Buying all #332 Tony Bartirome 1952 Topps cards + his Gold Canary + Griffey + Tiger

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by dollarscholar

Problem that I am now seeing, & direct proof that I am influencing the actual market, even in an auction style listing for a #332, are these 2 bidders going at it in a bidding war to win it - just to sell it to me:

ebay.com/itm/1952-TOPPS-332-TONY-BARTIROME-VGEX-/361402950360

myrondavis07 won it.
doug.41 was the runner up.

They both understand I pay extra for #332.

Both of them have been bidding against each other for multiple listings of #332 now. If I throw myself into the bidding mix, it creates quite the problem.

The trick is to let those 2 over pay and get stuck with a few of them. You need to have a price limit set for each grade and stick to it otherwise everybody is just going to take advantage of you.

With your buying habits you are influencing the market and will cost yourself a lot of extra $. Influencing the market is really easy. It only takes 2-4 bidders to artificially drive up prices. I have watched a few members on here do it with buying patterns claiming they are collectors and while they still have the market artificially high they dump their "collection" for a huge profit then rinse and repeat.

Sitting back and laughing at how screwed up this hobby is, is as much a part of the hobby to me as collecting the cards.

Good luck on your quest.