Has "low pop" gotten out of hand?

acowa

It seems like every auction is now for a "low pop" card. Some people are even quoting low pop for PSA 7's. More and more people are just throwing the term around so loosely that it has become meaningless. Are people really getting fooled by auctioneers quoting easy to find cards as low pop? It's almost akin to key word spamming PSA in auction titles.


Regards,



Alan

Buccaneer

Yes, imo. Some of the cards (60s) may truly be low-pop but I would rather wait until some/most ceases to be low-pop before I buy. From what I have seen here, there were exhorbant price being paid to low-pops a few years ago that have come way down in price. What do you think the next few years will bring?

packCollector

it's kind of like the term "rare" every other auction is for a rare card . it's all marketing and if it gets people to bid higher then I guess it is worth it to include in a listing

coach30

No question the term low pop is thrown around too much. It's up to the buyers to know whether a card is truly a low population card. Many so called low pops have come way down in price recently.

dude

Alan,

I agree. It's pretty ridiculous when cards that are 1 of 31 or 1 of 26 have "LOW POP!" in the auction title like I just saw this past week on some late '60's cards. I wonder when does a card become "HIGH POP" in these people's minds? The only way you can stop that nonsense is by not bidding on those types of auctions which is what I decided to do.

Fuzz

Alan,
Based on the number of people that I have seen on this board asking for pop data over the last few months, I can imagine many times that amount who don't bother either to ask or to look. In fact I would guess, that if the sellers didn't perceive that they were getting more money than they otherwise would, they wouldn't use the term.
Guess this cuts out my listing some 1988 Donruss commons in PSA 3 as 1/1 ?
The coin world lists pop's as x in this grade/ y higher. Seems to be an easy way to deal with it and then no need for the "low pop" hype. The hype they use is "registry coin".
Fuzz

Buccaneer

<< <i>The coin world lists pop's as x in this grade/ y higher. Seems to be an easy way to deal with it and then no need for the "low pop" hype. The hype they use is "registry coin".
Fuzz >>



I think I have seem some of that recently ("8 graded in psa8, 1 in psa9") and think it's more informative. But I still would look at something hyped as "low pop" than "L@@K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".

Fuzz

Steve,
I must admit that in the marketing world ....... I think L@@K definately is at the bottom of the list.
I suspect that either of us would find the cards we are looking for for our sets, without L@@K, low pop, rare, or even WOW.
Fuzz

pc

<< <i>Steve,
I must admit that in the marketing world ....... I think L@@K definately is at the bottom of the list.
I suspect that either of us would find the cards we are looking for for our sets, without L@@K, low pop, rare, or even WOW.
Fuzz >>



WOW L@@k @ this
">RARE

Axtell

What I have been noticing a LOT of lately is 'only X graded higher!' or something to that effect...you do a simple pop report, and it's not even accurate.

Just wish there was some way to make them be accurate in their adlines.

ZodiacMindwarp

If I need a card for my set, it makes no difference whether it is a low pop or a high pop, I still need it. I don't check the pop reports for the set I am working on. I track previous sales to let me know where the bidding will probably end up so I know how much to bid.

pc

and if there haven't been any previous sales???

Basilone

Alan,

Any specific sellers out there to look for that do this?

pandrews

<< <i>WOW L@@k @ this
">RARE >>



who cares? there's nothing wrong with that auction (unless his pop #'s are wrong)..

uhh.. i think i just realized that its YOUR auction.. ? .. in that case.. the auction sucks.. (just kidding)..

Basilone

Nice Card PC !!!

highend

PSA 8 ,1 of 8 with no 9's is worthy of mention, psa 8, 1 of 23 is "out of hand".

pandrews

i think i'll submit a severely creased 1993 topps Jimmy Key card.. it will come back a PSA 1, and then it will be a "low pop" card, because i doubt there is another PSA 1 1993 Jimmy Key card in existance..

ZodiacMindwarp

pc,

I my case, the set I am collecting is 1969 baseball. There are only 9 cards that have not sold on eBay this year. Of those 9, I have 4 graded and I have raw examples of 4 more. That leaves 1 card that I do not have a submittable version, nor do I have a sales history. If that card comes up, I'll just bid $5 higher than the existing bid at the end of the auction. In this hypothetical scenario, if I win the card, I am happy, if not, at least I'll have a sales history for when it comes up again.

1954

If there are 50 guys making an all PSA 9 set of 1975 topps and the sixth PSA 9 just hits Ebay I consider that a low pop. If there are 6 PSA 9's from the 1954 Wilson Weiners I consider that a high pop.

It is all relative.

1954

purelyPSA

1954 is right. Not that I'm defending the usage of phony pop reports and blowhard listing procedures, but a 1 of 28 PSA 8 from the '56 set is indeed a low pop. Those cards, like the Foster Castleman, sell for several hundred dollars when they do (infrequently) show up. I guess it depends on the situation.

mikeschmidt

Perhaps true - but is it the sellers who cause this problem or uninformed/stupid buyers who feed into this so-called frenzy. When I am selling what I perceive a low population card to be - I just list the population in the auction title. I did it last month with a 1955 Bowman Gene Baker PSA 8 that sold for $100+ and I think I wrote 1/9 in the title. Went for well above SMR.

Well-informed buyers will always see through this crap. Most quality sellers do not play this game, as they usually have a pretty strong and informed collecting base anyway, without needing the hype. Ebay is a somewhat irrational market - with enough stupid sellers and stupid buyers to continue this silliness ad nasuem (look at Pro-graded cards for myriad examples....)

~ms

1954

MS- Maybe I am off here, so if I am excuse me. The sellers obligation should be to market the product fairly and honestly. He wants to get the highest price for that card that he can. The one thing that he does not have to do is educate the uniformed /stupid buyer. I get tired of hearing this from the board. An uneducated buyer is not going to go on Ebay and buy a Ray Jablonski 1954 Topps cards pop of 8 in a PSA 8 holder for $755. The uninformed collector has no purpose in participating in an auction like this. It is hard enough getting $100 out of an informed buyer these days.

1954

onlychild

I’m a vertically challenged father. I guess that makes me a “low-pop”

acowa

Just when you thought low pop 7's were all the rage....

Now you can buy really low pop PSA 6's

helionaut

I don't mind "low pop" being in a title. Really, when you think about what populations might be, any number will be low. There might have ben 200,000 of a card produced, and 37 have graded PSA 8. In terms of the registry, that's probably not a "low pop" but in the world at large it is. Just like condition and value, it's ultimately the buyer's decision as to what "low" means. The fact that it's crept into auction titles is just the new "PSA 10!!!!!!!?!!!!!!!" used to indicate that it's not graded, but the buuyer's convinced it's worth thousands.