Where is everyone getting there cards from? I am Frustrated
Norcal
Posts: 278 ✭✭✭
Hello Everyone,
So, I was a huge collector when I was younger however turned out it was the “junk card era” And they are not worth much.
I recently got back into cards a few years ago and decided to build my own collection again AND make a little money doing something I love. Well, I haven’t done very well making $ and was wondering where everyone gets there cards from? I have bought from eBay, thrift stores, and even have an ad on Craigslist with little success. I would love to hear where you get yours? And you can always PM me.
Thanks for any help.
Just frustrated 
0
Comments
If you mean you are having trouble buying singles, lots and collections that will net you a nice profit, then welcome to the club. I don't buy stuff for resale, but I imagine if I did, it could be frustrating as well. I'm guessing you either need to have accumulated a large collection that you are ready to sell or crack a lot of new product. There are deals out there I am sure, but you are also competing with other flippers and resellers who advertise and travel to buy product.
The flipper money is small unless you get lucky. You need to buy what others aren't buying. The one true statement this hobby year has taught me is that every hobby dog has its day.
Ya, it's not easy to find the great deals that you see posted here. I just got 3 boxes given to me a month ago of junk era, but they were eaten up, bent, mildewed, stuck togeter (emotions) and just really bad. I did pull a 3rd year Bradshaw, and a stack of what I am calling off-grade HOFer's. Maybe 10-15 that might grade in a PSA 7-8. I think since I have purchased so many graded cards over the last 15+ years, they have just appreciated. Perhaps, as you build your collection, you can find some deals. Collect what you love. Me, I purchase HOFer's in grades 6-10. Since I am a child of the 60's, I seem to focus on those and then work foreward. I also bought a lot of graded dual star cards from 50's-80's, and that was always fun. Then started buying HR leader cards, then Kelloggs. This forum got me started on 75 minis. I used to complain about paying $10 a pack and now...they are hardly available. Future HOFer's and stars are plentiful and there seems to be a good crop of young players who command attention for 2-3 years and then the focus shifts to the younger guys. I also have purchased a lot of unopend early 80's stuff, some of it still available. Group sells here used to be awesome, but the bargains are not what they used to be. I recently purchased from online card shops to finally finish up some 60's sets. The 70 years are still achievable to assemble if that's your thing.Hang in there and you will get great ideas from guys on this forum and others.
Good luck...
Previous CU user: jmmiller777
Baseball HOFer's-PSA6+
Heritage Sets
Kellogg's Graded-PSA 8+
60's Topps Sets-Raw
Anything that Catches My Attention
Thank you miller, good to hear I am not the only one in the same boat. I have even been to garage sells for cards and the condition is bad and they are asking too dollar.
Here is a freebie tip. I think this case at Steel City for $670 net is a nice speculative bet. The per box price is only a little more than retail issue. Each box has one jersey card and a lot of inserts and rookies. I could see this getting to $30-$35 per box if a couple of the QBs hit and some of the skills players breakout.
https://www.steelcitycollectibles.com/i/2019-panini-donruss-football-hanger-36-box-case
the internet has made us all dealers, so getting cards at 50% and selling at 85% is a thing of the past.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Most of us find there cards here and their😂
You have to spend money to make money. and in this day of age lots of it. If you have small local shows, flea markets, etc, offer to buy out people's tables for a reasonable and fair price to both. Remember, in this hobby the money is made on the buy.
I have to much S**t; so if you working on sets or are a player/team collector, send me your want list, with conditions desired. Keep in mind I have a another job so please allow me a few days to respond.
The problem with garage sales and flea markets are that the cards are in bad condition. They are not sold by card dealers or real hobbyists as they are items found during a move, household clearance, or abandoned property picked up by someone else. They heard of some baseball cards selling for thousands of dollars from the media and then think what they have is something special when in reality it is just a bunch of cards in a shoe box that have not been properly preserved and therefore, really hold no value.
Some places you can get cards are eBay, Buy Sell Trade on this site, Baseball Card Exchange for unopened material, and many more that will be mentioned by others coming up to this thread.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
@Norcal
If I were you, I’d go through your OWN collection as a starting point. You started by saying...
“So, I was a huge collector when I was younger however turned out it was the “junk card era” And they are not worth much.”
In case you’ve missed it, these ‘worthless cards’ from the 1980s-1990s are seeing a great increase in value since the beginning of this year.
Recognize that the cards that command absurd value have been graded ‘10’ by a third party grader, usually PSA. If you have the same card in the same exact condition and it’s raw, you are getting nowhere near that value. I’ll elaborate briefly.
A PSA 10 1984 Topps Mattingly is around $450 now, give or take. So you may think ‘I can be reasonable and get $200 for my raw 10’ when in actuality you’ll get more like $20. That last one may be a little low but you get the point. The opinion and the encapsulation in plastic is a key aspect of value of cards in the modern market. And with a grade of 9, you can maybe get out even so ‘grading for 10s’ is a pretty risky and expensive game.
Again, you said you have ‘junk era’ stuff already and essentially at a cost of zero at this point - I’d comb through it and see what you have of value and go from there, first. Start with rookie cards of big stars from the era and go from there. Sell raw or grade some too - your call - but remember that key - raw prices and graded prices are completely different animals with a great disparity between them - and for good reason. But basketball and baseball have had a good summer so you should be able to end up with some cash either way.
And if you are going to sell, spend a $100 on a 3 in 1 printer with a scanner and scan your cards raw on the glass - it will save you time and money in the long term (on writing descriptions and accepting and processing returns, at minimum).
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
Just like the stock market. Buy known items, get them graded, and you should make a little money.
All of the above...plus, take the time to study. There are good resources for learning how to approach the grading process. The more you spend in learning, the less frustrating the process will be.
Overall, the best approach is one that manages risk & reward. Be selective in your purchases and know where you have a strong eye for good quality cards. I have specific sets I regularly look for because I know the good, I know the bad, and I know the cards to the level of "That is part of the photo, but this is a printing defect...I'll pass." The more you know about a set, the more you'll be able to quickly identify the best valued purchases and really start to enjoy the hunt.
Where do I get my stocks graded?
I like buying factory sets of all sports and taking a gamble on getting them graded. At least you have a complete set if something gets hot.
Wow, these are all great tips and I really appreciate it. My first 2 Sub were flops with the exception of
K. Malone rookie (psa 10) and that was 2 years ago. I am currently waiting on about 80 cards so hopefully they grade well (fingers crossed).
BTW-Being a newbie to this forum i appreciate all the tips and stories everyone shares
instagram has been great. no tax, usually 5% - 10% discount off ebay pretaxed pricing. just make sure you use the reg paypal option. i'm sure there are scammers on there but any seasoned vet can spot them pretty easily and simply move on. the last card i bought was 22% cheaper than the cheapest BIN on ebay. pretty significant savings, imo.
for buying, ive pretty much quit using ebay altogether. getting ready to do the same via selling very shortly.
Great points guys. I’ll second the go though the “junk” from the 80’-90’s cards. You may have find some nice nuggets in there.
I would love to see an example of an Instagram Store?
to my knowledge there isn't anything defined as an "instagram store".
you basically start an account and then use numerous relating hashtags. you can actually search for cards too.
so if you are selling a 1957 topps mickey mantle psa card, you would post a pic of the card w price and then use hashtags like:
1957topps #mickeymantle #toppsbaseball #sportsfardsforsale #baseballcardsforsale, #psacard etc.
the hashtags for the most part get suggested when typing and/or become common sense after a week or two using.
hashtags conflict w format here which is why they blew up above. promise i wasn't yelling at you.
little bit more for you....so everything you list will show up under this hashtag. conversely, if you "follow" this hashtag you will see every card, including yours listed for sale. you can wait til it pops up on your page or go to its page directly. usually stuff gets gobbled up quickly before it can make it to your personal page. and again this is just one hashtag outta the thousands available. basically similar to how you would use multiple search criteria on ebay, you use different hashtags to fit what you are selling or looking for:
Blurry face, good to know. I appreciate the info. It helps tremendously.
@blurryface maybe you have some tips for me.. I find it time consuming to find cards on Instagram. I am currently searching for cards from multiple sets players and years. (Which is where eBay comes in handy with the saved searches). Even if I were to narrow down my search on instagram to just #griffey, most of the posts are shoes or people just showing off their cards. Is there a way to only see for sale items?
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
Well my luck changed a little today, pick this box up at a garage sell for $40 contained over 100 Jordan’s and a couple nice Shaquille cards.
“Where is everyone getting their cards from”. Not there. Sorry just a pet peeve. That was $40 well spent. Congrats. Good luck in your quest.
At present I'm not getting cards. Seems to be the perfect time/environment to add to the wrestling figure collection
It's usually a good strategy to operate independently of what the crowd is reacting to.
This isn't to say that you can't buy what others are buying, you just need to do more work and dig a bit deeper to find what others are missing. If you find yourself chasing the crowd you're never going to come out as ahead as you could.
Buy the things that fit the trends that are popular but haven't gotten any spotlight yet and when the crowd comes around to them, you can sell and do it all over again. I've sold so much of what I had collected over the past 3-4 years (vintage basketball, '80s baseball, etc.) but the profits were just too good to turn down. In a lot of instances I was getting 1,000+% ROI. Most of that has gotten fed right back into my collection to other things that I feel are under the radar. Rinse, repeat.
Think for yourself. Do your own work. Trust your work. Exercise patience. Be realistic. Have fun. Money is nice but if you're not having fun you might as well just play the stock exchange.
Arthur
have you created a "looking for" post and sent that out to the various other sports card related hashtags? key is to hashtag blast to cast a wide net.
pretty much how i found a card i had been looking for years in about a week.
just as a heads up, i would limit each post to a card or two at a time. if it's too many, it might skipped over. short and sweet seems to be the key to me.
maybe create and start your own hashtag too? #searchingforgriffey?
Thanks. I see there are things I can do to be more efficient with my time there. Thanks again!
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
Study the market. Its easy to know that if a card sells for $100 and you have a chance to buy it in the same condition for $50, that you made a good deal. Sometimes you have to take a chance and use your best judgement. One small example I have that I didnt even know until about 2 days ago was on NetPro Tennis cards. About 10-12 years ago, these were basically as worthless as they came, BUT they had "rookie" cards of many of the top stars of the early 2000's. There was a guy on ebay that had about a dozen cases for $25 per case (12 boxes) + shipping.....I bought 5 cases. Didnt even know until this weekend, that they are now selling for $35-$50 per box.
I have found one of the biggest issues I have now in hunting good cards down is that the majority of people who have good cards, do not understand grading or condition. They see a PSA 10 rookie going for $500 and think their beat up with a crease of the same card is worth that, not to mention they see people on FB or Craigslist, etc selling a $10 cards for $50, so they think when you offer them $5 or $6 each for a huge lot of them, that you are lowballing them, when in reality, you are making good offers.
Good luck in your quest
Look for historic trends when cards will go up in value or be an easy sell. Selling in April when baseball gets underway is always a boost. I don't think this is as big as it used to be, but in the early 90's, I would try to anticipate the HOF nominees. Once someone got in, it was commonplace for their rookie card to skyrocket to $200 in Beckett, I'm talking the Rollie Fingers and Jim Palmer era. That was easy money back then.
Don
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Mail your certificates to me and I will get them graded for you. I'm always here to help a fellow collector. No charge.
In all seriousness, most brokerage houses offer ‘grades’ on investments/stocks - some on a familiar A-F or 1-100 scale. May be worthless to you, of course, but an answer nonetheless.
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
You might try different outlets, like freight, shipping company's. Back in the day(end of 92 or start of 93) I saw an ad for a clearance sale of unclaimed goods for shipping cost plus storage. I picked up 6 cases of 1992 Upper Deck low number baseball cards for about six hundred dollars. I still have 4 factory sealed cases. The other two I sold at card shows.
You just have to wait 28 years or so though. I also bought a Nolan Ryan/Koosman rookie, 2 Johnson/Bird rookies in 92.
I also have a ton of junk era cards as my son and his friends would bust wax every week end. Going to piece together a
set of 90 donruss with the most centered card of each player and error cards, Pray for me as I have about 15 to 18 thousand of them plus 3 blister pack cases and 9 wax boxes. Gives me something to do this winter. Good luck on your search for fun and a little profit.
Don't want to brag, but the case is now $850. There are opportunities out there, you just need to look.
You could have bought this on Blowout for around $620 last week.
still think it could be a solid buy. a lot of guys emerging early and with a ton of speculators eagerly wanting to get in early on the "next mahomes" for cheap, it's only gonna get pushed higher.
He can ask all he wants, but what are the sold prices? eBay shows 1 sale since August 21st for $447 + $20.40 shipping.
It may very well be a good price, but someone's asking price isn't enough to sell me.
could that be because there are only 2 others available for sale at $900+?
For modern products like these 2019 Donruss Hangers, SteelCity, D&A, and Blowout set the market. The sale you reference is before the last round of price hikes. These hangers were the WalMart exclusives that had one jersey each, the other hanger versions did not have the jersey card.
Once the 2020 product came out at 3x-4x 2019 prices, these cases at $620-$670 were a great value. That is only $1-$2 over retail.
It very well could be, but until there are visible sales to support that level, it's hard to say that's the new price.
Like I said, it may very well be a fair price, but if I was going to buy at those prices I'd probably look for some supporting sales data to make me feel like I'm not overpaying.
There is price data available, The individual hanger boxes sell for $21-$25 each on ebay, implying a 36-ct case price in the $756-$900 range. That also doesn't include the tax paid on ebay.
I was looking at it from a case sales point of view, but I guess piecing it out is another way to look at it.
cmon now. if it were an everyday item, i could see your point. the fact that there's only 2 cases avail on ebay w/ one of them being a blowout listing, who obviously has the pulse on the modern market and any expectations on landing one anywhere near that aug 21st purchase price point is laughable at best.
expecting to see supporting sales data here is funny. there's only 2 avail.
but let's give it a shot. single boxes avg of $23 x 36 + sealed case uptick, shipping and taxes, it's pretty clear to see that the value here easily exceeds aug 21st's $460.
i get the feeling youre arguing just to argue here.