Greg Morris raw cards - trust or no?

[BioCRN]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

I think that the opposite may be true. The $44,400 1965 PSA complete set from REA broke last evening via GM at approximately $39,500 ...the original REA consignor is likely glad to have gone through REA vs GM on this one. If GM purchased this set, they are in the red by almost $10k after ebay fees.

Anecdotal (and not limited to any particular seller), but as a buyer, I've benefited greatly on many auctions that flood an auction ending in a single pay-due period with same-year/type cards.

I've seen this somewhat recently on a heavy N172 auction as well as 60s/70s Topps set breaks. It may attract the right people to the auction, but I wonder how much $$ the buyer pool feels comfortable spending all at once. It seems prioritization shoves some stuff into the background that would ordinarily be bid up.

I wonder if things would have been different if they took that 1965 set and broke it up over a few weeks/months of separate pay-due auction periods rather than putting the set up all at once.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

Anecdotal (and not limited to any particular seller), but as a buyer, I've benefited greatly on many auctions that flood an auction ending in a single pay-due period with same-year/type cards.

I don't understand this way of selling. It makes no sense. List a handful from several sets instead. A slow break of a complete set gives people more time to (re)generate funds. Not all customers have the freedom to bid on a huge pile at once.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

Anecdotal (and not limited to any particular seller), but as a buyer, I've benefited greatly on many auctions that flood an auction ending in a single pay-due period with same-year/type cards.

I've seen this somewhat recently on a heavy N172 auction as well as 60s/70s Topps set breaks. It may attract the right people to the auction, but I wonder how much $$ the buyer pool feels comfortable spending all at once. It seems prioritization shoves some stuff into the background that would ordinarily be bid up.

I wonder if things would have been different if they took that 1965 set and broke it up over a few weeks/months of separate pay-due auction periods rather than putting the set up all at once.

In the past, the trend has obviously been that PSA sets are selling for more broken up than sold whole. Recently several complete 60s PSA sets have sold for more whole than in parts. This 1965 set https://bid.robertedwardauctions.com...?itemid=140373 and a 1968 set recently with MHCC http://milehighcardco.com/1968_Topps...-LOT93678.aspx have now both sold for more whole than broken.

Could be a new trend, not a good trend for GM whose speciality is breaking sets.

To tie this back to the OPs original topic, I BID on a fair amount of GM items, rarely do I actually win what I bid (at market prices) on. I have trusted their grading and have felt that overall it's accurate. After this 65 set break, I trust their auction integrity even more than I did before.

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

In the past, the trend has obviously been that PSA sets are selling for more broken up than sold whole. Recently several complete 60s PSA sets have sold for more whole than in parts. This 1965 set https://bid.robertedwardauctions.com...?itemid=140373 and a 1968 set recently with MHCC http://milehighcardco.com/1968_Topps...-LOT93678.aspx have now both sold for more whole than broken.

Could be a new trend, not a good trend for GM whose speciality is breaking sets.

To tie this back to the OPs original topic, I BID on a fair amount of GM items, rarely do I actually win what I bid (at market prices) on. I have trusted their grading and have felt that overall it's accurate. After this 65 set break, I trust their auction integrity even more than I did before.

I can't access that REA link, can anyone else?

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

I can't access that REA link, can anyone else?

Try the link I had in post #31

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

Try the link I had in post #31

Thanks, that worked.

Whoever bought that set and consigned it to GM (either GM or another collector) made a foolish mistake.

[scottglevy]

Quality company. Quality product. It’s a bit of a gamble to buy something that’s described as NMMT and actually expect a slabbed “8”. But the cards should be roughly in line with the described grades - which is more than I can say for most raw card sellers.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by scottglevy

Quality company. Quality product. It’s a bit of a gamble to buy something that’s described as NMMT and actually expect a slabbed “8”. But the cards should be roughly in line with the described grades - which is more than I can say for most raw card sellers.

Most smaller-time raw card sellers on eBay don’t even bother with pretending to guess at condition anymore. “See pics for condition” is a tired one, but I’ve had to just quit rolling my eyes at that kind of thing. If it’s not a trusted seller or if the person cannot be bothered to even hazard a guess on a raw card - I usually just move on.

Greg Morris seized the market space that someone inevitably was bound to when he proved that he could be consistently competent at raw grading, in a space where the prevailing wisdom was to buy graded since you cannot trust raw, or more importantly those selling raw cards. I think this was good for the hobby. Grading has changed things sure, but Greg proved that there was still space for those who can grade competently and conservatively without everything having to be in a slab. I realize that many buy the high end raw cards he sells only with the intention of sending them off to PSA, but it’s nice to know if grading isn’t necessarily your thing, that you can buy from GM and be generally confident that whatever you bought will arrive in the condition you expect it to.

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

Thanks, that worked.

Whoever bought that set and consigned it to GM (either GM or another collector) made a foolish mistake.

Was mentioned in post #32 of this thread that perhaps GM is buying sets from auction houses, such as the '65 set from REA, directly. But I suppose it is more likely that someone consigned the set.

[Flintboy]

Originally Posted by cgjackson222

Was mentioned in post #32 of this thread that perhaps GM is buying sets from auction houses, such as the '65 set from REA, directly. But I suppose it is more likely that someone consigned the set.

Doubt it. He has at least 4 eBay buying accounts. I’m a very small seller on eBay and he’s bought cards from me to flip in his auctions. Every time an eBay ID comes back to his address I block him. I would rather have a collector win the suction than have GM make $$$ of me.