Best way to sell a psa complete set

miami3

I know that this topic has been discussed on previous threads, but is there anyone out there who has had
a personal experience trying to sell a complete set of all psa cards?

I own a couple of sets from the late 50's to early 60's that I am thinking about selling. My sets consist of all straight psa 8 cards with some psa 9 cards in them.

Personally think that the SMR is way off when trying to put a value on a complete set.

Once you factor in the real time market price of the LOW POP cards, Yankees, Dodgers, Giants etc. the true value would be way over SMR. Lets not forget the shipping fees and time to collect them all.

Should I approach a national dealer and put them up for auction or put them up on ebay?

Any thoughts on this topic would be great.

Davalillo

Miami3,

You would not get a meaningful premium to smr by selling them at auction--few collectors who have not started the set would be willing to pay the kind of price required to buy these--also you have the 15% commission from the buyer which he will figure in and the commission the auctioning firm will charge you.

Selling them on ebay one at a time is also a losing and time consuming proposition. Many serious collectors rarely or never buy on ebay--I seldom check it.

The best thing is to sell them in packages to fellow registry members and then sell the dribs and drabs on ebay. Jerry Cyncynatus just did that with several sets-1957,1958 and 1959 as well as FB 52 Bowman and my understanding is he did well. Daviv Vargha did well by this with selling his 51 Bowmans.

I would pay you a meaningful premium for every card I needed in every set which could get you started and then you could take it from there.

Jim

Basilone

I use the theory.....sell it how you built it.

If you built it brick by brick off of eBay....then that is going to be your best option in order recoup your investment.

Basilone

Davalillo-



<< <i>Many serious collectors rarely or never buy on ebay--I seldom check it. >>



I have to disagree with you there. I can pretty much name all of the top collectors usernames from the late 50's & 60's and they are bidding on eBay when the "good cards" come up. You should run some searchs of some collectors...they are spending thousands on eBay each and every week.

If you seldom check eBay..how do you know who is bidding on what, at what price, and at what frequency?

I look at current and recently completed eBay auctions EVERY DAY in regards to PSA 8 or higher Baseball and Hockey from 1952-1975. I have a pretty good gauge on who is buying what....who are the most agressive collectors in each set....which guys are team and/or player collectors.

This type of work has allowed me to spot trends and help me properly time my eBay sales.

Oh..by the way...you can probably expect to hear a certain dealer way up in the northeast any day now (if you havent already)....he should be contacting you regarding a nice 1956 Topps Pirates Team PSA 8 he picked up (probably with you in mind)....you still need that one.

John

Davalillo

I simply do not have the time to check ebay--sometimes people do it for me but too time consuming and I would rather buy my cards in other ways.

I do not question it is helpful to ndetermine trends and values and I wish Joe Orlando woulkd assign someone to this.

I hope Steve calls me.

Basilone

Dav-

Maybe you should "hire" me? Something to think about.

John

gemint

eBay is a very effective means for selling low pop commons. Where else can you sell 1969 PSA 8 commons for $200+? Perhaps the major auction houses but, other than Superior, they usually wouldn't be interested in listing commons as single lot auctions.

Davalillo

John,

Perhaps--but I don't like the friends you keep.

Gemint,

Where else sell them--to a guy on the registry who needs iot bto complete his set.


Jim

Basilone

Davalillo-

Im not sure Im friends with with one of the guys you speak of any longer.

John

Hubcap

Gentlemen:

I have done it both ways. I never listed my 1957 PSA 7/8/9 set on the Set Registry and over the past two months, sold off most of the PSA 7s and 8s on EBAY and privately. Did very well. I still have the complete run mid series with 4 PSA 9s and Garcia PSA 8 that i want to sell intact. But if it doesn't go, I will break card by card on EBAY after the first of the year. Will probably do better there than selling intact as a complete run.

I have bought many singles for my 61 and 59 sets on EBAY. Have also bought lots from Jerry for 1959 and Joe DelGrippo. Will have dinner with Mr. McBride this weekend in Richmond and gonna spend some serious cash with him. I thank all these gentlemen with my heart for helping me. *bowing gracefully*

If I were to sell a completely graded set, I would first approach the Set Registry members for that year, price them up and offer them first come, first served. Then sell the guts on EBAY.

carew4me

Almost every serious collector I know is on Ebay.

DO NOT take the word of one clown who has decided not to use the vehicle that 99% of the rest of us use.

Collectors I know who are Dr's, engineer's, builders, even the chief of Police of a city of 300,000 all have the time
to check Ebay and buy yours cards.

Contact SET REGers first, then sell the rest on Ebay one at a time.

Out.

Skycap

miami3,

Ebay is definitely the way to go; that's where you get the greatest audience by far. carew4me and basilone are absolutely correct: Almost every serious collector uses Ebay. One of the (if not the) greatest collectors of them all - Marshall Fogel - uses Ebay. So does John Branca. Perhaps the only (or at least one of the very few) collectors who apparently does not use Ebay is Davilillo, but he's trying to collect 100+ sets at once and says he doesn't have the time.

I would sell the cards one at a time, about a minute or so apart, over three nights - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, ending 10 p.m. EST.

Skycap

P.S., miami3: What sets are they?

Davalillo

This "clown" has completed a number of vintage sets in psa 8 or better with minimal use of ebay and is quite close on a large number of vintage sets with minimal use of ebay. I find it much more effective when sellers contact me as they know I will pay a fair price for what I need as any number of people on these message boards will tell you. I will guarantee you that as a percetage of the cards they buy that Fogel, Merkel and Branca spend relatively little on ebay. Hubcap is right--contact people on the set registry first and then sell only what you can't sell them on ebay.

Jim

Putty

With all due respect I am still new to this hobby and these boards, but in a good thread such as this with people sharing ideas and opinions why make things personal? Why call someone else a clown? I have learned more from reading these boards over the past two months than I could have on my own in two years. Maybe I missed something but I just dont think that this forum is the place for such remarks.

toppsgun

"Im not sure Im (sic) friends with with (sic) one of the guys you speak of any longer."

Isn't there an old Arab phrase, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

I don't think this is the day and age I'd want anything to do with Middle Eastern philosophy. To each his own.

toppsgun

"Many serious collectors rarely or never buy on ebay--I seldom check it."

As a frequent ebay buyer, I hope many deep pocket buyers stay away.

With all its problems, ebay is still a very viable and fairly efficient marketplace to buy and sell graded cards. Ignore it at your own peril. And Jim, good luck on those low pop commons from your myraid of sources.

I'll limit my comments for now, since this has been hashed and rehashed ad infinitum.

GlennGaryGlennRoss

As long as Davalillo lets you honk his nose every so often, I dont have an issue with him only doing business with people who promise never to do business with anyone outside his approved list. But if he stops letting everyone honk his nose, all bets are off.

Davalillo

Putty,

Couldn't agree more with your comments. Because I do not use or like ebay I am a clown--pretty silly.

Toppsgun,

Thanks for your good wishes....and certain of my sources are aware that ebay exists and once in a while people do bid in my behalf. But I prefer to just skip all this and pay a fair price up front.

Jim

Davalillo

John,

I would consider hiring you to buy in certain sets(mostly semi modern--60s)in my behalf. Let me think about it and if you want to propose something go ahead.

Jim

Mantlefan

I have had success selling vintage PSA commons and stars on EBAY. I regret not selling my 1964 Topps Giants set on EBAY. I sold it through Superior for far less than I would have made on EBAY. [I found little interest in Board members for that set when I decided to sell].

EBAY is well worth the time and effort, as certain lo pop vintage commons are bringing huge amounts at auction. Almost every big collector uses EBAY which is bad when you're a buyer, but great for sellers!

carkim

GlennGary,


My favorite line from that movie is "Coffee is for closers" (Or something like that)...I still use "my version" of that line at work.


Carlos

spacktrack

Miami3:

Do you have an e-mail address or can you enable your PM feature?

Thanks

Fabfrank

I agree we could all to with less of the "clown" comments. It's obvious that the majority of collectors here feel that Ebay is the way to go. Davalillo has found a different method that is comfortable for him and that works. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's wrong.
I think Ebay is the better way too. Since SMR is so far off on much of its pricing, let the market determine what your cards are worth.

mariner

I would recommend ebay versus a national dealer. I think you would do much better. You could also contact set registry members for those years and sell some outright for a good price if it is something they need.