Breaking Up 1970's Vintage Sets

joltinjoe

Have any of you bought 1970's ungraded sets EX-MT on eBay and split them up and sold them? I saw a 1971 Topps Baseball set for about $700 and I would think one could make out very well if split up and sold. The profits could be used to upgrade. I am new to vintage.

crsportscards33

One of the bigger problems with buying vintage sets on ebay is the seller. Make sure they are a reputable dealer. Otherwise you'll end up paying for VG-Ex set with a few Ex-Mt cards mixed in, thus eliminating any hope for a profit.



Chris

joltinjoe

What if they are reliable and have over 2,000 with 100% feedback? In that case what is the answer to my original question?

crsportscards33

I would say yes depending on the cards you plan on keeping. If you keep all the stars and resell the commons, you probably won't make it back. If you sell most of the set, make sure to provide large scans, as selling raw on ebay is always "iffy". You may do well selling the stars and high #'s individually and the rest in lots. Just my opinions. Good luck.


Chris

Onlypsahockey

word of caution from a 70's set buyer.

recent trend is sets being stripped of gradeable stars and replaced with OC cards or lower grade cards.

make sure you know what your buying.

best of luck, Bob

CDsNuts

I'm in the process of buying a few sets for this reason (and to keep one or two cards for myself), and I've noticed some things:

- Never buy from somebody that also sells graded cards- if the cards are gradable, they'd send them in like PSAhockey says.
- Always ask for a money-back guarantee in case the cards are overgraded; most sellers don't have a problem with this.
- Make sure the sets you are buying have good resale value for semis, stars, and graded commons 8 or better. 75 and 78 Topps baseball are good examples. usually the sets people are more apt to build are the ones to go with.


Anybody have any other tips?

Lee

softparade

I don't think I could bring myself to purchase a raw set without eyeballing the hell out of it in person

CDsNuts

Sometimes they go so cheap it's worth the risk and there's almost no way you can lose money on the breakup. The key is to get them from somebody who knows very little about cards and doesn't know they would do better by getting the best cards graded. Seems that complete sets are possible from those sellers becuase it was given to them as a present, they're selling an estate, or some other kind of wierd situation. For example, someone has a 78 set up right now and they scanned 4 random cards. Judging from the other stuff they're selling, they aren't card dealers and know very little about what they have. I'm not saying this is a good auction particularly, but they do come along every now and then.

Lee

kingraider75

The thing I worry about with non collectors selling is the packing. They are more apt to throw the set in a 600ct box and send it. Maybe use some newspaper to fill in the gap, but that's about it.

I had that happen to me with an 86 Topps FB set. The guy was a non collector, claimed it was NRMT. By the time I got it, the Rice was NRMT(toploader luckily), and the rest of the set was loose in a 400ct box, so the corners were slammed, maybe even to VGEX.

I agree with most of the board about watching out for a 1970's set on ebay that claims to be EXmt. That might mean most of the set is VGEX or even worse VG. People tend to overgrade raw when they are selling.