Best/worst times of year to sell?

liffeystynx · June 22, 2003 5:43PM

Just wondering whether any of the extremely wise residents of these parts have given any thought to the optimum months to sell baseball cards (in particular) on eBay?

I know there is much science attached to the best times of the day/week to conclude an auction but has anyone made any observations on hot or cold seasons for sales?

Are avid collectors more or less active when there is the competing attraction of actual ballgames to be watched?

Do most people (like me) stave off the baseball-deprivation pangs of winter by working on their collection?

Are the summer months a dead time because of the number of people on vacation or engaged in outdoor pursuits?

In this current climate of economic downturn, is no time a good time to sell?

I would be really interested to know what other people have observed. This is yet another area where my inexperience really shows!

Virtualizard · June 22, 2003 10:30PM

I had bad luck selling on ebay when the auctions ended on a holiday weekend (I think it was last labor day weekend). Almost nothing sold. I know a good time to sell PSA graded cards is in Sept. and Oct. right before the Registry awards. Other than that, I haven't really noticed any seasonal changes. Some weeks are better than others - it's more luck than anything.

JEB.

RedHeart54 · June 22, 2003 10:43PM

I think you'll find some obvious correlations between the sport and the season it's played. Playoffs are a good time to sell certain players if they're playing well and are in the news a lot. You might get some bids from unexperienced or novice collectors that way. I don't really remember if the Christmas season is a good time to sell. Would people rather have a PSA 8 Mantle- or the Sharper Image platinum-plated, three-speed nose trimmer with a built-in CD player and back massager??

FB · June 22, 2003 10:47PM

What are you talking about JEB???

I got some great buys last Labor Day!

Ohh... wait a minute - you were selling - I was buying.... hmmmm....

Jonathan - Jason is right. Closing on a holiday weekend usually doesn't pay. I've also found that during the summer (vacation months) that there is actually a dip in the prices on most material other than the "hot" sets or players.

I've usually done well between Jan 15th and May 20th. Let people get past Christmas and before they get into summer. As well as September 15th to mid - November. Of course "well" is relative. Usually the change is only 10 - 15% up or down. I've yet to see a magical time ogf the year where I get 2X smr across the board.

RayBShotz · June 23, 2003 12:15AM

Shortly after the buyer gets his tax refund...now thats the best time to sell! :-)
RayB69Topps

FB · June 23, 2003 12:52AM

Ray,

YOU GET A REFUND??????????

Those were the days!

qualitycards · June 23, 2003 3:49AM

I've noticed if you have a desiarble item like a high grade low pop card, you can end it 4:00 AM any day any part of the year and the buyers will find it and place the appropriate snipes as needed. With more common items, your best to pick out a prime time for the auctions end, I tend to have them end on Sunday night where they might get more exposure...jay

Wayne8348 · June 23, 2003 4:40AM

I think that with so many people sniping now, it's not quite as important as to when the auctions end. What is probably more important is how many active bidders are there working on a set and bidding large amounts at the present time. Right now I understand that 1969's are hot while the 1965 market is not very active. So if I'm a dealer I might hold onto the 65's for the time being and work on moving the 69's. This is probably much more important than what time of year you sell.

Wayne

Stump · June 23, 2003 7:12AM

Wayne

Great point you just described the old addage Supply and Demand

Dave

Basilone · June 23, 2003 7:40AM

In regards to the 1965's....it depends on the card. The low-pop stuff will always be desirable.

John

goodriddance189 · June 23, 2003 7:46AM

how much does a sniping service cost? ive mastered the art of "opening the auction in 2 browsers, refreshing one while waiting to click my max bid with 3 sec left in the other".....but its getting highly annoying

Basilone · June 23, 2003 8:10AM

GoodRiddance-

Try justsnipe.com

Its 5 bucks per month for unlimted snipes. Its a subsription service through paypal where they will deduct $5.00 every month out of your paypal account. You can choose to cancel at anytime...there is not contract.

John

Wayne8348 · June 23, 2003 8:16AM

Goodriddance,

Auction Sentry is $9.99 to buy the program and then it is free forever.

John,

The 65 low pop's will always be hot. Although, given the prices of some of the 69's here lately it still makes the 65 low pops look like bargains.

Wayne

mcastaldi · June 23, 2003 8:35AM

Wayne> I could never use Auction Sentry -

1) Your computer must be on AND have an internet connection in order to do its thing. Further, the Auction Sentry program must be running. What a hassle. Myself, I want a fire-and-forget weapon such as eSnipe or any of the others which will carry out my instructions independent of what's going on with my computer.
2) There seem to be FAR too many possibilities for Auction Sentry to drop the ball - from their web site. . .
* Computer not on
* Internet connection not active or interrupted
* Auction Sentry program not running
* Your computer's internal clock wasn't synched with eBay's clock
* Your computer was busy doing something else when it was time to bid

I can't use Auction Sentry either way because whatever I use has to have a version for both Windows XP and MacOS X. Regardless, I don't want to have to remember to leave my computer running and a program launched at the time an auction is going to end. I don't want to lose an auction because Auction Sentry freaked out when I was playing a game with Auction Sentry running in the background. It just doesn't seem to be a well-thought-out program. Ultimately you should use what works for you and fits into your life, but the way I see it a sniping service/program is supposed to make my life easier by placing my bids for me and allowing my bidding to revolve around my life. If I have to babysit my sniping program and alter my life to make it work, then it defeats the purpose.

Mike

Basilone · June 23, 2003 9:08AM

Mike-

You make some very good points. I find that a $60.00 a year investment for 1000's of snipes of year is a small price to pay.

John

Wayne8348 · June 23, 2003 9:35AM

justsnipe sounds like the best alternative. I've only had one problem with auction sentry and that was when all of the 1965 auctions closed at once. The program overloaded. Other than that, it has worked better than auctionsniper which failed to place bids for me several times.

Wayne

Wabittwax · June 23, 2003 9:50AM

I use esnipe. It's costs 1% of your winning auctions and it hasn't failed yet for me. That $5 deal sounds pretty good though, I might check that out.

As for the different times of the year, I think the only relevant thing is which sport is being played. Vintage cards though probably don't depend on that. From doing shows, Jan-March are monster months. May-August are usually pretty bad. Sep-Dec are usually hit and miss. The odd thing though is that I usually sell Baseball cards at shows and baseball season seems to be the worst months for it. I think there is spectualation for current players which causes excessive buying right before a season starts, which would explain why I do well Jan-March. So in that theory, July and August would be the best football months. I think though that high dollar vintage will sell anytime of the year because the people that buy those don't worry about additional expenses like Christmas. My best guess though that most set building activity would slow down during December for non high end sets due to the average guy needing his money for Christmas. Honestly though I haven't had much of a problem selling anything anytime of year. There's always a buyer for good stuff.

mcastaldi · June 23, 2003 10:53AM

Wabbit> I use eSnipe as well. It's web-based so I can access it from anywhere - from any computer. It's only 1% and I've had it fail me once or twice in 2+ years - but it's worked as advertised over 98% of the time for me. I'm sure there are other web-based options that are just as good.

Mike

AlanAllen · June 25, 2003 12:59AM

Am I the only one who collects both modern and vintage?

I general, I buy modern during the season and vintage in the offseason. For a month or so after the Super Bowl I'm so burnt out I don't buy much of anything

Joe

dude · June 25, 2003 3:10AM

I'm not sure, but if you ask Bill Mastro, he'll probably tell you not to end your auctions on a holiday weekend and not to end all 598 auctions at the EXACT same time.

Davalillo · June 25, 2003 3:40AM

Trying to answer the original question, the best time to sell cards is in the first six months of the year. I set a budget going into the year and the last two years it has been spent by midyear. So for the attractive larger transactions that come around, I have to get the seller to wait until the turn of the year for the money.
Also for those collectors that work on wall street and I know a few who buy a lot of cards--they get paid once a year and thus have a lot of cash in January but often little at year-end. At least thats the way it is with me.

Davalillo

Best/worst times of year to sell?

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