EBay vs BV

[30ranfordfan]

Neither answer is ever going to be 100% right, 100% of the time.

If the card sells for $13 on a regular basis, I don't care what a book says. It's worth $13. If someone is willing to pay more than double that, you're doing great!

However, if someone cites a recent eBay sale for $13, and is offering $30.... I question what exactly is going on. There are plenty of times when auctions (for whatever reason) go for far less than they normally do, and you can't ever simply look at one auction, and determine that's the price.

But depending on the card, and depending how new it is, book values can be horribly inaccurate.

Recent sale of mine: Jonathan Quick BAP RC /99. I listed it at $300 BIN/BO. I had turned down a few offers in the $150 range when I get a message. Something to the effect of: "How can you ask that much for this card? It only books for $60. Why are you trying to rip people off?". I replied and told him that I had already turned down offers of more than double the book value, and that the book value was probably true at the begining of the year - but Quick's sales had been going very high. I sold it later that day for $220 (and I probably should have held out for more).

But book values go the other way too. There is noend to the cards listed for $50+ that sell for a fraction of what the book says. They sell for those prices on a regular basis.


In the end, if you think the card is worth much closer to $100 than to $30, don't sell. There is no reason you should have to take less than what you want for your card..... but holding firm on an asking price may mean that you'll be sitting on it for a while.

[Wickabee]

I always say if either party is unhappy with the deal, the deal shouldn't be made. If neither of you liked the deal presented and walked away, no one is wrong and everyone's right.

As for BS/SV, Andrew here is bang on. I once had a NSPTS card and the two references on pricing were an unsold Bin of almost $150 and an auction sale of around $10. Guess what kind of offers I got. I didn't want anywhere near $150, but I wanted a little more than $10, since I traded a $20SV card for it. I ended up trading it for a card I can probably get around $20 for but don't mind at all keeping in the PC, which I call a minor win. It's all in the value you put into it. As buyers, recent Ebay sales seem to be the favoured method of pricing, but if BV plays into your value of the card, don't budge until you get sick of looking at it. I take BV into consideration for some cards, for others I don't. It's entirely up to you.

And it's entirely up to him whether he pays that or not.

[razzamaztaz]

Well here’s my take, if he don’t want to pay just keep it, it’s fine you want $30 for it. (What it book for is irrelevant, some cards sell for 30%bv, others for 10%, others for 100%bv) Cards usually sell for too low, so if you want more what you feel is deserved it’s fine. But here is the big BUT… As long as you do the same in the other direction, and so far I have yet to see that from anybody which is very sad. I see people asking maybe double price against ebay, but when they buy/trade themselves, they offer *below* ebay. It’s a greedy hypocrisy that sickens me.

[razzamaztaz]

Well here’s my take, if he don’t want to pay just keep it, it’s fine you want $30 for it. (What it book for is irrelevant, some cards sell for 30%bv, others for 10%, others for 100%bv) Cards usually sell for too low, so if you want more what you feel is deserved it’s fine. But here is the big BUT… As long as you do the same in the other direction, and so far I have yet to see that from anybody which is very sad. I see people asking maybe double price against ebay, but when they buy/trade themselves, they offer *below* ebay. It’s a greedy hypocrisy that sickens me.

[2010CTyler]

Until recently I was alway pretty stuck on BV for cards. However, I have been using ebay (buying/selling) for almost a year now and have seen that market value and BV aren't even in the same range most of the time. I have come to realise that Beckett magazine is pretty much only relevant for older cards and highly sought-after HOF's. If you are selling something relatively newer (RC, GU's, Auto) it's pretty much worth what anyone is willing to pay for it. Of course, there are instances where a card will sell on Ebay within low-high rangevarience of eg. $20 (usually do to a bidding war). If you do have something that is extremely rare............chances are it's not even listed in Beckett. Supply and demand, it's a wonderful thing. I just wish more people understood the concept.