Friday Marketwatch - January 15

As of January 15th the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:

Highest Single Card Sale: 1952 Mickey Mantle Reprint, $85
Highest Mult-Card Sale: T-206 Set, $24.99
Highest Graded Sale: 2003 LeBron James, BGS 9.5, $44
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2008 John Elway SB Champs , $180 (Pre-Sell)
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: 2003 Larry Johnson, BGS 9.5/10, $38

Other best sellers:

* 2009 WBC Japan Patch Card
* 2008 Chris Johnson
* 2009 Matt Wieters
* 2008 T-206 Cal Ripken

In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: 2001 Albert Pujols, 39 bids

Listings with false print-runs included in title: 6
Number of sellers listing false print-runs: 1 (ebay id: iverson775)

Friday Marketwatch - January 8

As of January 8th the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:

Highest Single Card Sale: 2009 Barack Obama A-S Event Card 001/999, $200
Highest Mult-Card Sale: T-206 Set, $200
Highest Graded Sale: 2008 DeSean Jackson, BGS 9.5, $29
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2006 Joseph Addai, $39.99
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: 2001 Ladainian Tomlinson, BGS 9.5/10, $123.50

Other best sellers:

* 2009 T-206 Honus Wagner
* 2001 Derek Jeter
* 2003 LeBron James
* 2009 WBC Japan Patch Card

In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: 2001 Derek Jeter, 13 bids

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

Autograph Offering: John Elway Allen & Ginter Super Bowl Champs

It's nice to see another football autograph offering from etopps, and even nicer to have another Allen & Ginter Super Bowl Champions offering from the first set. It wasn't as if this set needed a boost. The value of this set has skyrocketed in the past year. The John Elway card was already at $50 before this offering was posted yesterday on the etopps home page.

This offering would have been a nice belated Christmas present if it had been offered 3 weeks ago, giving us a chance to have it shipped before the upcoming Super Bowl.

The autograph is being offered tomorrow at 3PM EST for $79.99 a pop and only one can be bought per account for a total of 50 being available.

While the last autograph did not sell out immediately due to IT problems on Christmas Eve, this one should not have a problem.

What I also like about autographs of retired players is their value will not diminish unless of course they did something that makes them look bad as we've seen with Tiger Woods and retired baseball players like Clemens. Since Elway is a top-notch person, I don't think you have much to worry about. There are a lot of Elway fans and this card with his autograph should make the die-hards drool at least a bit.

When doing a search on ebay for "Elway auto," I found 100 listings. That's quite a lot considering we're in the middle of the worst recession since World War II and unemployment is at 10% nationwide. There seems to be a lot of Elway fans selling and buying his autograph on cards whether it's on a jersey card, some other kind of auto card or a plain ol' sticker auto. Most of the ones shown in completed listings sell between $100 and $200.

Mostly likely this card will sell in this range on ebay. The first few will probably sell more but most likely you'll make a profit for a long time to come. It's a stead, solid investment and for an Elway fan, it's a solid buy for their collection and for drooling over.

Friday Marketwatch - January 1

Happy New Year!

As of January 1st the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:

Highest Single Card Sale: 2001 Drew Brees, $26.50
Highest Mult-Card Sale: Mickey Mantle Collection #226/999 $599
Highest Graded Sale: 2007 Kevin Durant, BGS 9.5, $55
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2006 Joseph Addai, $39.99
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: None

Other best sellers:

* 2003 LeBron James
* 2008 NY Yankees Stadium Tribute Patch Card
* 2003 Martin Brodeur
* Classic Football Kellen Winslow

In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: 2001 Drew Brees, 10 bids

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

Enough Is Enough: Join the newly formed Facebook Group, The Etopps Watch Group

I posted the following on the etopps message board this evening:

In response to the first etopps telephone chat, Mark Sapir and I have worked together and reached agreement on the process to fight back against etopps sellers who continue to misrepresent the card's print runs.

We have also reached agreement on the wording of the email that will be sent to ebay to shut down their listing(s). The email will have contact information for several people in Topps, including their General Counsel.

I feel strongly that etoppers who are against these sellers should unite to show strength in numbers. You did this with me when I posted an ebay guide a few years back to warn ebayers about this. Though this guide hasn't done much and is not the first thing a potential buyer will go to if they want to purchase an etopps in-hand.

I've created a group in facebook called the Etopps Watch Group. Since ebay ids will be discussed, I don't think this MB is appropriate.

I'm not sure if this link will work because I'm still trying to get the hang of using facebook.

If you have trouble with the above link, email me through this message board and I will send you an invite to the facebook group.

Since I'm blocked from facebook at work, please be patient if I do not send you an invite until later in the day.

On facebook, I will provide more information about the group, the process of how etopps sellers will be stopped and together I hope we can find these listings/sellers to shut them down.

And yes, Mark has my support in this and I hope you will too.