[Smitty1177]

Its lil question bout grading but that forum doesnt seem to get lot of traffic and so i thought id post here..(quick background story,collected cards when i was young,put em in my attic,got married,decided to adopt lil girl,sold everything to help with adoption costs,wife got prego,had son 4 months later,)so my wife new my love for collecting never left and told me to start lil collection for my kids,really trying to focus on high end autograph cards,and rookie cards.. If available i try and get cards already graded, so before i purchase i watch many auctions and do little research, something caught me off guard,same player,same rookie card,same grAde from bgs.. Auction ended within hour of each other with about a $400 price difference,would this be a case of "auction ego" where someone just refuses to be outbid ?? Or is it due to the subgrades on the card?? The card that went cheaper had 9 on centering and 9.5 on rest,the higher card had 9 on surface and 9.5 on centering and everything else..so being absent the last 20 years is centering of the card the number 1 subgrade to watch for?? Or again would it just be a case of auction ego? Like i said,its been a while and i love this so im quickly catching up on the hobby today, so advice on this and anything else would be welcomed,and i sure wish someone reading this had 1 or 2 "I" 2011 letterman or 2012 lettermen upper deck cards of courtney upshaw,trent richardson,marquis maze,julio jones or mark ingram,im doin the "crimson tide" spelling but i mixed the years for the fact i kinda like to have some julio and mark ingrams in instead of 8 marquis maze cards,good idea? Bad?? Again open to learning all i can... Thanks

[lecreccio]

I'm not sure if everyone will agree with me but I think the auction that went higher probably had the card owner bumping up the bids anonymously. And if the card owner was 'probstein', I would pretty much guarantee the auction was bumped up. That guy always gets top dollar on everyone of his auctions and then the next time the same card sells it sells for much less. But, I also believe in a lot of conspiracies so take my opinion for what it's worth, 2 cents.

[branesergen]

Yeah without links it could be any number of things. Or a combination. Time, Shill, Subs as corners do weigh more on a grade but not $400 more, bidding war, etc etc.

[butterworth1326]

I've found that the time the auction ends plays a big role too. Morning to midday seems to be "high traffic" times as midnight seems that I can put in a bid and not have to wait til 8 secs left to do so. But shilling is the number 1 reason I think that this stuff happens, a seller has dummy accounts or buddies put bids on items hoping to catch someone. I've seen my PC guy have 1/1s up and they sell but a week later they are reposted. They all use the excuse, "they never paid". Or just stop selling it to yourself lol. You have to watch, I know it's hard sometimes but you can't give in to prices, I've had cards on eBay for over a year that I haven't boughten bc of stubborn sellers. You the collector are the market, so make it what you want it to be, not the guy trying to make a quick buck off of you!

[phinzphan1372]

was it a bigboyd auction?

[savagenate]

I agree with some of the posts here...I collect a couple low end guys, and even backups...there's no way I'm paying the same price for a 1/1 for my backup that I would for a star player...not happening! The one auction that went higher, maybe there was one guy who really wanted/needed that card...but who knows. Not sure if there's a way to check who bid on it...then you could see if the owner was playing with people. I never buy cards higher than $50 so I don't risk it. Also, you pay a lot more on average for a card that is graded than ungraded. I think it's cheaper to buy a card ungraded, and then get it graded, than it is to buy one already graded. If you don't like your grade, you could always turn around and re-sell

[GnC_Fricker]

Yeah it's funny how many times I "lose" an auction only to get a "second chance" offer within minutes. Never accept those because it's likely the person bid up their own auction and accidentally outbid you while trying to push you to your maximum bid. It's just like walking into a casino. You decide before betting the first dime how much you want to spend. Never take a step over that number and you're safe every time.

[bojesphob]

Yeah it's funny how many times I "lose" an auction only to get a "second chance" offer within minutes. Never accept those because it's likely the person bid up their own auction and accidentally outbid you while trying to push you to your maximum bid. It's just like walking into a casino. You decide before betting the first dime how much you want to spend. Never take a step over that number and you're safe every time.

I completely agree. I've been bidding on some Favre stuff lately, and most of it I shouldn't be having to pay more than 1 or 2 bucks, but the bids run up to 6, 7, or 8 bucks. I set my bid at the max that I want to spend to begin with, then check on what I won later in the day. If I didn't win anything, then so be it. If I do, then I get it for what I want to spend.

[Smitty1177]

Thanks yall ... Great reading and will definitely be watching out for some these issues ... Now if i had more money than cards i wanted id be in good shape..look forward to getting lil more involved on this site also,most seem to be on the up and up