Can you overpay for a PC card?
Sometimes you spend a little more than you planned
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We’ve all done this. Well, at least most of us. Months, maybe even a year ago, I searched for a rare-ish card on eBay. When nothing popped up, I saved the search in hopes that it would pop up one day.
Time went by.
I bought LOTS of other cards. I spent the last 18 months filling in holes from the early part of my Derek Jeter collection and starting a new PC (that’s a topic for another day).
I forgot about the saved search.
Then, one night last week, my phone pinged with an eBay notification. While getting eBay alerts is nothing new, I paused when I saw this one. There was a hit on my saved search for “Jeter Keeper.”
It had been so long, I didn’t even remember what it was for. I clicked on it and my collecting world stopped. My eyes got a little wider and I sucked in a breath. Staring back at me was a metal version of Jeter’s 1993 Topps Rookie Card — a rare variation that was made a few years later.
I saw the asking price of $300 (or Best Offer) and I considered it for about 30 seconds before I clicked “Buy It Now.”
But here’s the thing, I wasn’t happy about it — yet. Even though this was a rare card for my collection, I wondered if I had overpaid. What if this wasn’t a $300 card? What if the person who posted was fishing to find a price? Since these cards don’t show up for sale often, did they even have a value in mind?
Maybe I could have gotten it for cheaper. However, I was worried if I spent too long making an offer and waiting for a response, someone else would swoop in and take this card that I had never seen for sale before.
Yet, my sudden purchase made me wonder?
“Can you overpay for a PC card?”
I asked on Twitter and the resounding answer: No. Nope. Hell No.
(Thank you friends for enabling me!)
The more I thought about it, the more I agreed. If the card is for you and your personal collection with no intention to sell, you cannot possibly overpay. Maybe you set a new market price, and maybe you end up paying the most ever for a singular card. If you can afford to buy something at the asking price, overpaying shouldn’t be an issue especially if the card has no intention of leaving your collection.
It makes your collection all the more special.
The card I bought was numbered to 500, which isn’t as rare as it seems by today’s standards. However, this Jeter card is 25 years old and so uncommon that many long time collectors and Jeter card experts had never seen the card before.
Here’s a little background given to me by a big Jeter collector in a Facebook group. The card was created by R&N China in 1996 as part of “The Keeper Series” and was numbered to just 500 copies. The card itself has the serial number on it and it also came with a card stating the serial number and authenticity of the collectible. The original also came in a nice velvet case like a jewelry holder.
Included in the original was a scratch off for a chance to win a Mickey Mantle metal card that was part of “The Finder Series,” which were numbered to 50. Plenty of these in various of years can be found on eBay.
Farns KC, the collector who told me about the card, said he has only seen five or six of them pop up over the last few years. Yes, years! And the price I paid was fair. I felt better and better about my purchase.
Unfortunately, I don’t know much more about the card or the company, but I keep digging. I am not entirely sure how these cards were distributed. It seems the company went by several names, including Gulfstream Mint and Hobby Editions.
I’ll continue to look for more information on these cards and company, but I feel good knowing that I didn’t overpay — after all, it’s for my PC … how could I?
Can you overpay for a PC Card? Hit the comments and let me know your thoughts!
This is Damn Good Stuff
Have you taken a look at Dan’s newsletter? He wrote a book on Ken Caminiti that is emotional. It’s filled with fun moments, joyous moments, sad moments and heartbreaking moments. The book is set to come out next May, but he’s started chronicling his thoughts on the book and cards!
Here’s a fun post on Caminiti’s first baseball card.
Trading Card Round Up
Josh Luber, who is tapped to run Fanatics’ trading card biz, sat down with the hosts at Sports Card Nonsense to chat about cards (Link)
“The Architect” Karvin Cheung has created a new card company, The Infinite. Its first public release is a collab with music artist The Weeknd (Link)
Panini plans to release NFL NFT trading cards (Link)
Completely agree that there is no real overpaying for a card. At the end of the day the odds are the same that we're overpaying/underpaying for any given card as it's up to us to decide what we feel is appropriate to pay for anything collectible. Especially when it's rare. On that note, I've never seen this version of the Jeter rookie which is awesome! I also get the feels with this article because there is a 1/1 that I've wanted since I first saw it on eBay about a year ago but the seller has it listed for double what I'd be willing to pay which I honestly believe is already more than what it should be purchased for. So month after month I see it sitting there tempting me. I know one day it's going to be gone and it's going to be upsetting because I didn't go ahead and overpay but what can I do. HOpe that it resurfaces sometime at a more decent cost. A few years ago this happened with another 1/1 that I wanted. In 2010 Dave & Adams had a Colt McCoy Nike Swoosh rookie auto 1/1 that I wanted and were asking $2k for it which was nowhere near what my hobby budget would allow. After a few months, it was gone. Then about 4 years later it surfaced again on eBay and the seller was someone I was familiar with from being a collector with a YouTube channel I followed. I reached out and we were able to make a deal for a quarter of what it had been back in the beginning. While this is by far an overpay for anyone on this card it wasn't for me and it is still one of the pillar cards in my collection.