The art of a Branch Rickey deal (Jim Stinson please)

[Baseball Fan]

I was hoping to start a thread in which a long-time and respected autograph man, who is great at telling stories, might be willing to share his thought process when selling an item.

Mr. Stinson had a beautiful Branch Rickey check go off on eBay tonight for $757.75. A Rickey check is in my top 5 most wanted items. (No, I didn't win). So, I'm facinated to hear the inner workings of how this transaction went down.

Mr. Stinson, if you don't want to answer these, no problem.

1. How did you obtain the check? Did somebody e-mail you? Was it part of a larger lot?

2. Did you know you'd be able to make a good amount on it? Is Rickey always an easy sell? How many checks have you had of him?

3. You put it on ebay for a buy it now at $650. It didn't sell. I believe you then put it on for $550 before making it an auction. What made you decide to put it out at that price, and then lower it before going to auction?

4. Did you end the auction on Jan. 31 on purpose, since it's Jackie Robinson's birthday? I know how much you appreciate some great baseball history, so I could see you ending it on this day on purpose.

5. When it cleared for more than you even had at the buy it now price, do you take the time to smile?

Would love to hear your thoughts. What a great item. Congrats on a big sale.

[JimStinson]

Originally Posted by Baseball Fan

I was hoping to start a thread in which a long-time and respected autograph man, who is great at telling stories, might be willing to share his thought process when selling an item.

Mr. Stinson had a beautiful Branch Rickey check go off on eBay tonight for $757.75. A Rickey check is in my top 5 most wanted items. (No, I didn't win). So, I'm facinated to hear the inner workings of how this transaction went down.

Mr. Stinson, if you don't want to answer these, no problem.

1. How did you obtain the check? Did somebody e-mail you? Was it part of a larger lot?

2. Did you know you'd be able to make a good amount on it? Is Rickey always an easy sell? How many checks have you had of him?

3. You put it on ebay for a buy it now at $650. It didn't sell. I believe you then put it on for $550 before making it an auction. What made you decide to put it out at that price, and then lower it before going to auction?

4. Did you end the auction on Jan. 31 on purpose, since it's Jackie Robinson's birthday? I know how much you appreciate some great baseball history, so I could see you ending it on this day on purpose.

5. When it cleared for more than you even had at the buy it now price, do you take the time to smile?

Would love to hear your thoughts. What a great item. Congrats on a big sale.

I am not good at math so will try and answer the questions the best I can, Most of the time items offered as buy it now on e-bay end up selling for MORE in auction format ....why ? I don't have a clue ... I will say what I know when I list items in auction format they start at $14.99 with no reserve , so whatever happens after that ....(?) , I spoke with an e-bay rep the other day and she told me "This is impossible" I said what do you mean ? and she said I have NEVER seen a sellers account with this many transactions and 100% feedback with no charge backs or problems ......I figured she was giving me a line and I asked what % would my record fall into and I was told easily the top 3% of e-bay sellers in the WORLD. That being said sometimes people that bid on something don;t pay....Why ? I don;t know , its a minority but it happens , Lately I've had a guy I've never heard of bidding on EVERYTHING I called e-bay to check him out and was told he's never had problems , so hope this answers your questions , if I missed any let me know
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jim@stinsonsports.com

[JimStinson]

Also along the same lines I had a Kid Nichols sell tonight for alot more than I had it listed as BUY IT NOW for and the buyer has already paid , so I guess the answer is if you see something you like as BUY IT NOW....................well, BUY IT NOW
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jim@stinsonsports.com

[JimStinson]

The bottom line when it comes to e-bay for every item that sells for MORE than I expected there are 100 that sell for LESS than I expected...

In answer to your other questions , there was only one BR check & was purchased in a large collection I had no idea it was Jackie's birthday. Can't even remember my kids birthdays.....
But let me ask YOU a question ? If Branch Rickey on a check was in your top 5 "Wants" why didn;t you buy it when it was listed as BUY IT NOW ? which you could have bought any time you wanted for over 3 weeks prior to it going into auction ?
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jim@stinsonsports.com

[Baseball Fan]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

The bottom line when it comes to e-bay for every item that sells for MORE than I expected there are 100 that sell for LESS than I expected...

In answer to your other questions , there was only one BR check & was purchased in a large collection I had no idea it was Jackie's birthday. Can't even remember my kids birthdays.....
But let me ask YOU a question ? If Branch Rickey on a check was in your top 5 "Wants" why didn;t you buy it when it was listed as BUY IT NOW ? which you could have bought any time you wanted for over 3 weeks prior to it going into auction ?
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jim@stinsonsports.com

Thank you for all your answers. Very interesting.

In regards to why I didn't buy it: I looked at it every day wishing I COULD buy it now at $650. But that would have been well over my budget. I was never a contender for it. Just a huge admirer of the piece.

[Plinvestments]

To answer Jim's question, a lot of times, an auction does better than BIN because the BIN doesn't show up very easily in searches unless you knew what you were looking for. Lots of people would be interested in a Branch Rickey check that never would come across it. However, if they have a saved search like any listing with the word "signed" with at least 1 bid and a price of at least $100, your listing would come up.