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Old 05-05-2014, 11:14 AM
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drcy drcy is offline
David Ru.dd Cycl.eback
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 3,475
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I've sold and auctioned here at B/S/T. I've had people buy at my asking price and stuff that went unsold. I've mostly sold lesser priced odds and ends. It's got a smaller and closed to members audience, so you won't always match a product to a collector, but it's a decent market place. As I mostly follow the Pre-War discussions, I don't know how many members are the types looking for Clemente and Koufax rookies.

Even if you like eBay, it's good to have multiple places to sell. Depending on just one place can backfire in the long run. And B/S/T is another place to sell. I would imagine there would be little stuff I'd sell here that might sit around forever in the sea that is eBay.

I agree with the earlier comment that, what some people consider market price, involves shilling. They often realize this when they turn to sell. This is why it's important for collectors to sell once in a while-- to have a feel for what the market is really like and what selling really involves. Also, people who go strictly by others' sales prices, tend to naturally focus on the highest (record) prices and get a distorted view of value due to that. It's human nature. If a non-selling card sells elsewhere for $200, $250 and $300 in honest auctions, a collector might consciously or nonconsciously think "It's sold as high as $300. My card is worth $300." Real world selling can shake some of the cognitive biases from your head.

One thing I've always recommended is that collectors sell at least one in a while, even if that just means consigning. Keeps them in touch with the real world. And real world pricing isn't what REA or Heritage gets or what VCP lists or what you'd theoretically get by analyzing others auctions. Real world pricing is what you get when you sell, and real world selling is the act of selling. If you don't know what I mean by real world selling, do some selling. As Alfred Hitchcock said, "A movie is real life with the boring parts cut out." Day dream selling is selling without the time, email tag, unreasonable buyers, packaging tape, boredom, standing in line at the post office, unanticipated costs and searching alley dumpsters for right sized cardboard boxes.

Last edited by drcy; 05-05-2014 at 12:01 PM.
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