Brief comment on tone of the market and pricing. I personally did NOT see a lot of buying action today, but when I did it was more of the modern cards. Rare Trout RCs were selling pretty well, things like the 2011 Update parallels (especially the red border), and lot of people were asking about the Chrome refractors and base autos.
In terms of pricing, in general I would say I was pretty disappointed today. Every single dealer that bothered to price their cards (so many of them still don't even bother) had them priced IN MY OPINION at least 20% or more over current market. Many of the dealers price them on the back, so you have to ask to find out but at least in those cases there is a price they can quote you. There are still plenty of dealers who can't even do that, which is a huge turnoff to me now. However, except for a couple of Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax rookies I asked about, virtually every other price quote was so high it almost couldn't even be countered. Couple of specific examples, I've been looking for a nice 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson. I saw a couple of nice looking 5s today, they weren't perfect centering by any means but they were nice looking cards. VCP is $4,360 on a 5, highest price in 2 years is right at $6,000 - two asks today were $7,000 and $6,750. Again, these cards did not qualify as high end by any stretch. When you're more than $2,000 above a normal selling price, which is around 50% higher than that average price, you're just not inviting a counter - you're basically saying I'm not here to sell, I'm just here to show.
There is also another 10-15% of the booths that I honestly have no idea how they even cover the cost of their booths. I don't collect everything, obviously, but I collect enough different things that it's really tough to not have even something I might be interested in. But there are booths like this. Again, honestly no idea how they make any money and wondering if they just setup to have something to do because they certainly aren't busy selling much if anything.
Finally, I will wrap today with probably the dumbest three things I heard. I'm hoping this gives folks at least a small chuckle.
1) Gentleman at a booth as me and another customer start to ask for prices on some vintage graded cards:
"This isn't my booth. Let me call him, I'm just sitting here." - NOTE TO BOOTH OWNER, if you aren't available and you don't price your cards, you probably can't sell them. This happened less than 20 minutes into the show opening.
2) Couple of young-ish guys who were sharing part of a pod. This pair was definitely past college age, but reminded me of this newer generation and how much I just don't understand them. I could have never done this, despite however much economic sense it may make. And their cases were full of modern basketball cards priced anywhere from $100 to $5,000 each.
Dude 1 - "I'm back with my parents."
Dude 2 - "Do you pay rent?"
Dude 1 - "No, so I can just stash away."
Dude 2 - "Yeah man, why not? Just have to obey a few rules?"
Dude 1 - "Yeah, it's not a big hassle and they cook for me to, so why not?"
3) Young guy showing off an impressive Stockton autograph card, and discussing prices with one of the dealers. The dealer is a guy I've seen each year, and he has some really nice stuff but it's always overpriced. I didn't get a good look at the card but I really think it was a 2003-04 Exquisite Number Pieces autograph numbered out of /12 - you can find it on eBay, it was listed for $12k but didn't sell.
Stockton Owner - "Yeah, the prices are really crazy on some of this stuff."
Dealer - "Yes, sometimes I price things and I think it's high and I come back in the morning and it's already been bought now."
Stockton Owner - "I know what you mean. I listed the card for like $10,000 and was scared to death someone might actually buy it."
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING RIGHT NOW - unless John Stockton is the one who is trying to give you ONLY $10,000 for that card, you should take that money from literally anyone else who would give it to you and run immediately to the bank and deposit it before they change their minds.
Okay gang - that's it from me today. I will be at it again first thing tomorrow, and will get you the BBCE pics that I know so many of you are longing to see. They have some 1957 football I may need for my set. :smile:
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