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Foiling the price gougers


This is no surprise to anyone who reads this blog, and I've written about this very same thing not that long ago.

But each time I come across it, I marvel at the brazenness, the balls, the unmitigated gall of online sellers.

The online card world is full of price gougers. I'm sure there are people out there, plenty of collectors, who believe this is fine, or at least they accept it as a necessary evil. That's the price of capitalism, they'll say.

OK. That's what I think, too, or at least what I say. But deep down, where my real feelings are that sometimes don't come out, I have little use for those people. What they're doing is not cool. They should be ashamed. Slapping unrealistic prices on cards in the hopes that you can reel in a sucker? Does that feel good? Are you happy with yourself? What would your mom say?

I'm not against making a profit. But cards should be priced at the going rate. And, let me tell you, 99 bucks for a 1977 Kellogg's George Foster card is not that.


These were my only choices for obtaining the George Foster card, the last card I needed to complete the 1977 Kellogg's set. I grabbed the George Brett card several days prior and then started hunting down the final card -- which happened to be No. 1 in the set -- George Foster.

For weeks and weeks, I'd return to ebay and the above two sales were all that greeted me. I knew that the Foster was available for cheaper prices because the completed listings yielded a handful of Kellogg's Fosters that sold in May and June for 3 to 5 bucks.

The $99.50 card from Dean's Cards is just outrageous. Grading gives sellers the excuse do all kinds of suspect things and overcharging is my chief complaint. Yeah, the card is mint. I would have accepted excellent and been perfectly happy. And you didn't need to encase the thing. (The explanation that there's a whole group of collectors that go for nothing but graded cards is not much of an answer for me. Congratulations, PSA, you've duped an entire generation of collectors).

Knowing that I should be able to get the same card for $5 and seeing it sell for $99.50 is something that I could never explain to someone who didn't collect. They would look at me like I grew a third nostril. Nothing I could say would make that person respond with, "OK, that makes sense."

As for the Foster that was selling on COMC for $22.10, I dismissed it immediately because I'm not waiting four months for my card to be shipped. And, oh yeah, it's still priced about $17 more than it should be.

Alternatives to ebay and COMC did not exist when I was looking. Every time I turned to sportlots, the Foster was not available. I really wished there was a card show because sometimes I just luck into cards like that at shows. But card shows are not an option these days.

So, I waited.

I thought for a little bit that I might have to pay $22 for that Foster. But that thought went away quickly.

Finally, just a few days ago, I decided to look up the Foster card on sportlots again.

It was there.

It was there!!!

I looked at the price.

And I laughed.

2 dollars.

TWO DOLLARS, YOU GUYS!

TWO DOLLARS, PRICE GOUGERS!!!!!!!

Mercy.


There it is. It's a beauty. Sure there's a little nick. Who cares?

And now my 1977 Kellogg's set of 57 3-D Super Stars is complete.

This is the first Kellogg's set that I fished out of boxes of Frosted Flakes as a kid. And it's the first Kellogg's set that we ordered off the side of the cereal box. My two brothers and I split the 57 cards equally, so at one point I owned 19 of the cards. I have no idea what happened to them. Because when I started this completion quest, all I owned were the Dodgers and a handful that I had acquired recently.

This is the second Kellogg's set I've completed since starting my mission to get as many of the Kellogg's sets from 1970-83 complete as I can. I finished the 1976 Kellogg's set six months ago.



Like my '76 Kellogg's set, each of my '77s are sleeved and placed in a top loader and then stacked in order by card number. The '77s are slightly out of order because, as you recall, I picked up the Mark Fidrych graded and I'm not breaking it out. It's sitting at the bottom of the stack.

So, what's next?

The natural instinct is to start with the 1978 Kellogg's set. That is another one from when I was stuffing my arm into cereal boxes (when my mom wasn't looking, of course). It's also very gaudy, just like the '77 set, but that's why I love it so.


I don't have very many '78s left in my possession. You can see this Seaver card has a few minor issues. I may try to upgrade, we'll see.

I don't know of many toughies in the '78 Kellogg's set. I'm guessing Eddie Murray, since that was his rookie year. But beyond that I haven't researched it thoroughly.

I realize that the Kellogg's sets I'm collecting aren't all that difficult to obtain -- it's not like I'm going for that 1972 All-Time Greats set or some of the other early '70s Kellogg's sets that are known challenges.

I can only imagine what the gougers are demanding for those.

Comments

Congratulations on completing the set! Really nice sets, maybe someday I will get serious about them.
Congrats on completing another vintage set!
Jim Osborne said…
Patience is the key to finishing up a set. I’m in a similar situation finishing the 1977 Cloth set. I need two AL AS checklists that are short printed as legend goes. The entire bottom row is SP and I need the left and middle. Of course, Dean’s Cards, yours and mine arch enemy wants over $20 for one of them....so I wait and wait and wait.
Well played Sir, well played.
Elliptical Man said…
Glad you only had to pay $2. Tough to take the $99 guy seriously.
Jeremya1um said…
Congrats, and way to stick it to the price gougers!
Great job. Snagging the last needed card in a set is kind of like...I dunno, that feeling I get when I put brand new fresh contacts in. This post also reminded me of the 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe cards on Ebay. Search for it and sort by highest price first. "Lot of 2 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe cards" - $108,000

I can't figure it out.
Commishbob said…
Nothing like finishing a vintage set with a stroke of good fortune. Congrats. Oh, and Dean's is super proud of their cards, no?
bryan was here said…
Congrats on finishing your set!

Ahh, I see you also have refused to get sucked in to (over)paying Dean's prices. It's sad because about 10-15 years ago, his prices were reasonable. Also, the PSA tax. I will wait and hold out until I find what I want at a reasonable price. Doesn't matter what it is. Cards, Hot Wheels, cars.

Once again, congrats! And good luck with the early '70s sets. If you look hard enough, you can find ATG cards at fairly reasonable prices.
Robert said…
Two thumbs up my friend. Two thumbs up
$2.00, sweet!.

Okay, I have (25) 78's heading your way whenever I next go to the post office.

Old Cards said…
Glad you got that last card and a good deal on it. I prefer my cards uncased and I don't need mint cards. Hoping to snag a 64 Clemente for a reasonable price, but it's not looking good.
Fuji said…
Congratulations on completing that set. I had to put all of my 70's Kellogg's set builds on hold... just because I got tired of looking at crazy asking prices every morning. I'll come back to it again one day.
Congratulations! I wish I could be as determined and as focused as you in chasing these cards down, I just temporarily give up and move to another active project.
Matt said…
Patience really pays off sometimes. I have done that with Rodney Hampton cards
Matt said…
Patience is very important in the hobby
Sometimes I am really bad with it especially if I only see one copy of a card. But it has paid off for me as well by waiting
Matt said…
Congrats on completing the set! Proof that patience pays off!
Grant said…
Well done! On to the next...
AdamE said…
Congrats!!

Patience pays off more times than not.

This is going to be a weird thing to read (and type for that matter) but Beckett Marketplace is a good place to purchase "oddball" 70s cards like Post, Kellogg, and Hostess. All vintage non-Topps cards are treated like stepchildren by Beckett so the prices have always stayed low. Like Sportslots getting them all from a single vendor is key to save on shipping. I have bought Hostess/Kelloggs/Post from Burbank on Beckett a couple times and always been happy.
friend11 said…
I'll check my 78 Kellogg's and let you know
Congrats on completing the set and for getting the final card at such a price. If you'd like to share the money you saved with me I'd be very grateful.