Greed in this hobby

[hairyangryfella]

Re: Greed in this hobby

You mentioned you've sold some of your things in the past. Did you sell to the highest offer, or to the fourth-highest offer?

Well I think any GU item I've ever sold was for a loss, so your point is again irrelevant.

I don't dislike people for having money and buying an item they want.
I do dislike people not giving collectors a chance to buy something they want at a fair price (or at all like stageleft/jt) because their sole intention is to relist at a much higher price. That's what I'm getting at here.

Yes, there is always a business aspect to things, and always a $ amount you can put on something. But is it now accepted for someone to just sweep in and take everything so that they can hold it hostage for profit? Is that capitalism, or is that greed?

[commando]

Re: Greed in this hobby

The concept is very simple and about a dozen people have said it in different ways. An item that is being offered for sale will go to the highest bidder, period. That is "fair."

Simple, stress-free, live and let live attitude that's key to enjoying this hobby, which after all is supposed to be fun. If someone's out there gobbling stuff up, that's their business and that's the way it goes. No big deal. Nobody actually NEEDS any game-used item after all.

Very well said. I don't have tons of extra money laying around, so I flip items here and there to help pay the expenses of being the Houston Gamblers team historian (web hosting, shipping and materials when sending things to players, acquiring team memorabilia to archive, etc)...

I guess I'll mention three points here:

First, it is a slippery slope when you try to guess a seller's intentions, whether it be greed, making a living, or in my case, donating my earnings (and time) for a cause I think is important.

Secondly, "collectors" come and go, especially with the fad items. Most sports cards, comic books and stamps printed during the popular "fad" years can be purchased today for a fraction of what they cost at the peak of their popularity. As a matter of fact, I avidly collect oddball cards from the 1980s and continue to rake in several sets a week as I find them. The fact that this market crashed several years ago doesn't bother me in the least. I do have to wonder though.... What happened to all these card "collectors" and where are they today?

Finally, I agree with those who have said we need to get over the items we can't afford or think are too expensive. The example in my world would be the many Gamblers jerseys owned by Wayne Otto. These shirts were worn by the guys I work for and work with -- people who are true friends -- but I cannot and will not pay over $500 for a common player jersey. I have purchased things from Wayne in the past, and he's a great guy, but at this point in time I won't lose any sleep over jerseys I feel are overpriced. My latest purchase was a couple of months ago, when I snagged a couple of beautiful Gamblers jerseys from Mark Hayne. His prices were more than reasonable, and now the search continues......

I respect everyone's opinion here, and I can understand why people feel the way they feel. I'll bet we have ALL been frustrated at one time or another with someone's selling practices. When this happens to me I choose to either shake my head sadly, or point and laugh, then continue on with the search for the next interesting item. Seek and ye shall find, my GU brothers and sisters.

[beaglegypsy003]

Re: Greed in this hobby

Collectors living in Hawaii don't have the same opportunities or access as folks on the continental U.S. So say the Dallas Cowboys have a blow out of game jerseys, unless I know someone in the area or I fly up there myself, I won't have a chance of buying something. The person that buys a bunch of jerseys and turns around and flips them, gives me a chance at buying something I want as long as I feel the price is fair. I'm not going to ask what he paid for it or how much of a profit he makes.

[frikativ54]

Re: Greed in this hobby

All the folks I know who have a few bucks earn it - they work 16 hour days, miss graduations, Little League and soccer games and some go to bed at 8:00 at night because they have to go to work at 04:00 hours. Others spend half their lives on an airplane away from their families.

Of course, luck has everything to do with it. The people who work sixteen hours a day can do it, because of fortuitous circumstances. There was the family who financed or at least helped pay for their education, the coworkers who mentored them, the role models who brought a sense of stability. From the time they were kids, many had the personal and financial supports to succeed.

But some people don't have that, and they are less likely to make it in the fiercely competitive world of American capitalism. Take the kid who lives in the inner cities, who sees his friends succumb to gang violence or drugs. While I'm not saying that he cannot get ahead, he has a host of challenges to worry about that the aforementioned individuals don't. He can't pay for the finest colleges and the tutors that the rich can afford. He may not even have up-to-date textbooks.

Mom and Dad may be in prison. His sister may have been killed, due to gun violence, and he may have ceaselessly been bullied. If he is fortunate enough to have a shot at college, the schools may not meet his demonstrated financial need. If he falls ill or becomes depressed, he may not have the insurance to get adequate help. None of us succeeds in a vacuum; there are a whole host of people and circumstances that worked to our benefit.

Luck? Luck are the folks who stay home and whine that they aren't getting their fair share.

Who in our society stays home and doesn't work? The people I know who stay at home do as such because they aren't physically or mentally capable of having a job. You seriously mean to imply that such individuals - the disabled, broadly speaking - are lucky?

[abstractheory]

For some reason, there seem to be people who think these basic economic realities should not apply to game used items. Personally, I am glad there are dealers out there, and auction houses, and ebay sellers.

Amen!! Since I don't have many inside contacts/connections, this is my only way to score great stuff the majority of the time. I would die and shrivel-up without all those "greedy" scalpers.

[abstractheory]

Re: Greed in this hobby

"The person that buys a bunch of jerseys and turns around and flips them, gives me a chance at buying something I want as long as I feel the price is fair. I'm not going to ask what he paid for it or how much of a profit he makes.[/QUOTE]

Exactly! Example: I recently bought some game used AF Falcons game used helmets on Ebay that were sold at an open auction I unfortunately missed for waaaaay less then what I ended up paying. I was upset that I missed the auction, but was glad they were available to me, no matter the inflated price. Knowing full well what the seller paid in the auction after a little research, and, knowing the amount of profit they made off my dumb-ass for missing it, I still left them positive feedback. Why? Because without them, I would have never been able to obtain them.

Like someone already said, this hobby IS a business and a very competitive one, at that.

I hear what the OP is saying about it being frustrating sometimes, but that also makes it even more rewarding.

[marino13]

Re: Greed in this hobby

I dont know if anyone has touch the "recycling's fund" subject on this matter, but you CANT spend your hard earned money on these collectibles without the help of "recycling's funds".

By recycling's funds I mean selling off stuff that you can make some profit and so forth. Even if selling at cost or a little lost, they are still consider as recycling your funds.

Unless you have unlimited budget, why bother with "flipping collectibles" for fun - this makes absolutely no sense unless you are doing it for the rush at the moment or just to pissed off those doing it for "the love of the hobby".

But then again, I can only speak for myself - I do purchase more than enough of the gamers - but I also sell more than my fair share of the stuff since I dont want to end up on HOARDERs TV or people will have fun finding my stuff in STORAGE WARS and so forth.

As for being LATE or MISSED a good deal - you snooze and you lose. There is NO other logical answer beside that. If a deal is too good to be true, then it is just that. But, there are some case of non-educated sellers/stores, I will have no problem paying for the minimal asking and turn around and make a quick profit off of it.

Bottom line, there is GREED everywhere. But for you to have GREED, you need to have FUNDS to back it up. You CANT talk about GREED without funds and when you do, it is just all ENVY and JEALOUSY in my book.

[cohibasmoker]

Re: Greed in this hobby

Of course, luck has everything to do with it. The people who work sixteen hours a day can do it, because of fortuitous circumstances. There was the family who financed or at least helped pay for their education, the coworkers who mentored them, the role models who brought a sense of stability. From the time they were kids, many had the personal and financial supports to succeed.

But some people don't have that, and they are less likely to make it in the fiercely competitive world of American capitalism. Take the kid who lives in the inner cities, who sees his friends succumb to gang violence or drugs. While I'm not saying that he cannot get ahead, he has a host of challenges to worry about that the aforementioned individuals don't. He can't pay for the finest colleges and the tutors that the rich can afford. He may not even have up-to-date textbooks.

Mom and Dad may be in prison. His sister may have been killed, due to gun violence, and he may have ceaselessly been bullied. If he is fortunate enough to have a shot at college, the schools may not meet his demonstrated financial need. If he falls ill or becomes depressed, he may not have the insurance to get adequate help. None of us succeeds in a vacuum; there are a whole host of people and circumstances that worked to our benefit.



Who in our society stays home and doesn't work? The people I know who stay at home do as such because they aren't physically or mentally capable of having a job. You seriously mean to imply that such individuals - the disabled, broadly speaking - are lucky?

Luck has little to do with – its called hard work and sacrifice. One has to put one in a position so “luck” can come their way. I guess the person who gets drunk and then gets behind a wheel of a car and arrested for drunk driving has bad luck? The folks I know are who they are because their family worked their way up to a decent way of life. Instead of sitting at home playing video games,they went to school and after school, spent the rest of their day working atthe family business.

Why people don’t have so-called “luck” isn’t society’s fault – it’s the individual family’s fault. As a for example, 72% ofblack kids are raised in a family without a Father – how is that Society’s or George Bush's fault? You write, they don’t have equal opportunities, well that’s not really true because there are a plethora of Federal programs out there. By the way,middle-income folks do NOT qualify for the below programs because they work and earn too much money.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39993685/ns/health-womens_health/t/blacks-struggle-percent-unwed-mothers-rate/

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/federalbenefitprograms/tp/toptenbenefits.htm

No-One has taken advantage of the system more than Obama – a black male from a broken home, born out of wedlock and still, went to the finest schools and became President. What’s everyone else’s excuse?

In closing, I live on the east-coast and the other day, I stayed up to the wee hours of the morning to try and win an auction. I finally did win it so I guess "I'm lucky? And, if I sell it for profit, I'm Greedy?

[worldchamps]

Re: Greed in this hobby

Maybe the government should set up a program for those wishing to have high end game used items but not priveledged enough to obtain them.

[hairyangryfella]

Re: Greed in this hobby

Maybe the government should set up a program for those wishing to have high end game used items but not priveledged enough to obtain them.

Seriously... this post is relevant how??

[hairyangryfella]

Re: Greed in this hobby

Bottom line, there is GREED everywhere. But for you to have GREED, you need to have FUNDS to back it up. You CANT talk about GREED without funds and when you do, it is just all ENVY and JEALOUSY in my book.

Relating to the guy I was referring to on ebay, there is only 1 item he bought that I would even want, out of the many many others, so it's really not jealousy at all - just an observation on human nature I guess.

[ChuckFoPrez]

Re: Greed in this hobby

To bring this full circle, the guy in question (the original post) hasn't made a sale since April 1st looking at his completed listings.

It is now June 30th.

Perspective, fellas.

[kudu]

Re: Greed in this hobby

To bring this full circle, the guy in question (the original post) hasn't made a sale since April 1st looking at his completed listings.

It is now June 30th.

Perspective, fellas.

LOL, not to mention the seller needs to learn how to spell "Kurdt Cobain".

Having read this thread, I can't help but think of a great quote from Bill Murray:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrCEhRNgGHY

[kellsox]

Re: Greed in this hobby

LOL, not to mention the seller needs to learn how to spell "Kurdt Cobain".

Having read this thread, I can't help but think of a great quote from Bill Murray:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrCEhRNgGHY

Off topic of "greed " but cobain did use the "kurtdt" spelling from time to time. Maybe the seller is smarter than you think. Check the back of nirvana's bleach cd.

[kudu]

Re: Greed in this hobby

Off topic of "greed " but cobain did use the "kurtdt" spelling from time to time. Maybe the seller is smarter than you think. Check the back of nirvana's bleach cd.

Smarter? He still spelled the "misspelling" wrong. Cobain should be "Kobain". LOL. Why would you purposely misspell someones name like that? You would lose out on a lot of potential buyers who know him as Kurt Cobain, right? Anyway, here's I little info I found on his misspelled name:

http://live.autographmagazine.com/profiles/blogs/attaining-nirvana

Sorry for the derail.