From one Auction house to another?
 

I just saw a piece of signed memorabilia in an upcoming auction that was just recently sold in a different auction house five months ago. Is this common practice to try and make a buck? Buyers remorse? Or should I be concerned that there's something wrong with the item when the buyer received it? What do you guys think?

Several options:

Buyers Remorse
Need the Money
Shifting to another piece


I am sure there is another trove of reasons. It depends on the particular piece, but in 5 months some things have gone up 30-50%... Typically though going straight from one auction to another will get you break even at best.

Flipping due to the seasons is a reasonable guess. December prices are lower than spring prices. My theory is this has to do with people saving money for holiday purchases, then tax refunds come rolling in.

Yet I have purchased and flipped a few months later after changing focus. I am now thinking of getting out of most of my collecting except a couple areas of focus. This would mean things I bought as recently as a month ago could be back up for sale very soon.

There are a lot of reasons, but this happens quite often.

Any of your proposed scenarios is possible. This tactic has become common...we even see items listen on the bst immediately after being acquired from an AH at inflated prices.

People complain about that stuff on the BST all the time but I don't see a difference between selling an individual item or buying up lots and piecing them out individually on the same BST, which happens just as frequently. Everyone buys low with an aim to sell high.

it's one thing to buy a lot and then price/sell individually on the bst...I have no issues with this. This used to be a pretty east way to make $$$$...not anymore.

The issue I have is buying a big ticket item then immediately placing it for sale at inflated price.

I get what you're saying but a deal is a deal. If you get something at a bargain price for XYZ reason, I don't think listing the item for sale at the market rate is the same as inflating it. Maybe it looks that way when you know what someone paid.

i really don't want to belabor my point here...BUT...these cards are not being acquired at bargain prices...not much falls throught he cracks in major AH's these days...I'm talking cards purchased at full retail...if not more...then being offered at dramatically higher price immediately following the auction close.

I have no issue with this if there is no overt deception. If the market won't bear the dramatically higher price, the item won't sell.

I agree with all that's been said but I still ponder the question of cards moving from AH to AH and wonder if it's any sign of our hobby's stability. I'm curious if others have noticed an uptick in flipping across the board, and if so, what they see as explanations.

In terms of the big-ticket items, I track m101 Ruth auctions, and observe that many of them are flipped within a year or two. Again, I know all the reasons stated in this thread generally make sense, but to me such an iconic card should stand as the cornerstone of someone's collection, maybe even the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Instead, it's as if the winner takes a few selfies with his new prize and then gets rid of it. Now if it's just a question of making profit then I wonder how much of a collector these folks are, for the old argument that selling it provides extra $$$ to buy more cards seems weak when you just sold a freaking Ruth rookie--what cards are out there that you could not have just bought in the first place? Same with moving on to to other areas of interest. Really? Ruth rookie doesn't do it for you? The only one that makes sense to me is the need money argument, as it is the only one to which I can relate. Still are there many impulse-buying Ruth owners? "Geez, I guess I didn't realize I can't afford a six-figure card, don't know what I was thinking, better move it right away 'cause now I'm cash-strapped." Or is our hobby filling up with people who are just investors and who don't care what type of commodity they hold short-term as long it flips for profit?

Now, getting off my high horse, I would add that I see more and more of this on lower-level cards as well. I don't know if it's because I now pay closer attention or if it's always been true, but I see several $50-$250 cards that seem to make the rounds at AHs too. These usually generate a break even or ever so slight gain upon re-sale, so it's not profit motivated. Are we as a group so lacking in focus that we shift what we collect every 6-18 months?

todd...i definitely think there is more of a "transient" element to "collecting" these days. I think there are "collectors" out there who buy and sell constantly...never really keeping any cards in their "collections" very long.


You may even substitute the word "investor" for "collector" in many cases these days. And yes...I think there are more people buying to flip to try to make $$$$ than ever before...even though the conditions seem worse than ever for this type of buying...atleast to me they do!

Perhaps the "oft-maligned" auction house shipping charges could be alleviated with the creation of an inter-auctionhouse shipping system for flippers. Just a thought.

focus
 

I agree with the point about collecting focus. Many people simply change their minds . I think we all have bought a card and been so excited to receive it and then when we get it maybe it had a crease we didn't see on a scan or it just didn't have the pop we thought it had, or in my case sometimes, maybe it was more about the thrill of the hunt than actually receiving the card. In any event, I can see the buying and selling reasons. My problem is I then have a hard time parting with the cards i bought... even if they don't have a lot of meaning to me

my mindset for what I collect has certainly changed from when I started over 3 decades ago. back then i didn't have the means to spend much on cards...and they werent as expensive as they are now...so when I added a card to my collection it stayed there...indefinitely.

With the increasing prices/values of cards...combined with the ease of buying and selling...I now have few cards that I am married to.

Sometimes it comes down to bad timing too. I got into a tight spot last year when I won something and then saw another item in an upcoming auction I really wanted. I couldn't have both. So I had to sell the item I'd just bought to go after the upcoming item.

I think a lot of it is the thrill of the hunt. A lot of my hobby friends are constantly changing their focus and selling items to fund the new direction. In some cases it seems like the search is more fun than actually owning the card. I've changed my focus 4 or 5 times in the last five years.

I agree, once some people collect a set..they just sell it.......heck the T206 Gretsky Wagner kept changing hands for a time...actually the higher priced the card the more I think it is for investment purposes.....same thing in the art world...

agree
 

+1

Great point Luke!

I've actually owned the same e101 Germany Schaefer three times. I love the look of the card, but when I'm putting together funds for say a rarer T206 back, that's invariably the type of card that gets sold first...

I agree it has to do with a change of focus. I've changed my focus a few times within the last year, as I am having my own internal contradictions on what focus I want to go/stay with.

I always sell because of change of focus and unfortunately sometimes refocus to an old focus and wind up buying back cards I owned. I also met a collector who really likes a particular set, so he buys cards raw has them graded then sells them - that way he always has a few of the cards around, but also has money coming in to fund new purchases.

And I thought I had ADD!

I think we all do.

We don't have ADD we are just obsessive :).