Question about Rack Packs on ebay
Bunker
Posts: 3,926 ✭
Is it safe to purchase Rack Packs off the bay? I know packs can be searched and resealed, but what about Rack Packs?
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1994 Pro Line Live
TheDallasCowboyBackfieldProject
When you buy from BBCE, you get two levels of assurance:
1) Expert inspection of the product BEFORE it is listed for sale.
2) Honest seller who will make good on any problems.
As PSA pack-grading becomes more prevalent, there will come
a time when we will ask the same thing about expensive packs
as we currently do about expensive cards:
"If there is nothing wrong with it, why is it not slabbed?"
Bosox1976
a time when we will ask the same thing about expensive packs
as we currently do about expensive cards:
"If there is nothing wrong with it, why is it not slabbed?"
For racks, GAI is your only option, as PSA has no plans to grade rack packs. Though they are tougher to reseal, racks are a good investment IMO, as their scarcity and the condition of the cards are superior than with cello or vending. This average price for a 1975 rack has crept upward over the last couple of years (now it's about $200), while the average cost of 75 wax and cello has dropped rather significantly during that same period.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I'm curious where you heard that PSA has no plans to grade racks? I have not sceen anything to suggust it will be not be coming once a holder is prepared.
Harry
<< <i>the christmas racks are repacks. >>
Yes, and way overpriced on ebay. Most of them were put together by a company not affiliated with Topps about 5 years after the original issue. I believe they are 12 cards to a pack. In any event, I have heard reports of stars being found in these packs (unlikely they were cherrypicked way back then), but most of the cards grade at best EX-Mint to NM. The packs are authentic in that the cards are authentic, and they are old, but they are not original Topps packaging. I have no idea how GAI handles these. Certainly not worth $500 I see them selling for on ebay. A few years ago you could get these for $50.
edited to add. the second auction ended over $1000 also.
<< <i>basestealer gave better insight to the christmas racks than i did, but i would add that although he is correct, i think there really isnt any way of telling if they were made more recently also. i know they were made back in the day, but who knows if they were made 10-20 years ago also by someone repacking. too tough to tell. very very risky. for example, the 1952s may have been made in say 1956, but who knows if someone made them in 1980. with all the improprieties going on, i would stay away. once sold recently for over $1000 and another is bid to over $750 i believe. now i generally pay pretty strong on this issue, but no chance would i bite on those things. >>
Yeah, for $1000 you can pick yourself up a nice starter set of '52s--certainly more than 12 ex-mint cards from a "rack pack". Those Christmas racks are pretty crude. The authentic ones use a brittle plastic that I think would be difficult to reproduce today (new plastic technology), but then again my guess is many of the people buying these have not actually handled an "authentic" repackaged Christmas rack, so it's no sure-fire way to tell. You can definately make the little cardboard Santa on any inkjet, and I'm sure creative ways can be devised pretty cheaply to make new Christmas racks in one's garage. Even authentic 1 and 5 cent wax packs, even if they are guaranteed unopened, the price simply isn't worth what's inside. So collectors buying those are better off not opening them anyway. You'd have to pull a Mantle or a Williams to make it worth it, and even then it will probably have wax and gum stains.
I'm curious where you heard that PSA has no plans to grade racks? I have not sceen anything to suggust it will be not be coming once a holder is prepared.
Harry
I recall seeing a post from PSA some time back on these boards that they were intending to grade only wax and cello packs, no racks or wax boxes.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Pack grading is a niche market at best and is certainly very low on the list for Collector's Universe "market share" priorities.
I have no idea how GAI handles these.
GAI does not grade Christmas repack racks as authentic unopened product. Wish they had done the same for those grocery cellos, too!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i> I'm sure they intend to grade rack packs, if it's feasable. This company has a duty to it's shareholders to maintain or grow it's market share. As GAI and other companies cut into the PSA pie by grading these rack packs and other "oddball" items, Collector's Universe is surely conducting market research to determine the best course of action to take.
Pack grading is a niche market at best and is certainly very low on the list for Collector's Universe "market share" priorities. >>
GAI earned their reputation grading packs. They now grade quite a few cards. Had PSA been on the ball to begin with, there would have been little to no room for GAI to enter the marketplace to begin with--and that doesn't even consider the bizzare situation that GAI was started by former PSA execs. What you consider "very low on the list" is considered among the most important issues for shareholders of CLCT. Collector's Universe is a business, not a hobby.
Collectors Universe makes most of its money grading coins, not cards. And pack grading represents and will continue to represent only a tiny percentage of PSA revenue.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
That's got to be one of most ridiculous, misinformed posts I've read in a long while. You really have no clue, do you?
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i> What you consider "very low on the list" is considered among the most important issues for shareholders of CLCT. Collector's Universe is a business, not a hobby.
Collectors Universe makes most of its money grading coins, not cards. And pack grading represents and will continue to represent only a tiny percentage of PSA revenue. >>
Collector's Universe processed nearly 2.3 million submissions in fiscal year 2006. 1.2 million were coins, and 900,000 were sportscards. Coins represented 59% of submissions in fiscal year 2005, but fell to 54% of submissions in fiscal year 2006. This decrease was due to the increase in autograph submissions, up from 54K in 2005 to 134K in 2006. Autographs represented just 2% of submissions in 2005, but 6% in 2006. It is among the fastest growing sectors at Collector's Universe. Among all of Collector's Universe grading services, coin submissions were the only segment to fall from fiscal year 05 to fiscal year 06--everything else (sportscards, stamps, currency, autographs, diamonds) increased. And since unopened packs is a new venture for CU, we don't have any data yet on how many submissions they have received. It is a good bet that in the short future, sports related memorabilia will usurp coins and become the main profit center at CU. Regardless, it is a wise decision for CU to expand into niche markets so that other startups don't have the opportunity to take a commanding presence in these areas. Once they do, they soon begin to expand into CU territory. By taking a pro-active stance and catering to niche segments, CU can guarantee it's place at the top of the collectble authentication foodchain.