It seems a lot of people are trying to sell at their cost, a cost reflecting the top of the market when everyone was flush with cash.
Just because it is at or just below your cost does make it a good deal, sale price, or bargain if you overpaid.
completely agree...
Personally I have acquired every chip I could possibly need for tournament or cash for the rest of my poker career (hoping for another 30-40 years) and am just shopping to fill out sets here or there when an actual good deal pops up.
... if I had a million dollar for every time a notable PCF chipper/collector said those words...I would have a lot of millions
... I would wager you will add 1, possibly 2 more sets in the next 24 months...
I also think there’s a lot of lip service paid to this idea that if you buy reasonably popular chips you’ll always be able to just sell them back. I saw this said a ton when I first joined. I think this isn’t as real as people make it out to be when they’re trying to move chips and see an opportunity to entice noobs. This means that people are often tricked into thinking there’s little risk in buying something and then are stuck with it. I see a lot of threads going on right now where I imagine the sellers are shocked how long their chips have been sitting.
I can't speak for every instance as I don't read a lot of threads... but I would guess that most of that sentiment came honestly from chippers who were trying to help. For many years it was always 'buy now ask questions later'. Most sets, low or high priced, and nearly all kinds of racks could be bought and re-posted in the classifieds with minimal, if any losses...and they would sell within a reasonable time frame as well. Times have truly changed and I think many members here still do believe the old ways still exist. Pre-pandemic, members used to buy massive sets even if they needed 20% of the chips...they would re-list the racks they didn't need and they would all pretty much sell (sometimes it would take weeks to sell all the un-wanted chips, but that was acceptable to most of us as the only plausible way to acquire that 20% that we truly needed to complete out sets). Those were the good old days. During the pandemic we saw the inflated version of it: same concept at significantly higher prices for pretty much all chips. But now we are back to normal...or a new 'normal'. There are lots of PCFers looking for chips, but there are LOTS of new chips as well. The options for new chippers has never been better, IMO.
So what is a good deal nowadays? As a relatively new chipper, I've definitely been click-baited into a "great deal" post for a set costing $10/chip without any clue as to if it really is a good deal.
A 'good deal' is different for everyone. I remember paying top of the market/full prices for Star/Boat chips in 2016/2017 ($1200-$1500/rack for
AS $25s $100s, for example)...and multiple big sets of the Stars chips (all, except
ESST). I kept them in my chip closet, put some in play, then ended up selling all of them and lost money...but never regretted it, nor did I think I got a 'bad' deal. There was a point in time I wanted to have them, enjoyed and used them...there was/is cost associated with that. I think it was a good deal...to me.
I kinda disagree here. If it’s a set priced over $4k it can sit for a day or two and still be a great deal.
High-priced sets have their own 'rules'. Unless in demand and priced fairly, they tend to stay in the classifieds longer. If a seller is wondering why no one has made any serious offers, they should try to search and find out what those chips have sold for recently and maybe price them more realistically.
I definitely think card mold chips w the new molds have corrected some of the chip prices. Entry level chips are even cheaper now driving down the cost of all chips bc we have a significant influx in supply.
Entry level chips are no longer RHC. Leaving more RHC available. Lowering the cost on them, and that even trickles into THC.
But, I still don’t think market is saturated. Most sets still command their $.
The biggest losers in the past year from peak to market is what? Certain NAGB chips (which frankly has been going on awhile) and IG RHC?
IMO, one particular buyer and one particular set of
NAGB chips (independently) had a major impact on what people thought or think FMV for chips was or should be. Racks of red chips selling for $2K (or more) and yellow chips for $2K-$3K and purples for $2500...well, to each their own...just don't think they were sustainable. I personally think the deluge of new
THC/
RHC/
NAGB and all other new finds have meaningfully corrected the market. Is there more downside? I don't know...but given what I personally see on the demand side, I don't believe so. I believe most are better served by thinking in terms of buying chips to enjoy and use in their games as opposed to potential investment opportunity or collectibility. If that's the goal, one needs to dabble in a very narrow/niche part of the market.
This. Saying anything that’s sitting for longer a couple of hours is a bad deal is not a good rule of thumb. Does it happen often? Yes. But not the rule. Best for a new member to educate themselves and spend some time hanging around before buying their first set.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/starlite-cruises-paulson-cash-tourney.10979/
I'm very new to chipping but I think its a great time to be a new chipper. The amount of stuff out there is amazing. A huge variety of chips and pricepoints.
I have pointed this out to a few newbies who have reached out in the last couple fo weeks regarding Tiger chips... IMO, unless you're looking for old school leaded
THC chips (or obviously TRKs), this is one of the best times to be a new chipper... Mint
NAGB chips are selling at record low prices and some at 50% or more below 2022/2021 prices.... not to mention incredible amount of readily available mint
RHC chips...
Also, to all those sellers saying CONUS shipping only, why is that? The rest of the world does not have all the good stuff from the land of the free. We're willing to pay for the cost of shipping and its still the same amount of time for you to go to the Post Office. I bet there are plenty of lurkers here who are interested in your chips if only you'd ship overseas!
This is a controversial issue and has been discussed in details in various threads...including the shipping threads. My personal experience has been nothing but great dealing with international buyers...and I do recognize this may be an exception and many have had very difficult experiences and have lost money shipping overseas.
I used to alwsy ship to overseas buyers (they always pay for the cost and accept bulk of the responsibility). Since debut of Tiger chips, I have sold quite a few sets and many racks to overseas chippers. for those who did not have a domestic re-shipper, I simply got a quote using piratehips. I shipped using USPS and UPS. In a few occasions, I used FedEx (what a f*&^% pain in the a&^ is their UI/UX). I tell the buyers what the shipping cost is and mention that once I drop off the package at a shipping center, it becomes their responsibility... I never lost a shipment, and none were damaged upon arrival...and i shipped some very expensive/heavy sets. To each their own, but I will continue to sell/ship internationally...for Tiger Palace chips or any other chips I list for sale.
Private sales are not necessarily a better deal. Also a chance to screw you over and no one sees it. It's all about WHO you are buying from and WHAT you are buying.
Yup...don't I know it... While overwhelmingly positive, I've had three extremely unpleasant private sales experiences ...and got screwed over on some pretty awesome sets...oh well...
I agreed, sometime thing can be priced correctly but they are other factors involve as well especially if the set is over $1k.
Speaking from my recent experience, I had put my PCA primary set for sale at market price. I have a few PM within the first 24 hours (indicating interest) and asking about other thing like shipping concern, how hard is it to get add-on, additional pics and also time to raise fund.
Eventually it get sold about after a week.
As others have alluded to, sets not selling instantaneously used to be the norm. Now, if a sets or rack sit in the classified for more than a nanosecond, the buyers think they have to immediately reduce prices and sellers think there is something wrong with the chips or the market overall and they step back from buying. I've even seen sellers listing chips in the morning and begin to reduce prices in the afternoon...after just a few hours... I mean, wow...
International shipping doesn’t need to be a negative experience. In fact it can bring excitement to an otherwise mundane life, very much like waiting for the results of an STD test.
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In many years I've never had a package not arrive. I always assume 100% responsibility.
I have had packages stall before and have found a quick inquiry by the shipper usually gets the package moving again the same or next day. Never fails.
The best I had so far was a package opened (full of racks in rack boxes) with a notice about opiod abuse/addiction. Wrong substance but correct message. Maybe the barrels looked like pill containers?
Can't agree more.. As I mentioned never lost an international package.. some have been delayed. One going to Australia was delayed for 3 weeks...One was stuck en-route to Canada... every time I called the fine folks at USPS, they would start their tracking process and the package would begin to move... everything was delivered ... and none were even opened or damaged...
Poker chips should be put into play.
Yes...and their 'value' will very likely decline after you put them in play... but some of us really enjoy putting amazing chips in play... there is a whole thread about that somewhere...
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.
Yes. And this is true for every market and it's been mentioned in various threads here as well ...from cars, to watches, guns, comic books, wine, cigars, practically any collectible, and even non-collectible markets.... not sure why chippers think it should be any different about these lovely clay discs we cherish so much... not to mention there has been a meaningful increase in supply of all kinds of chips in the last 12 months...
When I first started playing poker, I found chip talk. Then I spent a lot more money on poker chips than I couldn't really afford. Then we started a family and I haven't really played poker for 12 years, except for fun with family. Now that my son likes to play with us, I checked in here because I had some recuperation time from surgery and I enjoy looking at beautiful sets. Everyone is just as friendly as I remember. The chip options are a little shocking compared to where things were when I stopped paying attention. But because I own a few sets, I wouldn't be interested in any of the "starting" sets for myself, and that's where most of the variety and options appears to be. Still, even though now I could afford those chips I wanted 12 years ago, they've escalated in price 3-4-5-6-fold. I still like looking at beautiful chips, but I'm not a collector. It seems like there's no middle tier for chips--there's the starter sets that are not the quality I would want, and there's the Paulsons, TRKs, and Matsui's, that seem to me to be inflated price-wise, but...I've been out of it and clearly I don't know the value of things anymore.
I wasn't around when great
THC/
TRK chips were in relative abundance: the good old days of vendors bringing
PCA, Aztar MO, the glorious TRKs and other amazing finds... I think there is a thread somewhere about when/how some of these sets were brought into the market. But generally speaking, prices of everything is up several fold in the last 10-15+ years. However, putting aside some of the high priced TRKs and leaded THCs, the middle market has never been more robust, IMO. And I would define it as $2-$7/chip. Lots of great minty THCs can be bought for $4-$7... and the world is a chipper's oyster if they want to dabble in RHCs with prices ranging from $1-$5/chip. Given where inflation has been the last few years, and prices of everything having gone up a lot, I would venture to say that the mid-tier market has not even kept up with inflation, let alone being a good investment.
Just a few general observation, mostly based on my personal experience pricing and selling chips in the last 12 months (some mentioned above):
- Summers are always the toughest season to sell chips.
- this sounds obvious, but worth mentioning again... sellers need to become more realistic about pricing their chips...do some research before listing..listing based on what you paid is very likely to be wrong in today's market, especially if you bought in 2021/2022
- Don't be discouraged if chips, priced 'reasonably', don't sell immediately..Unless a chips is in very high demand and is priced 'fairly' (after researching recent transactions)...expect to sell sets or racks in a few days or longer...this used to be the norm... and likely the new norm as well...and IMO, don't reduce prices so quickly... not a good sales strategy... but again, to each their own....@doublebooyah85 had a successful listing for his AST chips... mentioned he is not reducing prices and he obviously is not desperate to sell... great chips, reasonably priced and they all sold (I think)...
- Lastly, if someone lists certain chips at suspiciously high prices and after a day they 'sell', it doesn't mean that's the new price for those chips (they may not even be truly 'sold'). Pricing your set based on one supposed transaction does not mean a particular chip or set is now worth what that specific odd/peculiar sale suggests.