[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by BobC

Going back to some of the posts questioning card sales for losses, and why would rational people due that, don't forget that more and more people are looking at cards like investments, and therefore not thinking anything like collectors. I'm not saying this is what was actually happening, but did anyone ever consider that someone purposely selling into a down market may have done so as an investor to generate capital losses to then offset against capital gains they already had from sales, and thus save on income taxes? And if the item being sold is a known market commodity that can possibly be expected to go back up in the future (Jordan rookies?), I can also see that seller waiting to get around the wash rules to be able to buy a similar card at the current reduced value back so they hold onto it for future appreciation. They end up basically with the same asset they would have had had they not sold it, but now they get the advantage of utilizing a current capital gains tax loss to put/keep more cash in their pockets. I always called this practice harvesting tax losses.

So there may be other reasons for people doing things that aren't so nefarious, that no has considered.

Or maybe his wife found out he was cheating so he decided to sell the card to reduce his liabilities in divorce. Also possible, isn't it? You're really out on a limb, Bob, with the speculation.