Have we finally reached market saturation?? (3 Viewers)

Hoarding is another word with negative connotation we use as a blanket term to describe a general feeling around chipping folks don't like. Same as flipping and any number of terms.

When it comes down to it, almost everyone falls into *some* category. No one is here simply to be in service to others.

Most of the people on here I'd call acquaintances or friends, happen to be flippers. Hoarders. Anglers. Etc. And some of those same terms might describe me as well.

The great part is, it's a sliding scale, a very large gradient. They're all open to interpretation and we all have our own subjective thoughts.

I try *very* hard to not be what I consider a hoarder. If I have a single chip in a drawer, I give it away or sell it. No rack, chip, DB, etc. is meant to be stacked on a shelf or drawer or closet or under a bed or in the garage or whatever. That stems from my idea of what a poker chip is. For me, it's a collectable that I find aesthetically pleasing that has a social construct tied to to it - i.e. art. Hence my collection and display of custom samples. Every set I have is displayed prominently, heck, poker chips are the first thing you see when you walk into our house.

Now does that mean I judge all my friends who have chips in drawers, in droves under beds or in the back of closets? Absolutely not. That's their relationship with this hobby. Lol imagine, there are chippers who don't care that much about poker chips. Good for them I hope to be the same one day.

How do *we* know if someone with a hoarders amount of chips helps others? Maybe they just don't help you. Are rat rod collectors hoarding singles that could be better served going into sets? Are set collectors hoarding thousands of singles that could fill in singles collectors' missing pieces?

While I think most shenanigans are pretty well known, like all the assholes who win an auction and then turn around in less than a years time trying to sell for twice their original amount, we just can't ever be sure of the full story, motivation, all that.

This one is my favorite insights into hoarding. Just a short, well done podcast episode. Give it a listen while you're working if you're interested!

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Meh. I’d go so far as to say ban those too. Because they could be leading in the shine direction. Send questions via PM. Maybe if guys inboxes get inundated with questions, they’ll learn to post better ads.

I would rather the questions be in public, because one good thing about forums is that they’re a repository for info. And once something is answered, it’s archived and findable by the search if someone is looking in the future.
 
Yes, all this exactly. And whoever it was earlier who said that 10% of the great deals are actually good deals - that figure is probably accurate. And those chips sell in a matter of minute. Like seriously, easy rule of thumb - if the chips have sat, unsold for days (or even hours really) its not a very good deal NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE COMMENT "WHAT A DEAL!" WITHOUT BUYING THE CHIPS.
This man gets it.
 
You see this a lot in the card market.

There’s going to be a decent % of thread shiners that hold similar inventory that are bumping threads in hopes of enticing an ATH comp or a favorable recent comp.
 
Everyone continues to collect more and sell less. Only times the max desired chips hit classified is for a higher than historical amount of money.

I sold off about 40% of my collection this year at prices which were mostly below market. ‍[shrug emoji]
 
I collect baseball cards, basketball cards, and shoes. Everything is down. Every seller is selling at a loss right now (and has been for the past year or so).

A Mike Trout rookie I bought for $1k at auction in 2021 has been sitting on eBay as a buy it now for $400 for months. What do you think the comments on this card would look like if commentary were allowed. Probably very similar to what you see here in classifieds.

I haven’t read entire thread but I’d be confident that whatever is happening in the chip market isn’t indicative of chip interest and is not specific to this hobby. Booms and busts.
 
I would not be surprised if a "poker chip index" would be loosely correlated with S&P500.
Except the S&P500 is almost back at its all time peak and this recent conversation is about people struggling to move chips at their cost and taking a loss.

Edit: sorry I assume you mean a positive correlation.
 
Except the S&P500 is almost back at its all time peak and this recent conversation is about people struggling to move chips at their cost and taking a loss.

Edit: sorry I assume you mean a positive correlation.
This is what I get for not watching the stock market anymore.

Maybe it tracks Bitcoin? Or is negatively correlated with interest rates?
 
Not enough liquidity in exotic investments like chips, cards, etc to compare to an index like that but it would be interesting if there were.

Money flows towards exotic investments when “things are good.” The S&P being at all time heights alone isn’t an indication of “things being good” when you factor in other other measures like interest rates, inflation, supply chain etc.

Bitcoin *could* be a good proxy except a lot of money also flows towards bitcoin during times of turmoil as a “safer” store of value (inflation proof). People don’t move their wealth to chips or playing cards when war breaks out in Ukraine like they would with bitcoin.

Anyways, people need to come to terms with the market if they want to sell. Otherwise, take down your ad and wait for things to turn. Saying “I paid X for this tiger set so I won’t sell it for anything less than X” isn’t good for the hobby.
 
I find quality chips are quite liquid… if you list them at fair prices. Often sell and “settle” in hours, sometimes minutes.

Not liquid if you shoot for the moon. Same as if you offer a stock at a fixed price above market, instead of taking what the market will pay.
 
Not enough liquidity in exotic investments like chips, cards, etc to compare to an index like that but it would be interesting if there were.

Money flows towards exotic investments when “things are good.” The S&P being at all time heights alone isn’t an indication of “things being good” when you factor in other other measures like interest rates, inflation, supply chain etc.

Bitcoin *could* be a good proxy except a lot of money also flows towards bitcoin during times of turmoil as a “safer” store of value (inflation proof). People don’t move their wealth to chips or playing cards when war breaks out in Ukraine like they would with bitcoin.

Anyways, people need to come to terms with the market if they want to sell. Otherwise, take down your ad and wait for things to turn. Saying “I paid X for this tiger set so I won’t sell it for anything less than X” isn’t good for the hobby.
I'm just glad we finally have an expert from other hobbies here to help sort everything out for us.
 
Saying “I paid X for this tiger set so I won’t sell it for anything less than X” isn’t good for the hobby.
Its normally the case of "I paid X for this set so I won't sell it for anything less than X + Y".

Going back to what you stated would actually be a huge improvement.
 
Not enough liquidity in exotic investments like chips, cards, etc to compare to an index like that but it would be interesting if there were.

I think there's enough signal in the classifieds to make one. It's just a ton of work for questionable benefit. But if it existed, it would be fascinating.

Anyways, people need to come to terms with the market if they want to sell. Otherwise, take down your ad and wait for things to turn. Saying “I paid X for this tiger set so I won’t sell it for anything less than X” isn’t good for the hobby.

One quibble is IMO there's nothing wrong with naming your price on either side- sellers anchoring high and buyers anchoring low. Not everything has to move right away, and sometimes it's nice to be able to overpay to get something quicker.
 
I am a CONUS only seller because it is so much more hassle to deal with customs forms and not all shipping label sites make it easy to enter international addresses etc.

I also always tell myself that it’s better long term for the international chipper if I encourage them to work with a good reshipper who A) knows what they’re doing and B) will be a cheaper offering long term.
My man…
 
I'm just glad we finally have an expert from other hobbies here to help sort everything out for us.
This 20 page thread is full of red herrings.

No, your Paulson Classics aren’t sitting in classifieds unsold “because tigers reset the market”.

Everything is sitting on every shelf unsold at previous prices - it’s not doom and gloom for your chip hobby.

Grandpa FrozenwaterMan just refuses to acknowledge the market is down and adjust prices accordingly (if he wants a sell now). No number of old farts piping in “Wow what a great deal! How are these not sold????” is stronger than the market.
 

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