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06-29-2016 The excitement in this hobby is the buying. Auction houses post "price realized" advertisements to garner future consignments, and even I tout my notable sales every month in my newsletters. Sure, I need sales, but I need need new inventory to keep things fresh and to keep generating revenue. This column has been bubbling for a while. It was originally going to be a tale of two deals: one that worked out and one that didn't. But I'll just spoil the surprise now and let you know that I did end up making both buys. I'm guessing you'll still be up for reading along, that you didn't just spike your phone to the ground or angrily slam your laptop closed. And if you did, well, you could have just clicked the little "x" on the browser page instead... Dateline: Friday, June 10 I'm headed to a Hardee's over two hours away to look at a collection a gentleman has purchased and wants to flip me. We've had a couple phone conversations so far that have left me fairly positive (over 50%) that we'll be able to come to an agreement on the price. Like many people I've met through this hobby, I found this gentleman to be pretty interesting. He reminds me of an older version of myself, actually. He's a "hustler" in the most positive sense of the word. Some of you will understand what I mean. He's managed to be successful without ever holding down a "real" job. Instead, he has acquired enough knowledge to buy and sell coins, jewelry, cards, glass, motorcycles, etc. There are certain people (me included) who find that breadth of knowledge admirable. Me, I'm pretty much limited to vintage sportscards. He may or may not have dabbled in some things that were less than legal, but that I also appreciated. These activities, of course, will be left to speculation. We all have our views of what is right and wrong in this world, and our opinions may not perfectly mirror the rule of law. Oh well...if no one is getting hurt, I generally don't see the problem. In any case, I mentioned carrying a confidence that we would strike a deal. I based this on a couple things. First, though I could tell his expertise wasn't super-strong with cards, he was a buyer/seller, cut from the same cloth as I was. This would mean he'd be reasonable. Two, he had done some research and come up with a price that he wanted for the lot. My estimate, without even seeing the cards, was about 2/3 of his price. That definitely made the deal worth a look. If there were more cards, more stars, or the condition was a little better than anticipated, that gap could easily be bridged. Plus, I assumed he had some room to negotiate. I guess I should mention at some point what this collection actually was! About 1100 cards - all Topps and Bowman baseball from 1952 to 1955. That's a tight grouping. Included were (60+) '52 Topps Hi#s, with Mathews, Nuxhall, Wilhelm, and other minor Hi# stars, along with Mays from the Lo# series. Excellent! And since he described the Hi#s as roughly G-Vg/PSA 2.5 condition, this also lended to my idea that he was being reasonable. (Should I need to remind anyone, still close to my own mind was how an inaccurate description of condition lead to a near-disaster in this deal.) OK, so back to Hardee's. For the first time I get the opportunity to put my eyes and mitts on this collection. I add it up and my figure is higher than my initial estimate, but still lower than his requested price by $3000. I'm still confident because with a collection of this price, the $3000 wasn't insignifcant, but still wasn't a huge percentage difference. The gentleman casually turns down my offer and doesn't shoot back a lower price or anything. I was slightly stunned at how nonchalant he was, and also that he didn't even even have a counter-offer. But he did mention he was going to have a couple other people look at it. We sat and talked for another 15-20 minutes about our experiences in our respective hobbies/businesses and parted under perfectly friendly and amicable terms. Not once did we mention that particular collection again or revisit our offers. That was a long, confusing ride home. Obviously, with a collection like that, I figured it at very slim margins because it could be sold so easily. That meant I couldn't increase my offer very much. I didn't have non-buyer's remorse, (or FOMO, in modern lexicon, I guess). I was just disappointed I had come close to landing some splashy '52 Topps Hi#s that wouldn't end up making their way to my inventory. This is the insight you tune in for. I'm no Trump-esque "Art of the Deal" prodigy. But here is one deal-making lesson that crossed through my mind: maybe I had given up too much leverage by driving that distance. There was a reason I mentioned this was over two hours away. This particular Hardee's was close by this gentleman's home, so I had put myself out there, time-wise. I don't give away too many of my hard-earned negotiating tactics. Cherish that one. Thursday, June 16 I'm meeting (in town - hooray!) a gentleman who contacted me via e-mail about selling his personal collection from the 80s. Oh, what? Was that an audible groan I heard in the audience? Exactly my reaction at first. In most cases, I wouldn't have gotten too much further, but luckily his initial e-mail included some of the highlights: 82 Topps Traded, 84 Fleer Update, 84 and 85 USFL sets. I told him over e-mail and again in person, "You're soooo lucky you collected some of the only good stuff from the 80s!" (Save for an MJ rookie, but there was no basketball present.) I enjoyed buying this deal even more than I should have. It wasn't a huge dollar amount (except when you consider it was all 80s cards). But it was different stuff than I usually see, and the cards were in extremely sharp condition. For example, the USFL boxes had enough tension in the cardboard flaps that I knew they hadn't even been opened before! Worth mentioning was how nice and personable the seller was. The only reason I don't want to identify his profession is because there can't be very many people around in this field and I'm afraid it would ID him as a person. However, if I told you what he did, you'd say, "Oh, interesting, then he MUST be a nice guy." The whole experience was just fun, what this whole hobby should be. Tuesday, June 28 (a.k.a. yesterday) What do I see on my caller ID? A call from the old hustler with the '52 Topps deal. Imagine my elation. Because I know... I KNOW EXACTLY... what is going to happen next before I even answer the phone. The deal is mine!! Duh. He's not calling to talk about the weather, or to say he sold the cards elsewhere. The particulars were predictable: One dealer was unable to meet with him, and the other wanted to cherry-pick the deal. He blew them both off and turned to the Monster who was gonna give him five figures of cold, hard cash. Over the phone, we quickly and easily confirmed a price very near my original offer and set up a time/place to meet (which was slightly closer to me this go-round). While most people were arriving this morning to their office and first cup of coffee, we were sealing the deal. And that's how I landed just the 2nd Mathews rookie I've ever owned (first non-trimmed). Just a couple additional notes. First, scenarios like this play out for me quite often. Usually thanks to other dealers in the room pointing people my way, I frequently am the first dealer a person encounters when they're trying to sell their collection. As such, I'm usually the bearer of disappointing news that their cards aren't worth what the person hoped. This happens so often I feel like I've developed a good bedside manner about it. But on the flip side, they usually come back and sell to me after receiving offers from other dealers. I'm proud to say this isn't just at small, one-day shows either; it happens at The National as well. From my standpoint, that's one great thing about making strong, honest, non-ripoff offers to people. I never feel like I missed out if they sell their cards elsewhere. If another dealer can pay more, then hey, I tip my cap to them. (A huge asterisk to anyone I suspect of trimming/altering cards, which I've woven into some conversations and columns lately.) The other thing I'd like to expound upon is this second mystery dealer who looked at the collection and wanted to cherry-pick it. Seriously, what kind of a dumbass is this guy?!? When you have a group of cards in front of you that is all from '52-'55, every card, even the beat up ones, are gonna be at least $1. There's NO JUNK in this deal. Even the low-grade items can be (and in my case, will be) lotted up and wholesaled on eBay or at shows...and the collection is so compact that there will be very, very few of these lots anyway! I don't know. Shit like that just boggles my mind sometime. Thanks for reading. I have to go now; I have some Hi#s to price. Have fun! -T |
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