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Pissed at Burbank

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gracecollector

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
6,559
215
Lake in the Hills, IL
I've stood up for Burbank and have bought from them for years, mostly for my Grace collection. But in the past year, seems like the few cards I need that they list have seemed extra high. Like they knew I would need them. Like they're checking my MarkGrace.com website before they list Grace cards to see if I have them or not.

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but today's listing seems to seal it for me. Explain to me why the one Tony Womack 1998 Gallery auction points card I happen to need is $15, and the other two are $1? And it's just a lousy card for my Cameo collection. All are same scarcity. I've written them to ask - depending on response they may have lost a customer for life.

burbank.jpg
 

banjar

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2015
2,531
869
Lafayette, Colorado
Yes. That is suspicious indeed. I would love to see what response you get, if any. Would be very difficult to explain, even in this post-truth universe.
 

djmilhaus

Member
Sep 8, 2014
142
0
Seattle
See if your ISP can block their IP from accessing your site. Definitely a crappy thing for them to do to a good repeat customer.
 

goobmcnasty

Active member
Apr 4, 2014
1,583
13
I think that might a be a little paranoid. I've been to their location - it's enormous. They have tens of millions of dollars in inventory. They buy and sell $100K collections in one shot.

I highly doubt they're checking everyone's websites to gouge someone for $14.00.
 

JVHaste

Well-known member
Jun 22, 2015
4,751
270
Vancouver WA
When I posted a want list online years ago prices (across multiple venues) magically skyrocketed. :rolleyes: If they were trying to fleece you then they should have just put all cards at 15 to cover.
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,169
4,057
If they have time to price gouge/hold hostage from online website wantlists, then I have to laugh at that first, then suggest that person get a life. It wouldn't surprise me that it is true, but would still be extremely wacky.
 

cgilmo

Well-known member
Administrator
Aug 6, 2008
37,213
35
Alpharetta, Georgia, United States

rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
I would be very impressed if they had an employee who cared enough or paid enough attention to price gouge you on your want list.

I would imagine they are fairly knowledgable about fan bases in general. I'm sure they know there are tons of grace collectors out there because of being a fan favorite of a strong hobby team or people got caught up in the hype of him in the late 1980's and just kept it going through the rest of his
career.

I can't imagine any Burbank employee or two has the time to figure out who all the vocal individual player fans are and what their wantlist needs are in order to price gouge on certain cards.
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,169
4,057
You have to admit, it is very random that the other two of essentially the same card are a buck and this one, the one he needs and publicly is asking for, is a crazy disproportionate $15! This seller has been known to follow some odd practices that seem very counterproductive to their business. One reason that I stopped sharing my true wants online. As much as it might help some folks in some cases, there will be that time when the hostage taker has you bent over a barrel for the one thing in the world you covet the most.
 

Juan Gris

Well-known member
May 23, 2013
2,222
106
Columbus, OH
You need the $15 card more than the $1 cards because you already found/purchased the $1 cards, correct? I know nothing else about this scenario except that the $15 card has eluded you and may actually be slightly more rare/expensive. A $14 difference does seem extreme so there has got to be something at play. I've been blocking burbanksportscards and a few others in my daily search for well over a year now so I have no dog in this fight.
 

banjar

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2015
2,531
869
Lafayette, Colorado
I admit that at first glance, it does seem preposterous that Burbank might target specific collectors with their pricing. And of course it is preposterous. But that doesn't mean it's not true. Nobody has offered an alternative explanation for why the one card Brad needs is 15x the cost of the other cards, which are as close to identical as you can get.

Burbank didn't get to be as big as it is because they're bad at marketing. Also, people have always engaged in all sorts of devious and shady "marketing" practices. I know for an absolute fact that certain ebay sellers have started marking up their prices on Alomar cards because they know I'm out there...and I'm a small fish that rarely throws money at their overpriced cards. If one guy in his basement can do this for individual sellers, why can't Burbank do this on a larger scale? Brad is a more established collector with his Grace PC and people know it. Chris also says he's seen this happen. What's more, these tactics are getting pretty advanced now. They don't even have to hire an intern to continually scan collector webpages and message boards. Any programmer will tell you it's not all that hard to search the net to identify cards on people's wantlists. FCB has bots crawling around it all the time, and who knows what information they are looking for.

So for my part, I think this is fishy as hell, and I could totally believe that Burbank is price gouging here. We'll see if Eddie will reply to Brad's second question :)
 

Brewer Andy

Active member
Aug 10, 2008
9,634
21
Only plausible reason I can think is that they have 2 of one of the others available and 3 copies of the 3rd card. The $15 card they only have one copy in stock so maybe they’re basing price on availability. For some cards I have purchased from them in the past I think I saw prices rise on there remaining last copy. Internal Supply based?


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,169
4,057
it's well established that demand will drive prices higher. Look at what happened with Galarraga and Vizquel. I see it happening on a much smaller scale with Steve Garvey, as one buyer will quickly buy just about anything new at seemingly unheard of pricing (BINs) and when I want something as well, I will toss out some high bids, resulting in some pretty unusual end prices for a player like him that has a much narrower collecting base. Many folks have taken notice and started items at much higher prices than I feel is normal. The other side to that strategy is that that once he and/or I get our copies, the price falls exponentially. If someone missed the boat and tries to list a lower print run card for crazy money and we both have it already, it will sit forever at that price.
 
Dec 4, 2008
607
3
I have a pile of 100 of these gallery points cards sitting around. Sorry, no dice on my end.

Burbank is interesting though. While some cards are priced high-ish (the one you cited here was stupid high) most are reasonable enough. Every now and then you can find a nice steal. Just got one in this week that will sell for 5x what I paid and I would have gladly paid at least double. Guess with those guys it’s just about picking your spots.

I know a Nomo collector who has been chasing one of the points cards for 20 years now. So I am convinced some of these points are shorter printed FWIW.


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app
 

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