PSA: Errors aren’t worth thousands

[DynaEtch]

As others probably know, I collect error cards in Marvel. This thread is partly my reaction to seeing so many mind-boggling error listings on eBay, and hopefully can assist sellers in actually getting their cards sold rather than just sitting on the market with zero chance of selling.

It is true…a random misprint card is hard to comp. They can be unique or nearly unique. The #1 mistake people make with these is think: “wow this is a unique thing —> must equal gold mine”. It doesn’t work like that and is ignoring the demand side of the equation.

Some errors are worth a fortune, true, but those are ones that have famous notoriety: the 1990T Thomas NNOF RC baseball card, which can go for $10-20k. Or to take famous examples outside cards, the inverted Jenny stamp or 3 legged buffalo nickel.

Random fluke misprints in nonsports like marvel are simply not worth thousands though. Oh so typical to see listings on eBay of ones listed for many hundreds, to multiple thousands (some just minor miscuts!)….this is la la land. They won’t sell. It’s possible the seller is treating it as a museum piece I guess (which does have benefits in that at least they are put out there so I can see them, increasing knowledge about which errors exist).

It is true random misprints do get more attention in nonsports than sports. A 1990 marvel universe misprint like a wrong back will get more attention and be worth than a wrong back 1994 donruss baseball card. But they are not worth thousands. The most I have ever paid for an error, and I bought many over many years…is $1k. And that has to basically be 1)from a major popular set, 2)very egregious error, 3)an insert. And even in that case I probably paid $700 or so over market, just because I really wanted it. That is not the norm, such as a typical wrong back or missing foil error. Most typical marvel errors sell in the $25-150 range.

It would be helpful to both buyers and sellers if sellers understood the market better for them, as all pricing them at $3k or $5k does is result in an unsold listing where no one benefits. /Rant

[jjas311]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

And even in that case I probably paid $700 or so over market, just because I really wanted it.

I agree with you whole heartedly, most errors are waaaay overpriced. HOWEVER, you sort of state exactly why people price them this way in your thread. Most people don't want to leave money on the table, and since there is always the chance that someone will "really want it"...I understand why people price things high. I would also venture to guess that most of the people pricing a $300 card at $5k would probably be pumped to get $300 for it, they are just dangling it out there in case someone is willing to pay $1k.

All that being said...if you offer $1k on a $300 card and they decline because they want $5k....yeah, I would tell them to kick rocks.

[JMStang]

Thanks! Helps me understand the value of my 92MM error card.


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[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by jjas311

I agree with you whole heartedly, most errors are waaaay overpriced. HOWEVER, you sort of state exactly why people price them this way in your thread. Most people don't want to leave money on the table, and since there is always the chance that someone will "really want it"...I understand why people price things high. I would also venture to guess that most of the people pricing a $300 card at $5k would probably be pumped to get $300 for it, they are just dangling it out there in case someone is willing to pay $1k.

All that being said...if you offer $1k on a $300 card and they decline because they want $5k....yeah, I would tell them to kick rocks.

This is true- the seller essentially has control of the market for a given random fluke misprint (to an extent…there will be others available of different characters in some cases).

I actually had that last example happen to me. I offered $1k-$1.5k on a way overpriced error once, was autodeclined. Then not long after the same error miraculously popped up for $80 and I bought it. Granted the latter was a good deal, but my $1k offer was also way above market. If the first seller would understand that such an error probably gets $150-300 at auction or so, that $1k offer doesn’t look too bad.

Here is why errors don’t go for the thousands though- there is the demand side. Everyone knows about the Thomas NNOF and many people want it. People dont know about fluke misprint X from marvel set Y. It’s not famous for people to want it. PMG /10s and /1s have their established markets, which are comped to where they are, and can be flipped etc. since people in the hobby know they are valuable. Errors are nichhhheee. The main audience is collectors, like myself, and perhaps character collectors too. But heck the pool of people interested is so small that if I take myself out of the equation, then the prices probably deflate on marvel errors, mostly to sub $100. This is the cost of being an error collector I guess, of valuing something most others don’t.

The point I’m making with the OP is if a seller auctioned these $3-5k errors, they’d almost certainly get $100 or $200 tops. Granted auctions don’t reveal what the #1 bidder will pay (could be far higher than the hammer price)- and that’s essentially what you’re saying. I’ve just seen so many of these high price errors sit and sit and sit on eBay though. You’d think after like 6+ months a seller might start to decrease price in order to appropriately fit the market…unless they are museum pieces.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by JMStang

Thanks! Helps me understand the value of my 92MM error card.


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Now a set like 1992MM being a very popular marvel set should see higher than normal prices for such an error, depending on what it is (not minor miscuts). Not thousands…but still higher than the avg error. I’d be curious what it is, in case you want to post it or PM me. I can give some more insight. Thanks

[JMStang]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Now a set like 1992MM being a very popular marvel set should see higher than normal prices for such an error, depending on what it is (not minor miscuts). Not thousands…but still higher than the avg error. I’d be curious what it is, in case you want to post it or PM me. I can give some more insight. Thanks

I’ve posted it before in the MM thread. It’s in over foil of the Wolverine vs Sabertooth card. Had done I pulled from a pack in 1992.




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[DynaEtch]

Oh right! Yes I remember now.

See this is a perfect example that is fitting all my criteria above that could lead to an actual expensive error card: 1)Popular set 2)egregious error 3)an insert (and I would add 4)popular character).

[JMStang]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Oh right! Yes I remember now.

See this is a perfect example that is fitting all my criteria above that could lead to an actual expensive error card: 1)Popular set 2)egregious error 3)an insert (and I would add 4)popular character).

For example I’d pay $1k for this (which is probably still significantly over market since errors in marvel almost never sell for that much).

To be clear this is against the norm. An average error is less than $150. And it’s those that my OP is aimed at (which are also priced at $2k+).

Thanks, Makes me glad I didn’t take the $100 the comic shop guy offered me when I pulled it!


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[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by JMStang

Thanks, Makes me glad I didn’t take the $100 the comic shop guy offered me when I pulled it!


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That would have been low…granted if it was way back in the 90s these cards are just different beasts now, maybe back then $100 was fair. I tend to offer over market for errors like this- I think at auction this card might be more like $300-500ish, unless the market really surprises me. This is what I meant by take me out of the equation and prices fall for some of these. Either case definitely more than $100 card!

[JMStang]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

That would have been low…granted if it was way back in the 90s these cards are just different beasts now, maybe back then $100 was fair. I tend to offer over market for errors like this- I think at auction this card might be more like $300-500ish, unless the market really surprises me. This is what I meant by take me out of the equation and prices fall for some of these. Either case definitely more than $100 card!

I appreciate it though. When I’m ready to sell I’ll definitely PM you.


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[dd316]

You can thank the early 1990s for this mindset. Error cards were becoming common enough that EVERYBODY was hunting errors, and manufacturers were purposely creating them. Fast-forward to today, and you have a lot of ex-collectors who jumped back into the hobby during the COVID bubble and they brought back that mindset of errors = goldmine. And they think every little thing constitutes an error and therefore commands a ridiculous premium.

I think there needs to be more education on what constitutes and actual error (vs misprint) and how that effects value. So many think they hit the jackpot when they hit a card that missed the foil stamping, then when you shoot down their early retirement dreams by telling them it's not worth anything they either argue with or ignore you.

[jjcan]

I have a bunch of miscuts and printing errors for the 1990 and 1991 hologram Marvel universe inserts.

Impel did printing here in Southern California and QC were suppose to toss a lot of these out. I got a box of them over 1200 miscuts from a flea market here around 2004.

They also had Disney, Star Trek holograms at the time.

I still have maybe 500 left, some I threw away they were all stuck together. I still have 1 left where they double foiled a wolverine card front and back.

One I sold a while ago it was a wolverine in front and Batman hologram on the back. Usually all the backs were mostly well centered too.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by jjcan

I have a bunch of miscuts and printing errors for the 1990 and 1991 hologram Marvel universe inserts.

Impel did printing here in Southern California and QC were suppose to toss a lot of these out. I got a box of them over 1200 miscuts from a flea market here around 2004.

They also had Disney, Star Trek holograms at the time.

I still have maybe 500 left, some I threw away they were all stuck together. I still have 1 left where they double foiled a wolverine card front and back.

One I sold a while ago it was a wolverine in front and Batman hologram on the back. Usually all the backs were mostly well centered too.

That’s very interesting- to find such a large quantity of miscuts/errors is quite a find. That Wolverine/Batman holo sounds nuts! Dang wish I could’ve seen that one.

Originally Posted by dd316

I think there needs to be more education on what constitutes and actual error (vs misprint) and how that effects value. So many think they hit the jackpot when they hit a card that missed the foil stamping, then when you shoot down their early retirement dreams by telling them it's not worth anything they either argue with or ignore you.

Yea this is definitely an important distinction, error vs misprint. Errors are traditionally more like C-3PO XXX variant, Billy Ripken FF, Frank Thomas NNOF…stuff that everyone knows about. As mentioned above random fluke misprints don’t have no value in marvel, in fact I argue they often have more value in nonsports than sports. They can go up to a couple hundred, with some exceptional outliers. But they will NOT be putting kids through college etc, totally true. The audience for such a random fluke misprint is:

-Error collectors
-Character collectors
-People wanting a cool/unique addition to a master set (more a factor in non sports than sports where few people master set collect)

So they do have some demand/value particularly in nonsports. But there is a huge misunderstanding out there in thinking they are worth fortunes.

It’s even worse in sports I think. Check just how many eBay listings there are for random junk wax card listings with supposed “errors”- usually just something super minor like fisheyes- another example the “bloody scar error” 1990 Topps Griffey (that isn’t even an error or different from the regular 90T Griffey)- that are listed for thousands and thousands. Those listings are basically outright scams though.

[1989FF]

I recently searched a 1990 Score set case and was happy to find this card. Kinda looks like a ball. Was hoping to find some wrong/missing front/back like I did in '90.

[dd316]

Originally Posted by 1989FF

I recently searched a 1990 Score set case and was happy to find this card. Kinda looks like a ball. Was hoping to find some wrong/missing front/back like I did in '90.

Yeah that's just a printing mistake with the ink. But I imagine a player collector would like to add weird things like that to their collection.

[bkcardcollector]

... they're worth millions! :P

[Bunny Hop]

Originally Posted by JMStang

Thanks, Makes me glad I didn’t take the $100 the comic shop guy offered me when I pulled it!

Using that $100 on 100 tacos could have provided adequate sustenance for a Doctor Who marathon. And I sure could go for 100 tacos right about now.

[JCL Trading]

I forgot my username so I making a comment to see it.

[Rictor]

Originally Posted by JCL Trading

I forgot my username so I making a comment to see it.

Instead of bumping an old thread, you can just click on your Profile.

[ThatGuyPal]

Originally Posted by JCL Trading

I forgot my username so I making a comment to see it.

LMAO

[finfangfan]

Speaking of errors… I bought this one on COMC and then did an elite scan to confirm error (back label does not agree with character on front of printing plate).

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

Speaking of errors… I bought this one on COMC and then did an elite scan to confirm error (back label does not agree with character on front of printing plate).

Interesting! A 'wrong back' plate is a new one.

Yea comc has been known to mix up back photos etc, so good to confirm.

Edit: Wonder if Colossus has Annihilus's for the black plate

[finfangfan]

Yeah… looks like they swapped the labels for the two characters. A yellow Colossus (Annihilus image) appears as sold out on COMC… and below is a Colossus plate on ePack with Annihilus label..,

[eldavojohn]

Originally Posted by dd316

You can thank the early 1990s for this mindset.

The mentality probably goes back to the inverted Jenny?

I'm in a few FB groups for new releases and the pokemon collectors that show up with a holo offset printing are really staggering. Like, okay the holofoil is messed up, relax. And then it's a thousand comments of people arguing over its value. 2021 Topps Chrome Update were badly miscut and I mailed them back to Topps asking for a new blaster lol surprisingly I got it!

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by eldavojohn

The mentality probably goes back to the inverted Jenny?

I'm in a few FB groups for new releases and the pokemon collectors that show up with a holo offset printing are really staggering. Like, okay the holofoil is messed up, relax. And then it's a thousand comments of people arguing over its value. 2021 Topps Chrome Update were badly miscut and I mailed them back to Topps asking for a new blaster lol surprisingly I got it!

Yea does go back to stuff like the Jenny. For cards particularly id say the 90T Thomas NNOF is one thing that really got interest going. (And the Ripken FF if you even want to call that an error).

I’m not a Pokémon collector. But from my understanding misprints do get lots of attention in that realm. I think nonsports cards like Marvel etc fall somewhat between sports and Pokémon in terms of desirability of errors. Sports people barely care about misprints outside famous ones like the NNOF. Show a baseball collector a 95 Fleer random wrong back error, they’ll show you a dollar bill or maybe two, and that might be generous. Show a marvel collector a wrong back 95MM card and it could be a $50-200 card. Show a Pokémon collector an OG Pokémon card with a massive misprint and some probably lose the plot.

For errors…and this is just my opinion as a collector- it goes beyond just factory messed up on a sheet. I understand that is really all that’s going on here…there was a mishap in printing or cutting. Heck it’s not even the visual itself necessarily of the error on the card, either. (I think many would agree- even error collectors- that an error does not usually make a card look “better”, it generally makes a card look uglier). What it really gets down to is the needle in a haystack thing. When there are 500,000 examples of the regular card out there, and only one or a few of the error, it becomes very interesting. It’s essentially a different card- in the mass produced junk eras- with a very small print run. A Wolverine character collector could use a no-foil 93MM Wolverine because it’s different than anything they have. That’s one thing that makes them attractive…another can be backstory..what had to happen at the factory that it came about with the uncut sheet. Also just the fact that such an accident went through QC and got to packs…then pulled at haystack odds…then survived all these years in collections to come to market. That’s what makes an error interesting for me.