Book Value Based on Skills?

[mikesilvia]

Good article by Kevin Lee.

[Drwho]

I've seen several articles with similar points, as well as I have written several my self in past years. I used to be very big in to sports cards, going to card shows monthly (both as a collector and as a dealer). I sold hundreds of cards on eBay, and more.

Most people will agree that card values typically are influenced by a player's performance, and somewhat by their popularity, which alot of times is driven by their performance in turn.

But, having talked with Beckett staff and being an avid reader of Beckett price guide magazines (I used to be able to rattle off sport card prices from memory pretty much), card prices are supposed to be more driven by what people will pay for each card. Looking at it from the outside though, it looks as though this isn't the case because when a player does really well, their card prices increase, typically, which then makes it look like performance dictates the card prices.

However, looking at economic laws, the reason the card prices went up is because the demand of the cards went up. People were willing to pay a higher price because they wanted to card. The drive to want to buy the card and paying a higher price is influenced a good bit by a player's performance. But again, prices increase because of increased demand, not really because of the player's performance.

An example of why this is really the case is with some player's rookie cards or other more rare cards. The player's performance could remain unchanged, but their cards could increase in value because there was an increase in the demand for the cards. Or just opposite, a player's performance could remain unchanged, but their cards' prices dropped in value due to decreased demand.

So, as the article is trying to point out that some player's rookie cards are not priced according to their performance, that doesn't mean price guides are flawed. It just means the demand for the cards are higher or lower than for other players. Look at Brendan Shanahan (my favorite player)... he plays pretty well and continues to put up a decent amount of points each year, but his cards are not valued very high. It isn't because the price guides are flawed, its because the demand for his cards isn't as high as other players that perform similarly.

It all boils down to the laws of economics. Supply and demand win out.

[beex215]

i always thought it should have been based off of performance..

[pwaldo]

i always thought it should have been based off of performance..

That would be dumb because the value or price of anything is based off of supply and demand. If every card in the set has the same supply then it comes down to demand. That's why when a player goes to a team in NY when they were playing in Kansas City the cards will spike and if they go from Boston to Seattle they will go down in value.

The only reason skill comes into the equation is because usually the most popular players on a team are the best ones. But since the demand for Cubs stuff is more than for White Sox stuff players on the Cubs can be worse at baseball than a guy on the White Sox but still command more popularity.

A non card example of this would be CD sales. The best artists or bands don't get the most sales that would go to the most popular ones. But the most popular singers and bands aren't necessarily the "best" ones.

[aw00d05]

i think the stall is a little flawed how he talks, because he plays on a team that has two of the top 3 on the list...

[51CardDeck]

Prices are somewhat based on performance. Not just Hockey, but all sports. But you couldn't base it off purely by performance only, or the market would fluctuate too much. It's always been and will be based on supply and demand, just like everything else.
Afterall it's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.