Bad Economy? REALLY?

otwcards · January 4, 2009 11:51AM

Amazing that in this "bad economy," it seems there are still people with money to spend.

I sniped 11 auctions over the past 3 days for items expected to close from $400 to $1500. I sniped 7 of the 11 over VCP another 3 right around VCP and one about 25% OVER VCP.

How many did I win? NONE - ZERO - ZILCH! And the one I bid 25% over VCP went for nearly double VCP.

The scariest thing is that I wasn't even the underbidder on many of them...

MBMiller25 · January 4, 2009 11:53AM

If you dont mind me asking, What were you trying to buy? Baseball, Football, Baseltball? Old/New? Thanks!

fattymacs · January 4, 2009 11:57AM

If you were bidding on high-end stuff (8's and above) that stuff seems to be holding-up well. Mid-grades seem to be softer and low-end has been hit and miss. I've been bidding a lot, winning a few, pretty much on par with my last 8 - 9 months' experience. I have been under bidder more often, but haven't really gotten any super-duper steals.

SDavid · January 4, 2009 12:01PM

My experience has been similar. Only low end or sloppily scanned graded vintage cards seem to be going for a bargain. There's also less nice stuff out there it seems, and that probably explains the prices.

edited to add: unless/until we see a lot of collectors having to unload their nice high grade cards to make ends meet, I don't think we'll see the major price drops that many are hoping for. If the supply stays like it's been, I don't see priced dropping too much.

Mickey71 · January 4, 2009 12:06PM

I totally agree with SDavid. Strong, centered 8's are doing great and they are hardly offered. There are alot of low end 7's and 8's on EBAY right now. Almost no good Mantle's, Mays or Aarons. JMO.

otwcards · January 4, 2009 12:06PM

My bids were on mid grade (PSA 4-6) vintage football. Granted, some are tough cards, but they come up often enough that the spike is out of character, especially when reviewing recent transactions for the same grades. Even the PSA 4 Stydahar Bowman Large (which I decided not bid on as I'll wait for a PSA 5) went for about 20% over VCP (granted "recent" sales are from over a year ago).

nightcrawler · January 4, 2009 12:09PM

In this bad economy, I would trust sportscards as an investment over any stock that I can think of.

fkw · January 4, 2009 12:23PM

If you want a deal...... Get Educated and Buy Raw!

Its a buyers market for ungraded vintage (19th Century-1930s).

Lean all you can about what you are buying and buy it raw and if you are into the graded card thing (recent newschool hype of last 20 years), then get it graded.

Ive been seriously into vintage for about 30 years, and Prices realized (on eBay) right now at at their lowest overall (by far), for old "raw" stuff (ie W517, R316, T205, E92, etc.). Some prices are the same as late 1980s prices for the same exact cards.

Instead of buying that extremely common Topps Mantle everyone and their brother owns, try to buy a Lajoie, Mathewson, Wagner, Young, Sisler, Hornsby, Speaker, Brouthers, Anson, etc. for less $$ than the Mantle. Other great cards that are selling for pennies on the $ are H804 Victorian Trade Cards (the first baseball related cards, 1870-90s)

Its Baseball History in its early days and many of the cards you will not see again so soon (unlike a Topps Mantle).

I would be buying (more), but like many others..... I need cash, but only because I just bought a new place here in Hawaii and am fixing it up. Not because of the recession.

Aloha

leathtech · January 4, 2009 12:32PM

I agree 100% I've been trying to buy a nice 8 George Brett rookie and the price keep going higher and higher... I've also been looking to buy a low grade Nolan Ryan rookie and keep getting out bid over VCP.

elsnorto · January 4, 2009 12:50PM

Scott,

I assume some of those were those 1948 Leaf that ended tonight? Not a one of them had great eye appeal, but most went for well over "market".

I mull about in low to mid grade vintage football, not high end, and I can tell you I have not seen any slow down. As it has always been on eBay one item may sell well under "market" while the next exact same item goes well over. It all depends on who is bidding...

Snorto~

otwcards · January 4, 2009 1:01PM

<< <i>Scott,

I assume some of those were those 1948 Leaf that ended tonight? Not a one of them had great eye appeal, but most went for well over "market".

I mull about in low to mid grade vintage football, not high end, and I can tell you I have not seen any slow down. As it has always been on eBay one item may sell well under "market" while the next exact same item goes well over. It all depends on who is bidding...

Snorto~ >>

Snorto:

I agree that the eye appeal on the batch that ended tonight was below par (weak corners and/or centering for the grade), so while I would've been content to grab a couple for fillers, I was surprised to see some of the realized prices.

fkw:

I hear you on some of the prewar material. Even some of the 19th Century cards are still undervalued, but while there are potential bargains, they're not exactly my cup of tea.

That being said, even buying raw cards of the issues that I collect is getting tough. Quality material is few and far between and even the nice stuff is often played with by altering or enhancing the scans. I consider myself to be pretty astute and a solid judge of condition, but when someone photoshops a card or purposely blurs the image, it makes it difficult. The few guys that offer quality images of clean material get very strong prices for the cards and they often close at around the same price as if they were graded in the same condition.

Maybe I need to change my collecting habits until the items I'm looking for cool down. Ahhhhh, who am I trying to kid. I'll still keep buying . . . I want to finish these puppies off!

Bad Economy? REALLY?

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