Right or Wrong?

[AdamMcDermott88]

I like to go to garage sales. A lot of the time I can find people with old cards in shoeboxes that are willing to part with them for a couple of bucks each. Sometimes I come across people that want quite a bit more for the box without being able to tell me why they are so high on the price. When that does happen I want to search through the box and find at least one card with a little value before paying say $30-$50 for a shoe box of cards.

The catch is that I like not knowing because whatever I find was something unexpected. I started thinking about it, and my main purpose for buying the box for a few bucks is the event that I find something cool like a Jerry Rice rookie in nice shape, or a Barry Sanders score rookie in nice shape. I've found 2 sharp Derek Jeter SP RCs in the past.

If my intention is to capitalize on them, then why must I insist on rummaging through a box when they are on the more pricey side?

If I bought a $5 box and found a $200 card then I feel justified because I had no clue it was in there, but if I bought a box for $30-$50 then why should I think it is right to make sure that I get my money's worth?

The point is I don't want to cheat anyone, but maybe I'm still guilty of wanting to protect myself more than what is fair to them.

Is that wrong?

[JGrahamFan]

sounds like smart business to me. if you are doing it for profit then being shrewd is a good thing.

[legion624]

As the amount of money you spend goes up, so does your risk. Makes sense to me.

[addicted36]

Not at all, thats the art of haggling and batering to me. I would love for someone to buy my worthless cards for a premium and who would not? Thats the sellers point. My LCS has people coming in daily with boxes of late 80s and early 90s baseball cards who want a premium and think they have gold. They dont know those cards for the most part are worthless. As a buyer I want to find a steal like the Doug Baldwin RC auto I picked up last week for 2 bucks and shoeboxes of cards doesnt tell me Im getting a steal of a deal, if you want me to pay 25 bucks for something you need to entice me and show me why its worth that. Money talks to the buyers and the sellers and if someone wont let me check out that shoebox but wants a premium price thats fishy, there is always another deal to be hand around the corner

[OJMayo32]

When haggling, if both you and the other party is good with the deal then no regrets.

[cyberpvnk]

As a seller you have the right to try and maximize the sale, as a buyer you have a right to maximize your value.

I go to auctions all the time and if I can get a $100 item for $4 then I do it. The key things is having integrity. And remember, there is a cost to everything. I hate the people who think that if they have a $20 item they're owed $20. If they want to take the time to photograph or scan it, list it on CL or ebay, deal with the fee's, set up paypal and ship it then more power to them. But if I offer them $14 for that $20 item I'm not being a jerk, I'm recognizing the cost of the sale.

In business there are hard COGS and soft COGS. (Cost of Goods Sold). Both must be factored in when considering profit and that doesn't even take into account the cost of NOT selling something.

[JDOE]

I shop for anything at yard sales and flea markets, including cards.

I don't care what it is as long as I think I am getting a good deal or find a must-have item.

I've bought Barbie dolls, china (the dishes, not the country- I wish!), antiques, records, artwork and anything I thought was a good deal I could make a profit on if it didn't go into my pc.

Usually I come out on top, but there are definitely times I thought I was getting a good deal only to realize something later, such as the condition not being as good as I thought, the item is not as rare as I thought, the item is a forgery or facsimile, reprint, imitation or some other mass-produced junk.

Just keep doing what you're doing. If someone wants $50 for a box of cards, you gotta go through it.

On one extreme my sister blindly bought me a box of football cards at a yard sale for $4- which ended up being worth over $200.

On the other, I had a probably 12 year old kid (bless his heart) that wanted top dollar high-end Beckett book value for each card in his moderately impressive collection at his mom's garage sale. I had to tell him no thanks, but still chatted him up so he felt proud of his collection.

[mrmojorisin71]

I shop for anything at yard sales and flea markets, including cards.

I don't care what it is as long as I think I am getting a good deal or find a must-have item.

I've bought Barbie dolls, china (the dishes, not the country- I wish!), antiques, records, artwork and anything I thought was a good deal I could make a profit on if it didn't go into my pc.

Usually I come out on top, but there are definitely times I thought I was getting a good deal only to realize something later, such as the condition not being as good as I thought, the item is not as rare as I thought, the item is a forgery or facsimile, reprint, imitation or some other mass-produced junk.

Just keep doing what you're doing. If someone wants $50 for a box of cards, you gotta go through it.

On one extreme my sister blindly bought me a box of football cards at a yard sale for $4- which ended up being worth over $200.

On the other, I had a probably 12 year old kid (bless his heart) that wanted top dollar high-end Beckett book value for each card in his moderately impressive collection at his mom's garage sale. I had to tell him no thanks, but still chatted him up so he felt proud of his collection.

Hoard a bit?

[JDOE]

Hoard a bit?

No, not really.

While I've got plenty of stuff, it does get rotated, so to speak.

I've also thinned out my personal collection quite a bit and narrowed down my tastes over the years.

Hoarding scares me. Any time I need motivation to clean the house I watch an episode of Hoarders: Buried Alive, and get right to work.

[friarbolt]

I think it's nice ethically to give a fair deal and never screw over someone. For example, if you see a guy tricking someone into buying a $5 card for $100 you'd be pretty unhappy with the guy. Same logic with buying a box of cards for $5 when after looking at it you know full well there is $100+ in cards there. Offering more would be a nice courtesy, but still leave yourself room. You see this on Pawn Stars a lot, they will actually offer more if a person comes in low on their item.

Now that being said, you're under no obligation to do that. While it's nice, the person had a chance to research and price their cards properly. And maybe they don't care enough to price them right. It's a personal choice to offer more or take their price. Although at that point it's bad form to negotiate more. If it's a $100 box and he wants $5 it would be kinda low to act all bored and say I'll give you $3 or something.