more about SV being similar, because I'd rather sell my card and get PC than tarde my card for more traders.

Trading is all about opinions. If it works for you, it works for you. I've seen people pinch on SV and I laugh. Either you want it or not. That should be the simplest tool.

BTW, Beckett has low and high averages. The low is what the lowest they've seen them sell it at and the high is what they've seen them sell it at.

In the old days, if you traded by Low BV, you was a jerk or trying to scam. So everybody used high because some cards had same highs but different lows because of teams they played on or market share.

Beckett use to call the shop I bought cards from all the time as a kid to inquire about his single cards sales like on a weekly or so deal.

[Covet]

This thread is +1 x10.

[marinocollector]

But eBay is not the medium you use. Beckett is the more accurate medium.

This statement is 100% false. The reason sell value is even an acceptable form of trading is because of Beckett's inability to gauge the value of 5,000,000 cards that were released in the past 10 years. Many cards were once difficult to find due to little internet trading. They have since be come available in the droves. A card that once sold for $30 would only bring $5 now. Unfortunately, Beckett does not reflect this change.

Also, Beckett gauges their newest values off of eBay sales ONLY. They made a huge article about this in 2008, announcing a more "accurate"
price guide. What this has done is cheapen the resell value of many cards on eBay. Most newer sets will be released and sell strong for 2 weeks until new release pricing is out. At that point, one will see a DRASTIC reduction in auction closing prices as dealers and collectors are wanting to pay a lower percentage than Beckett high book. Most collectors will blame the idea that people only care about new releases up to 2 weeks after its released. In fact, it actually is due to Beckett listing high book at closing auction price and collectors not wanting to pay high book on most cards.

These factors have created a disparity between older and newer cards. There are cards from the late 90s early 2000s that will sell near full book or over. But the majority do not. With the lack of accurate price gauging, it causes a collector to have two different cards, both with equal book value, but with extremely different SV, or sell value. This makes the trade lopsided and unfair and what most collector's try to avoid.

As far as your experience with Ryan Mathews, I agree that their are times when one can sell cards to collectors at higher prices due to location. These variances do not impact total "Sell Value" the often accepted definition of SV. Even Beckett claims that local price spikes to not influence the value of a card nation wide. I actually find it amazing that the people you are trading and selling these Mathews card to do not shop and buy on eBay themselves.

eBay has created a marketplace for all sports card collectors to converge and purchase amongst one another. This alone makes it easier to gauge values across the states. Although I do believe it does not show every instance at every moment for every auction the maximized selling potential of a card, it is the best option available at the time.