How do other traders interpret EBAY sales as a way to determine proper trade value ?

[30ranfordfan]

If skipping away from trading for a moment......


Someone wants to sell a card, and is asking $25 shipped.
They get told "I can get it for $20 on eBay"

My reply to comments like that, in the past, has been "then buy it on eBay for $20".

What they really mean to say is that there was a copy that sold 3 months ago for $20, plus $4 shipping. There's two copies available right now, but they've both got a BIN/BO for $50 & $60... so nobody can actually purchase this card on eBay for $20.


eBay is a funny thing. It's a million times better that depending solely on Beckett to gauge the value of your cards..... but there are a lot of people who will cherry pick eBay data to say what they want it to.

If 5 copies of a card have sold in the last week for $20, $22, $21, $19, $48: Calling it a $20 card is pretty fair. Calling it a $40 or $50 card is not.
Likewise, if a card has sold consistently in $18-$22 range.... and suddenly a single copy goes for $6, that doesn't mean you can buy it for $6. That means there was something up with a particular auction.

Of course you should include shipping costs when you consider what someone paid for a card on eBay..... though I will say this: As a buyer, I won't deal with markups on shipping charges. I get that it's expensive to mail from the USA to Canada (tracked) and I'm okay with that.

If someone charges me $15 for $3 worth of shipping, I have a huge problem with that. a $5 card, plus $15 in shipping is NOT the same thing as a $15 card with $5 shipping.

[sports4-ever]

Wonderfully stated !!!!! Anything is better than being totally reliant on Beckett. How can you take as gospel , a site that has 3 new hockey threads inserted per month :(
And, exactly like you , I can't seem to zip quickly past those sellers that require $15-25 "untracked" for shipping fees. Wish there was a way to eliminated those sellers from my searches, who balloon shipping fees to further increase their profit margins, Rare, is the buyer who will include shipping costs when telling you what they paid for a card on EBAY ..... it just doesn't happen !!

If skipping away from trading for a moment......


Someone wants to sell a card, and is asking $25 shipped.
They get told "I can get it for $20 on eBay"

My reply to comments like that, in the past, has been "then buy it on eBay for $20".

What they really mean to say is that there was a copy that sold 3 months ago for $20, plus $4 shipping. There's two copies available right now, but they've both got a BIN/BO for $50 & $60... so nobody can actually purchase this card on eBay for $20.


eBay is a funny thing. It's a million times better that depending solely on Beckett to gauge the value of your cards..... but there are a lot of people who will cherry pick eBay data to say what they want it to.

If 5 copies of a card have sold in the last week for $20, $22, $21, $19, $48: Calling it a $20 card is pretty fair. Calling it a $40 or $50 card is not.
Likewise, if a card has sold consistently in $18-$22 range.... and suddenly a single copy goes for $6, that doesn't mean you can buy it for $6. That means there was something up with a particular auction.

Of course you should include shipping costs when you consider what someone paid for a card on eBay..... though I will say this: As a buyer, I won't deal with markups on shipping charges. I get that it's expensive to mail from the USA to Canada (tracked) and I'm okay with that.

If someone charges me $15 for $3 worth of shipping, I have a huge problem with that. a $5 card, plus $15 in shipping is NOT the same thing as a $15 card with $5 shipping.

[odjickfan]

Note that sometimes when you see a $17 shipping charge on a sold item and the seller is located in the US and you are in Canada (or vice versa), they may have sold the card to someone in the US and the buyer may have only paid $3 shipping. So if there is only 2 comps available either could be correct in this case. But I have gotten what I thought were really good deals on cards when the Canadian shipping was high and I shipped them to my PO Box in the US because maybe scared off half the potential buyers (in Canada). Like was stated above, I think some common sense has to be used.

I was about to say something similar.

[creasecollector]

Yeah, extremely upped shipping charges really grind my gears, especially for hockey cards. For sports equipment and other bulkier items, I get it, but the second I see a grossly inflated shipping charge for a card, I'm out unless the card is super rare and I can justify the total cost of the transaction for what I'm receiving in return. To me it usually just looks pretty greedy, in my opinion.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the terrible GSP (Global Shipping Program) intended for us Canadians on some listings. Just brutal, haha. I've pasted on many cards just because of that reason alone (the exchange rate doesn't help in this scenario, either).

If any sellers are reading this post, I suggest getting away from the Global Shipping Program for your listings, as it seriously turns away a lot of Canadian buyers.

[SportsCardCollective]

Awesome Post OP, great input/opinions and Feedback everyone! Love seeing interactive posts, especially here on SCF!

- Ryan -

[RGM81]

As my esteemed colleague @30ranfordfan notes, consistency is key. I look for trends and try to avoid relying on outliers to make a sound decision. Yes there's that one shilled auction where a card that normally sells for $50 magically sells for $85 but you can't rely on that over time. Obviously it can be a little tougher for low #'d cards, but you try to find comparables and players of an equal calibre.

If I've got a card that usually sells in a $20-$25 range and someone is offering a card that also sells in a $20-$25 range, I'm happy to make a deal. In most cases, it all comes out in the wash eventually. I don't need to "win" by $5 to come away happy on a trade, particularly if both of us are getting a PC card.

[30ranfordfan]

As my esteemed colleague @30ranfordfan notes, consistency is key. I look for trends and try to avoid relying on outliers to make a sound decision. Yes there's that one shilled auction where a card that normally sells for $50 magically sells for $85 but you can't rely on that over time. Obviously it can be a little tougher for low #'d cards, but you try to find comparables and players of an equal calibre.

If I've got a card that usually sells in a $20-$25 range and someone is offering a card that also sells in a $20-$25 range, I'm happy to make a deal. In most cases, it all comes out in the wash eventually. I don't need to "win" by $5 to come away happy on a trade, particularly if both of us are getting a PC card.

I'm going to chime in again, simply because @RGM81 touches on something else I think is a big part of trading.

The whole "win" the deal thing. I also, don't need to do it. If I'm swapping 1 or 2 cards, the value of the deals is $20+, and each side is within 15% of "value" - I don't really care which end of the deal I'm on.....

Having said that, I find trading incredibly difficult. With few exceptions, I'm not interested in trading for "bait". Never have been. You've got a card I want, and I have a card you want? That's awesome. Let's swap. Top of my wantlist right now (in addition to the usual Ranford stuff) is a 13-14 Tomas Jurco NT Rookie /99, and 04-05 Ultimate Collection base card of Ken Hitchcock. While I'd be happy to swap slightly "better" cards to get them.... I generally find it's much easier to just buy stuff like that for a fair price, and sell mine for a fair price too.

[creasecollector]

Awesome Post OP, great input/opinions and Feedback everyone! Love seeing interactive posts, especially here on SCF!

- Ryan -

Agreed !