Has Dean Lost It??
 

I gave up on VCP a long time ago and have calculated fair values by a complex algorithm... DP/4= Fair Value (where DP= Dean's Price). This has worked like a charm until now.

I just ran an eBay search for T205 SP's and Dean has a card that is IMO undergraded by his terms and only slightly overvalued lol. What do you guys think? Is Dean shifting from a high margin low volume business to a more reasonable model or am I just wrong about the card?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1911-T205-J...-Ifq-Mk88hqfcA

I have one of his cards on my watch list, and it's priced very fairly. I'd buy it, but his endless listings annoy me.

Perhaps he wasn't feeling well. I know that's how I feel when it's dump day on ebay and the metric ton of his unsold cards get relisted over and over and over...you get the drift.

This is very interesting, I had my own formula for estimating the price where Dean would offer his cards or Dean's Pricing (DP). It is as follows: (REA realized prices after the juice X 3.14159) = DP.

Additionally, I can rearrange and slightly modify the formula to provide me with a fool proof way to win any REA item I chose: 1+(DP/3.14159)=Winning REA price.

I got up too early I need more coffee.

Dean
 

He's mad, mad I tell you

This. SOME of his prices aren't batsh** crazy, and I have one on my watch list as well, but the idea of giving him my $$ gives me pause.

He's got nothing on Burbank ....

I buy from him from time to time, usually when it matters what is on the back. I buy from Levi too :). But with both I buy off line.

With 613,643 listings, he is bound to make a few mistakes.

I bought a 1979 Topps baseball set from them about 10 years ago. It came in a box, and when I got it, I checked the key cards, put them back and left the set in the box. Fast forward five years and I go to put the set in a binder. I find that it's missing cards...like a lot of cards....upwards of 100 commons. Along with that, there were several with stickers, writing, etc....it was supposed to be a Nrmt set. Generally if there are 100 cards missing from an 800 CT box, you would notice right off, but they were replaced by dupes. So now I had 100 duplicate commons and was missing 100 cards. It was so egregious that it was funny, and clearly Dean (or whoever bought the set at Dean's) had never even looked through it. So, here I am, 5 years later and just realizing this. I assumed I was screwed but figured I call them anyway and explain. I was shocked when they offered to fill in my set with the missing cards. To this Day Dean's gets a pass from me. Yes, most of his stuff is "overpriced", and he never really has much I want, but on occasion I'm happy to support a business that steps up like that.

I used to be adamant that I would never buy anything from Dean's because of their ridiculous pricing. But I actually bought this last week. Normally, I wouldn't divulge a price paid, but for the sake of detail, I'll mention that I paid $2700 from his website. I didn't consult SMR or VCP, but I generally believe this price wasn't that bad relatively speaking. It's a very nice 3.5 with no stains or creases. I might have been influenced by the run-up of significantly nicer and more rare T3s in REA, but I am still satisfied with the card and price paid. Who knows if this is a trend or not, but the dude has a ton of overhead (8-10 employees), and you simply have to move cardboard sooner or later to pay the bills.

I think that's actually a real good price on the Matty Sam... nice pickup! I think you're right about Dean's overhead too.

That would be juice * pie are squared?

Exactly.

I think that a majority of card dealers have overpriced items on eBay, not just Dean. And they do this because it is a business model that works. If you have a MASSIVE inventory and sell only 10 cards a week, well, that'll be enough to pay the bills, right?

I have no idea how that business model could possibly work.

+1 Agreed.

That may work if you sell for kicks (and not for a living), post ten cards, and then sell ten cards. Seems like less work to me, especially if it's a hobby for you.

Well if they were 10k each card it could work. Other than that I have bought from Deans and had no issues. I recall a certain 57 Topps Robinson I did a quick flip on and did ok. There is always a chance....They have a lot of inventory. And I know Dean has posted on this board before and if you are reading, would love some of your T205s but man o man..... :) ...