That awkward conversation....

[AnthonyCorona]

I'm getting material this morning and the counter guy asked if I went black friday shopping for my impending child. I said all my black friday shopping was online and was baseball cards. That was a mistake....

Guy: "BRO! You gotta check out my collection!"
Me: Oh yeah? You collect cards?
Guy: I use to, I still have all the seasons sealed
*Uh oh, I gotta a bad feeling about this*
Me: Oh cool, like 80's and 90's sets?
Guy: Yeah man, I got like Bo Jackson rookie cards
Me: Yeah bro, that stuff isn't so hot anymore

I go on to explain collecting has changed and he's got stuff that not many people will want. I show him some eBay auctions and his expression went from excitement to disappointment. I'm sure everyone has had these run in's but this is my first in a while.

 

[bmp1971]

Not much better than a friend of mine living across the country having his mother make a special trip to my house to drop off a package of cards for me that he thought would be valuable, since, after all, they were mostly from the late 70's and early 80's.

I opened up the bag to see a thick rubber band around a stack of HIGHLY WORN OUT nobodies. The cards had no corners, just round, brown areas connected by badly bent up surfaces. When I saw the stack I tried to stop my laughter but a little just jumped right out of me in her face. Her eyes were wide, thinking I was getting a gold mine. I thanked her and let her go without saying too much. I'm sure she thought she was delivering me a stack of 52' Mantles.

 

[AnthonyCorona]

"Mom, your sitting on a gold mine, go find out how much gold"

 

[matfanofold]

Hmm...

So instead of sharing in his excitement of collecting, you water it all down to widespread demand and value, basically telling him his collection is junk?

Unless of course I am missing the point where he was gloating about his collections enormous value?

Either way, good job?

On a side note, I love bo jackson cards.

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[forgerelli]

I once got asked to appraise a "$25,000" collection that was donated to a local church. Not only was it junk era stuff, it was nothing but commons from junk sets. A 4x4 pallet stacked 6 feet high with 5,000 count boxes filled with nothing but junk era commons. The church people thought they were going to be able to get at least $10K by selling them off. The guy was trying to scam them for a $25K tax write off.

Scott F

 

[BBCgalaxee]

Used to get these on a daily occurrence in my shop

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[mouschi]

I've been there, MANY times. I just picked up a collection today filled with psa graded Bonds & McGwire rookies - he bought them at the height of the home run chases. I thought I was going to be in for a very disappointing talk with him, but he was fine.

 

[bmp1971]

I once got asked to appraise a "$25,000" collection that was donated to a local church. Not only was it junk era stuff, it was nothing but commons from junk sets. A 4x4 pallet stacked 6 feet high with 5,000 count boxes filled with nothing but junk era commons. The church people thought they were going to be able to get at least $10K by selling them off. The guy was trying to scam them for a $25K tax write off.

Scott F

F-kd up

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[Pinbreaker]

I once got asked to appraise a "$25,000" collection that was donated to a local church. Not only was it junk era stuff, it was nothing but commons from junk sets. A 4x4 pallet stacked 6 feet high with 5,000 count boxes filled with nothing but junk era commons. The church people thought they were going to be able to get at least $10K by selling them off. The guy was trying to scam them for a $25K tax write off.

Scott F

When you donate cards to a hospital or similar type of institution, I believe you get to write of $0.05 per card..

So if you pick up some old collections and needs write offs, think about donating them..

 

[finestkind]

When I saw the title to this topic. I thought it was going to be about this. "Mom, where do babies come from ?" :shock:

 

[KLARNOLD]

When you donate cards to a hospital or similar type of institution, I believe you get to write of $0.05 per card..

So if you pick up some old collections and needs write offs, think about donating them..

I believe you can only deduct fair market value. If you donate say a 1991 Upper Deck set that has a book value of $20.00 and they sell for $5.00 on ebay, you can only deduct $5.00. I would recommend asking a Tax Professional first before taking a charitable donation of collectibles.

 

[AnthonyCorona]

I believe you can only deduct fair market value. If you donate say a 1991 Upper Deck set that has a book value of $20.00 and they sell for $5.00 on ebay, you can only deduct $5.00. I would recommend asking a Tax Professional first before taking a charitable donation of collectibles.

I donated 10 complete sets of 91 Fleer, I estimated that's about $800 fair market

 

[KLARNOLD]

I donated 10 complete sets of 91 Fleer, I estimated that's about $800 fair market

 

[joey12508]

I have avoided that conversation, many times I have been asked to look through a collection to see how much there worth. Don't want to be that guy to burst there bubble.

 

[Dilferules]

If somebody is talking to me about that stuff, I don't really feel the need to take a big ol' dump on their rainbow unless they specifically ask me how much it's worth or are trying to get me to buy it. A lot of the time they're not going to believe you anyway.