Saturday, February 16, 2013

Thoughts: Competition

Once in a while I will get on the computer and attempt a thorough search of the internet for singles for my MVP Stanley Cup Edition Super Script set. Occasionally this involves doing a general search through Photobucket, which surprisingly actually brings up quite a few of them. The only problem with doing this is that most of these cards are just part of someone's PC album. There is however a slight chance one may be in a traders folder, so I really have nothing to lose by doing a search. 

Anyway, one of the albums I found today led me to a fellow SCF member that appears to also be going after the same Super Script set. They have a few less than me according to their inventory, but most of them are different than the ones I have. This probably explains some of the bidding wars I get into over these cards on eBay now. 

What do you think here, is it a good thing to have a little competition for a set like this? I know from dealing with my Howard collection that competition for a single player is a given and you have to choose your battles. In this case, I'm after one specific thing and now I have at least one other person getting in my way of completing the set. 

Have any of you run into a situation like this? I'm not really sure if I should try to reach out and work together given the scarcity of this set, or if I should keep to myself and just keep doing what I've been doing. I mean I do have almost 50 of these things now, so I have to be doing something right.

7 comments:

  1. What would I do? I think what you gotta do....

    http://youtu.be/xrcgjMJmvNg?t=3m37s

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  2. I'd drop him/her a note and let them know that if they're ever interested in parting with their collection, or if their interests change, to look you up and you'd take a bulk lot off their hands. You never know, could pay off immediately, or maybe years down the line, or maybe never... ;)

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    1. Good point. Never really thought about it that way.

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  3. I would send a simple note asking if they have any doubles.

    I used to "battle" with Linden collectors for years (and losing a lot of higher end items) and rather than let it frustrate me, I decided to embrace it and open the lines of communication.

    Now while not everybody is up for having someone reach out to them out of the blue and ask a bunch of questions, some might enjoy the fact that there is somebody else out there with similar collecting interests.

    I have enjoyed the hobby way more now because I have met numerous Linden collectors. It has helped build my collection to a point I wouldn't have imagined.

    But if you do reach out, be prepared to hear nothing in return or get a "no thank you". And that's fair in my opinion.

    Good luck and keep having fun.

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    1. Thanks for the insight as always. I'm thinking about reaching out and just seeing what happens.

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  4. I run into this situation all the time when it comes to my 2008-09 Upper Deck Masterpieces project. No idea who the other bidders are, but it's a regular occurance and happens with multiple different people. Unfortunately I lose out on a lot of stuff because the prices get out of my range, but a bit of patience can pay off in the long run as I've picked up cards a lot cheaper than those other buyers have when I was involved in the bidding war with them.

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