Below book vaue deals

JohnsFamily

Does anyone keep track of how much they pay for cards vs book value? I looked over my last 50 purchases and my best football buy was $10.99 (including shipping) for a $40 1963 Topps rookie # 155 Larry Wilson in PSA 7. This is 27% of book value! My best baseball purchase was a 1968 Topss PSA 8 Frank Robinson for $26.50 (including shipping) vs. a book value of $65, that is 41% of book value.
I am willing to pay at or more than book value for the right card but I also enjoy the feeling of having made a good deal. Anybody else have good buys to share?

gstarling

I keep track of Beckett Book Value, SMR, and What I actually paid I (including shipping, etc) for all sets I collect.

poppie

Hello Johnsfamily We all look at book value and wish that that was the price on the high end cards. My last heartbreak.... SMR PSA 10 OPC Yzerman at $900 goes for $2200 !!!

JohnsFamily

Thanks for the welcome. I am happy to chase after the "2nd tier" hall of famers such as Brock, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Ernie Banks, etc. that can still be had for less than SMR value. I could not bring myself to pay 2.5 times book value on a high end card. In 20 years will the buyer be able to sell the $2200 card bought at 2.5 times book for a profit? Hard to say but if you paid 2.5 times the price of a stock you would be lucky to break even on it in 20 years.

Sorry to ramble on, I am not in the hobby for investment, but I could not enjoy a card if I felt I paid too much.

Stone193

JF

Good question.

I've been collecting the 63F BB set for 2 yrs. now - not very fast - I'm at 52%.

I don't know how accurate the SMR is for this set. The experts on this set will have more to say. I'm not a registry guy and don't participate except for the T3 set.

Guys like njdolphins can more intelligently speak on this particular set.

But, I do keep a full record on the set.

General belief: nicely centered cards can be picked up below SMR - perfect centered cards tend to go at or above SMR.

Examples: last 3 purchases.



Richardson - SMR: 85$; paid: 51$



Howser - SMR: 40$; paid: 29$



Donovan - SMR: 40$; paid: 22.50$

Again, I have probably picked up the more abundant cards - I have not checked pop reports.
There are probably cards in this set like any that will cost ya 3X SMR since there's just not enough to go around.

I have had a few good buys on key cards like: Drysdale - SMR: 175$; paid: 102.50$,
Adcock SP - SMR: 300$; paid: 172.50$, Gibson - SMR: 175$; paid: 108.55$.

So, I don't know if this is typical, or have done better than average?

mike

Eddo33

Don't know if this counts but I got 3 2002 David Wright Bowman Chrome auto ref last year for about $75 to $90 each. These are going for over $200 now.

BigRedMachine

Hi JohnsFamily, welcome to the boards!!

Those are some great deals, I don't know if I've ever done that well. Of course, I've bought things that obviously go up over time,
but I don't think I've ever come in that far under book at the time of purchase.

Just last year through eBay bottom dwelling and some of those bonus codes, I had paid $102 total for a 1960 Yastrzemski rookie in PSA 7. That booked for $165.

Of course, I paid $35 for an UD Griffey rookie a couple years ago, sent it to PSA and it came back a 10. That sold for $515. That doesn't really count either I suppose.

I'm usually searching for either 1955 topps all american cards or the cards in the book The Top 200 Sportscards that PSA sent us. None of those cards are great for getting great deals on.

I'm like you though. Sometimes I'll pay whatever for a card I want, but I'm always trying to get in under book, or under the going rate to feel like I'm ahead of the game.

shawn