Site Forum

I don't usually pay attention to prices on here, but I came across a card that one newer member has entered what I consider to be bogus low prices. Three of them, on two occasions.   By doing three, his highest becomes the median of the newest five.  He did it once, then his got pushed off, so he did it again.  What would his motivation be?

I have been adding prices lately but I add only the price I paid.  There are times I think the price I added is to low or too high.

Maybe he's trying to buy the cards and by making the prices appear lower he can scoop them up cheap and flip.

I'm not sure if that's the case since I hardly ever use pricing on here and occasionally will put in prices of cards I bought or one's that are outrageously high but are common cards.

unless they bought a collection of 10,000 cards for 100.00 and are figuring .01 each no matter if star or common?

you never know unless you ask them directly..

mark

As a "newer user" (but long time collector), I suppose it's my duty to speak up for my fellow "newer users." I used to collect cards a few decades ago and have been buying them sporadically over the last 20 years, stuffing them into boxes in my closet and forgetting about them. I just recently decided to pull all of this out, organize it, and see what it is worth (and maybe sell some online). In the old days, I would go to the store and buy a bunch of Beckett Price Guides or Tuff Stuff, whatever, and start pricing all my cards. A lot has changed...

I was thrilled to see that this online database (and community) exists. However, as I started to dig deeper I realized a lot of the prices on the site are inaccurate. Many cards don't have listed prices, some prices date back to before 2016, or are undated. Moreover, some standing "current" prices listed are just flat out inaccurate. For instance if I can go online right now and see that Card X recently sold for $6 (w/shipping), then again for $7, then $5, then $4, then $7 again, and so on, there is no reason the card should be listed on this site as $45 from 2016, or worse as $.20 from before recorded time. So myself, and I'm sure my fellow "new users" are plugging away recording sales of cards so that we can get an accurate accounting of what our cards are worth as we upload our collections.

Back in the early 90's a 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey, Jr. could easily run you $80-$100. Unfortunately, that's just not consistent with the current reality. So, as old collectors we may find ourselves biased on the price of a card based on what we put into it (Sunk Cost Fallacy) or what we think it should be worth (Wishful Thinking), but the market has a voice of its own, and empirical sales have the final say of what a card is worth. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case with. what you are calling "bogus" prices, I suppose it depends on the disputed prices and the market reality.

Additionally, as I identify a card is missing a scanned image. I've started putting my cards on the scanner and uploading the pics, to contribute my share to the greater cause. We "newer users" may not have the history on the site, but we have a lot to offer, so don't discount us, because without us this site can never reach it's full potential.

Speaking of which, I've put a lot of effort into pricing cards, updating missing cards/sets, etc, yet my site site points seem to be moving backwards, and I've already received some "Stay off my turf" messages from some of the “older users” when I tried to upload entire sets that didn’t exist on the site. So, as a "newer user" all I'm asking on behalf of myself and the other newer users is that from the community side of the site, that those who have been around for a while don't employ an “us vs. them” mentality, because we certainly have a lot to learn from each other, and if you are an old user getting ticked that new users are updating things, perhaps you should ask yourself why it went this long without the update. Maybe new users are just the answer for which you are looking. So, can we fix the scoring system so new users don’t get pinged harder than they get rewarded for trying to improve the site. It’s only going to scare us off and leave the site stagnant and inaccurate.

It’s easy to see the vision of what this site can and should be, and I’m excited to be “new” part of making that vision a reality. Thanks.

First let me say welcome to the site K-Cards.  I hope you don't get scared off because to be honest it gets kind of boring with the same people being on here all the time (no knock to the vets, just like to hear new thoughts once in a while).  With that said, I can't speak for the others, but the "new user" part of the original post had no bearing on my thoughts.  I was simply presenting a possibility that whoever the OP was talking about may be doing.  Not too often, but scammers have used this site before so its possible.  Though for the most part, most new users are great additions to the site.

I love your spirit and desire to want to help out on the site and sorry to hear others might feel threatened "stepping on their turf".  Though I can say in some instances (and I have no way of knowing about your situation) some new members (even some vets) have added things like checklists that were incomplete or inaccurate just so they could add cards to their collection, which resulted in many man hours spent trying to correct the checklist.  Again, not saying that was your situation, but sometimes members view new members as inexperienced which isn't always a case.

As far as points go, they don't really matter, especially a certain point and some people have suggested once you reach a certain level it should be turned off anyways. While initially it may have been a great idea, it has outlived its usefulness at this point.

Again, welcome to the site, and hope you stick around, because we could use all the help we can get.  Also thank you for chiming in, and hope you do it more often.  Otherwise we'll have to listen to Chuck and Bob go round and round more often and I'm not sure I can take much more of that !

As an "old" user (in many ways), allow me to say a couple things on behalf of us.

First, welcome. Glad you're here, and glad you're attempting to contribute.

Please understand that this site has been running for 11 plus years. We have an Admin who is super-responsive to the needs of the membership, and has listened intently to the members as we explained the issues we faced. The site has evolved, but like any company, it usually is slower than the customer likes. However, immediate changes happening "yesterday" is impossible, and that's usually what the customer demands. (Foolish customers - they'll never be satisfied with that mindset.) The fact that site has been going for as long as it has, and that it's completely sourced by the members, means that the members have a lot of say as to what goes on.

Over those 11+ years, plenty of discussions have occurred, both in the forums and through private messaging and e-mails. Those discussions have led to a huge expansion of the FAQs, and the members have even contributed much to the FAQs to help the situation. There is a lot of information there, but it explains how the site/database works and how we (the members) can do our part to ensure that anything we add or modify conforms to these rules and guidelines to further the operation of the database. Please be mindful of that. I thin in another thread (Pokemon) actions that you took on a set were not aligned with the standards previously set forth. You're new, we get that. But that means you have much to learn about the way things need to be formatted for the database to operate at its optimum. This lack of knowledge and diving right in may be what's led to others attempting to inform you of the errors of your ways, as an educational endeavor. I'm not sure how you can wind up with negative points. (You might want ot send a PM to Admin asking about that.) You can lose the actual points you gained by having items removed because they were not correct or did not meet site guidlines, but I don't know how you can be "penalized" points.

Welcome. Crawl, then walk, then run. Please don't try to run on this site too soon, else you'll find it's too much. There is a lot here (and there's even more here than there was when I joined 7 years ago). Please understand fully what you're about to do on the site before you do it, and if you're not 100% sure about what you're about to do, ask someone. Look at the forums, you see who's active on here. Most of the top posters are top posters because they're the ones answering the questions people have or explaining how things work (or would work better if certain things are done). You can ask on the forums, lots of people on here love to answer the questions posed there and help, or ask in a private message if the question would embarass you if asked publicly. I field many questions in PMs. I don't judge. I educate. (Like now.)

Yes, we need new members because each member brings something unique to the table and we need it here. At the same time, we need the new members to be cautious and learn the ways of the site. 

K-cards first off welcom to the site. Secondly ...hopefully you didn't feel I was telling you to "Stay off my turf" in regards to the Pokemon sets when I contacted you the other day. It definately wasn't my intent. Please GET ON THE TURF in regards to Pokemon. 

My only caution/encouragement is to make sure you follow the guidelines and make sure any work / additions you do are correct. It takes A LOT of work to fix inaccurate or incorrect information. I can't emphasis that enough.... A LOT of work.

I'm kind of old and crusty (as are some others on this site) so I may not always communicate things in the best way possible.  Don't stop contributing....seriously please don't. The Gaming segment needs collectors that want to contribute. Take it slow, ask questions, and you'll be a "master" contributor in no time at all.

Wait...how did you get -10 points?

None of us "discount" what new members bring to the site! We welcome your input, and especially scans that are missing. I think what switzr1 is wondering is why someone would low-ball a card. We've had people in the past jump on here to over-inflate the price of a card they are selling on another site to use that "accurate price" as an example to try to sell their card for more. I don't see how that could be used in reverse for a buyer though. Sellers usually do their own research before posting something they want to sell.

EDIT: To say WOW! A bunch of guys replied while I was typing my reply.