The Big Vintage Card Contest on Ebay

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Posted By: Brian H. 

For more compelling than the electoral contests to be decided on Tuesday in Illinois is the current contest between the big $$ vintage cards on Ebay:

http://listings.ebay.com/pool2/listings/highest/all/category31717/index.html?from=R0

Some of these end tonight. So far, I find the results quite interesting from a spectator's persepctive (since I can't drop the $$ to get actively involved). Leon's Four Base Hits Kelly card (which I can't believe he is even thinking of selling ! ) was winning but now the '15 CJ Jackson has passed it. Interestingly, the PSA 8 '15 CJ Jackson is well ahead of the SGC 92 CJ '15 Cobb. I think this is about the demand for Jackson over Cobb rather than a referendum on the two grading companies. One of the other leaders (further down the list) is what I understand to be a very rare "spotted tie" Old Judge in strong condition. I also thought there was a Behel Old Judge supposedly an even more highly sought after "spotted tie" -- that would be competing but that auction was mysteriously cancelled (or at least I don't why). I might add that despite the big dollar bids almost none of these cards have meet their resperves next. Are they looking for too much or is this the stuff that really does belong in the Big Auctions by Mastro, Lipset et al.
Anyone have any thoughts.....

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Posted By: Marc S.

<<Are they looking for too much or is this the stuff that really does belong in the Big Auctions by Mastro, Lipset et al.>>

Perhaps a lot of people were looking for some rockets_lover action. Some of the sellers of those cards did have their BINs reached for thousands of dollars on other auctions that rockets_lover purchased.

The 1915 CJ Jackson and Johnson PSA 8s are pretty close to their reserve. Keppler lists a few things at numbers that are not significantly different than his inventory amounts.

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Posted By: D Allen

.....cards of such ilk should be reserved for a MastroNet auction; but my buddy Leon did not agree with me. Oh well.

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

Hi Doug
Where's the book? I want to use it for Christmas presents. lmk brian

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Posted By: Jay Miller

Doug---The advantage of Ebay is that you can set a reserve and not get scalped like what happened on the W600 lot.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

but he might get caught in the snipe, who knows? Not by me!!!

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Posted By: Jay Miller

Where were all the snipers shooting for King Kelly? By the way after Doug's question of yesterday I put pencil to paper. For a seller to realize $50,000 on a lot at a major auction where the buyer's and seller's commissions are 15% the buyer has to pay $67,647. For that same seller to realize $50,000 on ebay the buyer has to pay $50,793. $17,000 is a pretty big hurdle to make back.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I think a lot of people would rather take a shot on ebay with a nice item so that they can set the reserve, pay a much cheaper commission, control the presentation, take underbidders' offers, and control the transaction. I certainly feel that way. I had a really bad experience with Teletrade (I know, I know). They offered my cards at a level so low that I netted $1 (that's right, a buck) on some lots. In the entertainment memorabilia field I also had some bad experiences with the premiere houses (bad lot selection, random pricing, etc.). So, I am really leery of getting involved with an auction house, and I think many others feel the same way.

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Posted By: B Hodes

High (undisclosed) reserve Ebay auctions are a very cheap way to sell an item for a minimal price without any possibility of letting it go below a certain amount. If it doesn't sell you don't lose much and maybe one of the folks who saw the item (whether they bid on it or not) will follow up and meet your price.

Howver, I think if it's a one shot deal and you want maximum return on an a very high dollar rare card (e.g. Leon's 4 Base Hits Kelly)you are best off with one of the top auction houses -- Mastro, Lipset et al. In doing this you bear the risk that you won't get what you believe is even enough (let alone top dollar) but you will get a lot of long term exposure to a lot of potential buyers (even the longest ebay auction is just 10 days and while more people may see it almost all of those people are not potential buyers).

Using Ebay gives you control and you won't wind up selling it for less than you want -- buyt you also will probably not maximize return either.

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Posted By: leon

Had I really wanted to sell Mr.Kelly I would not have gone the route I did....as it is I am out $5.50....regards all