Misery Loves Company - Any Stories About Taking a Loss at Auction?

[oldjudge]

It really is not surprising that people have losses. If you buy and sell an item at a major auction house, and it hammers the exact same amount you are down at least 20%. If you figure in that you were the high bid when you won the item, and without you bidding the item would have gone for at least one increment less, the loss, with everything else held equal, can be even more.

[majordanby]

the hobby goes through peaks and valleys - not too many cards/players/sets, at least these days, witness continual increases or sustained values.

I got into T3's when they were super hot in the mid 2000s - I had to sell them off several years later for financial reasons and it wasnt pretty.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

It really is not surprising that people have losses. If you buy and sell an item at a major auction house, and it hammers the exact same amount you are down at least 20%. If you figure in that you were the high bid when you won the item, and without you bidding the item would have gone for at least one increment less, the loss, with everything else held equal, can be even more.

I always say if you haven't lost on a sale then you haven't bought and sold enough .

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Leon

I always say if you haven't lost on a sale then you haven't bought and sold enough .

Touche....I used to work for a roofer that says you haven't really worked until you've fallen off a roof!! Kinda extreme, but same thing!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Touche....I used to work for a roofer that says you haven't really worked until you've fallen off a roof!! Kinda extreme, but same thing!

Tip for all roofers- Don't pick up a piece of 4 x 8 plywood on the top of a house when it's windy. I still have a scar on my hand from that while riding a piece to the ground.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by Leon

Tip for all roofers- Don't pick up a piece of 4 x 8 plywood on the top of a house when it's windy. I still have a scar on my hand from that while riding a piece to the ground.

The same could be said for trying to hold onto a heavy duty cafeteria table when on top of a walk in freezer. Just let it go because if you don't, you might end up under part of it when it crashes!

There has to be some analogy here for those who heavily invested in the junk wax era.

[rocarroll]

This example is more to get a general opinion of going form an auction buy to ebay on a higher value card and whether or not people have had good experiences making money doing that. It wasn't my card but I was highly interested in it a few months back so was tracking it. So I feel for the seller because I've had that happen to me before. It was the Vic Willis with the UZIT back that was for sale in REA's last action that sold for $3,600 (with juice) just sold on Ebay for $3,250 a week ago. Seller must have really needed to get out of it to sell it so quick. Its hard to come out on top when you buy a card like that at an auction, have to pay the 20% fee, flip it soon after on ebay and then eat the 10% fee plus the 3% pay pal fee (and the PWCC consignment). After fees you walk away with $2,827 on a card just bought for $3,600. Almost an $800 loss plus it was consigned to PWCC so that takes out some more. You figure that card was over $1,000 in the red after that. Beautiful card though and who ever bought it has a gem

[glchen]

Originally Posted by rocarroll

This example is more to get a general opinion of going form an auction buy to ebay on a higher value card and whether or not people have had good experiences making money doing that. It wasn't my card but I was highly interested in it a few months back so was tracking it. So I feel for the seller because I've had that happen to me before. It was the Vic Willis with the UZIT back that was for sale in REA's last action that sold for $3,600 (with juice) just sold on Ebay for $3,250 a week ago. Seller must have really needed to get out of it to sell it so quick. Its hard to come out on top when you buy a card like that at an auction, have to pay the 20% fee, flip it soon after on ebay and then eat the 10% fee plus the 3% pay pal fee (and the PWCC consignment). After fees you walk away with $2,827 on a card just bought for $3,600. Almost an $800 loss plus it was consigned to PWCC so that takes out some more. You figure that card was over $1,000 in the red after that. Beautiful card though and who ever bought it has a gem

The PWCC consignment fee of 10% (for graded cards that sell between $3-4K) includes the paypal fees. So the loss was ONLY $3600 - (3250 * 0.9) = $675. Still not pretty, of course.