Selling: How do you keep from competing with yourself,get the best sale prices

bojesphob · 03-12-2025, 08:54 AM

Just to note before asking this, I'm not trying to pump listings that I have, as I have nothing listed right now, this is a conceptual question. I might be in this scenario in the near future, but I won't be selling anything myself, and I don't want to potentially spoil any listings that come out of this if it goes beyond conceptual.

Here's what I was hoping for some input on:

Two cards, same set, same variation, same player, same team, and (hopefully) same PSA 9 or 10 grade, also will be the only graded copy for both from any grading company, just two different years. Highly collected player and team (although NOT top tier for the player). Card 1 is the most sought after year for that set, Card 2 is from the next year and also highly sought after but not quite as much as Card 1's year. They are both also the second most sought after packed out variation from the set (just behind the 1/1). Neither card has been available in any online marketplace for at least 11 years, although it could be longer than that, so neither will have a hard time attracting buyers nor interest. It boils down to Card 1's value > Card 2's value due to Card 1's year being more in demand than Card 2's, all else equal.

If both are listed at the same time, I would basically be competing with myself - the same collectors will bid on both, and having two listed at the same time makes people decide between the two. Definitely don't want that, so avoid listing them at the same time.

Now, would listing Card 2 first and letting it finish before listing the other maximize the sale price of both? This would have people bidding like it's the only one going to be available, and then those that missed out on that one will possibly be excited to bid on Card 1 and be willing to bid more?

OR, would listing Card 1 first get more people interested in Card 2, as they would be disappointed that they missed out on Card 1, and would know this would be one of the only times these will ever become available?

TL: DR - same cards from different years, relatively high demand, would it net more to list the card in higher demand first and list the lesser demand one second, or vice versa? Listing at same time would probably limit value on both, because they would be competing with each other.

I'm leaning towards Card 1 first, as I don't think the demand for that is going to increase all that much more than where it's already at, I think that missing out on that one could drive the price up higher for Card 2 than it would have been.

I know I am probably overthinking this, as I tend to do that, but figured I'd ask in case anyone has had a similar experience, what way they handled it, and how it worked out for them. Thoughts?

marinocollector · 03-12-2025, 09:22 AM

You are overthinking this.

This is why you do high buy it nows and field offers.

LOL

bojesphob · 03-12-2025, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marinocollector

You are overthinking this.

This is why you do high buy it nows and field offers.

LOL

If any sales happen with them, I'll be having PSA auction them, I don't want to handle those sales myself, the difference in fees and shipping costs between PSA and eBay at the level these will sell at will be worth letting them handle it.

My main issue comes in that my current grasp of the market is still kind of stuck in the 2017 time frame. One recent sale started as an auction with a BIN I thought was too high. It sold for 6x what my BIN was. I had people asking me to end it early for them for under the BIN price I originally listed it as, since the BIN disappeared with the first bid... I sold a bunch of stuff back in September/October that would have sold higher had I done an auction, and I cut out a lot of potential value since I wasn't current on trends. Had I followed my instincts that I followed last year, I would have probably lost out on about 7x of the value I ended up actually selling that one card for. I even had one guy telling me it wouldn't come anywhere close to half what it ended up selling at, and he was as surprised as I was what it sold at. Of course, this could all be moot if the economy tanks.

CorndogWasp · 03-12-2025, 01:01 PM

For the recent sale was it the "traditional" 7 day auction that starts at 99cents?

bojesphob · 03-12-2025, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CorndogWasp

For the recent sale was it the "traditional" 7 day auction that starts at 99cents?

It was a 7 day auction with BIN, but I the initial bid at 50 dollars, so it definitely started higher than 99 cents, got the first bid 5 minutes in, which took away the BIN.

Floridacardguy · 03-12-2025, 02:07 PM

If you are gonna do any auctions, make the price .99 cents, to get more bidders. Just be aware, if it's a card not many are seeking, it may sell for not much money.
If you are selling buy it now, and you list for too high, you won't sell as many cards, unless your card(s) is really rare, and the only one available. I think a good practice when selling a more common card is to see what a card you are listing has been selling for recently and then list if for 5-10% more. You can always take offers.

bojesphob · 03-12-2025, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floridacardguy

If you are gonna do any auctions, make the price .99 cents, to get more bidders. Just be aware, if it's a card not many are seeking, it may sell for not much money.
If you are selling buy it now, and you list for too high, you won't sell as many cards, unless your card(s) is really rare, and the only one available. I think a good practice when selling a more common card is to see what a card you are listing has been selling for recently and then list if for 5-10% more. You can always take offers.

I think PSA does .99 cent auctions, and that's who would, in this scenario, list what I'm referring to. To give some more clarity, I have done some research with this and both cards have a floor of around 1000 dollars, but I have little way of knowing what the ceiling for the older of the two is, the newer one I would think would sell for less than the 1/1 that is the only comp, which I'd say based on that would have a ceiling of around 2500.

slyguy · 03-12-2025, 08:10 PM

Yeah, way overthinking this...

Sell most big/star/HOF cards for BIN with offers.
Set a logical minimum to reject so you don't waste your time.
If it doesn't sell awhile or even get any decent offers, re-eval periodically with comps.

If selling a young/unproven/hype player, just do 99c or 9.99 or whatever auction.
Force a sale before the guy gets benched or hurt or whatever.
As was said, auctions can backfire as they need 2+ interested bidders.

Try to buy mainly offseason, sell preseason or in-season.

Simple.

jacksonjj · 03-13-2025, 04:07 PM

There are thousands of card collectors/investors on ebay. I highly doubt either card will be competing against each other in the real world. If you really want to sell just list them both on auction and the market will sell itself. It works this way for 99.9% of cards ever sold.

03-12-2025, 08:54 AM	#1
bojesphob Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 3,533 bojesphob	Selling: How do you keep from competing with yourself,get the best sale prices Just to note before asking this, I'm not trying to pump listings that I have, as I have nothing listed right now, this is a conceptual question. I might be in this scenario in the near future, but I won't be selling anything myself, and I don't want to potentially spoil any listings that come out of this if it goes beyond conceptual. Here's what I was hoping for some input on: Two cards, same set, same variation, same player, same team, and (hopefully) same PSA 9 or 10 grade, also will be the only graded copy for both from any grading company, just two different years. Highly collected player and team (although NOT top tier for the player). Card 1 is the most sought after year for that set, Card 2 is from the next year and also highly sought after but not quite as much as Card 1's year. They are both also the second most sought after packed out variation from the set (just behind the 1/1). Neither card has been available in any online marketplace for at least 11 years, although it could be longer than that, so neither will have a hard time attracting buyers nor interest. It boils down to Card 1's value > Card 2's value due to Card 1's year being more in demand than Card 2's, all else equal. If both are listed at the same time, I would basically be competing with myself - the same collectors will bid on both, and having two listed at the same time makes people decide between the two. Definitely don't want that, so avoid listing them at the same time. Now, would listing Card 2 first and letting it finish before listing the other maximize the sale price of both? This would have people bidding like it's the only one going to be available, and then those that missed out on that one will possibly be excited to bid on Card 1 and be willing to bid more? OR, would listing Card 1 first get more people interested in Card 2, as they would be disappointed that they missed out on Card 1, and would know this would be one of the only times these will ever become available? TL: DR - same cards from different years, relatively high demand, would it net more to list the card in higher demand first and list the lesser demand one second, or vice versa? Listing at same time would probably limit value on both, because they would be competing with each other. I'm leaning towards Card 1 first, as I don't think the demand for that is going to increase all that much more than where it's already at, I think that missing out on that one could drive the price up higher for Card 2 than it would have been. I know I am probably overthinking this, as I tend to do that, but figured I'd ask in case anyone has had a similar experience, what way they handled it, and how it worked out for them. Thoughts?

03-12-2025, 09:22 AM	#2
marinocollector Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Locally Posts: 8,279	You are overthinking this. This is why you do high buy it nows and field offers. LOL __________________ There's 100 made! Lets hope that one of the .00000001% of the world population that actually own this card decides that today is the day they offer it for sale.

03-12-2025, 08:10 PM	#8
slyguy Temporarily Suspended Join Date: Jan 2025 Location: SW USA Posts: 976	Yeah, way overthinking this... Sell most big/star/HOF cards for BIN with offers. Set a logical minimum to reject so you don't waste your time. If it doesn't sell awhile or even get any decent offers, re-eval periodically with comps. If selling a young/unproven/hype player, just do 99c or 9.99 or whatever auction. Force a sale before the guy gets benched or hurt or whatever. As was said, auctions can backfire as they need 2+ interested bidders. Try to buy mainly offseason, sell preseason or in-season. Simple. __________________ "The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never be sure that they're authentic." - Abraham Lincoln

03-12-2025, 01:01 PM	#4
CorndogWasp Member Join Date: Jan 2025 Posts: 87	For the recent sale was it the "traditional" 7 day auction that starts at 99cents?

03-12-2025, 02:07 PM	#6
Floridacardguy Member Join Date: Dec 2022 Posts: 8,002	If you are gonna do any auctions, make the price .99 cents, to get more bidders. Just be aware, if it's a card not many are seeking, it may sell for not much money. If you are selling buy it now, and you list for too high, you won't sell as many cards, unless your card(s) is really rare, and the only one available. I think a good practice when selling a more common card is to see what a card you are listing has been selling for recently and then list if for 5-10% more. You can always take offers.

03-13-2025, 04:07 PM	#9
jacksonjj Member Join Date: Aug 2023 Location: San Diego Posts: 788	There are thousands of card collectors/investors on ebay. I highly doubt either card will be competing against each other in the real world. If you really want to sell just list them both on auction and the market will sell itself. It works this way for 99.9% of cards ever sold.