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Annoying trend on eBay number two. Sellers who insanely price common cards.
MisterTim1962
Posts: 318 ✭✭✭
We all know the worst seller who does this on eBay, so I won't mention his name. But his ridiculous overpricing of common cards is rubbing off on other sellers. I'm working on a 1969 Topps baseball set and it's SO irritating to see these listings. Here's a few that were just listed tonight.
1969: Don Shaw (ex-mt) $23.50, Bert Campaneris (ex-mt) $22.50, Manny Sanguillen (ex-mt) $26.50, Billy Cowan (vg) $22.50 and on and on it goes. Did this guy suffer some sort of head injury or is he just delusional? I wouldn't care except for the fact that other sellers are doing the same thing because they see his insane prices. End of rant #2!
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You tried SportLots?
Was just about to post a similar thing but on higher end cards. Seems the trend lately is listing cards for double VCP pricing as the starting bid and then a BIN at 20-30% higher than that. Bought one card off of a seller and he had a couple of other ones that were pretty nice but priced WAY too high. Asked if he would do a little better on both of them, and after originally being huffy he showed some interest in doing a deal.
After reviewing some scans of one of the cards I told him I was only interested in the other one due to some inconsistencies and irregularities of the scans. Won’t list the cert #’s but went back into VCP and found where the card sold originally and scan looked very different. Not sure how they are so different but it is the same card since it is the same PSA cert #. Look at the two scans and some things caught my eye.
*ink mark below the “t” in outfield is much larger and more pronounced on the older one - not as large on the listing.
white mark on jawline on old scan is not apparent on listing.
fish eyes/print marks in black box in upper right area - listing shows one where old listing shows 3-4 of them.
How are these flaws being hidden by the seller - contrast turned up or is there a program that allows you to remove things from an image?
Does it frustrate you because you can’t find other similar cards for cheaper? Is the answer is yes, then welcome to market based pricing.
If the answer is no, similar cards are easy to find at better pricing, then whats the issue?
Had a guy contact me the other day about late 80s to early 90s cards asking if I would be interested in buying rookies from that time period. I told him sure at the right price. He sends pictures and tells me to make an offer. I told him 50 cents per card and I still felt that may be a little high. He told me these cards were worth at least $20 each!! Here is a picture of the cards. While they were good looking none would grade better than PSA 8 and you can buy any of them already graded for less than it would cost to grade!
He wanted that much because he probably saw some greedy seller listing them for that much online. That's the problem with sellers who post cards at ridiculous prices. The average collector see the prices and thinks he has a goldmine in his closet. Asking prices mean nothing. If you want to know what your cards are actually worth, check the sold listings on eBay.
Never checked it out. I'll give it a shot, thanks!
Been there, done that Kendall....
A seller "enhanced" a for sale image by "muting" over-print / out-of-register print on a Seaver rookie.
I provided the Forum the "for sale" image and a high definition scan taken after the card was received in-hand and the
difference was striking. Caused a bit of a stir within the "sellers" on Forum and the "buyers" on the Forum and TECH had to close the discussion.
I know they old adage is "buyer beware" but when sellers resort to such tactics, what is a buyer to do?
sjjs28@comcast.net
Collector of 1964 Topps Stand Ups, 1965 Embossed, 1968 Topps Game and 1969 Topps Decals
Registered Sets: 1964 Stand Ups, 1965 Embossed, 1968 Topps Game, 1969 Topps Decals
Thank you for the note. My main question is has the card been trimmed - don’t see how since it has the same cert #. Ink spot on bottom above the “t” in outfield is larger on the older scan. The question is how?
@KendallCat
The top image was manipulated (darkened and sharpness was blurred). Just look at the sharp 'thin line' detail in the Red Sox logo in the bottom picture ( the ear and eye) versus the very blurry almost indistinguishable ones in the top image.
My cards on COMC
Another trick is to take photos of the card in a penny sleeve in a grungy semi-rigid card holder. Almost 100% of the time, the card is in lousy shape.
It's also interesting how he notes in his listings "For some cards, usually issued after 1980, we use stock images and you will not receive the exact card pictured."
I mean what's the point of selling a card on ebay if you're too lazy to show a scan of the actual card? I don't care if you have over 600k listings, either show the actual card or don't list it.
I just don't see his point. He's listing 630,000 cards, but not selling that many. He's only sold around 1,100 cards in the last three months. A lot of work for nothing, in my opinion.
For example, he currently has over 16,000 1969 Topps baseball cards listed. But if you check his sold listings, he's only sold 24 1969 Topps baseball cards in the last three months! His strategy of putting ridiculous prices on his cards doesn't seem to be netting him much money at all.
I have a third annoying trend for you….buyers that make a bid 30 seconds before an auction ends but don’t pay for 2-3 days. My only guess is they won the auction but they know they have a few days to pay and they are waiting until they get their paycheck. If you don’t have the money to pay for something when you bid on it you probably don’t need to be buying it to begin with. I guess it isn’t a huge deal as long as they do pay at some point, it’s just annoying.
I always wondered what would happen when you attempt to sell cards to Dean's Cards. Would he pull out an old Beckett and give you the standard LCS lowball routine? Would he buy based on his eBay pricing structure? I would be curious if anyone has ever attempted to sell to him and what happened.
Not excusing the behavior, but if they are using a sniping service/program then they might not be at their computer when they win.
I've wondered such things also. Some of the pricing is so absurd that it is totally mind boggling.
Wondered the same thing. He doesn't actually sell that much and his fees have to be high. Who the heck knows???
Buy low and sell ridiculously high is probably his motto. He wouldn't be in business very long if he paid anywhere near his asking prices for 1960's commons. It would be interesting to talk with someone who's sold cards to him.
Not all his prices are crazy, though. He does have a sweet deal on a 1969 Joe Foy card right now. Only $45.50, plus $5.00 shipping! Wow, what a steal!
I do know that Dean's Cards used to bid on and win cards. Quite a few years ago he won a '55 Mays PSA 5 and '56 Mays PSA 6 from me for around $450-$500 for the pair. I bought the '52 Bowman PSA 5 with the proceeds. He took over a week to pay and then listed the cards for nearly double. I watched them for around a year without either one selling before I lost interest.
You can buy 32 cards from the 1979 Topps set for $425 from Dean, or you can buy all 726 cards from the 1979 Topps set from any other seller for ~$200.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/294577047376?hash=item4496290750:g:DmkAAOSwhFVhuLLB
He does have complete 1979 Topps sets available, but they are in the $1,000 - $5,000 range.
buying O-Pee-Chee (OPC) baseball
Still struggling to understand what the issue is. If he is selling easily found cards for well above market value, isn't that his problem? Why do we feel Dean owes us attractive pricing?
Isn’t basically every BIN psa graded card on ebay over priced?
I know that the majority of this forum is probably baseball card collectors but I know that your statement surely holds true with HOF football player cards. I'm not talking their RCs necessarily just a regular issue Topps card. Most cards I'm interested have a price that is so much higher than anything showing up in the ebay sold history or in recent and average pricing in PSA Guide. No idea what the seller's use to price their cards these days.
NFL HOF Set
https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/398345
Because other sellers see his ridiculous prices and think their cards are gold as well. I see more and more sellers trying to gouge people on eBay. It's usually comic book or coin dealers who are clueless on the actual value of the cards. They just look for the highest listed prices and use that as a gauge to price their cards. They also have no clue how to grade them, so they're overpricing beat up cards, which is even worse.
It’s particularly irritating because in March, 2021, for whatever reason, every card sold for double or more than it ever had before. And while no one is paying anything like this anymore, sellers still price off it. How long does it take to admit that period was an aberration and return to sanity?
Honestly...either pay the price, or pass and wait for a better price elsewhere...that's really all there is to it...
I don’t really care how he prices his cards but I find it fascinating. How do you stay in business by charging double what everyone else is charging for the same product? Maybe his customers are a combination of ignorant newbies and impatient deep-pocketed collectors willing to pay way over market price for those one or two cards they need to complete a set. Even then it’s hard to imagine he sells very much. The only other explanation I can think of is that it is some kind of money laundering scheme.
Maybe a hobby business like those bored housewives who’s wealthy husbands buy them a business to keep them occupied like a used bookstore kind of situation. A lot of people out there don’t need any money coming in to enjoy their current lifestyle.
HOF SIGNED FOOTBALL RCS
His sell through rate is about 1.5%, so I guess the vast majority are passing on his listings...
I wouldn't care about people like Dean if there was a way to filter out his cards. I really wish eBay allowed us to stop seeing certain sellers cards.
Agree. Pretty simple stuff.
How can a seller gouge someone on a purchase as discretionary as sportscards? This isn’t peak pandemic sanitizer, we are talking mid grade 60s baseball commons.
Don’t like internet pricing hit the road and pick through bins at card shops and shows. Place adds on Craigslist.
Some of you seem to want the convenience of online purchasing with the deals you’d find picking bins. Want bargain vintage commons knock yourself out, not Deans responsibility to source them for you on the cheap.
There actually is a way. Click on advanced search. Then by seller and put his id in specific sellers. To the right it says include, click on include and you can change it to exclude and it will filter out that seller.
I have never understood people complaining about sellers asking prices on cards. they can ask whatever they want. you can decide to pay. or not.
there have always been dealers who sold with extravagant prices. look at Larry Fritch and 707 sportscards. somehow they have stayed in business for years.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Because sellers who list at ridiculous prices are like a virus. They spread their disease to other sellers. Then those sellers spread it to other sellers. Pretty soon you have eBay full of sellers thinking their 1960's beat up commons are gold.
It wouldn't be so annoying if you could permanently weed out these price gougers, but you can't. Almost every day, I have to weed through hundreds of listings by Dean's Cards, Cards_Tickets _Tunes and others who think every card they have is worth 10 times their actual value.
As far as I know, there are no card shops in my area who have any significant inventory of sports cards before 1980. They're all filled with graded cards from the last 10 years or overpriced "rare" inserts or signed cards.
As far as card shows, I only know of one in my area that's coming up in February, but that will probably be cancelled, due to the "pandemic" that just won't go away.
Craigslist? Seriously? Around 90% of the listings are for dealers hoping to rip off unsuspecting people of their grandfather's childhood card collection. The other 10% are people who think that box of 10,000 commons from the 1980's is worth $1,000. Sorry, but eBay is pretty much the only way I can find any decent pre-1970 cards.
Agree completely!
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These guys often have stuff you can't get anywhere else. I met Levi at a "National" several years ago and asked him why his cards were priced so high. He said he had been selling cards much longer than the people who put out the price guide and he sold his cards at what he figured they were worth.
FUNNY the two cards I bought from him that were "overpriced" graded an 8 and a 10 and are worth much more now than then, and the card he sold me for about "book" value graded an 8 and is worth just a little more now than then.
Fritsch was very irritating when I dealt with him. However the item I "overpaid" for is also worth a LOT more now and I haven't seen any on ebay since I got it.
I sure thought their items were priced high when I got them. They CERTAINLY were not commons.
Several of the sellers on ebay price their stuff way too high and never drop the price, even for YEARS.
I guess they just don't need the money.
I have never spoken to Levi, but did speak with Larry Fritch. He wouldnt budge an inch on price with me. Have to respect it though. the man had a price and stuck to it. someone, eventually will pay it.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
IMO commons are underpriced.
I'm not going to give away NrMnt. 1975 commons at 50 cents ea.
35 yr old nice commons don't grow on trees.. Now I'm talking nice ones not all beat up ones.
Sounds like people are somewhat cheap..
But yes.. Dean's cards are crazy.
Yeah, I am just getting back into trading, selling, and collecting cards after about 20 years off and things have changed a lot. It has been very difficult, though, to find accurate pricing for trying to sell my cards. I don't have anything amazing, but it was a post here about looking for the sold' values on eBay to figure out the going rate. That post is the reason I signed up actually, but I have noticed that sometimes the bloated items do sell, and it kind of makes it difficult to find out what the actual value is.
Anyway, from a newbie perspective, I definitely can relate to the frustrations raised in this topic.
Dealers like Dean's, 707, etc have been in this game for a long time and they are businesses. You don't stay in business long if you don't make money and you don't make money if stuff doesn't sell. So they must be doing something right. They price things based on what they believe the cards are worth not what someone else says they are. Keep in mind what you see these guys do on Ebay isn't all the sales they are getting. They have websites, shows, dealer relationships, etc. In addition, keep in mind $1MM inventory with 10% turnover is $100k. Same as a $100k inventory with 100% turnover. Which do you think is an easier business model? Higher turnover means searching for more deals, more shipping, more labor, etc. If you're in a position where cash flow isn't an issue and you can wait for a buyer to come along at your price, what benefit do you have to sell at a cheaper price? Quite frankly, if you don't like the price, buy it somewhere else. If you can't find it elsewhere, it is still your decision to pay up for the card or not have it. These 69 Topps cards are basically nothing in the grand scheme of Dean's business. If they sell, great. If they don't, fine. I would also add I have never heard of anyone having any customer service issues with either Dean's or 707 and I've actually heard stories of 707 sending cards to well known repeat customers to review before they pay.
Exactly, I would far rather sell 1k orders at 100 average then 5k at 20 average. Sure Dean sells less then other guys but at significantly higher spreads. Sounds like a solid business model.
I understand what you're saying, but if one seller lists a VG 1962 Topps Carl Willey for $600, and other people see that and start listing their VG 1962 Topps Carl Willeys for between $550 and $650, and soon all the ones priced at $5, or $50, or $400 disappear, because everyone sees them listed for $550-650, and soon people start dipping their toe in, because they really need one for their "residents of Cherryfield, Maine" registry set, then at some point $600 becomes the actual value for this card in VG. If this doesn't happen, then the card museums aren't hurting you. You can just laugh at the guy who is asking $20,000 for his 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe and move on.
I've only purchased one raw card from Dean over all my years of collecting. I was a big fan of John Brodie as a kid and couldn't find a decent 1963 Brodie. Dean had one that he rated as a 7 and the price was $50. At the time, I think a graded 7 was worth that much. Days went by and I kept looking at the card and I really liked it. Finally, one day, I pulled the trigger and bought the raw card from Dean. I sent the card in to PSA for grading and here it is. I actually did pretty well.
Strike 1: This isn’t Rick Monday’s rookie card, the seller is off by six years.
Strike 2: Asking $500 for a $30 card.
Strike 3: charging $7.99 to ship one card.
Yer out! 😂
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284586312461?hash=item4242aa830d:g:02gAAOSwbpFhhAkI
Wow, that guy might even be worse than Dean! He has 319 cards listed and has sold ZERO cards in the last three months! He's only received three positive feedbacks as a seller in the last year! Why go to the effort of listing hundreds of cards and then sit on them for months because you're prices are insane? Duh!