You're turn: BV vs. SV

[aharner55]

I am doing some research into BV vs. SV in trading due to some recent posts I have seen around the Internet. You have the chance to have your answer quoted on SCF Articles and/or Cardboard Mania as I am doing different pieces for both sites. If you wish to respond, but do not want to be quoted, please tell me, and I will not put your name in any article.

So, when you trade, which do you go by and why? When you sell, which do you go by and why? Have you had any experience with something who used the opposite value as you when you trade or buy? How did those trades/sales/buys turn out? Do you ever use completed eBay auctions to determine values in a trades or sales?

Thanks in advance,

Andrew

[gladdyontherise]

i'll start this out. i go by BV. while people say "it all depends on how much someone is willing to pay for it" the problem is. we are trading, not buying and selling! therefore sell value does nothing, because its trading not sellling. and with ebay now, there are so many cases of "steals" due to several factors, poor listing names and shill bidding. that can ruin an average for sell value on a certain card.


When i sell i don't go buy sell value, simply because i don't sell on here except for base and inserts due to people who lowball. they refuse to go by ebay value.

i don't trade with people who go by sell value, because they are some of the people who will flip flop between sv and bv for whenever it will benefit them.

simply put, i respect anyone's usuage of trading weather it's bv or sv, but i dont respect those who flip flop or low ball

[garnett_21]

I go by BV....SV can fluctuate (sp?) in a matter of hours on ebay....BV stays consistent for about a month.

If you use this in an article, feel free to paraphrase it so it sounds better :-)

[YellowSuge]

i'll start this out. i go by BV. while people say "it all depends on how much someone is willing to pay for it" the problem is. we are trading, not buying and selling! therefore sell value does nothing, because its trading not sellling. and with ebay now, there are so many cases of "steals" due to several factors, poor listing names and shill bidding. that can ruin an average for sell value on a certain card.

Although that is true, one could easily turn around and sell their cards at market value and pick up the cards they wanted at market value.

The reason I can't do BV only is because book value is quite often not indicative of market activities (except for newer releases).

For example, one of my favorite cards in my collection books for $300/$200 (Beckett and Tuff Stuff respectively). The last two sold on eBay for about $450 and the ones before that sold for a little over $300. So why would I trade at bv?

I tend to use SV when I can find recent activity and BV when I can't. I just try to find a reasonable compromise between the two.

[BCUS28]

I think greed is not good for the hobby collectors.

I never understood how a Danovicaky Uungergoob Exquisite RC /25 could sell more than a Jordan auto, PERIOD. I mean, I know why (don't get me going!) but I just shake my head and ask what the heck is going on here.

Soooooooooo, trading by sv is messed up to me IN SOME CASES, just as well as bv is.

For example:

I see a thread...."Trading my Danovicaky Uungergoob Exquisite RC /25!!!!"

I enter the thread......." I could use it, please check my bucket"

I get a reply......."I like the Jordan auto"

I reply back......."Are you off your rocker?!?!?"

I get a reply......"This Danovicaky Uungergoob Exquisite RC /25 has sold for $250, $195, and $275 in the last 2 weeks on the bay, this is a fair deal!"

Trading by sale value is ok for established players/cards, but not for Rookies or new cards!!! Which I could make another post about :)

Trading by bv is also whack, them prices are plain out wrong, even for established players/cards.

I personally would trade for something that may have a completely different value than what I have to trade. I'm getting older and this way is where I'm heading.

[MarkForce]

I think it's vital to find a happy medium between the two. You can't strictly go by one or the other. Lets say you are making a trade with a guy...and each of your cards books 50$. The card you're getting will only sell for 2$....the card he's getting will sell for 35$. You would not make this trade...why would you? You could Sell your card and buy 17 of the card that you're trading him for.

I think it's funny , though...no person in their right mind would make this trade...but, a lot of people expect you to.

[golfman61]

So, when you trade, which do you go by and why? When you sell, which do you go by and why? Have you had any experience with something who used the opposite value as you when you trade or buy? How did those trades/sales/buys turn out? Do you ever use completed eBay auctions to determine values in a trades or sales?

I go by SV because that is what I like. BV is just a projected value while sell value is a real value.

When I sell I go by sell value because that is what I expect for my card.

Opposite value people are all over. I use sell value while most use BV so it makes it hard to get trades done. They are always asking what is the BV then I reply I don't know I just know cash value is $xxx. So the conversation ends there. When I buy it is a joke when people use BV. I see Barry Sanders jersey cards sell for about $10 each so if you have 3 of these I want to pay $30 for them. Then the guy says I can't do that one of them has a BV of $40 by itself. It probably does but there is 10 that have sold in the past few months for $9-12 each. If you subtract all the fees then you are talking about $7-8 cards so $30 for all 3 is fair to me but not to the BV guy.

Most of the time when people use BV the trades turn out with me keeping my money and them still having the card. I use completed listings all the time and because of that I can sell my cards fast. But when a card falls in value then I keep it until it goes back up. Like lots of my fitzgerald cards I paid more for then what they sell for now so it makes it hard for me to get rid of them now. Example I paid $60 or a little less for my 04 Honors hidden gems Fitzgerald RC auto /50. The last 4 I have seen sell on ebay went for about $50 each. I think it is worth $60 still so I won't sell it for $50.

Just recently I made a trade for a Barry Sanders jsy card for my S. Alexander auto card. Alexander BV was almost double the barry but sell value is exactly the same. We did the deal and both of use are happy. He gets a higher BV card while I get a card that in the long run will retain its value or even go up. I mean who doesn't like Barry.


One reason that I like to use eBay value is because it is free. I don't want to pay $10 per month to have someone tell me my cards are worth X amount of dollars. Especially when those prices aren't even right most of the time. To me it is just economical common sense. Why pay for it when you can get it free.


When I use eBay sell values I don't always look for my exact card or the other persons exact card. I can also use cards that are similar to estimate a sell value of each card. If there card is numbered /250 and I can't find the exact card then I will look at all the other /250 and get a average sale for similar cards.

[spuds1961]

I tend to use neither,If I see a card I like I am not against trading something for the other persons pc that might have a higher sv or bv.I am in it for the hobby aspect and not trying to get rich.Ask anyone who has traded with me and you'll see how many extras i give out just because I know they would go better in that person's collection than mine.If i were to use,Although somewhat antiquated with ebay prices so readily accessible I would still use bv because it is easier to look up the 2 cards that are being traded rather than try to find completed sales on both of them.Just my opinion though take care Steve

[skatalite]

I am doing some research into BV vs. SV in trading due to some recent posts I have seen around the Internet. You have the chance to have your answer quoted on SCF Articles and/or Cardboard Mania as I am doing different pieces for both sites. If you wish to respond, but do not want to be quoted, please tell me, and I will not put your name in any article.

So, when you trade, which do you go by and why? When you sell, which do you go by and why? Have you had any experience with something who used the opposite value as you when you trade or buy? How did those trades/sales/buys turn out? Do you ever use completed eBay auctions to determine values in a trades or sales?

Thanks in advance,

Andrew

Hey Andrew, thanks for the thread. Here are my thoughts:

When I trade, which is rare, I just let my trading partner determine if we go by BV or SV. However, it's always easy to tell when the member is favoring one or the other just so the deal can favor him. For example, if a card books at $20 but sells for $3, he would go by BV because it's more valuable. But if a card books $10 and sells for $20, he'd go by SV because it'd benefit him. So, with the good comes to frustrating.

When I sell I sell by SV. I research eBay's completed listings and determine what a fair price is for both me as the seller and the person as a buyer. If the specific card hasn't ended lately, I'll find comparable items to help determine a fair price.

Sure, I've had opposing views when selling/trading. In fact, just yesterday, I stumbled across someone who only sold by BV. I couldn't make sense of his logic, so I just moved on. Selling by BV is a lost cause.

Again, thanks for the thread and your time. Hope the article(s) go well.

[ensbergcollector]

I used to be a primarily bv guy. However, I am getting to the point that I will include both bv and sv when someone asks about a card. As many have pointed out, it seems as though most people use whichever one benefits them at the moment, thus making it harder and harder to get trades done.
I think we are getting back to the point that people are starting to trade for what they want and what they think is fair for them. We are all frustrated with people who are constantly trying to "get over" on their fellow traders.
That said, bv still has it's place but since beckett is getting worse and worse at reflecting the market, I think sv is growing in popularity.