i see it as a problem for anyone wanting to buy and keep sealed and potentially sell later. For example we all know there is an extremely high (almost 100%) chance if you buy a box off Gary it will be legit. HOWEVER if you ever want to sell it sealed later on all of a sudden your buyers are now believing your story of where it came from so we’re back at square one.
I could maybe see a market for CGC graded/sealed boxes where they check it all out and encapsulate the box, but for hardcore sealed collectors it could go the other way as it’s not originally sealed anymore.
Going forward, I think we are entering into a period where seller reputation will be even more important. I have quite a large sealed collection but I am not much of a seller and when I do sell it tends to be in person and therefore I don’t have loads of positive ebay reviews. This doesn’t mean I am any less safe to buy from but realistically people will be more nervous. As I am not planning to sell any time soon I am not worried, but I can see how people in a similar position could be.
In the future I can definitely see sellers with strong reputations commanding more of a percentage premium than condition.
Exactly. I don’t think anyone here can say they wouldn’t trust a box from Gary, however me saying mine came from Gary (whether or not this is true) does not make my box any more legit. Trust is key
You need both. Obviously you need the box to be legitimate, but if you’re going to end up selling a base box for $50,000, you need to act like a normal human and make sure the buyer trusts you. Being professional is how you make sales and also how you get sellers to feel comfortable selling items to you. Iv been extremely lucky on some of my past deals with random people by being persistent and getting them to trust me
Obviously random investor x will feel more comfortable buying from rusty/Gary/etc than dbmoney10 on E4. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to get a deal done at the same price as the more prominent sellers
Also, you shouldn’t compare the premium jcincy or rev get for unweighed packs to the premium a prominent seller should get for having a sealed box
Rev and z&g deserve their premium because the buyer knows their packs are 100% unweighed and clean. This premium is deserved over a random eBay seller who can easily be lying
I can understand why someone thinks this should be the same for boxes. But you aren’t buying a weighed box vs. unweighed box vs. maybe a weighed box. You’re literally just buying a booster box, and I can’t see any big premium unless it’s a situation where a seller can deliver an item way quicker than anyone else. Similar to Scott receiving a premium on his Japanese booster boxes
They receive their premium because they are trusted. The buyers trust that they are unweighed and clean.
A prominent seller with sealed boxes could, going forward, receive a premium because the buyers trust that the boxes arereal*.*
The idea here isn’t “How can we make sure we don’t have to sell our boxes for 10% less than the stars of the hobby?”
The idea is “What tools could we use to make sure our boxes aren’t going to sell for 50%-100% less than the stars of the hobby?”
If you disagree with that and think this is never going to become a problem, fine. The nucleus of this discussion is the idea that it can.
The tools you seek lie deep within hours of hard work and years of experience. If you have done your research & know what to look for all WOTC boxes besides First Ed Base should be rather simple to authenticate.
I suggest at least skimming through the thread before making replies. This discussion is targeted specifically at the people who, like me, already have hours of hard work and years of experience on our backs. Those of us who actually hold boxes. Those of us who can authenticate WOTC boxes can not actually verify them.
In fact, “stars” like these already sell for a premium over whatever a unknown person would get. 50-100% less is an absolute joke, put all your boxes up here for -25% market and they´ll be gone in minutes.
Yes, they already sell for a premium, and will continue to do so, which is why I specifically said: The idea here isn’t “How can we make sure we don’t have to sell our boxes for 10% less than the stars of the hobby?”
When your main concern is that there will be better reseals (or there already are better reseals) and you think that will massively affect the value of a sealed box from a private source, just get rid of them now. Why are you so fearful? In the worst case you can just sell packs individually, break a box live with your customer, use all methods for investigation that are available…
Well, I’m not particularly fearful about it, I think it is a fascinating subject and one that could affect more people than me, hence the thread. I also think it is good to get a brainstorm going. Unlikely as it is, things like this could, in its own small way, incentivize grading companies to contemplate.
Cashing out now is certainly an option, but I think the contents of sealed product could be worth more in the future than the sealed product is worth as of this moment. In other words, I could have my cake and eat it too. I love opening boxes.
Because I love sealed product, it would be a loss to me if buying it becomes difficult. And I always keep reselling in mind when buying almost anything, so to potentially lose that aspect of it would also be a blow.
It´s definitely a good thing to put it on people´s radar and spread some awareness. That being said, I wouldn´t really worry to much about it.
When you do your due dilligence, investigate the box accurately, know about the product, get it from a good source…you´re 99.9% good to go. Some responses in this thread made me wonder if people are actually running around like headless chicken and opening their boxes they had for years because there was a recent reseal problem.
The wave of recent reseals (uae and some others) all seem to have come from the same source, which is currently getting tracked down.
Authentication methods will develop alongside value, we have seen that in many other collecting categories (fine art, coins, etc).