Just how much does condition affect value?

[Exhibitman]

I collect almost exclusively in low grade.

There isn't really a hard and fast rule you can make for how they price out. If you are referring to a mainstream card that can be readily located in a variety of conditions then the cards are virtually worthless except for the superstars, who can be had for less than 10% of the price of a near mint version if you are willing to wait a bit. I try to pay even less, just to make it interesting. Like a beater T206 red bg Cobb. I waited for quite a while until I found one for around $100 less than 'market' and bought it. 'Junk' boxes at the National can yield even better deals. Also depends on how FUBARed you are willing to get with a card.

There is no rule on pricing true rarities. It is strictly what the buyer will pay. I pick a price I would like to get for a card like that and tell prospective buyers who want to dicker about it if you can find the card somewhere else, buy it.

[E93]

Of course condition affects value. Look in any price guide and see how values change depending on condition. That said, the effect of condition on value goes down in relative proportion to the scarcity and general desirability of the card. In other words, if it is hard to find in any condition, then condition matters less to most buyers.
JimB

[ullmandds]

Agreed Jim...and well stated. To say condition has no bearing on value is ludicrous!

[drcy]

By price, I meant 'book price' relative to grade.

If the theoretical or actual book price for a Near Mint is $1000 and $100 for poor, a poor card may sell for $160 ( or quite a bit above book price) in actual auction. The presence of a low grade example of a popular card may get lots of bids from people who can't normally afford it.

I didn't imply that the poor grade card would for Near Mint price. That wouldn't happen.

Duly note that I collected modern cards back when when you referred to Beckett magazine as a price guide. Even if the the prices listed were retail and you'd never get or pay that, you still referenced it as a marker. So 'book price' is in my vocabulary. Back then a card may sell for "50% of Becket" or $70% of Beckett." Something selling for above Becket was an unusual situation, perhaps caused by the young prospect's star was rising as he hit more home runs.

I know some people here have objected when a seller lists Near Mint book price at the sale of a Vg example, but that was just standard procedure back then. The Near Mint book price was just a marker, the number listed in Beckett or SCD, and the buyer and seller did the calculations from that. The price was retail, plus a Vg card would normally be worth, say, 30% of Near Mint. Listing the Near Mint book price wasn't a form of deception, and wasn't implying that that was what the Vg card for sale was worth.

[drcy]

I put a big error in my example prices above. Pre reread before you says 'What?!?'

My personal rule is if I catch an error before anyone else points it out, it doesn't count as an error.

[Exhibitman]

Comparing hi grade to lo grade is apples and oranges. A low grade card is often a substitute good for a hi grade one that the collector cannot afford. I can't afford a PSA 7 T206 Cobb so my demand for it is nil. I can afford a 2 so my demand is high for that card. I know that many collectors are like me and that fuels a demand for low grade cards that prices the superstars at more than the percentage of book their grade "should" fetch.

[thehoodedcoder]

i think what i said still applies. the book is supposed to be a guide based on past sales and give you an idea of what something will cost. sometimes its wrong. for example, in t206 land prices are way off lots of times.

people may or may not use the book to get an idea of what they should be paying. eventually they realize that they will never own the card at book value. it just takes some time for that realization to set in.

i would say the book is a resisting factor. its a factor but ultimately people wake up and realize the book may be wrong. it either takes them more time to buy the card because of that, or they buy a more affordable card in lower condition.

kevin

[mrvster]

condition rarely, if ever, matters to me....I actually hope that some of my examples are "beat up" a little, it keeps others away...or keep prices a little lower....a lot of my scrap are beat up, due to what they were considered back in the day "garbage" lol....the irony....

but, I collect T206 freaks/scraps or rarities....so the examples are usually one of a kinds, or very few examples known to exist....so , supply vs. demand is more of the factor...



There was a brown old mill that Dan McKee had on ebay for the longest time, a few years ago, with a buy it now of 5 k I think....I was thinking about pulling the trigger for a year( it had pen writing all over the back), but the cash was hard to get up, but more of the factor, I couldn't get over all the pen writing on the back, I figured id find a better example....well, its been about 4 or 5 years now......I should've gotten it then......the only time I really let condition bother me...

a few weeks ago, I traded a few cards for a blank back T206 moose grimshaw with writing on the back.....this is the only moose grimshaw blank back known to existT206......you bet I DID NOT let the writing on the back become the deal breaker this time, and I'm ecstatic