As collectors we think about buying a few packs or maybe a box on a special occasion, a case if you win the lottery.

Meanwhile in another universe.

Ebay:....392547617508

42 of the same card!!!

Even a big dealer would have trouble shifting that number.

Does anyone know this seller? I keep seeing their auctions and the same card listed 3 different times at 3 different prices, it weirds me out from bidding on anything from them.

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBLE:
42 of the same card!!!

Even a big dealer would have trouble shifting that number.

Very odd to expect one buyer to need a lot containing 42 copies of the same case topper card. Certainly not a Twin Peaks collector, but even a big dealer would have their own case toppers and would have to sell them individually or perhaps in a complete base card set package.

Did this seller buy 42 cases? I think that would be a secondary question as to why he is selling them this way and I don't expect anyone to know either answer.

He has 42 bicycles needing noise-makers in the rear spokes, like, OBVIOUSLY!

quote:

Originally posted by barobehere:
Does anyone know this seller? I keep seeing their auctions and the same card listed 3 different times at 3 different prices, it weirds me out from bidding on anything from them.

I checked out this seller. Very interesting. He's been on Ebay only since April of this year. His listings include a lot of printing plates, and some with multiples. From the looks of it he's sold more than he's listed with only one negative feedback.

quote:

Originally posted by cardaddict:
He has 42 bicycles needing noise-makers in the rear spokes, like, OBVIOUSLY!

Not even, they're metal cards. Bust your spokes.

I'm looking at the other Twin Peaks stuff this person is selling and wondering how its possible. My guess is this person bought 50 Cases, made a bunch of Master Sets and sold them to make a profit, and then is just dumping everything left to get rid of it (and any money made is better than simply throwing the cards away). Cant be good for the hobby (or Rittenthouse) when you can literately get groups of 15+ autos for $5.00

The perfect gift for all the Victoria Catlin fans in your family ….

quote:

Originally posted by AWR:
I'm looking at the other Twin Peaks stuff this person is selling and wondering how its possible. My guess is this person bought 50 Cases, made a bunch of Master Sets and sold them to make a profit, and then is just dumping everything left to get rid of it (and any money made is better than simply throwing the cards away). Cant be good for the hobby (or Rittenthouse) when you can literately get groups of 15+ autos for $5.00

Are we sure he made a profit? If this is the dump, it seems like an awful lot of common hits that are going for pennies, and maybe not even that. After all, who needs 60 Victoria Catlin autos, regardless of the cost? The quantity works against any sales and this seller has a bunch of lots of duplicate Twin Peaks autos running.

As for RA, they may well know who this seller is if indeed it was bought as a large bulk purchase of cases, but once the cards are bought I don't think they care where they end up or for how much. That's not their problem.

I do find it odd that any one person/place would invest so much in this title and I would be curious to know if it was worth it from a business standpoint.

Dealer probably ordered 52 cases to get 3 Archive boxes. Sold a few master sets and then decided to clear the decks of what was left.

This is what is left when you have people searching for the "scarce" autographs but there are "limited" ones in the set too. Manufacturers have to fill all the boxes with something, and it's often like this.

This is an extreme case, but one that plays out on most every release.

I will point out you don't see it as much on other manufacturer's sets if they choose not to guarantee multiple (or even 1) auto in every box. It's just one way of filling the boxes.

Ed

Seemed pretty fun until I checked the auctions out and realized that I don't know anything about the show Twin Peaks and I am not familiar with any of the signers that are for sale.

I'd be willing to bit that big stashes of duplicate autographs are not all that uncommon.

Anyone need an Ashley Fink autograph? I have 19 of them after opening 258 West Mystery Boxes.

quote:

Originally posted by Scifi Cards:
Dealer probably ordered 52 cases to get 3 Archive boxes. Sold a few master sets and then decided to clear the decks of what was left.

Ed

Ahh, the archive boxes. Yes, it would make sense that if he had immediate buyers for all 3 archives and then picked up at least some of the bigger autos for individual sales, the numbers might crush out right. The pile of common hits would be leftovers to dump.

As a card manufacturer I think RA has to get some kind of award for the best use of dealer incentives to prop up product value. Others try, but they're just not as good at it.

Just my luck, I only need 41 of them.

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
Just my luck, I only need 41 of them.

I need the other 11

Just checked the sale prices on some of this seller's lots. The case topper lot went for around $1 a card. The duplicate autograph lots went for around 50-65 cents per card. Imagine the feeling now of pulling two of those out of your $100 box. Can't imagine this is what Rittenhouse envisioned.

Secondary market prices concern card collectors and the people trying to transact business on the secondary market. Card makers are concerned with getting their products distributed and with satisfying dealers and bulk buyers enough to get it sold out. They will say that all like grouped cards are worth the same in their eyes, which may be true in theory, but of course not in actual practice. Still it is true for insertion purposes.

While dumped product may have an impact in decreasing future sales on future products if people lose too much money, card makers can't and don't ever guarantee that the cards have any worth at all. As we have been discussing in another thread, it seems like the average card collector is no longer the targeted customer for many premium products anyway. So dumping on the secondary market is probably good for collectors provided that its not, as you said, the hits you just pulled out of your $100 box.

Hi Ed,

It's good to get a dealer's perspective because dumping a lot of case cards like a lot of common promos doesn't make sense to a collector. I know a longtime dealer in minerals and jewelry, a husband and wife team. They would go to trade shows and think big, buying one seller's entire stock if they could get it for not too much more than the two or three killer pieces that they knew they could resell easily. He would say, "You take your best pieces and sell them to the big collectors, then you take the low end and you blow it out the door."

He would understand that dealer's decision but a case card isn't low end. I don't know how that card works out in the formula card dealers figure out for each series they purchase by the case but I would guess it would be at least a $25 card and maybe as much as a $50 card. Why dump those for $1 each? Why not use them to close a later deal? I know there's a mentality that seeks to roll over absolutely everything ASAP, emptying the shelf rather than letting little boxes (and boxes of little boxes) accumulate over time.

I bet it was another dealer who bought that lot. That card took a huge hit valuewise but it can recover if the buyer deals them wisely over time.

I wouldn't have bet that someone would buy 50 cases of "Twin Peaks." I know the show had a big following back then but it also dragged on too long like "Lost." Was that a $50K purchase or something less assuming he got a volume discount? I don't know what an archive box would go for but I would think the dealer was looking to get at least one-third of the investment back with those three sales and then do well with the other master sets. That's thinking big alright.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by Scifi Cards:
Dealer probably ordered 52 cases to get 3 Archive boxes. Sold a few master sets and then decided to clear the decks of what was left.

This is what is left when you have people searching for the "scarce" autographs but there are "limited" ones in the set too. Manufacturers have to fill all the boxes with something, and it's often like this.

This is an extreme case, but one that plays out on most every release.

I will point out you don't see it as much on other manufacturer's sets if they choose not to guarantee multiple (or even 1) auto in every box. It's just one way of filling the boxes.

Ed