Online Cost Efficiency: Buying Hand Collated Sets vs Vending.

ThoseBackPages

Lets face it, we as collectors, when we want to sell something, want as much as possible. i think thats normal.
On the other hand, when we buy, we want it for as little as possible.

What i am currently putting together are pre-86 Topps Raw Sets in sheets/binders. Not just complete as in i have all
the cards on the checklist, but i have them with perfect centering and registration. i realize this is a difficult task, and
that i am going to have to have patience and go through a LOT of cards to find the one that makes the Final Cut.

Heck, its as easy as hitting BINs or bidding high to just go ahead and have a whole run of Topps Sets from just about
any year, but thats not what im after.

Why stop at 1985 you may ask? great question. Reason being is because 1985 was the last year that MASSIVE MASSIVE
MASSIVE overproduction did not occur. when cards are readily available for a penny a piece (or less) delivered, there
are a lot of them out there.

Once you get earlier then 1981, all forms of unopened material get costly. when it comes to those years, i think i
will be better off trying to buy full sets or bulk lots of singles, and piece them together like that.

From 1981 to 1985 there are a number of options depending on what you want to spend. Naturally, i want to
spend as little as possible! lol That being said, Vending is the most cost efficient. i realize buying a hand collated
set MAY be cheaper per card, but with them you have a few things going against you... the set has been handled at
least a few times... the cards will not be properly packaged when they are mailed to you... the "better" cards were
not included in that particular hand collated set ar ethe things that come to mind immediately.

Sure, wax is great, but the cost per card goes up quite a bit. id love for rack packs to be an option, but sealed cases
of those years are not easy to come by, and when you do, they aint cheap either. Cellos are so hit and miss.

i realize the downfalls that vending entails. But i am really wondering if all-in-all, that they are the way to go.

Dboneesq

I could be wrong on this, but here goes: If you ever plan to sell the sets you are going to take a bath. If you are doing it to hold on to the sets for your personal collection I guess vending would be a fun and not too expensive way of doing it. Try it with the cheaper years first and see how the collation goes. I am sure you can fill in the set with nice cards from people on this board.

Sethro

Eric,
Here's a link to a rack box up for auction by BBCE.

1984 Topps Rack Box


Hopefully you can get it at a good price. There are a couple of BINs for around $60, but I have bought a few 1984 rack boxes for less than $40. Hope this helps!


Seth

ThoseBackPages

Doug, this is a total labor of love. if i wanted to "invest" in cardboard, i would just buy them in PSA 10 form.
i have been picking up the HOFers from the 80s in PSA 9 form, theyve been running between $8 - $10 a piece.
after a while i started to loose the thrill of it, and it became just waiting "for the next one to get listed"
i then figured i could build these sets this particular way. might be fun, might be frustrating, might be both! LOL

Seth, i have that on my watchlist. i really want the thrill of ripping a sealed case though.

mrpeanut39

I've posted about my disdain for vending before. I really only had one bad experience, but just the way they're packaged, I couldn't imagine ever pulling more than the odd gem or two from vending. I recently had a craving to rip some unopened stuff but didn't have too much $. So I bought an 83 vending box from BBCE. Awesome box. I pulled out a pile to send in for grading. I guess it all depends on how the case or box was stored. The same with rack or wax. I would definitely give vending a chance again.

I too would have my reservations with hand collated sets. If you're just looking at cost per card, vending is the way to go.

ThoseBackPages

<< <i>I've posted about my disdain for vending before. I really only had one bad experience, but just the way they're packaged, I couldn't imagine ever pulling more than the odd gem or two from vending. I recently had a craving to rip some unopened stuff but didn't have too much $. So I bought an 83 vending box from BBCE. Awesome box. I pulled out a pile to send in for grading. I guess it all depends on how the case or box was stored. The same with rack or wax. I would definitely give vending a chance again.

I too would have my reservations with hand collated sets. If you're just looking at cost per card, vending is the way to go. >>



Excellent to hear this!

and yes, cost per card is important to me because of how many that dont make the final cut