Why not join VCP?

mijm · May 14, 2010 1:12AM

I signed up for VCP about five months ago. Prior to that I used SRM for prices on cards, what a joke when comparing actual auction prices on Ebay. I pay $12.95 a month and have saved that amount many time over on cards that I win compared to what I use to bid.
My question is why would you not join if you are into bidding on cards?

Also, how does SRM arrive at some of the crazy prices they have in the magazine? Maybe Joe should do an article on how they arrive at these prices.

RipublicaninMass · May 14, 2010 1:14AM

easier to save the money to buy more cards, and ask here

Davemri · May 14, 2010 1:16AM

Many who don't use it that often just ask someone who does have it to help them out....Thus it is free.

nightcrawler · May 14, 2010 1:22AM

I agree.

fattymacs · May 14, 2010 2:07AM

I had a monthly membership for quite awhile, but cancelled back in January (give or take a month). I have narrowed my purchases to just a few issues and I pretty much know what the going rate is for those. I will probably rejoin in the fall as I plan to buy a wider range of stuff. It was a good service for me when I was buying stuff from a few dozen different sets and selling stuff as well.

detroitfan2 · May 14, 2010 2:50AM

I guess it all depends on what you're bidding on. I am building mid-grade PSA 1950's Topps sets. I can get all the pricing information I need from ebay completed searches. Or I can look at current buy-it-nows and divide by 5

. After 7+ years of buying, you almost commit the pricing to memory.

That being said, from what I've read on these boards from Bobby at VCP and others, the service does seem to be a great resource and getting better all the time. I am pondering selling off some of my partial sets, and admittedly I wouldn't mind having the VCP information available to understand how to set pricing. If I decide to part with any of my sets, I will more than likely try one of their short term memberships.

Reljac · May 14, 2010 3:33AM

While I think VCP has some good information, I think it's prices pushes it more as a tool for dealers or high volume/dollar buyers. It personally exceeds the price I can stomach to pay for 'information'.

I personally feel that VCP could gain greatly from the use of a tiered subscription level service, with a more affordable service geared towards the more casual/occasional collector.

olb31 · May 14, 2010 3:51AM

Maybe Outback Steakhouse can serve $5 Filets, $8 Filets, and $20 filets, so that everyone can enjoy them. My point being if you want good accurate card prices use VCP, if you want just prices use Beckett or SMR. You sound like a SMR guy to me.

CollectorAtWork · May 14, 2010 4:12AM

I'd just get a one day membership to VCP and print out all of the pricing info that you need for cards that you're targeting. And you can do that every few months. VCP does miss stuff however. For example, it doesn't include data for major auction houses like Heritage. So in a way, if you do your own research and combine w/ VCP, you get the best info.

markj111 · May 14, 2010 4:20AM

<< I'd just get a one day membership to VCP and print out all of the pricing info that you need for cards that you're targeting. And you can do that every few months. VCP does miss stuff however. For example, it doesn't include data for major auction houses like Heritage. So in a way, if you do your own research and combine w/ VCP, you get the best info. >>

It does include some of the major auction houses. I highly recommend it.

smtjoy · May 14, 2010 5:33AM

I think one of the biggest factors in deciding if you need it or not is simply card budget. Say if your monthly budget was $100 or less than you would have to be spending 13% of your budget, way too much, then I would not do it. On the other hand if you are spending in excess of 3 grand a month on cards then it will pay for itself many times over. Its relative to each person. For me I find it a huge value and could not live without it, plus I have my whole collection entered in the "My Collection" and find that as valuable as the pricing.

Smuggo · May 14, 2010 5:36AM

Why pay when you can get it for free? It's the "paypal gift" mentality. Seriously if you buy a lot of cards that aren't traded that often where you have a multitide of completed auctions on say ebay, it is well worth the money.

akuracy503 · May 14, 2010 5:38AM

One Day Membership $3.99, if you can save yourself $3.99 from overpaying on an auction for one single item then it already pays for itself.

Otherwise you'd be blindly bidding without knowing what is a fair market price for the card, the other factor which is more value than the price itself is being able to view all the pictures of the examples in a certain grade and determining "eye appeal" premium - This right here is worth more than anything to me and for those who just ask for a VCP average price is missing out from knowing the eye appeal price factor.

Bkritz · May 14, 2010 6:06AM

VCP really helps my sales of cards more than it does my purchases!

skilow · May 14, 2010 3:55PM

Its easier to bid what you are willing to pay. No guide or site can help with that.

BobbyVCP · May 14, 2010 6:57PM

<< Its easier to bid what you are willing to pay. No guide or site can help with that. >>

The sellers love you.....

PocketChange · May 14, 2010 9:54PM

I've recently come to accept some of the "costs" of my hobbies. It certainly makes them more fun to enjoy.

Initially, the price seems pretty high, but you only have to do it occasionally.

When I first started collecting, I would cut corners on card preservation too. No longer.

It's all just the cost of enjoying your hobby.

MCMLVTopps · May 14, 2010 10:00PM

My 2 cents...

The prime benefit of VCP is that it compiles data on eBay and some auction house sales in a current market environment. NO other site provides this data...even though eBay does provide a completed listings link, that data does not continue to build on previous sales and self-purges after about 2 weeks. VCP OTOH continues to build a database on sales that will provide valuable info for sales which is also charted in graph format.

SMR does not, nor has it ever IMO, provided current market conditions, merely a guess at what a given card's value is. I could cite numerous examples of this, but you get the idea. I have been a 55 Topps collector for quite some time, the SMR values were beyond ludicrous in many cases. There still seems to be a mind-set of quoting SMR prices, which does nothing but skew the true value of the card to both seller and buyer. Current market conditions are not static, what a card sold for a month ago is not a reflection of what the card would sell for this month. One of the beauties of VCP is that in addition to creating a "wants" list, which provides you an email notification, is that you can see when the card last sold to see just how tough the card may be to obtain.

To the moochers who continue to ask for free VCP help, get a clue, it's a paid subscription website. If you think VCP has data that is valuable to you, pop for a subscription like many of us do.

BRDSR · May 14, 2010 11:48PM

Personally, I've got a lot more time than money to spend on this hobby, so I create my own VCP-type data by doing completed auction searches and plugging the information into an excel spreadsheet. I'm only collecting four different sets (1921 Exhibits, 1941 Play Ball, 1953 Bowman Color, and 1965 Topps) right now, so it's not too overwhelming if I keep up with it. Sometimes I get behind or whatever, and then I just miss a couple weeks, no big deal. The best part is that I can copy and past the URL of the sold card so that I can "prove" the real market value of the cards to others. Sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes not. I was able to bundle what one eBay seller had posted at a BIN price of $70 for $48 the other day though; pretty significant savings. Also, when I see outliers, I can plug in a comment to the spreadsheet to tell me why it might have been an outlier.

With more time than money, it's a great way to enjoy the hobby without having $1,000 a month to spend.

1960toppsguy · May 15, 2010 12:21AM

Good question . . . I joined for one month to see what it was all about. What I liked most is that if I was interested in making a purchase, I could see what the seller paid for the card I was acessing and how bad I was about to be had. I found it to also be like everything else that relates to subjective pricing, I was never able to purchase a card I was looking for at the VCP average price which just made me irritated so I choose to not renew.

itzagoner · May 15, 2010 12:38AM

<< 

<< Its easier to bid what you are willing to pay. No guide or site can help with that. >>

The sellers love you..... >>

the sellers love us(the buyers) because some bid without forethought.....sometimes TMI can be a harness around your aggressive nature and winds up placing restrictions on your will......i'm not negating the importance of having information available to those who want it, but there is still no way to predict the winner of a good old-fashioned guessing game, and trying to win the game becomes more appealing without the abundance of self-doubt.

while i applaud the efforts of those who manage this information, i also believe that it is taking away from the very nature of this business which feeds our adrenal glands.

if there is something out there that i really want, then i will offer MY price, irrespective of what others might have paid.

BunchOBull · May 15, 2010 12:48AM

I buy 3 or 4 graded vintage cards a year. The rest I buy are raw. I really want to look at VCP after the fact to see how I did in comparison. I let my current understanding of the market drive my purchases.

WalterSobchak · May 15, 2010 12:52AM

I tried the one-day VCP membership about a month ago, and spent a couple hours creating a spreadsheet documenting the high, low, and average prices of the cards I am likely to buy within the next couple years. I thought it was a great service, and I have no doubt that I will do this once or twice a year from now on to get updates.

pdub1819 · May 15, 2010 4:07AM

<< While I think VCP has some good information, I think it's prices pushes it more as a tool for dealers or high volume/dollar buyers. It personally exceeds the price I can stomach to pay for 'information'.

I personally feel that VCP could gain greatly from the use of a tiered subscription level service, with a more affordable service geared towards the more casual/occasional collector. >>

I could not have said it better myself.

dizzle · May 15, 2010 4:37AM

I think it would be cool to see different subscription options..

By Sport would be great..
I've never looked up anything but Basketball on VCP and doubt I ever will... So maybe a discounted subscrition per sport would bring in those who are tight on funds etc.. and make long time customers out of someone who may only get a 24 hour pass every few months...

Just a thought..

Why not join VCP?

Comments