ebay finds that PWCC engaged in shill bidding?

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by cardsagain74

When it comes to this "I'm not taking a loss" subject, you have little understanding of what often drives human behavior.

Grown adults often do exactly what you're mocking there (with something like their Pfizer stock). They absolutely DO think your exact foot-stopping quote of "I'm not gonna sell until a get a profit!", regardless of what the sensible allocation of their investments should be going forward. Has nothing to do with whether it's a "collector" or "investor"; it's the same principle for anyone involved with a speculative asset. The only time that many can stomach and justify taking the loss is (as brought up above) when it's to offset capital gains.

It's easy for someone to get married to their purchase price (human nature for a number of unflattering or poorly thought-out reasons.) And on the flip side, they also take profits for the wrong reasons. Because what you "made" isn't the key factor either, except for tax purposes. Once you own something, the purchase price is a sunk cost. All that matters is what the value is now, what could happen going forward, your risk tolerance at the current value for that asset, what portion it is of your overall portfolio, etc. But I digress.

Rationality isn't what dictates decisions sometimes. Especially when it comes to this.

Boy, is that ever true. How many times has a seller refused a reasonable offer based on "what I have into it?"

In the next couple of years I suspect we are going to see a ton of irrational "hold till it makes money" collectors. We don't have to reach back too far for that. Look at what happened after 2008-2009.

I had one amusing experience I can relate that's apropos of the subject. I paid a really 'frothy' price for a card in a 2008 auction. Several years later another collector and me were trying to work out a deal for my card but I just could not stomach the financial loss of an outright sale. Eventually, we decided to trade overpriced cards instead, because he'd bought a bunch of stuff in the same auction season that was totally upside down on too. I got a handful of cards from a set I liked more than the one I had and he got my albatross in return. We made the trade at the National and we were just laughing at the absurdity of what we spent versus what they were worth at that point. The cards I obtained will probably never be worth what they were worth when he bought them but they are in my PC until I stop collecting, so I don't really care.