General Forum

Those of you who sell on COMC, do you see flippers pick your cards up often? Do you even check?

I sold my first two cards last night, and I was curious to see if I could discover who bought them. Doesn't really matter, but maybe if it was a username I recognized I could send them a PIF on here as a thank you for being my first sale. I see there's no way to check by username, but the Item # doesn't change. I'm not on COMC to make a killing, but at least to make a profit for the most part. I sold these two Mickey Mantle cards (this one and this one) for $0.75 each. They're now listed for $8.00 each.

To me, that's grossly overpriced. But then again, same guy has a 1997 Topps Derek Jeter for $8.25. I need to send my four or five copies in apparently...

I shouldn't say this bothers me. But I'm a big believer in getting cards into the hands of people who want and will appreciate them, and not breaking their wallet while I'm at it. That's why I'm on COMC with some, and why I like sending PIFs here. So I guess in a way it does bother me. And I know that there are people out there who will say "well for some it's a business". Yeah, I know. That doesn't mean I have to like it, though.

Anyway, just curious, sellers: do you notice this often? Do you even bother to look into it at all? 

Edit to add that you can find the username, and I was correct on who it was. The more you know...

You just brought up the ONE reason I only use COMC as an absolute last resort (the greedy grossly overpriced people) 

Timely post Jason.  I listed my 400k traders on FB Marketplace witht he mention that it was intended to help people complete their sets.  It is amazing how many contacted me to see how much for everything.  One guy wanted to buy everything I had in the 50s and 60s.  I tild him that I would not sell to an "investor" and if I did, he would be in the thousnads of $$$.  He went away.

I am with you.  I would like to help people out missing those few cards to complete some of their sets without having to pay the prices you see on sites like COMC and Sportlots.  It is trying to reach out to them and get their trust that you are not intending to scam them.

Looks like someone who's trying to corner the market on cards they already have there. Hopefully, no one buys at his ridiculous prices, and he loses out in the end for being that way.

But personally, for me, if I'm selling an item, once the buyer has received it and all is well, it doesn't matter to me what they do with it. If they want to turn it around and make a huge profit on it, more power to them.

I have flipped on occasion in the past, mostly to help fund other PC purchases.  My flipping is generally on a small scale; I would buy a 75c card and list it for maybe $1 or $1.50.  I also almost always make sure to undercut whatever the lowest offer is in that moment, making my profit margins even thinner but still on the positive side.  I have sold some at a loss just to get them off of my screen.  And all this to say I haven't done any of it in months.  I get what you are saying, Jason, and your PIFs have found their way to me in the past as well for which I am always appreciative.  I think 'bothered' would be too strong a word for me, but 'annoyed' is certainly within reason.

I flip on COMC. What's wrong with it? They litteraly encourage it

i have sold maybe 5 cards on there.  What i have flipped was if i got a card for a really good, deal there or on ebay, and i knew i had a little bit of wiggle room for what i paid total.  Say i bought a 15 dollar card w/shipping (ebay) and a 5 dollar card (Comc), 20 dollars for my inventory.  Well i dont need the com c card any more i would sell it for maybe 10.  That is the only thing i have done.  Since i am waiting for their shipping to come back to realisticville, i have been purchasing a lot of doubles.  so i will turn around and then put the on sale if comc is holding them.

I think Dan hit on something that definitely happened. I wasn't the lowest on either of those cards, and now the user has multiple copies of each for the same price. I'm not the only one that they hit for this.

Flipping a $0.75 card for a buck more or so, I have no problems with. $1.00 more, but the card is still reasonably priced to where someone who really wants it for their collection can get their hands on it? Awesome, more power to you. And obviously if it's a higher-priced card, you're going to flip for a larger amount, I know. And if I got annoyed (better word Brimose, thanks) by every single person who makes more money than I do, I'm going to live a miserable life. 

What bothers me is the sheer gap between the original price and new price, especially when the new price is grossly inflated. Those cards even list for $3.00 on our site, and we almost all agree that our prices are high. Like I said, I like to see cards go to people who collect and appreciate them, not just make a profit on them. I guess what bothers me, when it comes down to it, is seeing first-hand someone try to take advantage of a hot market and/or unsuspecting buyers. Maybe I'm just too young or naive for the world of selling trading cards online, or maybe I just don't understand how it works.

Edit to add that I didn't say anywhere that there was a problem with flipping. My issue is with the ridiculously high price the user has re-listed them for.

I have sold over 8,000 items on COMC.  I got no probs with flippers.  I have flipped a few cards myself.  If I see something that looks underpriced I may snatch it up.  I have also purchsed a few ports which I usually split some for my PC the rest for flipping.

This is not really an answer to the the OP as I stopped selling cards many years ago. I realize that there has been and always will be a segment of the hobby that prioritizes monetary value above the collection value of a card. There was a time that bothered me. For me, my irritation with the profit seekers peeked in the late '90's. At that time it seemed like any card show I attended was dominated by sleazy, money grubbing vendors that didn't have any interest in the hobby other than how much money they could milk from it. I wonder how many of those "mall-vendors" are still in the hobby? Thankfully, back then e-bay was actually a place where you could connect with other collectors and (at least partially) avoid the feeding frenzy that dominated the hobby at the time.

It seems there has been a resurgence of the 90's "easy money" mentality over the past couple years. The demographic of the sellers has changed slightly (or I've just gotten older) but I sense the same type of "get-rich-quick" opportunism that I felt in the 90's. Personally, I won't participate in it.

I only "move" cards on TCDB. I pay attention to the members I send cards to. Before I enter a trade with someone I don't know, I review their TCDB profile. I look at their collection, read their forum posts, check out their COMC and ebay profiles, and review their contributions to the site. Sometimes it's fairly easy to see who the "flippers' are. I don't begrudge anyone looking to profit off of cards...good luck...but it does have an effect on my interactions.

When I trade with someone that I think might flip my cards, I pay attention to value. I try and make sure the trade is fair and I'm a little cautious and defensive in my approach to the trade. If I think someone is a "flipper" they won't ever get a PIF from me. 

Trade offers from someone who is obviously a collector get much less scrunity in terms of dollar value. If I know that someone is a collector they will most likely get a bunch of extra cards in a trade and they'll go on a PIF list I maintain.

I'm just a caretaker of the cards in my collection (personal collection and trade list). I feel that it's my responsibility to preserve the cards I have and forward as many of them as I can to those who collect them. In a nutshell, that's my vision of the hobby.