I have to ask opinions on Dean's pricing

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by MikeGarcia

...doesn't E-Bay get upset when a buyer and seller bypass E-Bay fees and conduct business directly and privately ??.......they won't even let me give my contact info in a "contact the seller" ..

..

I'm not sure what eBay can do if sellers have their own separate website where they also list their cards that people can buy from. I have bought a few cards from Dean's directly through his website just as I have with TonyETrade and some others who I have found by just searching for them to see if they had their own website.

[Seven]

If you have money to burn, and want to buy the cards you want ASAP, then Dean is an option. He provides back scans, has rarer issues and you can reliably get cards from him.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Apparently Dean does enough business to employ approximately 10 people, or has enough margin from the business he does do to keep them employed.

[Cliff Bowman]

I buy uncatalogued print errors and certain miscut cards from them, why anyone would buy a regular card from them when they could find a nearly identical one on eBay at half the price or less is beyond me. The 58 Slaughter and 63 Bell are examples of print errors that have I found on their site.

[ALR-bishop]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

Apparently Dean does enough business to employ approximately 10 people, or has enough margin from the business he does do to keep them employed.

For a long time and with high volume of sales, even on ebay.

People who complain about prices just don't want to pay that price, which is fine. And he can hold cards until someone pays his price. Which is fine too. I wish I had a list through the years of all the Dean, 707 and Yepdog threads to see how many people who started them are still in the hobby

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

For a long time and with high volume of sales, even on ebay.

People who complain about prices just don't want to pay that price, which is fine. And he can hold cards until someone pays his price. Which is fine too. I wish I had a list through the years of all the Dean, 707 and Yepdog threads to see how many people who started them are still in the hobby

His ability to stay in business is due to volume of sales dollars versus volume of items sold. Just looking at his ebay sold items, he averages about $40/item sold ( this includes items such as a $400 raw 83 Topps set) and has sold around 1800 items over the past month on ebay alone. If he sells an equal amount through his website, he could have around $150k/month in income.

My guess is his income to COG is about 4 to 1 based on normal costs of many of the items he has sold. With the money left after COG, operating costs, fees, etc., I can see where he could easily afford 10 +/- employees.

I don't think Dean and his prices are going anywhere, what he is doing is working.

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

For a long time and with high volume of sales, even on ebay.

People who complain about prices just don't want to pay that price, which is fine. And he can hold cards until someone pays his price. Which is fine too. I wish I had a list through the years of all the Dean, 707 and Yepdog threads to see how many people who started them are still in the hobby

With 707, seems like the typical listing is a '50s or '60s card that's overpriced in the 20% to 50% too high range. Occasionally his complete sets from that era can even be a pretty good deal.

With Dean's, most of his prices (with the exception of many of the tough variations that you're able to use him for, which can be priced ok unlike just about everything else there) are 2-3x to 20 x what something is worth. Often with notes about how this $25 (almost) complete '80s team set w/ $2 worth of cards is the "perfect gift for that team's collector".

IMO, it's entirely different. Both huge, established dealers. One who just sells fairly high. Happens all over. The other charges exorbitant prices aimed at people who don't know any better and see his company come up first in google searches.

All that being said, Dean is a very smart businessman whose model is very successful. How he does things from top to bottom could make up an entire semester for an advanced business school marketing class.

I'm just not a fan of how that class would be titled "how to succeed in business by purposely ripping people off"

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by cardsagain74

With 707, seems like the typical listing is a '50s or '60s card that's overpriced in the 20% to 50% too high range. Occasionally his complete sets from that era can even be a pretty good deal.

With Dean's, most of his prices (with the exception of many of the tough variations that you're able to use him for, which can be priced ok unlike just about everything else there) are 2-3x to 20 x what something is worth. Often with notes about how this $25 (almost) complete '80s team set w/ $2 worth of cards is the "perfect gift for that team's collector".

IMO, it's entirely different. Both huge, established dealers. One who just sells fairly high. Happens all over. The other charges exorbitant prices aimed at people who don't know any better and see his company come up first in google searches.

All that being said, Dean is a very smart businessman whose model is very successful. How he does things from top to bottom could make up an entire semester for an advanced business school marketing class.

I'm just not a fan of how that class would be titled "how to succeed in business by purposely ripping people off"

Look at any commodity card on ebay, or almost any. There are just HUGE numbers of offerings at prices ranging from way too high to absurd. It must work or people wouldn't do it?

[Harliduck]

I am not a fan...at all...and I know I've told the story here of when my wife called them direct a bunch of years back and was totally taken advantage of trying to fill out a set for me...that disgusted taste in my mouth will never leave...


It was funny though, when cards jumped here a few months back all of a sudden some of his pricing on his older listings became good deals. He had a few nicely priced super tough 55 Bowman cards where there were only a few online...and were now priced right. I still paid more from others and was happy to do it. But I'll admit, I didn't think I'd see the day where I had to pass on a Deans card that was the better deal AND better shape. I'm sure he has made the proper adjustments by now...

Piece of shit company.