How Far Do You Go For A Whale?

MMarch

MMarch

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I know, most believe you can only have one whale but I have 3. One of them is on EBAY right now, and believe me, you could go back 10 years on this forum and you will never find a post from anyone (other then me maybe) saying they are looking to buy or trade for this guy. He is not a popular player as the era he played in he was overshadowed by some mega-super-stars. Add to that that most people who were fans of this guy are probably dead by now or they have absolutely no interest in cardboard at this point in their lives.....

So, the card pops up awhile back, one of those 30 days listings with an absolutely absurd BIN and Best Offer. I make an offer which is more then fair, and I was probably way overpaying at that. They respond with a counter offer $50 less then their absurd BIN. I counter back with $50 more then my original offer, and at this point I'm not even wanting to offer this much as it is way way way overpaying. They decline the offer and say they know they can get their asking price from a fan of this team or an autograph collector. I send them a very nice email, explain that I am probably the only person in the world actively looking for his cards, and I believe I am offering more then they would get even if they took it to the Nationals. I explain the guy is a family friend of my grandmother and I honestly have never seen anyone looking for his cards, so please reconsider. Of course, I never hear back. So, the listing ends after 30 days, and of course they never received another offer on the card. They relist it again with the same BIN, so I send a message asking if they thought about my offer since they didn't receive any other offers, and never heard back.

They are asking for $1000 on this card, which they will never get in a million years. The guy is still alive, he is no spring chicken, but he is alive and well. Even if he rescued 100 kids from a burning building, found a cure for cancer, and became the next prime minister of Canada, his card would never sell for even half of what they are asking. Sure, I would like to own the card, but there is no way I am going to pay so much over the value that I would end up hating the card and regretting it every day. So, if you were in my shoes, would you continue to push with the seller, or just accept the fact that they have no concept of reality, it's obvious they would rather take the card to their grave then sell it for more then fair value, and forget about it. The player has very few autographs out there, and probably won't have very many more, but $900 is just beyond ridiculous (at least in my opinion).

Thanks for listening, would love to hear your thoughts on this.
 
who is this card of?

I would pay in there favour for sure... My whale i have yet to seen one in 2 Years so if i saw one i would pretty much pay anything. if you have seen a few it's different but I have yet to see a single one. But it could be different for all players and different collectors aswell
 
I missed a whale and never seen another for around 4 years, then lost out on a last second bid by about $2. I was p.o'd and just by shear luck another card popped up a month later and I put in double the value of the card to make sure it would not get away again. By luck i won the card for $50 less than what the last listing had sold for.
 
my whale I am willing to spend what I can

I was out bid twice for my Whale at the last minute and one time the guy change his mind about trading for my whale urg oh well i land it 1 day

happy collecting
 
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pharmd30usp said:
Nothing you can do but watch and wait....sucks that is the case. Perhaps the new products will bring a new alternative.
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I know there is no way Panini or Upper Deck will ever produce a card of this player, so it will only be ITG if they have more of his autos as they are the only company to ever make an autograph card of him, and they are all cuts.
 
hard to say without knowing:

-what the card is
-who the player is
-what your initial offer is
-what the player's cards normally go for
-how many copies of said card exist
-how often they pop up

truthfully, i've probably overpaid by alot and i've been very fortunate to have landed some of my biggest whales but i won't ever regret it. disposable income is disposable income. chasing the card is just as much fun as owning the card.
 
Good story. Hopefully another one pops up soon.

Not exactly a whale for me, but a Luc Robitaille three color jersey card from sweet shots a couple years ago. I saw it on the bay for a good price. My wife was on the computer and didn't let me on until two minutes after the bid ended, at a lot lower price than I would have put up.

I contacted the guy that won it for $6 and said I'd double what he paid. He said he'd get back to me. He responded he wanted $40 for it. I told him to forget it.

Eventually I forgot it too, but I had a saved search on ebay. Probably a year later, a similar card popped up as part of a lot of cards, I won it, and recouped most of the bid on the other cards in the lot.

So be patient, I'd say.
 
There are some sellers that will not cut you a break on a card once they have a price set in there minds that they are going to get for it. It will sit there for years at a price nobody is willing to pay yet they feel it is priced accordingly. Stay patient and hopefully they come around.
 
If you want the card bad enough....you will pay the asking price.

The more you egg on the seller....the more he will stick to his price.

No card is worth the thought of 'I've overpaid' or 'I remember the scumbag who sold me this card'. You just won't enjoy it.

Pass on it and if it really is overpriced....hit him up in a year or two. It's not going anywhere.
 
bamlinden said:
The more you egg on the seller....the more he will stick to his price.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%, any email or correspondence like that usually does nothing but increases the price/decreases the likelihood of coming to any kind of deal. Sometimes less is more when it comes to negotiating on cards.

Darren
 
"He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it."

Of course, that's just me. Your mileage may vary.
 
You screwed yourself three ways:

1. You tried to tell him what the card was worth, when he obviously has his own idea what the card is worth. For that alone you're lucky he didn't block you, because I probably would have.

2. You told him the reason you want the card. With all due respect, I'm sure he doesn't care why you want the card, but now that he knows there's a family connection, he figures he's got you by the short and curlies.

3. You approached him again when he relisted it. Now he figures you're probably desperate and he's willing to try and wait you out.

It might be a whale, but the only choice you have now is either wait it out and see if he comes to his senses (which will probably take a while), or give him what he wants. Good luck with whatever you opt to do.

Rob
 
bamlinden said:
No card is worth the thought of 'I've overpaid' or 'I remember the scumbag who sold me this card'. You just won't enjoy it.
Click to expand...

Agree with this statement 100%. Let it go. I had a similar situation with a Phaneuf auto set. I was trying to get all the copies of a particular sp auto. A fellow board member sent me a note right from a 1970's car lot trying to extort 200% more than any other copies had ever sold for. I told him he could hang on to it. And he is to this day.
I still get a note every once in a while offering it to me. I just ignore him. That set isnt on my radar any more. Its not worth it.
 
without more info its impossiable to tell - sorry


but


never good telling someone there card is not worth what they think it is

you have painted yourself onto a corner he know someone is out there now. if he's not in a rush for cash he won't budge

if he is keep watching you never know
 
Just hold out man, that card is not worth more than $400 on a BO....The UM9 version went for a little under $350 for which I was personally outbid for at that....woulda went way less had I not bid....and I felt that I wanted it quite less than that snipe I threw down. There will definitely be more made. If I can pull a Michael Karakas cut (who?), there will definitely be more of these in later editions of Superlative and UM, not to mention the Hockey Cuts edition coming out soonish....guarantee there will be one in there...the more alternatives...the lower the price goes....simple economics but I can guarantee the eFool you are speaking of will not come to his senses anytime soon. Just take it out of your watchlist....that makes for one less watcher on the item....likely pushing that tally to '0'...
 
I watched a card I wanted for 3 months, and placed 3 separate offers on it. The seller declined my first 2 offers outright. When I sent my third offer I asked him why he wouldn't counter-offer. He finally did but it was still way too high a price to pay. I finally sent him a message saying I was taking it off my watch list and moving on. It's frustrating, but there is nothing you can do sometimes.
 
pharmd30usp said:
Just hold out man, that card is not worth more than $400 on a BO....The UM9 version went for a little under $350 for which I was personally outbid for at that....woulda went way less had I not bid....and I felt that I wanted it quite less than that snipe I threw down. There will definitely be more made. If I can pull a Michael Karakas cut (who?), there will definitely be more of these in later editions of Superlative and UM, not to mention the Hockey Cuts edition coming out soonish....guarantee there will be one in there...the more alternatives...the lower the price goes....simple economics but I can guarantee the eFool you are speaking of will not come to his senses anytime soon. Just take it out of your watchlist....that makes for one less watcher on the item....likely pushing that tally to '0'...
Click to expand...

I hear ya. It's obvious the guy has no idea what he has, or anything about the player. He says "the late XXX legend", well, unless he never showed up for a dinner date, there is nothing late about this guy. He is alive and well.
 
Here's an idea.
Why not have a friend of yours put in an offer much lower than yours.
You now what I mean? Maybe if there are other offers the seller might wake up and see it as less valuable than he thinks it is now.
You ask for my thoughts, doesn't mean you have to listen to them. Disregard as needed because my whale hunting is totally dictated by my lack of funds. So I watch a ton of my guys cards go floating by.
:beer:
Dan V.
 

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