But I WANT It To Be True
“Truthiness is what you want the facts to be as opposed to what the facts are. What feels like the right answer as opposed to what reality will support.”—Stephen Colbert
Here some wonderfully truthy things I’ve heard at shows:
“I’m into it for more than that”. In the vernacular of Gen Z, that’s a “you” problem, not a “me” problem. The fact that you made a bad investment is not pertinent to what the card is worth here, now, today, offered for sale at your table. We all screw the pooch occasionally in a deal. It happens. If you are selling a card, you must recognize the market price at that point, sell it and take your financial lumps. Otherwise, you are in the card display business.
“It’s worth this.” No, it isn’t, especially if it is obscure or rare. As mentioned in my column on rarity, a truly rare card has no real market value because there are not enough examples to sell often enough to create a market history. A card that hasn’t had a sale in five years. Guess what? It is not ‘worth’ a specific figure, no matter how much you wish for it to be so.
“[So and so] says it is worth this.” Citing authority is just dandy but only if you get it right. So many dealers blatantly misstate the authority, or just flat-out lie, I have wonder, are they ignorant or crooked? My favorite one of these ever was at a National. A dealer had a Jim Corbett cabinet card. Pretty common boxing card from a set I’d catalogued and priced. I asked the dealer how much and he gave me a price that was way over market. He cited my own book as the reference point for that bogus pricing. I introduced myself and the look on his face was priceless, like a guy who’d been caught in a car with a hooker at midnight on a Tuesday in downtown Cleveland. No way to explain that away. It gave me a chuckle all day long.
“This player is my great grandfather.” That’s very nice, but he isn’t my great grandfather, so it is irrelevant to me. A statement like this in a negotiating context is a logical fallacy called an appeal to emotion. Appeals to emotion are not only irrelevant, they are counterproductive bargaining tools. Think about it: telling me of your sentimental reasons for wanting an item is grounds for my raising the price since I know you want it for emotional reasons. In effect, you just told me that the market price is not the key to the deal. I’ve had people contact me about a card or item gushing that it is the only thing they’ve seen of good old granddad and just have to have it. Thank you for that tidbit: my price just tripled.
“It’s for my personal collection.” As a dealer, I love this one. The implied messaging is two-fold: (1) An appeal to emotion: I want it for emotional reasons so you should cut me a break, and (2) I am paying the most you will get because I won’t be reselling it, so you can count on my price as the top price. Both fallacious. I don’t care why you want the card and I cannot control what you do with the card after you buy it. None of that is my business. Keep it, flip it, use it to roll a J and get high, it isn’t my business. Your reason for wanting a card or your plan for a card are not reasons for a discount.
“I would lose money on this card.” So many dealers do not think holistically about their inventory. The fact that you would lose money on one card is not a good metric for whether to make a deal. Holding until you can eke out a profit item by item is a fool’s errand. The proper metric is what it is worth and is it to the point where you have held it so long that it is dead inventory. If I have held a card for some time and it is not moving and isn’t an investment grade item I am happy to hold, I dump it, even at a loss, via eBay $0.99 starting price auction. Get the cash into something else. I look at things holistically, based on the tax year. Taxes are a sound financial reason to get rid of unprofitable items before they become dead inventory: it is called “harvesting tax losses”. If you are on average making a profit over the tax year, a loss on a single card may offset your other card income with the loss. We will discuss finance and taxes a lot in later columns. Above all, don’t just sit there with a pile of crap tying up money that could be better used for something more likely to generate a profit.
“It is a great investment.” Maybe it is, but that is very personal and requires your insight into your own finances. Plus, if it is so great why are you selling it to me?
“It doubled in value.” Over what period? So many people who tout the price increases of cards as an argument for investing in them forget all about inflation. Inflation eats your ass alive. My greatest pack pull ever was a signed Derek Jeter insert in 1997 Topps. I love that card. It is a beautiful design with a great picture and a strong rookie era (aka legible) signature of a player who brought me so much joy to watch. I was thrilled to pull it and am happy to own it. At the time it came out the card sold for about $200 on the resale market. I recently saw one sell for $381. Great investment, right? Not really. From 1997-2023 the cumulative rate of inflation was 87%. The card that sold for $200 in 1997 must sell for $374 today just to match inflation. The $7 difference between the card in 1997 and today, negligible total growth over 26 years. I would have made far more money with a savings account. I know, the card is awesome and I enjoy it and not everything is about money, but still…
“Come back later and maybe I will be more flexible.” I heard this one at a flea market last weekend over a 1959 Dodgers World Series ticket stub. That is a silly tactic. Telling me that you will cut your price later? You might as well cut it now because all you are saying is that you are overpriced. I nodded, walked away. Bad deal; no deal.
Finally, on a somber note, I wanted to acknowledge Chandy Greeholt. who passed away last week, very suddenly. Chandy was a great, old school dealer and a true gentleman of the hobby. His table at the National was a focus of my attention for hours, not just for the cards but for the fine conversation, too. Just a lovely man and honest as the day is long. Going to the show will not be the same without him. I bought so many cards in my personal collection from Chandy. RIP.