BV vs Sales

[horfin]

I have been doing this since buying the first pack I can remember in 1987. I'd walk home from school and stop at the local gas station and buy a pack of 1987 Topps and chew the gum and walk the rest of the way home. Once home I'd open my becket magazine and see what value I had. I'd wait a month and see how much my Mark McGwire card went up.... I've always used Beckett BV for trades and used it for gauging purchases. But more and more people are doing trades based upon purchases and quite frankly Beckett can't keep up (which is stupid, you'd think that with technology it'd be pretty simple to come up with a price structure then follow purchases ad adjust prices).

Anyway, I am trying to complete 2021 Bowman Chrome Black and White Mini-Diamonds and no one seems to have them to trade, so I've been searching on ebay and the BV(beckett) is not close on most of them (in both directions: sometimes BV is greater than sales and vice-versa. . . like one card sold only many occasions for $26, $5,$11,$7,$9) and the beckett was $1.50; Beckett had another card for $12.00 and it had sold for $8; $12; $4; $6.)

So I just had someone want to trade on sales values and their statement was the card is going for $9. And you can make an argument that an average of the sales is $9.00. However, almost all of the auctions have a $4.00 shipping fee on it. Wouldn't this mean that the card is really $13?

Do you guys include shipping costs when trading based upon sales values?

AND...Its a heck of a lot easier if we all use book value.
Bill

 

[darkman]

I ALWAYS include shipping costs when assessing eBay sales value. It's a part of the value of the transaction. For example, look at all the single cards on eBay that sell for around $1, but with something like a $5 S/H charge. It's absolutely not accurate to portray those cards as dollar cards.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I ALWAYS include shipping costs when assessing eBay sales value. It's a part of the value of the transaction. For example, look at all the single cards on eBay that sell for around $1, but with something like a $5 S/H charge. It's absolutely not accurate to portray those cards as dollar cards.

Sure it is. The card sold for $1.

You're going to pay shipping regardless. If you trade a $1 card for a $1 card, you're both paying shipping. Now, if you decide to send BMWT and the other guy sends PWE, well... that's a different debate.

 

[darkman]

You're not going to pay $5 to ship one card regardless, and buyers know that. I don't know if you have spent much time on eBay, but in my experience, the auction for that identical aforementioned card, if the shipping was $1 (rather than the aforementioned $5) would be a $5 bid (rather than a $1 bid). So, is that card a $5 card or a $1 card, because it can't be both. I suggest that the card is actually "$6 delivered", and not either of the other 2 numbers. If you assume that the average eBay bidder just accepts any ridiculous S/H amount at face value, without accounting for it, then you must not have done much with eBay

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Yeah, ive only been collecting cards since 86, and using eBay since 94. I obviously dont know Jack.