I would consider myself a moderate collector with still plenty of learning to do but after 3 years of serious collecting I am confident in knowing enough about Pokemon cards to give a accurate appraisal on the average collection.
Here is the scenario that I keep running into. I buy collections in bulk, I am genuinely interested in the cards and so I keep some for my own collection and then look to put together good lots/sets that will sell on my eBay store using doubles. I live in an area/state that has a couple of great resources for second hand/ used items comparable to craigslist but not creepy/sketchy and much better. I have sold and bought hundreds of things from these sites (not just Pokemon cards) with not a single issue and saving my bank account from being exhausted. The problem I keep running into occurs when I find people who are selling off collections who have no idea how to price what they have. I.E. the collection has a 1st edition Machamp and their collection has now gone up $1k, They have a ungraded base set Zard (non 1st ed and non shadowless) and it’s being sold as a 1st ed or simply overpriced 10x the market value, or they have a few first edition fossil cards and they think they are sitting on a goldmine. These collections still hold value overall and I’ve shared my insight with sellers and some reasonable sellers will negotiate a working price but some people just seem to get really butt hurt. I try to be as polite as possible and I even let them know that If at best I could impart my knowledge of the things that I do know and if they aren’t interested in selling to me they can or they can use that to help them re-market their item on the site or on eBay. Overall, I’d say I am able to buy about half and lose interest in half.
It could just be the case that some people are looking to overcharge and make some profit which I could understand if it was still within a fair price range (it seems more like scams to potential uniformed buyers when you are charging 10x the value) but others are so clearly misinformed and any one asking for a reasonable price will just be denied.
Sure, some of these people simply can’t be dealt with and I’m also sure that I haven’t worded my responses perfectly in the past, but my question is the following: How have you or how would you approach someone who is selling a lot of cards that is too highly priced but that you think is worth obtaining if you can get it for a fair price.
Vomiting out information to a potential seller isn’t going to get them to sell to you. They either won’t understand or will just think you’re talking shit to get a better deal.
I’ve never heard a seller say "wait, you mean I don’t understand what I’m selling because I’m uninformed? You’re completely right and I’ll sell to you for a fraction of what I wanted!"
The only way they will sell to you is if they don’t get a better offer, you’re just going to have to wait. There’s still plenty of uninformed buyers out there happy to overpay for cards though so it’s just luck.
Not sure what you’re asking or if there’s even an answer. What are the options? Nicely try to educate? Meanly try to educate? Don’t educate, just offer? Ignore? What other options are there?
Well, misinformed sellers are a good thing as far as I’m concerned.
If I understood your issue correctly, you are trying to educate people who overprice their items. Personally I don’t think there’s any point doing so as they are either genuinely misinformed and not interested in doing research or engage deeply in the hobby or, they know exactly what they are doing and hoping to scam some poor schmuck.
Either way, your time will be wasted on someone who doesn’t care about what you have to say. You may want to save your energy for misinformed sellers who are selling items below market price, not ones selling above it. Personally I don’t even bother making offers to the usual 1st edition machamp seller, or sellers who think base set is by definition 1st edition because it was the first set printed. If there’s anything you like from their stuff make an offer and if they refuse just walk away.
Harsh as it may sound, you trying to educate such sellers may signal a sense of self-entitlement and superiority that will land you some unpleasant interactions.
Well said here. Though I know some people would genuinely don’t know and I am not a person to take advantage of someone. I saw a post somewhere asking what a reasonable price was for their highly valued cards and people were lowballing the fk out of them, which if they are desperate to sell fine… but I won’t take advantage of them, but thats just my personal values. They should do research though if they want to get what they are worth.
From someone who’s has a big sales background I can pin point two things that might be holding you back. One, I could be off, but I find when people say they try to be nice usually they’re too nice. Stop being nice and polite, that doesn’t mean be a dick and rude. It means when you get resistance for your evaluation shrug your shoulders and literally turn your back and/or walk away. Too many people feel compelled to explain themselves in this situation and it’s not needed. You hold the power if you demonstrate that you’re not desperate, being polite and explaining yourself comes off as desperate.
The second thing I’d tell you is to stop wasting your time. If you’re only willing to buy half a collection, tell them what you want to buy, make your offer, get a yes or no and move on accordingly. No deal is ever so good that you have to negotiate. Just make the offer and if they keep haggling just reiterate your offer after the third haggle. As long as you present strong body language, good posture, never leaning in on the person, making them try and get your attention, etc. you’ll find that misinformed people will fall in two categories, super stubborn, no deal to be made, or recognized ignorance, willing to sell.
One final note, answer all questions you get honestly and make sure you’re comfortable in saying I don’t know when you don’t have an answer. When people hear info that contradicts their beliefs they’ll ask why. You’re explanation will be more powerful if you wait for the why vs if you just force feed it to them without them asking.
When I first got back into the hobby, I remember seeing cards being incorrectly labeled on eBay. Mainly people selling unlimited cards listed as 1st edition with 1st edition prices.
I private messaged a few of them because I thought I was doing them a service. I think one person acknowledged and thanked me, but left his listing the same exact way.
I am reminded of a quote from Batman vs Superman:
Bruce Wayne: Criminals Bad Listings are like weeds, Alfred; pull one up, another grows in its place.
Learned it’s not my job to be price police. If someone wants to sell a LP Unlimited Charizard for $2,000 and someone else wants to buy it, that’s their business. The only thing we can do is make an offer and move on if they are not interested.
There really isn’t much you can do. A lot of people look up high grade ebay sales so their valuation will always be too far off from yours. You try to explain their Base Charizard is worth $50 and they link you to 9-10 sales… Just move on and look for the next deal.
I used to try to educate them as well, but now I pretty much copy/paste the same message with my offer amount. I can always tell from their response if a deal will be made or not.
One of the biggest thing that annoys me that I have seen posts where people like, “I need to sell these cards, got bills to pay”. It just annoys me, we got it, we all have bills but that just shows desperation and do they want people to feel bad?
I know this is a joke, but it’s not the worst advice. The goal of this tactic is set someone off guard enough that you can then take control of the sale experience. It’s a pretty common thing in specific cultures, if I remember correctly it’s used a lot in Chicago.
You have to know how to navigate and keep control of the conversation if you do this. You also have to be really good at reading body language because if you do it to the wrong people you’ll put them off/or you’ll be fighting an uphill battle for your goal. All in all it’s easier to just start off with a strange observation/put too much emphasis on something not important or not related to the goal, you’ll get the same effect without the risk.
What I’ve learned is that people who give really inaccurate price listings/descriptions are either greedy with a side of trying to scam someone, too lazy to do proper research, too lazy to change the listings, or afraid of under pricing their items.
Regardless of the scenario, these sellers would be unconvinced in you telling them their items are overpriced, making it a fruitless endeavor to engage with them. There’s probably also sellers who under price their cards, but the difference in that is those listings get snatched up quickly and sold.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are buyers who clearly have no idea/trying to scam sellers who priced their cards appropriately, saying the cards are grossly overpriced and they should be selling it for 2$ or something. The strategy for those buyers is also to disengage and not waste your time talking to them.
Just offer your price you are willing to pay and go from there. In my experience, people seem to get offended when you try to correct them. The uninformed sellers will most likely think you are trying to hondel yourself a deal, when you are just trying to inform them. This is just my opinion though.
I guess I categorized misinformed people as people who did not do proper research.
As an anecdote a few months back, I had a random discussion with my friend about pokemon cards, and he casually mentioned that he had a 1st edition base charizard WOTC he got from a lot at a goodwill store, for 5$. I told him that if he did have a 1st edition base, it should be worth thousands and he should list it on ebay, in which he said he would. A few days later I asked about his results, and he told me he searched it up on ebay and it was only 50$. He then showed me the card and turns out it was a topps Charizard. In the end he was misinformed but he did his proper research and didn’t list something at an outrageous price! Of course, not everyone does proper research though…
