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The Current Situation of the Secondary Market


flyhighguys94

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When it comes to that big game worn group, all I see on there are the same 50 or so jerseys that are being bumped every day that basically to most people are "crap." 

It's a tough selling market for sure.  Vintage stuff is the only stuff that seems to hold value these days.  Vintage is relative but for Devils it seems to be anything pre-Edge seems to do well and anything pre-lockout is best.  On the flip side, buying is tough too as there is a ton for sale, but very few interest me.  Vintage doesn't come up often so they command a big price.  Example is my 03 Red Finals Tverdovsky gamer I recently got.  Sifting through GW.net forums, I found that I paid almost twice what the asking price was for it about 8 years ago.  Market is there, just not so much for the new stuff except a few pieces.

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Not sure if anyone collects baseball jerseys, but I've been grabbing so many modern jerseys (2000 or later) for dirt cheap.  It's incredible.  I keep adding stuff because I keep finding great deals I can't pass on.  Eventually I am going to need to trim the collection, but am at no hurry to do so now.  Probably better off waiting 10+ years and then maybe some of the stuff will appeal and/or have more value by then.

As far as NHL jerseys, I've listed and sold some 1.0s on Ebay and it seems like if you can get $125 on average you're making out big time.  Anything I list I am hoping to get $100 or else I don't sell.

I figure now is a good time to be a buyer.  Not a good time to be looking to make money in this hobby though,

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16 hours ago, Devilsguy said:

When it comes to that big game worn group, all I see on there are the same 50 or so jerseys that are being bumped every day that basically to most people are "crap." 

It's a tough selling market for sure.  Vintage stuff is the only stuff that seems to hold value these days.  Vintage is relative but for Devils it seems to be anything pre-Edge seems to do well and anything pre-lockout is best.  On the flip side, buying is tough too as there is a ton for sale, but very few interest me.  Vintage doesn't come up often so they command a big price.  Example is my 03 Red Finals Tverdovsky gamer I recently got.  Sifting through GW.net forums, I found that I paid almost twice what the asking price was for it about 8 years ago.  Market is there, just not so much for the new stuff except a few pieces.

Totally agree...seems like unless its something old and rare, it doesn't sell. almost makes me want to dump half my collection and keep only my rare stuff. Just going to go ahead and blame Obama...

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45 minutes ago, The_Dude_Abides said:

Totally agree...seems like unless its something old and rare, it doesn't sell. almost makes me want to dump half my collection and keep only my rare stuff. Just going to go ahead and blame Obama...

Its definitely Obama's fault, he hasn't bought a single one of my jerseys!!

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58 minutes ago, The_Dude_Abides said:

Totally agree...seems like unless its something old and rare, it doesn't sell. almost makes me want to dump half my collection and keep only my rare stuff. Just going to go ahead and blame Obama...

What's funny is that for gamers between eBay, Iceviolence and Meigray, there are a ton of Devils gamers available.  Problem is, just not stuff I really want.  Also doesn't help that he newer Devils jerseys over the past few years are of players I don't care for on losing Devils teams.  If the Devils did better, I think I would be investing more into the newer stuff.

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.  That's how I look at it right now lol.

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On 10/3/2016 at 8:20 AM, Devilsguy said:

Good topic and it is something I have brought up before a few times in other threads, particularly in the eBay thread.

The market for sellers has been soft for a few years now, but particularly in the last 6-12 months.  This is speaking for both sports memorabilia in general and particularly in game worn jerseys where I have the most experience in.  While I cannot be sure the exact cause of this, I do have a few guesses for jerseys in general (game worn, replica, authentic)

1) Knockoffs - As a poster said earlier, you go to an arena and a solid 30-50% of all jerseys you see that people are wearing are knockoffs of varying quality.  Back in the day I used to flip replicas and authentics quite often as supplemental funding for my jersey hobby.  Was doing pretty well up until 2013/2014ish when it seemed like a slight switch flipped and then all the buyers dried up and the knockoffs became even more prevalent (at least it seems to me).  It came to the point where I stopped as the money I spent was roughly the same they were selling for so I gave up.  Mitchell and Ness jerseys that used to sell on ebay for $200+ were now selling for as low as $60-75.  I really do think knockoffs had a big impact as when I sell jerseys in Devils facebook group groups, I get people who tell me $80-100 is way too much for a properly customized replica and for a fully customized jersey they are only willing to spend at most $30-40.  Even back in the 90's before Reebok jacked up the prices you could never find customized jerseys for that cheap.  People don't care what look's good, they want something that is cheap and resembles a jersey.  That's it.

2) Newer gamers - The old rule of thumb is that the older stuff is more valuable than the newer stuff is more prevalent now than ever.  You scroll through eBay and on FB and it's the same jerseys over and over again and it's all the newer stuff.  Hate to say this, but Ryan Carter Devils that was won in a grab bag and an Islanders Steve Bernier gamer that I always see for sale are basically crap.  There really is a lot of crap out there and most of the good stuff never hits ebay or on FB, they are sold behind the scenes.  The best gamers in my collection are the ones that I make deals with people I know and they never hit for sale on either website.  Sometimes it is on the collector to price these dime a dozen gamers better (sorry but that grab bag Carter is not worth $275 on any planet) and sometimes it is the dealer's doing (I feel sorry for anyone buying any of the WCOH gamers as apart from Team Canada and NA, none of those will be worth anywhere close to what they paid for if they try to sell).

3) Society - This one I think is the biggest.  There was a seller who posted on the game worn FB group in his sale group a funny but very truthful paragraph.  Basically it said that all buyers think what they are selling is worth more than it is and all buyers think what they are buying is worth less than what it is.  He said therefore he purposefully priced it high and is fully expecting to receive lower offers that is more in line with what he is really looking to sell for.  That's just how things are these days.  On eBay and on FB, no one wants to make a fair deal, they are instead looking to see how much they can bend over the other person.  A buddy of mine is an official Majestic dealer and has a store on eBay, and he said this type of thing has gotten particularly bad over the past year or two.  Buyers and Sellers both want to feel like they won in their deals and no one wants to make a deal where both sides are happy.  Also with the policies eBay has put into place over the past few years, buyers and sellers feel less safe with making deals with each other.  Their policies severely put sellers at a disadvantage so sellers are not trusting and buyers already feel like eBay is a giant flea market full of snake oil salesmen.

 

I know I am forgetting about a few other things, but these easily come to mind.  I will probably remember later and put them in here lol.

This couldn't be more dead on.  Authentic jerseys and game worn jerseys appeal to such a small percentage of sports fans due to the costs.  A lot of guys I know got out of the hobby before it crashed too hard for many of the reasons listed here and I think they (and myself) got sick of dealing with the jersey collection population where you'd list your jersey, cut a decent deal with somebody on a forum and find it on ebay at twice the price a week later (the main reason I stopped selling here).  The hobby is changing, the guys who were big into it years ago are aging and not buying and the guys buying now want deals because with things being so available online there really are deals everywhere if you stay patient. Gamers are all over now, every team sells them and often sells multiples when even 15 years ago it was often hard to come by certain game worns.  Bottom line is this hobby is flooded, the value of things are down and people want deals so they can make money off of their purchases down the road.  With the selling that I do now it just takes patience if you want top dollar in the same way that it takes patience if you want the best deals.   The scope of collecting anything is changing....

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When my stuff ended on eBay last week it was down right disgusting. Marc Staal's 100th NHL game worn jersey for a hair over $300? Come on. Steiner sells his sets that he wears for 2 games for $700+ on the reg. I had a rookie Brian Leetch Rangers, perfectly done, that I got from TMLFan and it ended for $115. Worst I've ever seen it. Worse now than when I created this thread. 

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Sorry to hear about the trouble. I would stop listing auction style with no reserve if you are not getting the prices you paid. I would suggest using a buy it now style with the best price option. This was you guarantee you will get your asking price or at lease be in control of the negotiations. 

Perhaps a friendly reminder to the guys on the boards might stir up some extra business as well. 

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3 hours ago, flyhighguys94 said:

When my stuff ended on eBay last week it was down right disgusting. Marc Staal's 100th NHL game worn jersey for a hair over $300? Come on. Steiner sells his sets that he wears for 2 games for $700+ on the reg. I had a rookie Brian Leetch Rangers, perfectly done, that I got from TMLFan and it ended for $115. Worst I've ever seen it. Worse now than when I created this thread. 

You gotta remember, just because somebody has it for sale at a certain number doesn't mean that's what it's worth. Sadly your item is only worth what somebody will pay for it at that time.  Steiner and Meigray will always get more for what they sell because of who they are and buyers worried about fakes and just getting ripped off in general.  They have their name backing them, but I've also noticed with Meigray they have plenty of jerseys that have sat on that site for years on end even with all the sales.  

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16 hours ago, Committed said:

Sorry to hear about the trouble. I would stop listing auction style with no reserve if you are not getting the prices you paid. I would suggest using a buy it now style with the best price option. This was you guarantee you will get your asking price or at lease be in control of the negotiations. 

Perhaps a friendly reminder to the guys on the boards might stir up some extra business as well. 

Unfortunately for me and it seems like others, even doing the BIN with best offer option has been largely ineffective.

I've actually had the best results over the past year on FB (but requires a lot of patience when dealing with the peanut gallery) or doing eBay with $9.99 starting price and a reserve.

However overall in general it seems the market as a seller has collapsed a bit in the past year.

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3 hours ago, Devilsguy said:

``Unfortunately for me and it seems like others, even doing the BIN with best offer option has been largely ineffective.

I've actually had the best results over the past year on FB (but requires a lot of patience when dealing with the peanut gallery) or doing eBay with $9.99 starting price and a reserve.

However overall in general it seems the market as a seller has collapsed a bit in the past year.

As recent as like a year ago, BIN with best offer worked amazingly well, I sold stuff that way constantly. Then all of a sudden, it stopped. I typically don't even get crappy offers anymore. 

That being said, I did sell one that way for $25 less than my BIN price of $225 earlier this week. I now use it when I don't really care if the item sells or not, I put it up for 30 days, set it and forget it. If nobody buys it, no big deal. 
 

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Just now, CJ Matthews said:

They charge fees for those styles of listings though, right? If you list them over and over and over again you're just throwing money away.

Negative.  I've only had to pay when something sells.

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Might have to try changing some things then. Just set it and forget it. Is there a difference in the final value fees as opposed to a 7 day listing?

Edited by CJ Matthews
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I do believe there is a new initial listing fee charged every 30 days if you let it auto renew. But, depending on your seller status, you may get a certain number of free ones every month anyway. 

There is no difference in final value fees. 

Like I said, if you NEED to sell something, its probably not the way to make a fast sale. But, you can toss it up there and see what happens, eventually someone may come along. No different than you already do in the classifieds here. 

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According to eBay:

"You may be charged an insertion fee to list your item. When applicable, insertion fees are charged every 30-day period for Good 'Til Cancelled listings."

I also double checked, and they give you 50 listings with no initial fee every month. So if you haven't exceeded 50, then yes, there would be no fee. 

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46 minutes ago, CJ Matthews said:

Alright. It was my understanding that the 50 free listings only applied to certain kinds of listings like the 7 day listings, not to all kinds.

It didn't say that on the fee page I looked at, but I guess anything is possible. 

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