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Have you ever single-handedly had a major affect on the price of someone's cards?

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Leaf

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,855
0
Absolutely, without me:

Prizm and select Damian Lillards would be under $5 (instead of 10.00)..
 

SydBarrett

New member
Mar 6, 2011
1,695
0
Syd, I have been in group breaks where I selected Brad Miller in a couple 10 case breaks. I even have pick-up a few when his chrome auto's came live. I don't have as many as you, but the buy-in was quite low. I'm holding these for a while. We aren't doing anything to leverage the market though.

I don't know, I may be biased but I feel like I have been the only person buying him on eBay for the last two months. I know I haven't had a significant impact on his values, it's just the best personal example I can give in regards to this thread.

I think I failed to properly convey my point... that wasn't intended to be me 'calling you out' to tell you you aren't cornering the market, I just meant to state that even owning what seems like a large quantity of base or ref autos (20+) doesn't necessarily mean you can control the sale price of the card, but your buying can push the price upward.

I think every sale counts, because each sale affects the average market price for a given card or parallel. If I have been paying $25 apiece for a given card, but then I see that one sold for $40, I may be more inclined to increase my max bid to $35, since I know at least one person out there values the card at $40. We see it all the time on forum trade and sale boards, as most people use completed listings on eBay to determine a fair sale price for their cards. When the market starts to dry up and there are fewer copies to go after, it can be totally appropriate to bid more to ensure you win, and ultimately those higher sales do change the average sale price and therefore increase the card's perceived market value.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to imply that I thought you were implying that, I was merely stating the fact. I fully agree with what you said in regards to the valuation of cards in regards to your bids, I will no longer let any card on eBay sell for less than the most I have paid for that card.
 

PujolsCollector

Active member
Jan 17, 2011
4,104
1
St.Louis
Yes. For Descalso I have made offers for cards and had people send me links to auctions I WON lolololol!!!! It has happened 3 times! 2 times on 1/1s
 

smapdi

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
4,397
221
I've set the floor on many cards over the years. Like in 2010-2011, I was buying Castellanos chrome color parallels. I tried to win every blue ref that came up, and bid so that the total with shipping was about $15. I won 11 or 12 of them, sometimes for under $10 total, but eventually I was outbid on nearly all, and I stopped buying. But to be sure it was more his increasing profile and overall demand than people figuring out that blue refs were "$15 cards" based on my buying habits. There are many other examples of higher profile by others through the years. The 2001 BC Ron Davenport (?) guy, the 2002 Elite Alexis Rios guy, the 2006 A&G Mike Tyson auto guy, etc.

For Sizemore cards, if it's one I need, it can go high. If it's one I don't want, it can go unsold.
 

Pine Tar

Active member
Mar 1, 2009
27,701
12
Oswego,Illinois
I have done it to 3 different guys.

And still to this day 1 of them is way over priced lol

Sent from my Desire HD using Freedom Card Board mobile app
 

jbhofmann

Active member
Mar 12, 2009
6,914
2
Indiana
[MENTION=7824]NeedChapmans[/MENTION] is probably the best known example currently. If you want to buy a Cingrani you have to go through him.
 

predatorkj

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
11,871
2
I think I failed to properly convey my point... that wasn't intended to be me 'calling you out' to tell you you aren't cornering the market, I just meant to state that even owning what seems like a large quantity of base or ref autos (20+) doesn't necessarily mean you can control the sale price of the card, but your buying can push the price upward.

I think every sale counts, because each sale affects the average market price for a given card or parallel. If I have been paying $25 apiece for a given card, but then I see that one sold for $40, I may be more inclined to increase my max bid to $35, since I know at least one person out there values the card at $40. We see it all the time on forum trade and sale boards, as most people use completed listings on eBay to determine a fair sale price for their cards. When the market starts to dry up and there are fewer copies to go after, it can be totally appropriate to bid more to ensure you win, and ultimately those higher sales do change the average sale price and therefore increase the card's perceived market value.

I don't think you can control the price cards sell for. You can find any particular card and try to put in the same bid or even changing bids but the price it sells for depends more on what the other guy is willing to pay. Even then, if you outbid the other guy, it doesn't mean he wouldn't have paid more. May have just misjudged the ending price. I've paid over a $100 for certain Bagwell cards just to see the damn thing sell for less than half of that a few weeks or months later. And then see the same card sell for closer to what I paid a few weeks/months after that.I'm talking about cards that I watch every time they come up for sale. So I notice what people are paying. It doesn't bother me if I paid $*** and somebody paid less because I'm not looking to sell. So I don't feel the need to tamper with the market. But I'm not able to control it wither other than to keep people from winning a card for less than I'm willing to pay. They may only bid, lets say $45, and my max may be $100 but I'll win it for way less($46). So now when somebody references that last sale, it's a $46 card now. Let's say that happens a few times in a row. Now it's a $46 card all day long.

Also, by simply owning all or a large portion of any one card, about the only thing you can control is if the card or cards are available to be purchased. Now if the player gets mega hot and people are willing to pay out the rear, then yes they'll have to come to you. But the problem with that is that the player may or may not get hot, which you can't control, and the player may or may not have other cards or autos or whatever that people will buy instead, which you can't control, and people may not like your price so they don't buy it, which you really can't control because no matter what, someone is always unhappy about something. So to me, that means you're not in too much control at all. If you get too greedy or crazy with the price, this hobby and buyers will move on without you and your card(s).
 

uniquebaseballcards

New member
Nov 12, 2008
6,783
0
It often depends on the type of card it is and what people would try to purchase it. Collectors of rare *sets* often know their competition and know if someone is trying to block someone them from completing the set. Type collectors sometimes know whether a team or set collector is trying to corner the market on a card or type of card and bid accordingly. Player collectors know their competition and who has the deepest pockets and bid (or not bid) accordingly.

In the end it seems that *another potential bidder* has to know the card he/she's trying to purchase is a card that's being hoarded *by someone else* in order for the card's price to be affected. But the price isn't as likely to be affected if everyone else thinks the owner of the hoarded card will sell at some point.
 

shayscards79

New member
Aug 17, 2010
3,166
0
Chicago
There's a couple of big hit out of bowman that I've listed for auction right after a product came out where there were a couple of bin/bo listed. The bin was cery high and when my card ended at much lower price, you could see those bin prices drop the next day.

Alternatively, I've listed cards for bin price that was about what ending auctions prices were, while there were a couple of the same cards up currently for auction. I basically capped out those auctions ending prices since most people aren't going to overbid on something they could bin for.
 

predatorkj

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
11,871
2
There's a couple of big hit out of bowman that I've listed for auction right after a product came out where there were a couple of bin/bo listed. The bin was cery high and when my card ended at much lower price, you could see those bin prices drop the next day.

Alternatively, I've listed cards for bin price that was about what ending auctions prices were, while there were a couple of the same cards up currently for auction. I basically capped out those auctions ending prices since most people aren't going to overbid on something they could bin for.

Well I'll see Bagwell cards that end at a certain price and yet there are BIN's without a BO option that are like 2-3 times more expensive and the guy will never budge. It all goes back to there being no real control. And to be honest, even given Unique's point, there will be people out there who don't shop around and hit a lower priced BIN instead of paying more at auction. A lot of people don't know the market or the set or card and what's going on or why it's going on. People just buy. Like I've said before, people on this board know more and are privy to more than a lot of the other folks in this hobby. We share experience here and learn. We have that advantage. A lot of people don't know what's going on and are on their own.
 

predatorkj

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
11,871
2
It often depends on the type of card it is and what people would try to purchase it. Collectors of rare *sets* often know their competition and know if someone is trying to block someone them from completing the set. Type collectors sometimes know whether a team or set collector is trying to corner the market on a card or type of card and bid accordingly. Player collectors know their competition and who has the deepest pockets and bid (or not bid) accordingly.

In the end it seems that *another potential bidder* has to know the card he/she's trying to purchase is a card that's being hoarded *by someone else* in order for the card's price to be affected. But the price isn't as likely to be affected if everyone else thinks the owner of the hoarded card will sell at some point.

I agree but like my earlier post says, I think a lot of people don't really understand all this. To us it's fun to figure this kind of stuff. But to a regular or casual collector or even a shop owner, it's way more effort than they want to put into it. And the hobby is way too big and plentiful for any one person to control. There's just too much out there. People will move on.
 

bongo870

Well-known member
Sep 30, 2009
3,574
485
Marlton NJ
I dont know if this counts but for 1996 topps stadium club I could not find 3 cards for the longest time. Nowhere! So i wrote to Beckett and they looked into it. They never replyed to me but the next few monts they marked those 3 cards as SP's and hiked up the price.....
 

uniquebaseballcards

New member
Nov 12, 2008
6,783
0
I agree but like my earlier post says, I think a lot of people don't really understand all this. To us it's fun to figure this kind of stuff. But to a regular or casual collector or even a shop owner, it's way more effort than they want to put into it. And the hobby is way too big and plentiful for any one person to control. There's just too much out there. People will move on.

Yes - I forgot about the random element of things LOL.

But while the random element certainly exists, sales aren't completely random of course. Even the randomness often has an element of predictability sometimes - chaos theory anyone??
 

saraceno21

New member
Oct 18, 2012
38
0
Wasn't the Ron Davenport auto from Bowman Chrome hoarded by his family? I know it definitely affected those prices

I am not sure if it was his family but somebody inflated the Davenport 2001 bowman Chrome Auto prices. They were $150.00 for the longest time. They have come down a lot recently though, so it looks like whomever it was behind the inflated prices has backed off.
 
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smapdi

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
4,397
221
Actually, the perfect person to comment on this thread is the Topps Blacks maniac. While he doesn't affect a player's prices, he has a much wider impact.
 

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