Trading cards are just way too cheap

[illuknisaa]

People seriously need to put their kippah on and start selling cards at a higher price. Cards are sold almost immediately they are put on sale so it means there a ♥♥♥♥ ton of demand. That demand should be exploited. If cards are sold at like 4-5 times higher price than now, everybody wins.

[Serell]

Everyone wins except those that like to make badges

[Marion Quinn]

Put a lid on it Trump.

[Linerax]

I will make that happen with a small loan of a million doll hairs.

[muckymucks]

It's capitalism. Sure, there's a lot of people buying but there's also a lot of people selling and everyone wants to sell their items RIGHT NOW. That means if they see someone selling for 10 cents, they'll put theirs at 9 cents and the next person will start selling at 8 cents. Eventually a balance emerges where enough people are buying and selling that the price settles. It usually settles at 7 cents (giving the seller 5 cents after fees) because it's not worth selling for less than that.

Your plan would work if only a few people were able to sell but everyone can, so we're all competitng against each other and we're all after our own self-interest so there's no reason to care about the other sellers. Again, that's capitalism.

[Start_Running]

You're free to set your price higher but remember, the higher you set your price,,. the easier you make it for someone else to undercut you.

[illuknisaa]

Originally posted by muckymucks:

It's capitalism. Sure, there's a lot of people buying but there's also a lot of people selling and everyone wants to sell their items RIGHT NOW. That means if they see someone selling for 10 cents, they'll put theirs at 9 cents and the next person will start selling at 8 cents. Eventually a balance emerges where enough people are buying and selling that the price settles. It usually settles at 7 cents (giving the seller 5 cents after fees) because it's not worth selling for less than that.

Your plan would work if only a few people were able to sell but everyone can, so we're all competitng against each other and we're all after our own self-interest so there's no reason to care about the other sellers. Again, that's capitalism.

But thats the problem. Cards would be sold "right now" regardless if they cost 20 cents or 5. Only reason why price drops is because sellers get into this undercutting competition which only serves to undermine profits.

If sellers would form a coalition where everybody would sell at a fixed price, we would just win.

Originally posted by JonahD:

Everyone wins except those that like to make badges

Those guys are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. In their mind they are winning all day long. They don't notice if their wallet is 10 dorra lighter.

[Alf]

Agree, traiding cards became too cheap=(

[InsanityS]

Just my opinion but I get the impression there are more people obtaining cards than there are crafting badges, and that supply is free and potentially increasing over time. This becomes even more true when you get holiday cards, which have even bigger supply and are on a time limit.

I use the market to complete card sets purely because it's frustrating trying to wade through all the trade offers in the forums that are trying to score high profits from the system, but even then I don't buy cards that are priced highly. If they're high I'll wait.

[Ken]

I will always sell my cards 1 cent cheaper than you!

(Trading cards are a Valve psychological marketing ploy. They actually employ people with a background in psychology to help them come up with these ideas. If you attribute any importance to them, or their value, you have fallen for Valve's scam)

[Digital R3lapse]

Welcome to a free/open market.

[muckymucks]

Originally posted by illuknisaa:

Originally posted by muckymucks:

It's capitalism. Sure, there's a lot of people buying but there's also a lot of people selling and everyone wants to sell their items RIGHT NOW. That means if they see someone selling for 10 cents, they'll put theirs at 9 cents and the next person will start selling at 8 cents. Eventually a balance emerges where enough people are buying and selling that the price settles. It usually settles at 7 cents (giving the seller 5 cents after fees) because it's not worth selling for less than that.

Your plan would work if only a few people were able to sell but everyone can, so we're all competitng against each other and we're all after our own self-interest so there's no reason to care about the other sellers. Again, that's capitalism.

But thats the problem. Cards would be sold "right now" regardless if they cost 20 cents or 5. Only reason why price drops is because sellers get into this undercutting competition which only serves to undermine profits.

If sellers would form a coalition where everybody would sell at a fixed price, we would just win.

I get your point but there's too many sellers and the demand always shifts. Not every card is in hot demand. When you have thousands of sellers there's no way we're all going to agree. Even if 99% of us agree to price cards at $100 there's going to be that jerk that'll sell for $90 and that causes a snowball effect where and next person will sell for $80 until we get back down to 7 cents. That's how capitalism works and that's how humans work: we're selfish and only in it for ourselves.

Your plan only works if there's only 5 sellers like there are cable companies. They can talk among themselves and agree not to lower the price beyond a certain point. That's why they have a near-monopoly at least in the United States. It's easier for 5 people to come to an understanding rather than thousands.

[Sponcor]

That's the economy, baby!

[Digital R3lapse]

Originally posted by muckymucks:

I get your point but there's too many sellers and the demand always shifts. Not every card is in hot demand. When you have thousands of sellers there's no way we're all going to agree. Even if 99% of us agree to price cards at $100 there's going to be that jerk that'll sell for $90 and that causes a snowball effect where and next person will sell for $80 until we get back down to 7 cents. That's how capitalism works and that's how humans work: we're selfish and only in it for ourselves.

Your plan only works if there's only 5 sellers like there are cable companies. They can talk among themselves and agree not to lower the price beyond a certain point. That's why they have a near-monopoly at least in the United States. It's easier for 5 people to come to an understanding rather than thousands.

"That jerk".... For not being greedy as ♥♥♥♥ with cards he got for free? As long as Im paying nothing for the cards I get. I will comtinue to sell them for as cheap as I have to in order to sell them. I guess that makes me a "jerk".

Thinking there is any chance that people wont sell their cards for whatever they have to in order to sell them is just ignorant.

[Kind.]

valve should build a glados mainframe directly in the center of every major trading hub.
the steam community can crowd fund it through here, and then it can poop lil penny pellets into the investors steam wallets.

[just.kamk /idle]

Originally posted by illuknisaa:

...
But thats the problem. Cards would be sold "right now" regardless if they cost 20 cents or 5. Only reason why price drops is because sellers get into this undercutting competition which only serves to undermine profits...

This is actually where you're wrong.

It's not about undercutting "competition", it's about quick selling, finding a buyer, and actually selling in the first place.
Most cards aren't rare, get used up in crafting, and barely ever create anything decent. So why should anyone pay four times as much? Quite simply they won't.
Well, some might, but the amount of cards sold overall will be less... and you're back to square one. What's the point of selling 5 cards at 20 cents, if you could otherwise sell 20 cards at 6 cents.

The prices for cards you see are a plain result of supply and demand. Some cards are actually way more pricy.