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Posted By: <b>ErikV</b><p> There's been much talk in the news and on the radio about the state of our economy. The dollar's falling, gas and gold are on the rise and it appears that some people have begun to cut back on the "extras." For myself, I haven't made a card purchase in some time due these same factors. In addition, much of the overtime I've been working to fund my collecting budget has all but dried up. Am I alone or has anyone else begun to feel the pinch and have had to cut back? Perhaps someone on the board that closely monitors auction prices can tell if there's been a drop in value/final selling prices in the vintage card sector.

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Posted By: <b>Scott Levy</b><p>I can tell you from our experience in filling in the holes of our set, T206 prices have fallen a bit recently. As two examples, we recently picked up a PSA 6 common for $165 and a PSA 7 HOF for 940. I doubt this would have been possible a year or even six months ago.<br /><br />Regards,<br />Scott

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Posted By: <b>Dave F</b><p>I think the prices for most issues is pretty much down across the board. The exception IMO would continue to be the rarities. I have no doubt that if a E222 popped up on ebay it would go above and beyond as far as a sales price. For one thing, someone would have to bid up pretty well to beat out Leon <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>

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Posted By: <b>barrysloate</b><p>The rarities are still strong but the average card in the $100-1000 range has certainly lost some steam. I think a lot of buyers are cautious even if they do have some disposable income to spend on baseball cards. But if I had to assess the overall strength of the market, I would say our industry is holding up pretty well considering the state of the economy.

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Posted By: <b>LetsGoBucs</b><p>There is no doubt that people are spending less than they were three or four months ago.<br /><br />The market for pre war cards is fairly thin so there are probably many examples of falling prices as a result of cutting back....and a few examples of strong prices especially for high grade/high visibility type cards.<br /><br />I would slightly disagree that the economy is holding up well. In terms of all of our net worth's - it relation to the rest of the world it has now declined almost 50% since 2002 when the Euro/$ conversion was .82 and its now 1.56. All of our world's have become smaller as a result and our standard of living is gradually declining.<br /><br />I was recently in Prague and a McD's value meal was actually more expensive in Prague than in USA. I can remember several years ago at the same McD's (I don't just eat at McD's but I do go there when I'm travelling and need to eat something I can be sure about <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>) when the meal was about 60% of the price of the same meal in the USA. That is not a result of a strong US economy - its a result of a weak economy and a bunch of weak politicians that continue to spend more than what we have, and we and our children will pay for their weakness.

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Posted By: <b>Phil</b><p>I am fairly new to collecting Vintage Baseball Cards (2+ years now). I have been a lifelong collector of baseball cards though......anyways, to me it seems that there is a lot less inventory out there (eBay, etc.) in the last several months than a year or even two years ago.<br /><br />I was wondering if that is due to the fact that sellers are getting less for their investments, so they are less likely to list them right now?

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Posted By: <b>Bobby Binder</b><p>Quite the opposite I have seen a lot more cards going to the marketplace then before. The overall total available for sale is up a good 20% as well seeing a lot more sets rarely seen for sale such as E135, T204. a lot more OJ's (Barry a lot). I think that some sellers are reducing inventory or trying to raise capital by selling and buying other sets to hold. It is becoming a buyers market for the most part.

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Posted By: <b>barrysloate</b><p>I think it is hard to generalize why people buy or sell.<br /><br />Some of the big collections I get are from people who are getting out of the hobby. Others are from collectors who buy a lot of sets and near sets and after they upgrade, they give me the duplicates to sell. Another consignor of mine has been accumulating cards for years and just feels it's time to start paring down.<br /><br />It's actually a pretty large and diverse market and people buy and sell for different reasons.

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Posted By: <b>Jason L</b><p>unfortunately, I got swept up in the crazy card prices of the past 2 years and paid more than I should have...forgetting the cardinal rule of buying when the market is down...should be a buyers market in cards (the more pedestrian stuff) for the next 2 years or so.<br /><br />I am also saving my money so that I can buy Bear Stearns. the whole company.<br />

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Posted By: <b>barrysloate</b><p>Jason- I think you can buy Bear Stearns for a song today!

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Posted By: <b>Rich Klein</b><p>If Bear Stearns has even further to go. Geez under $30 at a pt today<br /><br />Rich

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Posted By: <b>barrysloate</b><p>Didn't it lose half its value just today?

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Posted By: <b>Mark L</b><p>I think that the market for vintage baseball cards began to soften noticeably last fall, but I'm not sure which macroeconomic trend or event could account for that. In 2007, the dollar was rising against the Euro and the stock market was moving higher. Maybe it was the slump in the housing market and the increase in credit card rates.