Kill E-bay!!!

[steelers23310]

Whats is e-bay doing to this hobby??!!! What is the point of Beckett now or even book value. What can we do to stop this?! Its terrible! Seriously, whats the point of have a Beckett if when you go to a hobby shop they say... oh.. well yea its says 150.00 but I can get it on e-bay for 15.00. THEN HAVE THE NERVE TO TURN AROUND AND CHARGE 125.00 BUCKS FOR A BOX THAT SELLS ON E-BAY FOR 75.00!! I personally have boycott e-bay for that reason, and any dealer and/or persons that deals with e-bay, your taking value from these card, and memorabilia and killing this hobby slowly.
I'm not bitter or disgruntled, just a little confused. I know 99.99% of you have a Beckett, but when you try to make a deal, the first thing you do is go to e-bay.. I say, i hope you drop your cards in the toilet because they obviously don't mean that much to you.. If you even want to deal with me remember you better have you Beckett...because I do, and I hold true to tradition, not ebay..

[Stlcards1]

I hate it also......If you are trading cmb or pc for your Sanders au and Gore au please.

[mikesilvia]

I fail to see how this is Ebay's fault. Go to Beckett and you will see that even they are starting to incorporate Ebay pricing.

Find out everything you want to know about sports cards on eBay – all in one place! Beckett's industry-standard card identification and pricing analysis provides you with an easy-to-use reference.

http://www.beckett.com/estore/ValueGuide/

http://www.beckett.com/estore/skins/...opbar/logo.gif

You sound like a card shop owner. Is that true?

I think card shop owners in general are more at fault for their demise than anyone. I say this because I have walked into several sports card stores and tried to convince them that they should use sports card site like SCF and Ebay to get rid of their inventory. I usually get a hostile response like, "the internet is killing the hobby, especially Ebay!". The card shop owners that refuse to embrace the internet are usually the ones that fail.

Why would anyone buy a card for $20, when they can get it for $5 delivered to their house? The only benefit the card shops offer is immediateness of ownership. Is that worth $15?

Card shop owners should use Ebay to gauge the value of their cards and lower their card prices. If you are resistant to this then you will likely lose a lot of sales and hold inventory longer than you want. I go by the same card shop and see the same cards in the glass cases for 3 years now! Lower the prices and take less of a profit. Add value over Ebay for the immediateness of ownership, but not 400%.

Just my 2 cents! I think this may be one of my next articles. :)

[steelers23310]

The reason its killing the hobby is for that very reason!!!! IT SITS AND THEY DON'T WANNA LOWER THERE PRICE BUY TRY TO RIP YOU OFF!!! Buy, Sell and Trade is a thing of the past now its just Sell, sell and Sell. No I'm not a card shop owner I just sick of walking in a pulling a card that i just spent $280.00 for a box and the guy going "Oh I cant get that on e-bay for 10.00, 15.00 bucks "its not even fun anymore when you hear that.. If it where really the case why not just go buy what we need from e-bay and say screw the hobby shops! I think you missed the point my friend.. This is turning into a lost art becuase people are getting lazy... I.E. sitting at home and have it delivered, and buying single instead of ripping open a fresh pack of cards. THRILL OF THE HUNT MY FRIEND THRILL OF THE HUNT!!!!

oh and you should be slaped for this "

"Why would anyone buy a card for $20, when they can get it for $5 delivered to their house?"


Because if you really knew anything, you would know that Beckett takes an AVERAGE of the price the card sold for and uses that for the pricing... so that $500.00 card you have that sold 3 times on eBay for $100.00 $75.00 and $30.00 buck is not worth $500.00 and more its got a little black arrow going DOWN.. and now.. your investment, just give it to the dog to chew on... thats about what its worth now...

[mikesilvia]

I think you are just dealing with standard negotiating. Of course someone will tell you they can get it much cheaper. That is how you bargain!

The problem I see is that Beckett pricing never held its weight. Even before Ebay we had to rely on a price guide that no one really new how they derived their prices. They put out the same generic values year after year. I seriously doubt that 90% of Beckett values are even based on sales.

Ebay gives you a more accurate price guide. It also brings down the price of a card. Honestly, you should only break a box of cards if you plan on keeping/trading the cards. You can buy a box of cards for say $150 and you will be lucky to get half the value back on Ebay. The card shops will give you even less and sell the cards for 4 times Ebay! You should never buy boxes based on making money off the sales.

[RenegadeLonghorn]

Whats is e-bay doing to this hobby??!!! What is the point of Beckett now or even book value. What can we do to stop this?! Its terrible! Seriously, whats the point of have a Beckett if when you go to a hobby shop they say... oh.. well yea its says 150.00 but I can get it on e-bay for 15.00. THEN HAVE THE NERVE TO TURN AROUND AND CHARGE 125.00 BUCKS FOR A BOX THAT SELLS ON E-BAY FOR 75.00!! I personally have boycott e-bay for that reason, and any dealer and/or persons that deals with e-bay, your taking value from these card, and memorabilia and killing this hobby slowly.
I'm not bitter or disgruntled, just a little confused. I know 99.99% of you have a Beckett, but when you try to make a deal, the first thing you do is go to e-bay.. I say, i hope you drop your cards in the toilet because they obviously don't mean that much to you.. If you even want to deal with me remember you better have you Beckett...because I do, and I hold true to tradition, not ebay..

I'm not sure how you are faulting ebay for what a card shop owner charges you. I also believe in most cases a card with a Beckett value of $150 will not sell for $15 on ebay. Typically, cards sell for 20-50% of their Beckett value. Ebay is probably the #1 source for the selling and buying of sports cards and to me it represents what people are willing to pay for the cards. Demand, demand. If you want to fault anyone, then maybe it should be the card companies for charging so much for their boxes.

Most of us trade on here using beckett values. Many of us also take a percentage of beckett values when buying OR we look to see what the card sells for on ebay.


Also, I moved your thread to the appropriate forum.

[doniceage]

I know i go to shows and it all about TRADE TRADE TRADE. I hate when people try to buy from. Of course I am into it for the hobby. Ask any trader that met me or people that hav set up with me. First thing I ask them where is the cards you brought to trade.

p.s. Hope to do that at the Nationals this year as well.

DON

[OnePimpTiger]

It's called Free Enterprise my friend and it's a blessing from God.

I disagree with a lot of things that happen on eBay, but what cards sell for is not one of them. Now, hobby shop owners don't have a monopoly on the market. Before eBay, you were at the mercy of card shop owners, they could charge whatever they want for single cards and most of the time you had no way of disputing it.

Now, competition! Like someone said before, hobby shop owners that cling to their old ways, still try to charge with the same margins they always have, and make no attempt whatsoever at being competitive will continue to drop like flies.

eBay is about as perfect of a model of Free Market as you will ever see. Things sell for what people will pay for them and won't sell for what people won't pay for them. Why would you want to pay more when you can get it somewhere else cheaper?

All the complaints you had were that card shop owners try to rip you off...saying they can get a card cheaper on eBay, but selling boxes for much more than you can get on eBay....so why don't you go to eBay and quit letting them rip you off?

And, as someone has mentioned before as well, if you're in the card collecting hobby as a business and for investments, then you're in it for the wrong reasons. Yeah I say that partially because I think it taints the hobby....but I say it mainly because it's not a good business or investment.

[Bondsaway]

Well said. Please try to state your opinions and not directly attack anyone for their views this is just a statement so this doesn't become a bashing war of over who's right or wrong.

Thanks

[Ryan52]

cards are worth what people will pay, not what a book says. the Beckett still is good to give you an idea, but all in all the card is worth what you can get (in trade or money)