What is a card "WORTH"?

[Gwynn545]

Now that we all hate Beckett, and make a big deal about how "Beckett" doesn't know anything, and Beckett's prices are "way off" and that we know more about what a card is "worth" than Beckett...
How do we know what a card is worth?

It's so funny to listen to people complain about how Beckett prices are so off, and some people really make a big deal about even using Beckett's name. We have gone through this long stretch now that it is all about "SV" or sell value. Beckett and it's pricing has really taken a hit, especially with collectors on other message boards. Beckett is a virtual laughing stock. I get it.

Some of you are already getting ready to type, "It's worth what someone pays for it!"

So if you are collecting information for insurance, you use the highest price that was paid, and if you are trying to buy you use the lowest price that it has gone for in the past?
So what's it REALLY worth?
What it's worth on Ebay compared to what it's worth on a Blog Buy/sell/trade site?
What it's worth on Friday at 2:00 Am or Saturday at 10:00 AM?
Worth with a good Ebay title, or with a bad mistyped title?
Worth as BIN or auction?
What it's worth to a player collector, or a set collector?
What it's worth This month, compared to last month?

The thread about "Telling people how much you paid" got me thinking about this. If I paid $15 for a card, that others paid $40-$50 for, but someone did pay $20 once, and one went BIN for $60, and Becket has it at $40....What's this card worth?

 

[BBCgalaxee]

Every market is different.

As a card store in the Bronx, I used to gladly pay $5 or so for Cano Rc's and $15 or so for a basic auto card.

Now I wouldn't touch them for half that because no one by me will buying his stuff.

On the other hand, I couldn't give away Brian McCann rookies before he came here. Now he sells in ny.



Sent from my HTCONE using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[matfanofold]

Any given card has 2 real values...

1. What you can buy one for.

2. What it would take for you to sell the one you have.

Although 1 is considered more of an accurate current value price, the other is just as real.

 

[ASTROBURN]

Yeah, Location does play a key as to what a card will sell for in a shop. I know the few shops around here mark up Buster Posey like its goin out of style.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

whatever someone is willing to pay

 

[All The Hype]

Any given card has 2 real values...

1. What you can buy one for.

2. What it would take for you to sell the one you have.

Although 1 is considered more of an accurate current value price, the other is just as real.

This is a great point, and it'd solve a lot of the disagreements on transaction forums if everyone had a grasp of this. Just because the last one sold for $XX doesn't mean a seller who owns the same card is ok with that price. Likewise, just because a seller wants to charge HIS price for a card doesn't mean the card will ever sell that high.


The key is that the buyer's price range and the seller's price range have to overlap in order for a sale to be made, but because there are two values to each card, that doesn't always happen.

 

[bmp1971]

people buy grades nowadays, not cards

 

[nevermore]

I am used to buying my Yankees stuff online and paying eBay/forum going rate. When I go to card shows, it is frustrating when there is a whole box of Jeter and Rivera base cards are marked $1 and dealers are overpricing everything, common Yankees from the 80s are $0.50. Their GU and autos are just as overpriced, common autos listed at $10 sometimes, those which would hardly go for $2-3.

There are some fair priced dealers, but a lot of them, especially the card shop owners who set up have RIDICULOUS prices. Many times they have Beckett prices listed and use that logic to justify their pricing at full book. They are still living in the 80s it seems, maybe then it was acceptable. Yet, on the other hand, when they offer to buy, they never ever go by Beckett prices and offer pennies on the dollar, even lower than eBay prices. I absolutely hate these type card store owners and dealers with a double standard.

 

[predatorkj]

Not just location but also the actual setting. I expect to pay more for autos or inserts at a shop than I do at a show or eBay. I expect to pay more for rarer cards on eBay than anywhere else. It really just depends on so many variables. Some shops don't even charge much at all on non local guys because they are harder to move. So where you buy is a big but messy part of the equation.

As for a card's value, I make my own up a lot of times. Beckett is too far off, and eBay can be very misleading. I try to figure out what type of card it is and base what I'm willing to pay for it on that. For instance, a Bagwell patch usually sells for anywhere between $10-$50, depending on the card, the patch, and the set and numbering. Obviously a jumbo patch or something from absolute memorabilia might go way higher. But for the rank and file, I'm looking at a starting point of around $20-$25 and I go up or down accordingly.

That's just an example but I use it for all sorts of cards. Average gu card from a star player, I'm expecting to pay around $3-$4. Average auto for a star player, I'm looking to pay around $10-$40 depending on all the factors above. I don't buy super big money cards because honestly, there's a million of them out there just like normal autos and gu but unlike them, the sheer volume still does not reflect in the pricing. And I refuse to pay over a bill for a low numbered auto when there's a million out there just like it. All I want is the auto, and I'll find it for my price on a card I like for less than $40 damn near every single time.

So IMO, a card really is worth what you feel like paying. Every time. Not what the seller wants, not what others are paying. Just what you want. Otherwise you walk. And you walk because the card isn't worth it.

 

[jbhofmann]

I was thinking about this the other day: "IT'S WORTH HOW MUCH SOMEONE IS WILLING TO PAY..."

Is this even true?

The pricing structure of new issues on the secondary market is fascinating. The majority of people have absolutely no clue what they are willing to pay for a certain card until they have secondary market sale values. Literally 98% ( ok I made that up) of the buyers in this hobby can't think for themselves.

We curse and throw fits when it comes to eBay but when they take completed pricing from us we cower into a corner weeping. We are lost.

I'm guilty of this too. It's not like I'm distancing myself from this behavior, I'm not. When I roll through sale threads I typically never purchase something unless I look to see what OTHER people are paying for it (eBay completed auctions).

Is something worth what someone is willing to pay? I'd have to say no. We've simply evolved from what Beckett says is right to what eBay/SMR says is right.