Why eBay is an effective price guide

[Travaje]

Thoughts of a born-again collector newbie....

I have bought a few boxes and pulled some nice inserts. I then went to ebay and searched for them. What I have noticed is that many of the cards I have aren't even selling at the low book value in Beckett, they are cheaper. I didn't see a single bid above 7 bucks for a 30 dollar card I have. I'm not about to give away my cards for free, and would rather keep them then dump them for nothing. Just because they aren't autos or GU's don't mean they aren't worth anything.

Plus you have to pay insertion fees, selling fees, then perhaps some paypal fees...what's the point? That's too much hassle for me. Once upon a time there were free message boards you could sell your cards on. not really anymore. there's virtually no market anywhere for common cards, from what i've seen.

I'm gonna keep my cards. If I have to pay near a hundred bucks for a box of cards that aren't worth 20 bucks, why even buy the box?

[Chris]

Originally posted by Travaje
I'm gonna keep my cards. If I have to pay near a hundred bucks for a box of cards that aren't worth 20 bucks, why even buy the box?

Your post is right on the money. Millions of collectors are gradually going to come to the same conclusion and then hopefully things will change.

[supermegadork]

Originally posted by stkmtimo
The "lesson": eBay can establish the average price of cards and works a lot like the stock market. In my opinion, even though I enjoy reading Beckett and use their BV in trading, eBay is more effective price guide than the former.
Tim

Tim, I agree with you in some respects, and I disagree with you in some respects. I don't remember if i have voiced this opinion on this board before, but here we go again.

While Ebay can be an effective tool to realize actual prices for cards, hobby items etc, there are many many factors that affect (effect?) the final closing price of an auction on ebay.
1) Shipping costs, some people will not even bid on an item if the shipping amount seems way too high, this scews selling price.
2) feedback for seller.
3) time of day auction closes, if you end auction at midnight, and one closes at 7:3o at night when people are home and have not gone to bed yet.... big difference.
4) some idiot types in 4000 instead of 40.00 because the . key is broken on his computer
5) when someone buys something off of ebay, they do not know the condition of the card, sometimes it is difficult to tell from the scan, or there is no scan at all. Whan you buy something such as stock, the "thing's" value you hold in your hand does not depend on it's condition, only what it represents matters. Take for example $1 in your pocket, it is crinkled up, but still worth a buck. Now, take your 2001 SP Authentic Michael Vick and crinkle it up, it is now worth a buck, not $1400... You always take a risk of not getting your item or getting a creased card even if the person said it is mint.
6) So many people look to ebay to get arid of stuff they no longer want, so they are willing to take whatever price for it so they can use the money on something else. Stock is a much different item.
7) stock trading is regulated and if the value of it drops significantly enough, trading stops for the day. Not so on ebay.

I agree that it is an effective tool though because it takes into account for a "good" week, score 3 touchdowns, people are going to buy your cards, break your leg and go out for the entire year and maybe affect the rest of your career, prices may drop. When it all boils down to it, it is basically still about supply and demand.

[Travaje]

Originally posted by Chris
Your post is right on the money. Millions of collectors are gradually going to come to the same conclusion and then hopefully things will change.

I'm glad somebody sees it my way :) I understand it's a buyers market, but some of the offers I see for cards are insulting to others.