NFL AUCTIONS - Game Used

[legaleagle92481]

Some of the prices realized in the most recemt auction 11/22 were somewhat downright unbelievable. Over 1750$ for a game used 49ers-Raiders football!!??? I have a game used ball from the 1994 NFC championship signed by both Rice and Young with team letter which cost me less than half that! 600$ for a game issued Eric Heitmann shirt that was originally offered as game worn (until I emailed the NFL and informed them that he was inactive and on IR that game upon which they changed the listing).

JTNFLfan has also driven up prices nicely which for collectors is a problem. When dealers see the prices realized they raise the prices on their shirts due to the high prices on NFL auctions. This has happened to me a number of times when buying older 49ers shirts. The seller says that if a random current player is being sold for 2500$ (Dexter mcluster by JO for example) than surely a 95 John Taylor must be worth 4000$!!! What dealers don't realize is that these shirts don't sell and that if they do they sell for much less.

I think it is great that NFL auctions is selling authentic gamers but that the crazy and ridiculous prices being paid is killing the hobby for collectors looking for accurately priced shirts.

What does everyone else think?

Always buying quality 49ers.

Paul
garciajones@yahoo.com

my advice is simple do what the nba collectors finally have seemed to do. dont bid until the end and if jt bids dont bid just let him have it this way prices dont get insane. if he wants it you will not outbid him for it unless you are very, very wealthy and willing to greatly overpay for stuff. i am not blaming jt though he is playing by the rules. the people i blame are the nonserious bidders who bid very early in the auction knowing that they will never win but yet driving up the price for the serious bidders because they want to say they bid on x item and the guys who bid against jt knowing they will lose just for fun and if for some odd reason he drops out they just would not pay for the item.

[solarlottry]

I am in no way saying JT is doing a bad thing. He can bid on and win whatever he likes. The problem i think lies in that other dealers see the crazy prices and price their items accordingly. Shirts that would have cost me 500-800$ are now 1500-2500 because of the for sale prices of common current players. Dealers can charge what they wish but i think that when 2 bidders drive the price of a game used football, used in a meaningless game between two BAD teams, to 1750$ something is wrong. It just drives the prices of quality items to levels that are ridiculous. I guess one option is to not buy anything for a while and let prices drop. One thing for sure is that once these shirts hit the open market, after the initial NFL auction, they dont fetch near as much money. Put that same football in a Grey Flannel auction and it goes for 300$. Hell i paid 300$ for a game used 1994 49ers football with team letter, signed by Rice so why on earth would i pay 1750$ for a ball used by the absolutely pitiful 2010 49ers team?

I love NFL auctions but Leagle is right that the underbidders are doing everyone a dis-service by bidding items up for no reason. One day when one of these underbidders actually want to win something then they will have to pay thru the nose as they are making the winners of todays auctions do.

[Mulligans]

This conversation seems to come up every year at this time. I think we are seeing a small sign that the Memorabilia market is starting to improve some.

The auction bidding argument is just not true. There has been enough research over the years that says any item, sports or not will sell for what the market wants to pay regarless of who bids and when they bid. I spend enough time at Real Estate auctions to know that this is true.

There have certainly been some head scratchers, but trust me these guys are not necessarily wrong....they are just driven by different motives. Occassionally items sell on NFL where the league does nothing to highlate the specific achievement in a game and the item sells for less than it should.

A couple of examples was the Pats AFL ball last year that set major NFL Records and was a pretty famous game. Another example was Ronde Barber's most recent Jersey where he set an NFL record for the most consecutive games played at cornerback. Both items sold for much less than they could have. Thats only my opinion because I bought them.

Paul...I haven't checked on the ball but maybe there was something going on during the game.

Either way, it takes a few people (that really want something) to drive the price up in any auction format. Its not just football auctions and it will almost always be driven by supply and demand. The Dealers can ask whatever they want and S and D will ultimately determine their prices also.

[hockeytigers]

Guys, here is my take on the whole thing...

If these prices keep going through the roof, it will eliminate people from checking the auctions because they know they cannot afford to buy anything. This in my eyes is a positive thing. As the year goes on, less and less people will be competing for the items, and with less competition, the prices should go down.

[34swtns]

Very true, and I'm living proof. I bid on a few items awhile back. My high bids were reflective of what the items were ultimately worth, (in my very educated and realistic opinion, anyway).

Seriously though, I gave up even looking at NFL Auctions because there are just too many "chippers" bidding on the items and driving the prices up to unrealistic levels. A large majority of these items end up selling for far more than they are worth and the people who are buying them will ultimately see these items are worth much less on the secondary market.

I've said this a million times and it always gets refuted by some of the more starry-eyed members of this hobby:

I love this stuff but I don't plan to be buried with a single damned piece of it.
It's ALL got to be sold at some point and I'd rather not lose my a$$ in the course of all this "fun" we're having.

Knowhatimean?

[legaleagle92481]

This conversation seems to come up every year at this time. I think we are seeing a small sign that the Memorabilia market is starting to improve some.

The auction bidding argument is just not true. There has been enough research over the years that says any item, sports or not will sell for what the market wants to pay regarless of who bids and when they bid. I spend enough time at Real Estate auctions to know that this is true.

There have certainly been some head scratchers, but trust me these guys are not necessarily wrong....they are just driven by different motives. Occassionally items sell on NFL where the league does nothing to highlate the specific achievement in a game and the item sells for less than it should.

A couple of examples was the Pats AFL ball last year that set major NFL Records and was a pretty famous game. Another example was Ronde Barber's most recent Jersey where he set an NFL record for the most consecutive games played at cornerback. Both items sold for much less than they could have. Thats only my opinion because I bought them.

Paul...I haven't checked on the ball but maybe there was something going on during the game.

Either way, it takes a few people (that really want something) to drive the price up in any auction format. Its not just football auctions and it will almost always be driven by supply and demand. The Dealers can ask whatever they want and S and D will ultimately determine their prices also.

What happens at a real estate auction when the winning bidder does not pay for the lot? Do they take no action against him and let him bid again next time? Do they require some sort of proof before you bid that if you win you have the ability to pay for the lot? NFL Auctions as we all know lets bidders bid and then get off scott free if they don't pay, then lets them bid in future auctions and does not require any sort of proof of ability to pay. You could have an 18 year old who works at Burger King parttime with $50 bucks in the bank bid $10,000 on an item for sport. Look at Grey Flannel to bid on their high end lots you have to get credit approval which prevents people who can't afford items from bidding. On NFL Auctions this happens constantly. Some people bid on every item 1,000s but yet somehow never win or they win and the item ends up being reauctioned. The argument that well it takes two people to drive an item to a certain price does not work either because there is no guarentee one of those two is a serious bidder. For some people it is fun to drive prices up for others it is jealousy as in I wish I could afford that so I am going to drive it up so that guy who bought 20 jerseys this month has to pay more for it.

[solarlottry]

Interesting to see that the game used 49ers-Raiders football that "sold" for 1750$ is now re-listed. I have no idea why NFL auctions allows people to bid items up and up and then takes NO action when the high bidder doesn't pay. I am sure that the bidders really interested in such items are getting frustrated with such a ineffective system. Let's see who bids on the football and if the same "winners" still win. To give the previous winner the benefit of the doubt I didn't absolutely match the two footballs up but they sure look the same.

[Dewey2007]

Last night I won one of the lowest sold game used jerseys I think I have ever seen on NFL Auctions. This 2010 Syd'Quan Thompson Broncos jersey worn in the International Series game vs the 49ers sold for only $210. I put in my max bid about an hour before the auction ended and came home a few hours later to see that I had won and more surprisingly that no one else put at least another bid on it.

Maybe it's because the Broncos suck, that Thompson isn't a star, or the holiday season but I thought none of that would ever stop folks from running up the price of a common jersey on NFL Auctions.

[Jags Fan Dan]

Last night I won one of the lowest sold game used jerseys I think I have ever seen on NFL Auctions. This 2010 Syd'Quan Thompson Broncos jersey worn in the International Series game vs the 49ers sold for only $210. I put in my max bid about an hour before the auction ended and came home a few hours later to see that I had won and more surprisingly that no one else put at least another bid on it.

Maybe it's because the Broncos suck, that Thompson isn't a star, or the holiday season but I thought none of that would ever stop folks from running up the price of a common jersey on NFL Auctions.

Wow, congrats on a low priced pick-up from them! We'll see if anybody can beat this record!

[ivo610]

A couple stars went for cheap last night I saw, Hutchinson and Dawkins for a little over $500 ($505 and $510). Both have a pretty good shot at being HOFers IMO but there a ton of Hutchinson jerseys available so I understand what kept him down. Dawkins I guess was low because of the same reason the other poster said about the broncos.