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!