Friday Marketwatch - May 28

As of May 28th, the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:

Highest Single Card Sale: 2003 LeBron James, $32.09
Highest Mult-Card Sale: Mickey Mantle Collection #009/999, $440
Highest Graded Sale: 2003 LeBron James, BGS 9.5, $72.95
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2007 Phil Hughes, $109.99
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: None

Other best sellers:

* 2009 WBC Japan Patch Card
* 2007 Brett Favre
* 2006 Hanley Ramirez
* 2009 Brett Favre

In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: 2003 LeBron James, 12 bids

Listings with false print-runs included in title: 4
Number of sellers listing false print-runs: 2 (ebay id: iverson775, dbbd_collectibles)

Friday Marketwatch - May 21

As of May 21st, the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:

Highest Single Card Sale: 2001 Albert Pujols, $89.99
Highest Mult-Card Sale: Mickey Mantle Collection #350/999, $430.99
Highest Graded Sale: (tie) 2009 T-206 Lou Gehrig PSA 10 2009 T-206 Ty Cobb PSA 10, $100
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2009 T-206 Cal Ripken, $299.95
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: 2003 Mark Martin BGS 9.5/10, $80

Other best sellers:

* T-206 Honus Wagner
* 2009 WBC Japan Patch Card
* 2003 LeBron James
* T-206 Cal Ripken

In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: 2003 LeBron James, 10 bids

Listings with false print-runs included in title: 4
Number of sellers listing false print-runs: 1 (ebay id: iverson775)

Autograph Offering: 2009 Rick Porcello

Tomorrow etopps will sell an autograph of a 2009 RRO Rick Porcello, an up-and-coming pitcher for the Detroit Tigers at $29.99 each. 99 will be offered tomorrow starting at the usual time of 3PM. The unusualness in the offering is it's a Tuesday. I can't remember the last time etopps offered an autograph on a Tuesday.

You would think etopps would offer something tastier than a Porcello if they started promoting the auto on the homepage before the weekend.

If etopps will be providing a limited number of autographs this baseball season, either they are not doing right by offering them so quickly; but if they have a lot more to go, they're mixing the quality of players up.

I do like how this player signs this card. His signature reminds me of the manufactured autos on all of my Topps baseball cards in the late Seventies and early Eighties.

So is this auto worth it? According to ebay completed transactions, you're not likely to make a good flip on this unless Porcello does something unusual. This is the best listing in the last two weeks. Not very encouraging, considering anything asked higher than this auction didn't have any bids and this one only had 1 bid.

Buy it for your collection, if you're a Tigers fan, like the idea of taking risk for $30, have intentions to have it graded for its auto or have the same last name as this pitcher.

Friday Marketwatch - May 14

As of May 14th, the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:

Highest Single Card Sale: 2007 Tim Lincecum, $69.99
Highest Mult-Card Sale: 6-Card Mickey Mantle reprint lot, $90
Highest Graded Sale: 2009 Derrick Rose, BGS 10, $125
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2007 Tim Lincecum, $300
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: None

Other best sellers:

* 2001 Albert Pujols
* 2009 Derrick Rose
* 2003 LeBron James
* 2007 Kevin Durant

In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: 2001 Albert Pujols, 26 bids

Listings with false print-runs included in title: 1
Number of sellers listing false print-runs: 1 (ebay id: iverson775)

Friday Marketwatch - May 7

As of May 7th, the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:

Highest Single Card Sale: 2001 Albert Pujols, $62.75
Highest Mult-Card Sale: 2009 Ultimate Fighting UFC Set, $79.99
Highest Graded Sale: 2004 Dwight Howard, BGS 9.5, $12.75
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2007 Tim Lincecum, $175
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: 2008 Evan Longoria, BGS 9/10, $152.50

Other best sellers:

* 2003 LeBron James
* 2009 Mark Sanchez
* 2008 Evan Longoria
* 2009 T-206 Honus Wagner

In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: 2009 Matthew Stafford, 9 bids

Listings with false print-runs included in title: 7
Number of sellers listing false print-runs: 1 (ebay id: iverson775)

Autograph Offering: T-206 Cal Ripken Jr

With 50 that will be taken out of port for this bargain of an autograph, it's pretty obvious that later today (3PM EST) the T-206 Cal Ripken card will be the short print of the commemorative (and successful) 2009 T-206 reprint set.

This is the second time etopps is offering an autograph for a Cal Ripken Jr. card. The last one was in September of 2005 for $129 (total quantity 99).

Similar to when etopps offers an IPO of a hot player that doubles or even triples in value a day or two after allocation, this is a gift to etopps members.

Even if Ripken is not your favorite, there are not many reasons not to have a Ripken autograph in your collection.

At $89, it's a great investment of a great player that's great to pass down to your children when they can understand the value of autographs and the value that Ripken brought to the game before steroids plagued it.