Negotiating 101 for Trading Cards and Peculiarities of doing it online
In today’s market of steadily rising trading card prices, finding ways to improve our position as a buyer is gaining more importance than ever. Negotiation is an effective way to hold down prices and has been practiced since time immemorial. While trading cards used to be almost exclusively bought and traded face-to-face, the transactional medium has strongly shifted towards online marketplaces even before Corona. Nowadays, most deals are conducted online which also influences the dynamics of the negotiation process.
In the following essay, I would like to address the special characteristics of negotiating online and how you can use them to your advantage. The examples are given in terms of trading cards but the tips can broadly be applied to anything else.
Though negotiating doesn’t come naturally to everyone, the good news is that doing it online usually costs less effort than having to do it face-to-face. As traditional status cues in online negotiations are missing, the power differences for more experienced negotiators are somewhat minimized. Online, it is also much easier to disclose your emotional attachment to your object of desire, something that is often harder to do at an in-person encounter.
On the other hand, there are also some downfalls in online negotiations you should be aware of. People are less adept at mediating their emotions via email than they think leading to messages being perceived more aggressively than originally intended. That is why you need to take particular care to be extra polite. Besides, due to the visual anonymity and remote distance the likelihood of loyalty to the negotiation decreases. So it is more likely that sellers will exit the current negotiation prematurely or even ignore your request as opposed to being approached personally. But the worst thing that literally could happen from being ignored is that the initial conditions remain as is.
One of the most vital aspects of any negotiation is power. But more often than not, who has the most power is simply a matter of perception — a fact that is equally true for online and face-to-face negotiations. As a buyer, you might have the impression that the power lies more on the site of the seller, a feeling that is mostly driven by FOMO (fear of missing out). But actually, the buyer has just as much power — if not more — since can freely decide whether or not he makes the purchase. It might be the seller who sets the initial conditions but those are rarely set in stone. I have experienced that surprisingly often sellers are strongly motivated to make the fast deal: In spite of the fact that their original listing does not feature a best offer option, sending him a message eventually might still result in a reduction in price or shipping fees.
So my tip is to never accept the initial terms and always try to make an offer. But how low can you go? Your initial offer should be lower than what you are willing to pay because you should expect the seller to counter it. This means that your offer can be very low but should not be unrealistic or even insulting since then you run the risk of the other party simply exiting the negotiation prematurely. But as long as you can somehow reason your offer, and it doesn’t have to be a very good reason, it will very likely be conceived as legit. For example, some trading cards feature a very low Beckett value compared to their current eBay comps. In that case, you explain that your offer orients towards the Low Beckett Value, and even though the seller will heavily try to refute your argument, your initial offer will remain as an anchor. Anchoring is a well-known negotiation technique that describes the common tendency to give too much weight to the first number put forth in a discussion. While online it usually is the seller who sets the price your first offer is at least as important for the result of the negotiation as the initial condition.
When the price remains non-negotiable there is still another method you can apply which is commonly referred to as expanding the pie. This strategy aims at your creativity to gain alternative advantages out of the deal: The prices may be firm but the way of shipping might still be adjustable or the seller might have a couple other, yet unlisted, pieces you are interested in and you might be able to achieve a quantity discount.
One major reason why buyers tend to overpay for trading cards is the so-called scarcity effect. It is strongly connected with FOMO and means that you have the impression that the card you want is either scarce by nature, e.g. due to a low-serial numbering, or very popular and thus in high demand. One way to refute this impression is to be aware of your alternatives. How often has this particular card been auctioned lately or are there similar cards you are as interested in which are currently of higher supply? You always optimize your position in a negotiation when you consider the possibility of letting it go and wait for a better moment or chase for something else. In a bull market, the best time to buy a card seems to be known but nothing will go up forever and according to my 25-year history of collecting trading cards patience — more often than not — paid off.
