General Forum

As a set builder, I'm grateful for SportLots. I can buy a card needed to complete a set easily, and I'd gladly pay .18 for a common card to finish the set. It's worth it to me.

With so many of my incomplete sets being non-sport cards, I also welcome the fact that SportLots will be offering non-sport cards as well.

Amen! I'm not buying or trading for stuff to sell it, I'm collecting it (or maybe using it as trade bait for something else I want). If the price fluctuates, so be it. I'm in this hobby to collect, not to invest. I hate that it's being treated like the stock market now. I actually almost threw out most of my junk wax commons before I found this site because they were essentially "worthless", at least to me. 

I agree completely buying cards needed for 0.18 cents is a great deal. That is not the point "or its worth" is in noway being disputed.

The concern and point of this topic is the pricing issue that it is causing. There is many many sold listings on eBay for Mike trout stars of the MLB but the only thing posted is sportslots price as an example that was given by cardslave 

It shows a bunch of 0.18 cents and a 50 cents but ebay shows a bunch in sold listings from a penny to 3 bucks. (Somebody must list it onto here)

So this is a conversation trying to address a idea to help solve some of the pricing questions.  It is not a bash against sportslots, nor is it really a conversation of what folks feel cards are worth.  If I want to look up a stock or crypto price I can go check and get a price lightning quick.

This asset class also needs the same thing to have a ballpark value of value. 

...........

Then the next topic that none would agree on next is what is the value. cost of item plus shipping or just cost of item purchased. That is a whole other conversation that nobody will agree on but the stock market wasn't built in a day..

You can also go look up prices on those sites. I don't think there would be an easy way to capture everything in one place but this is a good first step. I feel like you are criticizing this in the prelim stages instead of waiting to see how it progresses. Also, if someone is selling that Trout card for 18 cents then to me it's worth 18 cents and someone was just dumb enough to pay a buck for it on ebay. On the flip side if I'm trading for it then I'm probably trading a Trout or similiar star insert for it. I don't think it's that complicated.

I used to sell on SL and my perspective was I got a virtual storefront, access to a targeted customer base, room to upload as much inventory as I wanted (for as long as I wanted), and the ability to accept multiple payment types managed for me...and I didn't pay a dime unless I sold something. I don't know how SL arrived at the 18 cent minimum, but that seemed like a pretty good deal to me, and still does.

I stopped selling due to family/life/hobby balance, and the fact I couldn't reach enough monthly volume to overcome the commissions. But, I still like SL as a collector/set builder, especially since they started SL Boxes. There are some SL sellers that ship to SL Box at a deep discount, so if there is a common I need for a set, and with 1 click I can have it sent to my SL Box for 18 cents, what more can I ask?    

No criticism, just saying it can be built. It is a good start, more marketplaces need to be automated to tcdb.

Years  ago in the age of crypto and when it 1st started out. there needed to be a place to check prices and supply. 

It can be created, only problem would be hmmm more so the logistics, API  Biggest problem I feel is way to many cards and grades of cards for a true market cap shown.  Other issue is we have little foreign money outside North America coming into/investing the hobby or market is my opinion . 

It would be quite a challenge But the focus on raw cards should be used as a base

yeah it definitely has a lot going for it on the buyer front. I just read the SL BOX deal over there.

My thought is why sell a card for .18 cents then. Pay a commission,  When you paid .29 to .35 cents to get the card in the first place.

I would rather trade.. but that is me

I love sportlots, but I'm finding the sudden change in TCDB's value appraisal isn't helpful.

While I never took the prices on TCDB as gospel, they were a good starting point with trades. Even if those prices didn't necessarily translate to what you'd find on eBay or Sportlots, it was a relatively consistent (if not always accurate) common point of reference. For the record, I'm not interested in selling my collection, but I am interested in trying to make fair trades with other members of the community. 

If there's an outlier in something like political polling, the outlier is usually de-emphasized in order to get a better understanding of the average. I'm curious to know how TCDB's formula for coming up with the value handles price outliers. 

I just get frustrated with cards being treated like the stock market and investments (not you doing it specifically but just in general lately). I get it for the high end stuff but when it comes to cards in the $0.18 ballpark, or even a couple bucks, I just don't get it. Also, buying packs now is almost always going to lead to a loss if you are looking at it this way since the commons are almost always going to sell for less than the price of the pack divided by the number of cards in it (I don't think you can say a common is worth 25 to 30 cents just because of what the pack costs if you can't actually sell them for that much). Packs are like playing the lottery at this point in my opinion. I'd rather just pay for the cards I want from the set or trade for them. Obviously you are free to look at it however you want and I might be in the minority these days but having so many people look at cards as investments reminds me of the 90s when things got overproduced and basically went bust. Of course I'm just sitting over here hoping the bottom falls out so I can afford a lot of the stuff I like that I'm now priced out of...

I don't really use the prices on here other than to maybe see if cards in a trade are in the same ballpark or to check on a card I am unfamiliar with so I don't send what will be taken as a lopsided trade, but I'm curious to see how this all plays out.