Advice wanted - best way to sell a vintage set - half graded (7 & 8)

Bosox1976

Not trying to spam this board, so I'll be a little vague. A complete topps baseball set from the early 1960's. About 260 PSA graded cards - all 7's & 8's (including most stars and RC's). The raw cards (which constitute the other half of the set) are conservatively 50% NM, 25% Ex/Mt+, 25% Ex/Mt. Most of the set (400+ cards) is from vending lots.

Am looking to get a price for the whole set that is roughly the equivalent of SMR for the graded only (about $8k) - so it is not a cheap set. (edited to clarify)

Would you :

a. sell it on ebay complete
b. break it up on ebay
c. consign
d. other - incl. sell here

For what it's worth, I am a pretty well known seller on ebay with great feedback. I am leaning towards selling complete, but it is a pretty big ticket item, and most of the guys who can afford this type of item seem to favor NM/MT sets - I'd call this one NM+.

calaban7

The more prepared you are the better. What is your goal? Top money? Fast money ? Everything has a cost. Ebay's fees are generally straight forward. Listing, Paypal , Final value.You have a large pool of potential buyers , with a balance of collectors and speculaters .More bottom feaders here. On heritage there is a sellers fee as well as a buyers fee that cuts deep into the dollar.The type of people here demand a higher quality but have the means .Less of an audience but more dollors/ - fees . You could let others here know your interested in selling your set. With this you have more collecters ,but I'm not sure who shops here. Paypal fees maybe your only source of negitive. Less protection than the other formats. thats my 2-1/2 cents.

grote15

You might want wait till a 10 cents listing day and list the set in its entirety at a price you'd be comfortable with. 8K is a lot of coin, so I'd be reluctant to start it off with no reserve and hope it reaches that price. Breaking up the set would lower your risk but it would be more time consuming if you need the $$$ in the short term. 8K is also enough to consider consigning it, but I'd try listing it on ebay first before you decide to go that route. Why pay a consignment fee when you can do it yourself, especially since you've already established a good track record as an ebay seller. Good luck whatever you decide!

Bunker

I sell a lot on ebay also and I have been disapointed many times on high dollar collections (Coins not baseball)

On my bigger coin collections that I sell I will take the time to break it up into smaller lots because I seem to do better. I listed a Seated dime collection last year on ebay with a reserve and it made it to $41,000 and didn't sell. I took the time to list each coin and it sold for a little over $53,000.

The shipping and collectiing payments was a pain in the arse, but it was worth it.

cardfan07

I wouldnt discount listing it here as well. Seems to be a lot of collectors with some deep pockets here...

Bosox1976

I have sold a few mixed (raw/graded) vintage sets on ebay in the past (a few 1962 Topps baseball). Seems like there is a propensity by bidders to downgrade the set (and corresponding bidding) as overgrading is so prevalent on the bay - but it does bring good exposure.

Tipem

The problem as I see it is that you want SMR for a set from the 60's where many PSA 8's fail to get SMR and almost all PSA 7's fail to sell for SMR. On top of that, you want SMR for your raw cards as well. The value is in the complete set as most set builders will only be going after your 8's with any aggressiveness. So, I would conclude that the complete set is the most valuable, but that your prices goals are a tad unrealistic.

Bosox1976

Just to clarify - would hope to get an amount equal to the smr of the graded cards ONLY, in other words the raw are "free" (so to speak).

Tipem

Oh, that seems reasonable then. List it on eBay the next time they have 20-cent listing day for a fixed price of slightly over SMR of the graded cards to cover eBay and Paypal fees. If nobody bites, then you are only out 20 cents.