Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

[Klattsy]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

Hey Mark, do you know what the market is like in Australia with regards to gameused cricket, footy, rugby, etc. stuff? Is it easy/tuff to get that kind of stuff down there? Are the prices reasonable or ridiculous? Just curious.

Kurt

PM sent Kurt...

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

I think the real problem is the oversupply rather than dealers not buying. Companies like JO, Meigray, Steiner and the teams, leagues and smaller companies in some ways have really been a great benefit to the hobby, they have let us acquire stuff we otherwise could never have gotten BUT they also hurt the hobby in that they introduce a steady source of new material into the market regularly which reduces the values of the stuff already in the market. For example, say JO or MEIgray sells me a jersey for $1,500 from a player on one of the teams in their team partnerships and a few months later I decide to sell it. I advertise it at $1,500 or above I am likely to find no buyers. The buyers know that they can get one from JO or MeiGray at the same price I paid so why buy from me? Even if they are out of stock people are willing to wait until the next season where absent unsual circumstances like the player coming off an amazing year the price is likely to be similar as it was the previous year. So to sell mine I have to drastically lower the price.

Another problem is there are a finite number of collectors willing to pay several grand for the jersey of a particular player. As each one of them obtains such item that further reduces the market.

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

On the posts earlier in the thread about dealers not buying. It may just be the case of any of the following:

1. The dealer has his money tied up in his current inventory and cannot acquire more until he sells some of it. There is a finite amount any business will invest in inventory.

2. The dealer lacks the knowledge and experience to decipher between real and bogus GU stuff and does not want to get taken. Which may have happened with Swoboda's guy, I got from the post that he runs a sporting goods store and has autograph signings which is a far cry from GU stuff.

3. Even at a cheap price the dealer does not think he can resell the item for much of a profit or the item may be hard to resell at all. I.e. It is from a player who is long retired and forgotten or is a current no name player.

Dealers

[redoctober]

Re: Our Stuff is Worthless(Mostly)

If you want to invest for a return game used is not the way to go.

Physical gold/silver/platinum is where it is at.

I was buying gold at 750 and ounce and have almost doubled my return and will for sure double it in the near future.

You have already doubled your investment and "WILL FOR SURE DOUBLE IT (AGAIN) IN THE NEAR FUTURE".

OK. Good luck on that guarantee.

[kudu]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

I agree with Davis.

I think there needs to be a separation between "collecting" which you do for the love of and "dealing" which you would do for a profit. I think that GU "collecting" is strong and evidenced by this community, however "dealing", like trading cards, would be very difficult to do for a business.

As a relatively younger collector, plus someone on low-middle income, IMHO, the hobby is still not affordable as people make out. I am lucky that my collection is based on minor stars and items are affordable, however any new collectors who would be interested in GU items will more than likely be wanting the "superstar" items, which I think are still costly.

So from a collectors POV (and thats what we all are isn't it?), I think it's great. However if I was dealer, not so great.

IMHO.

Mark.

Hey Mark, do you know what the market is like in Australia with regards to gameused cricket, footy, rugby, etc. stuff? Is it easy/tuff to get that kind of stuff down there? Are the prices reasonable or ridiculous? Just curious.

Kurt

[Klattsy]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

I agree with Davis.

I think there needs to be a separation between "collecting" which you do for the love of and "dealing" which you would do for a profit. I think that GU "collecting" is strong and evidenced by this community, however "dealing", like trading cards, would be very difficult to do for a business.

As a relatively younger collector, plus someone on low-middle income, IMHO, the hobby is still not affordable as people make out. I am lucky that my collection is based on minor stars and items are affordable, however any new collectors who would be interested in GU items will more than likely be wanting the "superstar" items, which I think are still costly.

So from a collectors POV (and thats what we all are isn't it?), I think it's great. However if I was dealer, not so great.

IMHO.

Mark.

[stlbats]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

I dont ever buy items for resale or investment. I just add items to my personal collection. I do however, every now and then need to sell something to help make another purchase or something like that. I just hate to think that every item you buy is more than likely going to take a huge loss in the future. I have no problem buying a quality item for a decent reasonable price. All the items that I have decided to sell up until recently, I have always gotten at least what I paid for them and didnt really try to get more than that. Now you cant even get what you paid. It would be nice if the professional teams realized that they're prices are way over market value, but I guess they are getting those prices for the items.

Jason

stlbats@bellsouth.net

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

Let me tell you a story last year and the year before I bought alot of MLB Authenticated baseball bats of major stars, all star, mvp, hof type guys and as you probably have seen I decided to sell the bulk of my collection a few months ago and let me tell you on every single bat I lost money. In many cases 2/3rds or more of what I spent in a relatively short period of time. And the players were still playing at a high level so it is not like I was selling items of players that did not have many fans. I took the loss because I can afford to and I thought that as the players age, retire and fade from view and more of their stuff gets on the market I won't even get what I am being offered now.

If your buying as an investment I strongly urge you to reconsider. Put your money in secruities there is a lot of money to be made in the market or real estate which is absurdably cheap now. GU stuff will be worth much less than you paid for it in the long term future and flipping on a regular basis is a risky strategy as even a great deal of a buy you may not make money on. Sure here and there you may get lucky but overall your losses will outweigh your wins. If you buy buy players you like for personal enjoyment and you can never lose. With the stuff I have kept I kept it because I enjoy looking at it and unless I have an unexpected financial tsuamini I will never sell them.

[Nnunnari]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

The market is flooded, people don't trust anything to be authentic anymore and players today are issued so many bats that a lot of them end up being passed down to minor leaguers/college kids to use. I agree that today's generation isn't as interested in collecting sports memorabilia as a hobby, plus the fact that baseball has clearly taken a back seat to football in this country has hurt the baseball value.

[mariner_gamers]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

It is being seen in almost every facet of collecting. The new generations, folks under 30, are really not interested in collecting things. They see collections as a burden to have to tend to and are more interested in technology and not being tethered to things. Add a weak economy and a glut of product and you are seeing what we have now. I believe we are entering a new golden age for game used collectors. We will be able to acquire more items at lower prices. I have already witnessed the beginnings of this the past few years. I have recently, for the first time in 14 years of collecting, started dealing with a direct source rather than middlemen. Players are also a lot easier to approach with their game items than 5 or 10 years ago. If you invest good luck as always, if you collect things are just getting interesting!!!

My .02

[spartanservitto]

Re: Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

I totally agree. I never will buy (rarely) in order to turn profit. Its impossible. You really got to love the hobby to continue to purchase items.

-Tony

[stlbats]

Are GU Items Becoming like BB Cards??

I know this has been discussed some recently, but its seems to be getting worse. Quality items just dont sell anymore. Is everyone just broke, or is the market getting flooded. This happened with baseball cards years ago. I have never really collected cards seriously but I do know that the only cards worth anything is the hot rookie or vintage stuff. Kind of the same with bats these days. The old old stuff still sells or maybe the hot rookie bat, but regular star players and others just dont unless the prices are dirt cheap, which is killing the hobby in itself. Its getting hard to buy a nice bat or any item and if you do decide to sell after a while, you can only get a fraction of what you paid. Really sad.

Jason

stlbats@bellsouth.net

[sox83cubs84]

Re: Our Stuff is Worthless(Mostly)

I remember going intoa small Chicago shop in the mid-1990s, during the Bulls' second three=peat. The owner, while nice, had the same pennies-on-the-dollar view of buying stuff.

I had Michael Jordan oddball cards to offer her, at a legitimate wholesale price. She wanted to get them for next to nothing, though, and her response was "Michael Jordan doesn't sell". During a Bulls three-peat!!
Can you believe that?

Another card shop in the suburbs defended their meage buying prices by telling me that "we pay 15% of Beckett and we've got cards flying in the door". Yeah, right.

Dave Miedema

[Mulligans]

Re: Our Stuff is Worthless(Mostly)

IMO......Real Estate investing and GU Investments can both be HOME RUNS.....Like anything else, you need to buy low and sell high. You should not buy high with hopes of it going higher!

[Lokee]

Re: Our Stuff is Worthless(Mostly)

lokee,how do you compare platinum,etc vs real estate?

I do not mess with real estate in my opinion that is a risky investment. If you live in Canada especially since they could possible be headed like the US.

I have a friend who lives in Detroit. All he does is buy junk houses for like 500.00 to 2 grand (yes 500.00 dollars). He fixes them up and flips them for 5 to 7 grand. If you can get something like that going it would be worth it.

Remember PHYSICAL gold/silver/platinum is what you want, but you want it in your hand not in holdings.