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Do Price Guides Guide Ebay Prices: The Market for Individual Baseball Cards

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  • Jannett Highfill
  • Kevin O'Brien

Abstract

The paper considers the question of whether eBay selling prices for baseball cards are correlated with “book prices.†Three book prices are used, “Lo,†and “Hi†from the price guide Beckett Baseball Card Plus , and their average “Avg. HiLo.†The paper demonstrates a close relationship between book prices and the final sale price. Higher book prices (by all three measures) were associated with higher eBay selling prices, and in separate regressions, each book price explained a substantial proportion of the variance of the final sale price. There is mixed evidence about which book price best is the best guide to the final sale price. The Lo price was closest to the final sales price, but the regression results suggest the Ave. HiLo price because its coefficient is relatively close to one.

Suggested Citation

  • Jannett Highfill & Kevin O'Brien, 2008. "Do Price Guides Guide Ebay Prices: The Market for Individual Baseball Cards," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 52(1), pages 58-65, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:amerec:v:52:y:2008:i:1:p:58-65
    DOI: 10.1177/056943450805200105
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jannett Highfill & Kevin O'Brien, 2003. "The International Reach Of Ebay For U.S. Buyers," International Trade and Finance Association Conference Papers 1004, International Trade and Finance Association.
    2. John A. List & David Lucking-Reiley, 2002. "Bidding Behavior and Decision Costs in Field Experiments," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 611-619, October.
    3. Alvin E. Roth & Axel Ockenfels, 2002. "Last-Minute Bidding and the Rules for Ending Second-Price Auctions: Evidence from eBay and Amazon Auctions on the Internet," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1093-1103, September.
    4. Mikhail I Melnik & James Alm, 2002. "Does a Seller’s eCommerce Reputation Matter? Evidence from eBay Auctions," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 337-349, September.
    5. Bajari, Patrick & Hortacsu, Ali, 2003. "The Winner's Curse, Reserve Prices, and Endogenous Entry: Empirical Insights from eBay Auctions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(2), pages 329-355, Summer.
    6. Yannis Bakos, 2001. "The Emerging Landscape for Retail E-Commerce," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 69-80, Winter.
    7. David Lucking‐Reiley, 2000. "Auctions on the Internet: What’s Being Auctioned, and How?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 227-252, September.
    8. Severin Borenstein & Garth Saloner, 2001. "Economics and Electronic Commerce," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 3-12, Winter.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jannett Highfill & Kevin M. O’Brien, 2018. "eBay Memorabilia Auctions vis-à -vis Predictions for the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 63(1), pages 71-78, March.
    2. Joseph Engelberg & Linh Thompson & Jared Williams, 2020. "Stock market anomalies and baseball cards," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 461-479, August.

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