Quote:
Originally Posted by SPMIDD
I use EBAY mostly to support my card habit and I like to win auctions but sometimes, I like to use the ‘make best offer’ route. With that said, do sellers that have cards priced way over the average price of recent past sales expect to sell at the higher price? For instance, there is a ’56 Mantle SGC 3 on EBAY and the seller is asking $2400 but the recent past sales indicate that the auctions for a SGC 3 Mantle are going for $1100 to $1200. If I were to offer say $1200 to $1300 for the card, would that insult the seller? To be quite honest, I normally don’t even bother to look at cards that have an asking price that is grossly overpriced, but I really like this card. My questions are based on past experiences where I make a good offer and my offer is automatically rejected and that frustrates me.
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A card is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. And cards are not commodities like a carton of eggs or a gallon of milk where there truly is a set and established market and price for them. And where one dozen eggs or gallon of milk is exactly like any other dozen eggs or gallon of milk, two of the exact same card, with the exact same grade, by the exact same TPG, are not always exactly the same! When a seller includes an option to make an offer on a card they are selling, they should expect to get some low-ball offers. But insulted......no. Granted, they'll occassionally get some idiots offering like $1 for a card worth 4 figures or more, but so what? Why get mad about it, just say "no thanks" and move on. A seller should feel happy they got an offer at least and someone showed interest in what they were selling. And many times, the low-ball offer may just be a potential buyer's starting point for a negotiation, not an insult to the seller.
As Larry said above, he will raise the price he's offering a card at above what he feels is the current market, obviously expecting someone making an offer to go below his asking price then, but still get him what he feels is the market price. So why shouldn't potential buyers be able to do the same thing, make an offer below what they feel is the proper market price, and then maybe come up to what they feel is a reasonable market price after some negotiating with a seller? Think about this. A dealer trying to sell you something on Ebay possibly got the item they are offering to you by making or paying a low-ball, below market offer to someone else. You have NO duty or obligation to ensure that a seller profits and makes a living off of you.
Oh, and if some seller acts all insulted and put out because you're not willing to offer and pay what THEY think their item is worth, and they put you on their blocked list as a result, great!!! They just did you a favor because you don't want to deal with a---holes like that anyway. And trust me, there are a lot of them out there.