Lots of Five Star talk- specifically 2012- I love it! Mike, if you are having a hard time finding the 2012 Halladay, Mays, and Koufax; or 2013 Mays, Griffey, Ripken & Koufax- I can send you pictures of mine 😉 Enjoyed the conversation with you and JT, very insightful!
Interesting and cool conversation JT and Mike. I'll be curious to see at the National how much vintage flipping will be going on. I've noticed a big uptick at the last two National shows that there is a good deal of the cards at the trade nights or pop up trade nights tend to be vintage, along with a strong showing of modern as well.
Buying and selling a card comes down to 2 things: How much leverage do you have? How motivated are you to buy/sell it? That’s what drives me nuts about both sides sometimes. Every buyer/seller is in a different place in terms of those variables. You can’t get mad at each side. For example, i made an offer for a card the other day and it was a lower than comps offer. The only reason i did that is i had leverage because there were 5 other sellers who had the same card in the same grade. I knew one of them would bite and i got the price i wanted. On the opposite side, there was a card i wanted last month and it was the only one listed in that grade with great centering. I had mo leverage. The seller sent his offer and i accepted. He had me cause he knew his card was the only centered card on eBay. Every card has a different demand, every buyer/seller has different leverage and motivation. Sometimes you are worlds apart and sometimes you’re a perfect match. You can’t get mad either way. It’s like dating. Lol
Very well said. I referenced this a little in the video...buyers have become very formulaic in their negotiations. When pricing cards for shows, I usually have a good idea what people are going to say and what they are going to offer. It is on a card by card basis, though, and there is no one formula to determine pricing.
Mike and JT - hard combo to beat. I don't collect ultra-modern - but always watch JTs videos because they are super thoughtful. I try to always buy strong for the grade - ranges are huge based on cards that are nice for the grade and cards that are soft - my holding time is hopefully until I pass away someday. Because of this I regularly pay the full white VCP price and even more and don't mind it. I do like to bundle to get discounts.
Thanks for the kind words! If you're in it for largely intrinsic reasons where the primary objective is building the best collection for you, paying strong is not a bad thing. Unfortunately, I feel the focus has shifted to everyone trying to make profitable deals. Sadly, not everyone can win.
The percentage of comps thing has gotten ridiculous. As a dealer, I avoid it completely. When buyers come up to my table asking my percentage, I tell them I don’t do that, but rather discount on a card by card basis, knocking a few bucks off. I’m pricing at the comp level, so my prices are fair enough. Saving the buyer shipping is the discount, should they opt to buy from eBay. When I’m told “I need to be at”, or “They need to be at”, or “I need at least 80% for this to work for me…”, I politely say “What you do with the cards after you purchase from me, is not something I can be a part of.” I have had buyers walk away, laugh, and I’ve had them purchase at my price. If they really want the card, they’ll pay for it. I respect haggling, but not at the percentages some buyers feel they’re entitled to.
If it's a super rare card that only sells once every couple years, I would argue that both parties SHOULD use the last sale - BUT put a marginal weight on it. AKA it shouldn't be the ONLY value referenced or even the primary number referenced. It's data. It's just not the most current data. So it shouldn't be discarded, but more so used as a minor factor. That said, it still begs the question - if you're in a situation where that literally is the ONLY data available, what advice do you have for negotiating those situations?
I agree, you can take old data into consideration. Personally, I do it often to see what certain cards sold for pre-pandemic times. Sometimes it gives insight into what the market may currently look like now. As far as negotiating goes, you're really at the mercy of the dealer at that point. You can ask how they arrived at their number, but without any other data points and no other copies of the card for sale your options are limited. Either buy the card at the negotiated price, or pass and wait for the next opportunity. It'll boil down to how badly you want the card and how motivated the dealer is to sell.
Come on Mike, you don’t need to pause anymore if someone asks you if the 1980 Henderson rookie is vintage. Our generation needs to stop being followers to Baby Boomers who made all these rules in the hobby. Pre-1980 only being classified as vintage is ridiculous and outdated. Henderson rookie is a 44 year old card that was released when Jimmy Carter was President! 80’s/90’s should atleast be classified as modern vintage especially as parallels and autos have taken over the hobby. Anything pre-2000 is literally a different hobby than today at this point.
7:09 To be honest, your whole repeated attitude on how YOU must get exactly what YOUR asking price is, but at the same time, you have no issue at all talking down to people on THEIR asking price, has gotten really old and apparent over time. I watched your born again Christian video, and while one would be impressed with that, nothing else about your videos supports that, from what I've seen. You know who Jesus didn't like ? The money changers.
Interesting. Are you a Christian? I would guess not because being a Christian doesn’t mean that you’re going to be perfect and you realize that about others. And as a Christian I try not to judge people. You think I am greedy based on me getting “my price”. When my price is already below eBay.
If you're referring to the part of the conversation where we talk about someone approaching a table asking "what do you want" and telling them your sticker price, I think there is a misunderstanding. The way I heard what Mike was saying (which I would agree with) is that when I'm selling a card, I want my asking price. I don't put price stickers on the card to have some pretty blue labels with random numbers on them lol. If a seller has stated their asking price, it is on the buyer to make an offer or purchase at said price if they are interested. Aside from very limited instances, Mike doesn't really sell cards, nor does he set up at shows. This was more of a general statement.
@@TripleCrown24 It's more than one thing, one time, more of a general attitude where he always has to get his, and beat someone else down attitude and gloat about it. The example that came to mind right away is when he described being at the Strongville show. There was some card he wanted. Clemente ? Not sure. Not a dealer, but another collector happened to be there with the card he wanted, was willing to sell it, and here came the attitude of "this is what you're getting for it, and nothing more" type reply. I don't remember the exact words, but I was seriously ? You have to include that in your video ? Of what a great price strong armer he is ? But here we go again, he has to get HIS price. Nothing new here. A less than desirable attitude in constant display.
