Pet Peeve: Dealers who pull out Beckett at a card show? Opinions wanted!

[btcarfagno]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

When you got to a card show and a dealer pulls out a Beckett/SMR price guide to get a price of commons, what reaction do you have? Are you mildly amused, extremely annoyed, or does it not bother you in the least?

I was amused at a mall show recently when the dealer pulled out an annual price guide and sold me a VG+ T206 Titus for $40. Certainly not annoyed!

Tom C

[ALR-bishop]

As a lowly post war collector, it is a non issue

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

I was amused at a mall show recently when the dealer pulled out an annual price guide and sold me a VG+ T206 Titus for $40. Certainly not annoyed!

Tom C

LOL!!! That is great Tom! I guess it works both way!

[freakhappy]

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

I was amused at a mall show recently when the dealer pulled out an annual price guide and sold me a VG+ T206 Titus for $40. Certainly not annoyed!

Tom C

Awesome! Sometimes it can work in your favor, but not usually.

At the National a few years back, I was looking at a graded mantle...not sure of the year or condition, but I asked for a price knowing exactly what that card has been selling for beforehand. Sure enough the dealer pulls out the Beckett quarterly and quotes me the Beckett price, which was about 50% above the going price...ugh. Needless to say, I moved on.


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[7nohitter]

i walk away

[D.P.Johnson]

Doesn't bother me in the least. At the card show I was at yesterday, I offered a guy 50 cents for a card that was not marked with any price. He pulled out his Beckett and told me it was a $40 card. I said, "Ok, but it's worth about 50 cents to me." He said, "How about $1.00?" I said, "OK"......

[packs]

It drives me nuts because if I pull out my phone and bring up VCP there is always some reason for why Beckett is right and my real world sold prices are wrong.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by packs

It drives me nuts because if I pull out my phone and bring up VCP there is always some reason for why Beckett is right and my real world sold prices are wrong.

I never thought about that. I just got a smart phone after YEARS of having a brick phone. I am not that savvy with the internet on it yet, but I AM a VCP member. I should have brought up VCP to counteract why his $2 common was not worth the $80 that Beckett said it was!

[grainsley]

I say "See ya."

[bbsports]

As a dealer for many years & been doing card shows for over 25 years, most of the time it's not the dealer who pulls out the SMR at a card show first, it's the customer. A dealer with enough knowledge & experience, uses a better reference than an SMR price guide. All these books are what they are, price guides. He or she should follow the current on line prices, such as the more current e-bay sales. Some prefer card target or VCP. For me, I keep a record on what I pay for my items & just try to make a 10-20% profit on what I sell, pending the type of cards I'm selling. It's impossible to make money on ever card you sell, but you avoid huge losses. Once in a while, I get lucky & make more than that, but I find that if I keep a record of my sales, I sell a lot more cards at card shows than most dealers do.

[bobbyw8469]

Well...I should have let the guy finish talking maybe. He gave me a pile of cards. I pulled three of them out. He is like "Let me check the book on this one". He then proceeded to tell me that book was $80. I didn't even let him finish. All the dealers try to quote Beckett, something along the lines of "The book is $80, I will let you have it for $40". Never mind they are looking at HIGH BOOK VALUE, and their card is nowhere near mint condition. Normally, it doesn't rub me the wrong way, but today it did.

[Eric72]

When I set up at a show, all of my cards are already priced. Whether the card is in a box that is marked $1 each or the card is individually labeled ($5, $10, $20, or whatever) the customer knows - up front - how much I'm asking for it.

Am I potentially leaving a little money on the table this way? Probably. However, at the end of the day, I worry less about maximizing profit through Perfect Price Discrimination (as Economists would call it) than having fun and selling off unwanted cards to fund other purchases.

Regarding Beckett, I do use the guide when pricing my cards. Most often, I put them out at the low column price. Or, in the case of the dollar boxes, well below that.

Just the way I do things. I only set up at a few shows per year, and am not doing this to make a living, so it works for me.

Best regards,

Eric

[tschock]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Well...I should have let the guy finish talking maybe. He gave me a pile of cards. I pulled three of them out. He is like "Let me check the book on this one". He then proceeded to tell me that book was $80. I didn't even let him finish. All the dealers try to quote Beckett, something along the lines of "The book is $80, I will let you have it for $40". Never mind they are looking at HIGH BOOK VALUE, and their card is nowhere near mint condition. Normally, it doesn't rub me the wrong way, but today it did.

Yeah, that's my pet peeve which I just decided to 'let go' years ago since it's SOP these days. A '50s card in EX condition listed at "50% off" Beckett. Well no, sir. It's actually 100% of the Beckett price. It would only be 50% off the Beckett price if you were selling it for 25% of the Beckett listed "NM" book price.

I think it's just common parlance these days so I just go with the flow rather than trying to constantly play the part of a salmon trying to spawn.