What is a good and fair offer

[andyht]

Hi Guys,

When making offers, I try to come up with a value that I believe is fair for all parties. But sometimes it can be quite subjective... can it?
I'm interested to know what people considered a good and fair offer.
Would you consider any of the following:

• Book value
• Ebay's previous sale value
• AUD vs USD
• Postage
• Potential of the player
• Grading
• Jersey numbered

Happy Easter to all.

 

[ozballer23]

I like to find an average of the past few sales, and consider postage. Last sale could be a fluke, but if it's a low numbered card and only one ever listed, I go with that.

 

[MattWasGF4L]

I consider last few sales. Don't have Beckett online subscription anymore so can't use it. Also consider if player is a rookie/2nd year and has had a good game recently prices may be temporarily higher but will often drop down a bit soon or in offseason. I'd pay more if I really wanted it and not many have come up but not that much more for jersey numbered, I know some people pay a big premium for that but I'd only offer small premium.

 

[fastnbulbous]

I am similar to above. I like to use past sales and get averages of them, if possible.

Beckett is pretty useless. However if it is a rarer card, in the case where another player from the set might be selling, i like to refer to a beckett to determine relative player pricing within a certain set.
So if player B in the same set sold for X and i am making an offer on player A, i like to check the beckett to see what percentage of book value the 2 players are in the beckett and sometimes compare things like that.
Although i have noticed this is not all that consistent anyway. This probably doesn't work that well for current players where "they can be hot or cold" all of a sudden, but for older cards with players that have already established careers, it can be useful.

Where possible i always like to have some evidence or justification for an offer anyway. I think if you can provide something a reasonable person would offer, based on evidence (like in a court room ;p) it is at least a fair offer.
Whether the seller wants that or not, that's another question. But you should not be be scoffed at or questioned for low balling etc.

 

[Cobretti]

book value is pointless

past sale average of a few is the way to go.

 

[Fleer57]

My issue with using Ebay sales to gauge value is when people sell something cheap for a quick, urgent sale. Then that all of a sudden becomes the value of that card. Then someone else sells that card even cheaper, and the value drops yet again. Having said that, we should stop using the word value when we mean price. A card might have a value of $100 but sell for $50. If we just considered that as a bargain instead of assigning $50 as the card's new value, we'd be better off. Otherwise cards just plummet in value and nothing can really bring them back up. I suppose a card's value might be book value, as a starting point - or just not the lowest ebay sale.

 

[nichj99]

I like to use ebay sold listings as a guide when buying, but trading I use BV as much as possible.