Auction House Speculators

[Dogberry99]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

You're right. But no-one had come out and said that they do it. It was looking a bit like those old 'whale' threads where people would talk about other people buying pp, but no-one would admit to buying it themselves.

I should have used the term 'different POV', but 'heel' sounds so much more... I don't know... gangsta?

Fair enough. I would totally do it if I was better at it or more active

[One Post Wonder]

Originally Posted by Weaseltail

While I generally agree, you can still make decent PP scalping and speculating in the AH. I've been able to make around 1,200 PP today doing this, but you do have to be able to monitor the AH (which isn't an option unless you're already stuck at a computer). Given how lousy the in-game PP awards are -- at least for me -- it's still a good way to save up for cards you want if you aren't buying PP.

Yeah, it's a bit premature for me to say it was done. These days I focus on golds - even the worst golds are worth more than the 1,005 that some people are asking for, and historical cards. People are generally more careful about buying/selling diamonds and perfects, so I don't think there will ever be a speculating market for those.

I only come on once a day to do this now. The salad days are over but there is still some life left in the strategy.

[Whoofe]

Originally Posted by zrog2000

I just bought a Harper for 1600.

I have a Harper, and I wouldn't pay that much


too much K rate for my taste

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Whoofe

I have a Harper, and I wouldn't pay that much


too much K rate for my taste

I dislike flailing windmills that only hit something, anything on occasion, but Harper I wouldn't play just on the basis that he is HARPER and I feel that special sort of disdain for the guy…

But yeah, I like my guys to make contact.

In fact, my team is last in OBP because I prefer contact over any eye value. Same for the dynasty Raccoons. Looks like I will never learn!

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

You couldn't do that, because unlike the beta cards are going for what they're actually worth now instead of for a price based on their OVR value.

It doesn't matter if I buy every Kris Bryant and set an artificial price of 10,000 pp for him. No-one is going to pay 10,000 pp for Kris Bryant. I believe the AH prices are 99% genuine unless someone is funneling.

Wait... did you just say that roommates, friends, and family members might co-operate and cheat? Are you questioning people's integrity, sir?

Sure they could do it. People that don't follow the auction house don't know what every card is worth. They have two data points... the averages on the card and the cards listed at the moment. If you control both of those data points, you control the market for a particular card. It must be popular though and accessible to the masses. Not Bryant or diamond Donaldson. More like Altuve or Corbin.

[Whoofe]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I dislike flailing windmills that only hit something, anything on occasion, but Harper I wouldn't play just on the basis that he is HARPER and I feel that special sort of disdain for the guy…

But yeah, I like my guys to make contact.

In fact, my team is last in OBP because I prefer contact over any eye value. Same for the dynasty Raccoons. Looks like I will never learn!

me either


walks should be for little leaguers

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Sure they could do it. People that don't follow the auction house don't know what every card is worth. They have two data points... the averages on the card and the cards listed at the moment. If you control both of those data points, you control the market for a particular card. It must be popular though and accessible to the masses. Not Bryant or diamond Donaldson. More like Altuve or Corbin.

The problem is there's 9 or 10 Altuve's or Corbins available at any time, so it'd take a decent amount of effort to truly push the market higher on them. And if the only Corbin is listed for 4k+, while the "last 5" value you see is still 3k or less, I think most people would simply pass on buying them rather than spend the inflated prices.

Especially with the auction house taking a 10% cut, I don't think you can artificially push the price high enough without it potentially blowing up in your face, and you're stuck with 5 or 6 copies of the card. Especially since new people are drawing new copies of those cards all the time.

[Westheim]

I also think there is

a) too many players and too many gold and even diamond cards being pulled to really have a chance at cornering the market on anything. Remember that there is not just one diamond card at any one position. There are probably double-digits for all (except catchers?).

b) not enough incentive to corner the market on perfects, which would take a huge investment that you can never cash out again.

I don't think it is worth the effort to be honest.

[zrog2000]

Originally Posted by Whoofe

I have a Harper, and I wouldn't pay that much


too much K rate for my taste

Normally I agree, but I had Jedd Gyorko at DH batting .140 with -2.0 WAR. I stuck with him for over 2 months. I think I'll do better with Harper.

[Orcin]

I do know that one person can single-handedly drive the price down for a card. I have been bidding and losing on one card all day, and each time the average drops another 100 points. Pretty soon, it will be down to what I want to pay and then I will start to drive it back up again by barely losing.

[Ashbury]

Originally Posted by Dogberry99

Or am I really misreading some posts incorrectly?

No, you are misreading correctly.

[Kushiel]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

You're right. But no-one had come out and said that they do it. It was looking a bit like those old 'whale' threads where people would talk about other people buying pp, but no-one would admit to buying it themselves.

I should have used the term 'different POV', but 'heel' sounds so much more... I don't know... gangsta?

I have said from Beta that I flip cards to build my team. I never felt like a heel, but just like somebody that wants a good team through a little extra work. I have seen cards that I knew that I did not want but could turn a profit. I did it. That profit would always help me buy the player that I do want.

[One Post Wonder]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I do know that one person can single-handedly drive the price down for a card. I have been bidding and losing on one card all day, and each time the average drops another 100 points. Pretty soon, it will be down to what I want to pay and then I will start to drive it back up again by barely losing.

Only winning bids should have an effect on a cards historical buy price. If not, then that's a big problem.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

Only winning bids should have an effect on a cards historical buy price. If not, then that's a big problem.

Yes, of course. My point is that by bidding unsuccessfully on the card I am driving up the winning bid. Was it that obtuse?

[One Post Wonder]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Yes, of course. My point is that by bidding unsuccessfully on the card I am driving up the winning bid. Was it that obtuse?

I see that now, but I'm still not seeing how that could be used maliciously.

So I think you're either saying:

Someone who is co-operating with the seller, or a sock puppet, could go up against a real bidder and drive their payment price up.

But in the first case, the partner risks ending up with a card that he didn't want, for a price that isn't worth it. And in the second case this activity would certainly be flagged by whatever anti-cheating algorithm that OOTP Developments is using.

...Or you're saying that a speculator could drive up the bid on every card of a certain type that he sees, in which case he's taking a risk because the other bidder could just drop out or not see the new bid. Then he's stuck with a card.

Now I might have a certain value in my head of what I'd pay for say, Brandon Nimmo, and offer that much for every Brandon Nimmo I see. But I'm not artificially driving up the value of the card since I believe that the amount I'm offering is still an undervalued amount. I'm also making a legitimate attempt to win the bidding.

Really, with the 10% house cut of the AH and the sheer amount of cards out there, there's no way to manipulate card value which would be risk free and worth the time. You can make enough money cleanly on the AH that there's no real reason to do weird stuff.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I do know that one person can single-handedly drive the price down for a card. I have been bidding and losing on one card all day, and each time the average drops another 100 points. Pretty soon, it will be down to what I want to pay and then I will start to drive it back up again by barely losing.

The post quoted above was not serious. It was meant to be humorous.

[Abnerdoubleday]

Speculating on PT cards. Seriously? Have the day-trading opportunities all dried up?

[BoofBonser26]

If anyone is surprised by this now, just wait until OOTP20, when the Live cards are actually live! We'll have "runs" on whatever fourth outfielder hits 4 HR in the first week of the season, and all sorts of delights.

[One Post Wonder]

Originally Posted by Orcin

The post quoted above was not serious. It was meant to be humorous.

Oops.

But in my defense I've seen serious posts (not from you) that read a lot like that one.