Question on completing sets

noanswersonlyquestions

As you all know I am new here and I was wondering how everyone completes their sets on the registry or for their own satisfaction. I am mainly doing the ebay thing to get my feet wet and when just starting out it it's pretty easy to do it that way. But in the future, is it a good idea to buy racks or packs and submit yourself or look for raw cards from other dealers? My goal for the long term is to do Topps football from 68 to 79 in at least 8 or better for the early years and 9 or better for the later years. Trying to buy the early years off ebay for now and plan on buying some packs for 76 thru 79 to try and get the key cards for those years and submit them myself. Since everyone here has more experience myself what do all of you think would be the best approach? Thanks!

Griffins

Best bet is to check completed ebay auctions and see what the cards are going for in the grades your looking for. I don't track prices on the issues you're working on but I'll bet 8's often go for less than the grading fees. They should be fairly plentiful over time so be patient and you should be able to put together sets fairly inexpensively.
Opening packs is fun, but by the time you buy them, get the few gradeable cards in and back with grades you've often spent way more than you would've had you bought already graded examples.
Post your wants and you're likely to get some good offers as well.
Best of luck!

Edited to say a belated welcome to the boards!