Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Pondering the BIN (Buy It Now)

Do you have a second? I'd like your opinion.

I have fifteen Dan Vogelbach cards in my collection, many of which are printing plates or autographs and I've never paid more than $25 for any one of them.

Currently, there are fifteen card Vogelbach cards numbered out of 10 or less on Ebay, all of which I'd like to add to my collection. I've been watching many of them for over a year and in some cases two years.

Some of them have changed prices.  Here's an example:
 As you can see by my notes, this card was once as high as $229 and now it's down to a more palatable $69.95.

Some of the cards are marked way too high:
Yeah, no one in their right mind is forking over fifteen-hundred dollars for a card of the Vogelmonster.

Besides the card pictured above, there's one more expensive Vogelbach card listed at $599. The other thirteen of these low-numbered cards, which I have stored in my watch list, have an average price of $51.32. Which is certainly more palatable than what's shown above, but still kind of pricey.

Again, that number, $51.32, is about twice the amount I've ever spent on a Vogelbach card . . . and honestly, the one card I did pay twenty-five bucks for has since given me a mild case of buyer's remorse.

I want some of these cards, which have been sitting on Ebay collecting dust, for my Vogelmonster collection. Yet, I'm not willing to pay $50 for a card serial numbered to /10, because a breaker is trying to salvage the cost of his box. I've bought plenty of cards at least that scarce for 10%-20% of that price. It's Dan Vogelbach for crying out loud . . . not Mike Trout!

I often listen to collectors and dealers when I'm at card shows and I frequently hear these individuals griping about "low-ball" offers on Ebay from buyers on their high end cards.

I know what these cards are really worth, because I know the Vogelbach market better than Ronnie Woo-Woo knows Wrigleyville. Being that as it may be, what it's worth would probably be considered an insult of a "low-ball" offer. I'm a people-pleaser.  It's just who am I.  So, I'm reluctant to send in a lower Buy-It-Now (BIN) offer.

I've played the waiting game and have been rewarded a couple of times. I've also thrown out some BIN offers and have varying success. Some sellers have met me half way and some have flat out said no, while one was very surly.

What do you do in this case? Should I throw out some more BIN offers? I don't want to infuriate a seller with an offer and then never see the card's price lowered as a result. Whereas, if I remain patient then maybe the price eventually starts to creep downward to where it fits in my budget.

Please, let me know what you would do in this situation. For instance, I'd love a shot at adding a laundry tag to my Vogelmonster collection:
But, at fifty bucks I just can't pull the trigger. I'd offer $25 to add such a unique card to my collection, but I would not haggle. $25 would be my highest offer.

I did manage to recently add a stellar 1/1 printing plate from Panini's 2018 National Treasures set for a cool $13.50.  You may now gawk, stare and drool if you like.
Yeah, that's a card at a price I can stomach.

Thanks for reading and please leave me some advice in comments!

21 comments:

  1. I always throw out prices that I believe the card is worth. I don’t worry about what the seller thinks. Eventually if he doesn’t sell it. The price will drop regardless. I’ve often made offers less than 1/2 of the BIN price.

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  2. There are Darwin Barney cards with crazy prices, too. I am content to wait. If the price gets more reasonable, fine. I have enough 1/1s and don't feel the need to overpay for more.
    There is a limited market for Vogelbach cards. If the sellers really want to move the cards, the price will drop.

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  3. Every once in a while, usually late on a Saturday night when I've got a buzz going and the number of F's I give is running low, I'll shoot out a best offer or three. I've never had an unpleasant experience. Usually they'll just say no, or counter with a high-but-less-high price, and occasionally they say yes.

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  4. Dang! That is a sweet card! I would even get a Yankee or ‘Bama player if it was a card like that Vogelbach auto/patch/plate. Congrats on adding that sweet card!

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  5. I'm with Mark. I'd offer the $25.00 on any that you can. If the sellers deny or counter offer they won't sell those V cards to anyone else you know that, they'll have to come down at some point. You seem to be a patient man, so no worries at least the seller will no WHO is interested in the card.

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    1. heck we could could all bombard them with offers of 10 or 15, he might jump at 20 or 25, lol.

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  6. If the seller is concerned about being annoyed by low ball offers he can adjust his settings to automatically decline offers under a certain amount. I have done that myself. Great printing plate!

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  7. Definitely make the offer. Anyone doing this more than a week will understand and either accept or decline your offer. Don't fret over those who don't get it.

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  8. I paid $200+ for my non-autographed superfractor of Luis Torrens back in late 2014. The value of his 1/1's have plummeted since as I've only paid triple digits another time before his 2015 season ended prematurely and his value went kaputzki. Nowadays I only pull the trigger when the price is reasonable ($40 is the max I'm willing to go for non-autographed 1/1's, a little more for autographed ones). An autographed plate has been floating on eBay forever but it's at twice what I'd actually pay so it'll stay there forever.

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  9. I'd definitely throw out BIN offers. I've been in situations where I didn't want to offend an eBay seller, but some of the guys you're talking about have BIN prices that are offensive. I say throw out a fair offer and see who bites. Congratulations on picking up that sweet printing plate patch autograph!

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  10. Make your offers, if the seller is not interested they can refuse and nothing is lost. Keep the items on your watch list and maybe the sellers will realize they are asking too much after a couple of times re-listing it and they will drop the price. The waiting game sucks, but it pays off sometimes.

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    1. I think this is what I'm going to do.
      Thanks to everyone who chimed in! I really appreciate.
      I'll start throwing out some offers in 2019.

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  11. I know this all too well with both Tino Martinez and Ty Hensley cards. There is a little bit of a market for Tino, especially for rarer late 90s inserts. I am convinced I'm the only market for Hensley. It's been really hard to get people to budge off of particular prices because YANKEES FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICK. Never mind that he's not in affiliated ball right now. I've basically set a limit like you, and won't go past it because it's just me bidding against myself. In some instances I've seen the prices come down. Others, I've just chalked it up to the fact that I'll never have that particular card.

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  12. Just dropping by to OGLE THAT VOGEL. (Feel free to steal that)

    Eh, throw the low BINs out there and you’ll either pick them up or pick them off after the price comes down.

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    1. Haha... OGLE THAT VOGEL... made me laugh at loud!

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  13. Ive been rewarded with letting cards just sit there until I'm finally ready to commit to a price. There are 3 other McCutchen collectors out there with collections in the 500 to 1,500 unique card range. I just passed 2,500. If one of the other super collectors gets it, I have a chance at landing it down the line (albeit often for more money than I could have had it for).

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  14. I'd definitely throw out the BIN, but it looks like it might be too late as the listing seems to be gone off of eBay.

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  15. Somewhat related to the post, but I stumbled upon a Vogelback patch auto from 2018 Topps Fire #/10 today that made me instantly think of you. Not sure if you're still super collecting him, but I'll include the link anyway since the price seems pretty fair.

    https://www.comc.com/Cards/Baseball/2018/Topps_Fire_-_Autograph_Patches_-_Magenta/FAP-DV/Dan_Vogelbach/13660340

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    1. I've already picked a copy of this one up. Thanks!

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