[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by glchen

That was a very nice article, and great collection, Brady!

However, since they were talking about baseball cards as investments, I wish the NY Times would have added that you really can't compare cards to stocks as investments because selling them can be entirely different. That is, you can sell a million dollars worth of stocks in one transaction, and only be charged a $5 flat fee from your online broker. However, fees for selling cards are often much higher from 8-15% of the sale price at an ebay consignment shop like PWCC to as high as 40% (seller fees + buyers premium) at large auction houses unless you negotiate a special deal, but even then there's no way it'll be anywhere close to a $5 flat fee like in stocks. Therefore, if the value of your collection has risen by 20%, you might think that you are doing well. However, when you actually try to sell your collection, you may only break even or even lose money depending on the fee structure.

Well said! +1 and just like a stock, it’s never a realized gain/loss until you sell. Until then it’s all a natural high or low. Never let emotions dictate your investment strategies.