Zis time....itz personalll........ - Ranier Wolfcastle

[cygnusx1]

Are you serious? Entitlement, like TO OWN SOMETHING?

The Seller OWNS that card, therefor he is entitled (by definition) to determine it's value. If you don't like it, that is your problem but how much money it will take to move it is 100% up to him, it may not sell for what he wants, but if he chooses not to move it for less, he is ENTITLED to make that decision and hold onto it forever if he wants.

What I can't believe is the entitlement of people who WANT to own the card and are complaining about how unfair it is that he destroyed it. If the guy burned it, cut it up, flushed it down the toilet, THAT IS HIS CALL. You have no right to get upset about it, since he only destroyed his own property. The only way you get a say is to buy the card and become it's owner, but everyone was too busy waiting the guy out like it was some kind of game of chicken (wait long enough and he's bound to put it up for auction, where I can buy it for a fraction of what it is worth, because I am so clever and crafty). Well, guess what, this guy threw a curve and there's no getting that card back, and it may upset some, but he was perfectly ENTITLED to do so.

So, if I'm getting this correctly.....


Seller prices the card high, waiting for some sucker to bite and pay more than the card is actually worth. This is acceptable to you.

or

Buyer thinks price is too high, chooses to wait and see if seller will come down to a more reasonable price. This, in your eyes, is the worst crime man has ever committed.

Seems like the pot calling the kettle black, no?


We get it, you're not able to get the sale prices you think your cards are worth, and it's everybody else that's the problem.

[mooneyes]

I'm guessing $60 or $200 is like $2 bucks to this guy, so he is just getting a kick out of messing with peeps who take cardboard as serious as a heart attack...sending him a nasty letter would only make his day. Sometimes, doing the ABSURD has its merits, and can be rather funny....you know, those guys with gazillion $ rare show cards that have signs, look but don't touch, or DIE!!!! It is almost irresistible to not put your finger print on it just to see the uptight dude lose his marbles on you. The kinda guys who love their "things" more than their family.

I think there is more than one lesson here, people who love things more than humans are...well, welcome to "The American Nightmare".... No amount of "crap" will fill the void, so we waste our live's and health working longer and harder at meaningless soul numbing jobs....so we can acquire...even more crap, for which our offspring have to somehow "clean up" if its not too late. jmho

Hate away, but some peeps also think giving away cards for free is Absurd....

[Craig2]

As a famous economist said:

"The value of a thing in any given time and place is the largest amount of exertion that anyone will render in exchange for it."

In other words, the value of something is dependent upon what someone is willing to pay. The argument about rarity, too, is illogical because even the most rare of items is only "worth" what someone has paid for it at some point. We can all argue about the value we attach to our cards, but that personal value should never be confused with economic value.

There are some serious cases of the Endowment effect in this hobby, and it seems like this seller is a case in point.

[jaybird_1981]

Pretty childish act.

[notoriousrob101]

I got a good chuckle from the guys comments after he destroyed it. He is "off the meds."

[Gallinator]

All right, I'll say what most of us should be thinking: Who will be the one to bid and win the destroyed card, just so they can neg this d!ck? It's on my watch list...

This ties into my comment a couple of weeks ago about being frustrated by crazy BIN/BO prices; they are so high that I don't even bother to make an offer - and this illustrates that many others feel the same way.

These sellers shoot themselves in the foot by trying to snag the one-in-thousand fool with more money than sense. This particular joker is disrespectful of the hobby and hobbyists in general. It literally turns my stomach to see such a card destroyed like that. What a waste!

[sedinfan]

It gets frustrating to put a card up and have 5 or 6 watchers, but no bids. Because you just know that they are all sitting back and waiting for you to get desperate enough to sell it for half of what you should.

It's kind of insulting.

It kind of makes it seem like the watchers think you are going to get desperate enough to move it that you'll sell it for nothing.

...

Honestly, I hate that you lost a card, but I understand the point he is making. If you want a card, bid on it, don't wait around like a vulture for the auction to die so you can pick it up for scraps.

I can see how sellers might think that buyers are evil vultures just hovering waiting for desperation to kick in - though if you look at it from the other side the ridiculous BIN prices that many listings start at could be seen as greedy sellers looking to take advantage of people with OCD and extract obscene amounts of money in exchange for their little cardboard pictures of hockey men. I think both views are rather extreme though and not sure we need to ratchet up the hyperbole here.

As a buyer, I certainly don't consider myself a vulture who's looking to profit from the misery and desperation of sellers. I simply have a hobby. One that I enjoy a lot. And that is adding Sedin cards to my PC. I have a budget that I have to abide by, so as much as I'd like the latest shiny new card, I couldn't afford this hobby if I paid the initial asking price on every card. If a seller is offering a reasonable price that's close to my budget, I'll put in what I consider a fair offer, and if we're able to meet in the middle, great! If however the asking price is way out of line with what dozens of other similar cards have sold for, I'll usually wait - not because I'm a predatory vulture, but because I simply don't see the value in putting in a fair offer (sometimes even over the going rate for a card) only to be rejected and sometimes insulted for having the audacity to "low ball".

I simply don't understand the anger and frustration that leads people to chop up cards like the Kesler card just because folks on a budget who are simply trying to enjoy their hobby in whatever way brings them happiness aren't tripping over themselves to throw money at the seller.

What's ironic is the amount of frustration we see from sellers in threads like this about how buyers are the problem. Buyers are the only reason there is any money to be made in this hobby at all! If Ed stopped offering money for Kesler's, and I stopped offering money for Sedin's... it'd almost be more worthwhile to wallpaper rooms with their cards then to try selling them. The collectors who do buy cards are NOT the problem with the hobby, rather there simply aren't enough folks with the passion to collect every card of their player that leads to virtually no competition for a lot of cards - even nice helmet stickers x/4.

[craigswain]

I'm personally guilty of putting cards on a long 'watch' on eBay... I do this to constantly remind me of what I'm saving for and to see from curiosity how much the card sells for if I can't buy it on time. When money allows, I do actually buy.

Destroying the card was a little harsh after such a short time up!

[13stepper]

The irony. We complain because our cards are declining in value and we complain when someone asks "to much" for a card. Seems like we are the creators of our own demise.........

[subban7677]

This is the equivalent of the kid "taking his ball and going home" because his team is losing. It's his ball, he has every right to do so...doesn't mean other people won't think it sucks. And, the idea of the seller deciding the value goes against how the economy works...plain and simple. I can decide today that my house is worth a million dollars! Yay, I got a million dollar house!!! Wait, that's not how it works, you say? How do I determine the value of my house? COMPARABLES! What have similar houses in my neighbourhood sold for? THIS is how value is determined. I don't have to sell it for market value, I have every right to decide I won't sell until I get a $1 million offer on it, but it will never sell. It will never even get an offer. Does that mean I should burn it down after 9 days on the market because people thought I was asking a ridiculous price for it? Obviously I'm using an overblown example here, but I exaggerate for effect.