The following entry contains information gathered by myself across several trading sites and includes personal experiences. Sell value, commonly referred to as
sv or
ebay value is something unfamiliar for some newer and less "traveled" collectors. Sell value can be an advantage or a burden depending on the situation. For the most part, sell value should only be used in 2 situations that occur quite frequently within the hobby. The first situation involves players on a hot streak, for example Ray or Sidney Rice, who both carried a low Beckett book value as they began to rise in sale prices and collector demand. On sites such as Beckett, it is sometimes easier to exploit these types of value changes, since many of the collectors on there go solely by the Beckett book value that they pay a monthly fee for. Every Monday during the football season, anyone can log on and see at least one thread involving a hot player from the past weekend, such as Jerome Harrison after his 286 yard 3 TD game. Experienced collectors will ask for trades involving the player and may even get some of his cards at the current
BV if they manage to find a collector who hasn't kept up with recent performances. The second situation involves higher end cards, such as a Chris Johnson 08 SP Authentic 3 color rookie patch auto. The
BV of the card is now $200, but it sells for the same amount. So it only makes sense that someone would not trade for a card of similar
bv but much lower pedigree, such as a parallel insert auto of Brady Quinn, who still carries a high
bv, although his performance on the field has been lacking and is not on par with Chris Johnson. So although the
bv's match, it makes no sense for the holder of the
CJ to go through with the trade. If you are the one trying to attain a trending player or high end card, don't get offended if your even
bv trade is declined. Some people just don't get rid of their cards very easily.
Here are my experiences with those situations. First involves a Ray Rice contenders auto which at the time of this transaction booked for a lowly 35 dollars, and was selling around the same amount on
Ebay. I received several offers on this card and most of the offers booked around $40, but were players of a lower caliber, thus causing me to decline the offer. I finally ended up accepting a $60 Josh Freeman rookie auto that sold in the 30 dollar range, since it was a player I liked and the sell value was close enough.
In another situation, I had a Chris Johnson 3 color SPA which at the time booked and sold around 100, and knowing this I was able to trade it along with a Ray Rice 3 color SPA for 2 Roddy White 3 color exquisite rookie autos which sell for around 100 each. At the time, this trade worked out for me in both
SV and
BV, but in
hindsight, I lost out in the end. Another situation I am currently involved in revolves around a Calvin Johnson Classics platinum auto, which books for $300 but sells for about 1/3rd of that. No one will trade at the
BV for this card, but since he is a player on the verge of a breakout it is very hard for me to get rid of it for its
SV.
Sell value can work against collectors as well. One instance that
occurred to me involved a Greg Jennings contenders auto. This card still books the same $40 and sells for around half that amount, as it did about a year when this happened. I had just found out about another trading site and was trying to establish myself with some easy trades. I found this card while browsing in
someones photobucket and it was graded a
BGS 9, so it piqued my interest. The other trader was interested in 2 of my Joe
Flacco autos, one
bv 100 another 80. At this time, I had 6 or 7
Flacco autos and said that I could trade the
bv 80 card for the Jennings. The other trader declined and tried to tell me that his card would sell for over $100 and my
Flacco was only worth $20. After trading private messages back and forth, it was clear to me that he was only trying to play me as I was new to the site. That interaction ended quite quickly and with me in a very frustrated mood. Needless to say, the trader posted a few days later and told someone else he would trade the card for 60
bv, at which I was furious. I called him out on his thread, he literally told me to screw, at which point I
pm'ed a mod and told him the entire situation. I haven't seen him since.
A few simple rules for
SV, and things you need to know!
1. Only use COMPLETED sales, some jokers will quote an active auction listing, which proves nothing.
2. Get as many examples as possible, don't go by one sale.
3. Research thoroughly, use
Ebay to your advantage.
4. Stand your ground, once you determine a value for your card, stick to it and don't allow others to sway your opinion.
5. Be careful!
SV can be really frustrating so just make sure you've covered all your bases.
Although it is an uncommon practice on Beckett.com,
SV comes up quite often on other sites, with some anti-Beckett collectors trading only by
SV, so arm yourself with knowledge and practice. After all, collecting should be about fun!
Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
