Trying to Figure Out The Reasoning Behind These Bids...

pjray55

I am working on a Graig Nettles Master Player Set and I cam across this auction for a PSA 5 1978 Topps Nettles..

1978 Topps Nettles PSA 5

As you can see with the above auction it has been bid up to $16 with 3 bids by 2 unique users.

This below auction is for the same card in a PSA 8 and has a Buy it Now of $9.95 and a starting bid of $5 without a single bid and it ends a few hours after the other auction.

1978 Nettles PSA 8

Both sellers have strong feedback so that isn't an issue, so why would certain collectors rather pay more for a significantly lesser grade PSA card? Is there any logic to this? Only difference I see is that the seller of the PSA 5 has an image while the other doesnt, but certainly this isnt reason enough for these bids.


Patrick

KING KELLOGG

Hey Patrick...

Can you say....."Shill"???



a '78 Nettles in PSA 8 goes for around $5.00 on a good day...

I'm sure many of the Registry members have a pile of them...

Check the registrys and email the '78 set collectors.



You don't need eBay nonsence when you have all these board members around...


Hope that helps..

Larry

pjray55

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the reply. i actually wasn't interestred in either card even though I need both for my set I am hoping to get a PSA 9 for my '78.

My sole reason for posting it was because of the bid differential between the 2 cards and why someone would even want a PSA 5 let alone pay more for it than a PSA 8.


Patrick

Vargha

It's a simple case of supply and demand. There are plenty of PSA 8's of the Nettles card, but PSA 5's are quite rare.

Virtualizard

The real question here is: why would someone even waste the time and effort to auction this card on ebay? He has to be overjoyed with the results (assuming that rk1011 or tvkty are not shill bidders).

This is insane - the item description lists the card as "1976 Topps Graig Nettles Card #250" and the auction title is "1978 Topps Graig Nettles #250 PSA 5 EX"

I can't sell PSA 8 HOFers from 1978 for 1/2 this price. What am I doing wrong?

JEB.

liffeystynx

Two observations.

The lack of an image of the PSA 8 would be the deal-breaker for me - especially as he seems to have a scan available, why not put it in the auction? I won't bid on a card I can't see, even a PSA-graded one, and I'm not going to waste my time asking him to send me a scan.

Secondly - a peculiar thing I've noticed while looking at some 1970's HOF rookie cards in all grades is that there are people out there paying the same money for 5's and 6's that 7's are going for. Whether they haven't done their homework or just have the mindset that they would never be able to afford the higher-grade cards, I don't know.

Another possibility in this case: maybe the buyer of the PSA 5 had already bid on other items by the same seller and lobbed in a bid on this one to save on S&H. I know that I will often have a look to see what else a seller has on offer in the hope of picking up a bargain while saving on the S&H costs.

Machodoc

JEB's right about 1978 HOF'ers in PSA 8. I recently had several listed on eBay and consider these prices for nice PSA 8 NQ's: Winfield $2.77 / Morgan $3.82 / Ryan RB $5.56 / Munson $14.48.

Furthermore, I also had several 1976's up: Brock $6.00 / Cobb AS $6.00 / Fisk $11.49 / Yaz $20.50.

Not a horrible price on the Yaz, but the rest of the results make me wish I had just kept them. I'm trying to significantly reduce the size of my post-1975 collection, but at these prices I think I'll just keep the rest.

NickM

Machodoc - I was the underbidder on the Winfield, and was going to put in another bid at a little over $3, but didn't get to my computer in time. Sorry for costing you the $.50 or $.60.
You're not the only one that these sorts of prices are happening to. I saw a '78 Seaver in 8 go off at $4.29 recently (The top bidder was likely willing to pay more, considering how many HOFers he is buying in 8s and 9s from the late '70s, but I didn't feel like driving him up just for the sake of it), and my '76 Ted Williams in 8 cost me $5.99.
I think on '76 and '78, the demand in 8s just is not strong enough to sustain the market, considering that these cards are not fetching the grading fee in some cases. PSA 9s appears to be where the action is on these sets.

Nick