Wax packs

chicago111

new to buying single wax packs on EBAY. Anything i should look out for? Shady sellers etc.

Do the sellers somehow have an idea of what cards are in the packs via SerialNumbers or some other such voodo :-)

Thanks in advance!
Chuck

NBAFan

Never buy packs and never buy opened boxes on ebay, unless it is vintage and the seller is well trusted..

chicago111

could you expand a bit please. Good chance the packs have been opened and resealed? or some other tampering? In general were talking about here. I know they're are some very good sellers.

Mefer

I would recommend you visit Mark Murphy, the Baseball Card Kid's webpage for a good book on unopened material. The book he puts out gives tips on what to look for in vintage wax in order to spot tampering. I think it is eight bucks or so but well worth it. Good luck.

chicago111

opps

elway65

Chuck,

This is basically the only place I buy unopened material from: www.bbcexchange.com.

Baseball card kid is legit too. I stay clear, as tempting as it might be, from buying any kind of vintage unopened on ebay. Be very careful. And remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

67standup

Hey, I'm an honest guy, really

1980 OPC pack hoard

Stone193

Hi Chuck
Welcome!!!
First of all most packs, if they come in series, can only be identified by opening - if it is a box, opening a pack should give it away. With respect to racks and cellos, many have come up with "sequence" so that if a certain card is on the top, e.g., then you can predict that a "star card" may be sandwiched in between - e.g. my friends broke the code on the 83F cellos and could tell when there would be a Gwynn RC inside.
Some believe that 1989UD had a specific order to the packs and could predictably tell you where the Griffey RC was - this one I have heard but no direct experience. So, what does all this mean so far?
In the world of unopened material, don't trust anyone farther than you can throw them! If I sold this kind of stuff, I would never dream of cheating or misleading anyone and pack searching is just plain awful and that is why buying boxes can be very distasteful from the wrong party. We have experienced very sad stories from members who have purchased this stuff on ebay.

As was already posted by Mefer and Elway, you can trust the BBCKid - Mark Murphy and BBCExchange - they are the best. Whether you can trust GAI packs 100%? No experience on the negative side. I have purchased them myself. I have some vending cases which I hope have not been tampered - it would be the disappointment of the century to open one and see repacked or wrong boxes in there!

And BTW, I can personally vouch for 67Standup if his auction is what you are looking for.
Good luck and happy hunting!
What are your interests?

your friend
Mike

chicago111

Thanks Mike and all for the info.

My main Interest is in Football Cards. As most I started collecting as a kid (mid-late 70's). I have untold numbers of cards that were opened as a child and packed away right after opening. Stopped collecting around 85 (high school years). Off the top I have 8 Montana rookies, several Elways and Marino rookies just to name a few. None are graded as of now but I will soon submit them. All are in great shape because they were put in plastic 20 years ago. So hopefully I have some good grades there.
Not in it for the money. I just love football cards.

Good luck and thanks for the welcome!
Chuck

Stone193

Chuck
Good luck on finding unopened FB. My oldest pack is a 1954 Bowman. I picked it up from Mark Murphy.



Ya gotta love this stuff!

your friend
Mike

softparade

I have had some good luck buying single 78 Topps baseball racks off e-bay. I have pulled Rose, Fisk, McCovey, Brock, Ryan strike out leader to name a few. Most are good for PSA 8's so I will not submit them, but it is nice to pull them anyway. I have submitted from these packs some high quality commons and that have yielded many PSA 9's and 3 PSa 10's

MiniMaster

Chuck,

Like several others that have replied to your thread here. I would give very high marks to Mark Murphy (The Baseball Card Kid) and bbcexchange with regard to unopened boxes of vintage sports cards. I have actually purchased unopened boxes of 75 Topps Mini baseball cards from both of these sellers. I opened wax packs from both boxes and found what I was looking for New cards many of which graded PSA 9 and even a few 10's and cards that ended up becoming 1/1 on the PSA Pop reports!
Like others have mentioned, you may want to stay away from single packs on eBay. I've purchased 2 single packs on ebay from sellers other than the one's listed above and I will never do that again! When you have a few good source like the two indicated above, why go anywhere else unless you have some sort of verification that the source is trustworthy?

Good Luck and I hope you find what your looking for It's quite a thrill opening up previously unopened vintage sports cards!

jayhawke

Stone,

Did you get that pack graded? If not why?

Jay

easttexascardsandgames

I buy alot from this guy and never had a problem..

Link

AlanAllen

If you are looking to open packs, I'd echo the other posters and recommend bbxexchange and Mark Murphy. If you are looking to keep them unopened, you really should go with GAI packs (even from those two sellers). If you're not picky about grades, you can get the packs for not much more than raw, and the resale will be tremendously higher. Even if you plan to hold, you should still consider resale value. People will see your auctions from an unknown source, and not bid (consistent with the advice in this thread ). The slabs will also protect your packs. Quality football wax is scarce, so be prepared to be patient. Good luck,
Joe

Stone193

<< <i>Stone,

Did you get that pack graded? If not why?

Jay >>


Hi Jay
The card is sealed in a bag from Mark Murphy who I trust - I have nothing against having GAI grade it - but I am the king of procrastination!

your friend
Mike

Love of the Game

Gang:

This is a great thread. I have not seen Dave and Adam's card world mentioned - does anyone have an opinion on purchasing unopened material from them? They have a few items I'm interested that are not in stock at BBCExchange or BBCKid.

-Al

Stone193

Hi Al
Have never bought from them but they will get a "mixed" review. Have heard good and bad reports here in the last year. Of course they are a long time advertiser in SCD but the ads have always been for buying and not selling.
How's it going?

your friend
Mike

Love of the Game

Hi Mike:

All's well. Just finished preparing a submission of '38 Goudeys that should grade all over the map but at least I'll have all the cards slabbed. About 35 cards going to PSA in today's mail. Next it's time to send in 40-50 '53 Topps - which means I need a second MJ Roop box to keep them in. Expensive hobby, we have.

Thanks for the input on Dave/Adam. I bought an '81 Fleer box from them and found it fine, but that's '81 Fleer. Every card is worth a nickel. I'm now less than 10 cards short of going 100% complete on '53 Topps, and I think I'm going to start 1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars as the next set in my quest to have one complete set from every year the Yanks won the Series. Dave/Adam are the only dealer of the three who appear to have boxes in stock - but they're expensive, so I wanted some feedback on their trustworthiness.

How's everything by you?

-Al

yankeeno7

I have purchased 1978, 1979, and 1980 Vending Boxes from Dave and Adam's with wonderful success. All boxes were extremely clean. The 1978's were just incredible. Nothing missing...I made 2 1978 Topps sets and sent my Molitors, Murrays, Ryans, Roses, Schmidts, and Bretts and received all 8s and 9s.
I drove almost 4 hours to buy vending boxes from them because I have had great luck with the quality.

tennesseebanker

I have purchased a few unopened boxes from bbexchange with great success, I have a 85 topps football box on the way now.

My question is, aren't the wax wrappers themselves worth a little something? So if I plan on opening the packs i should keep the wrappers, right?