For set builders..at a crossroads..how to handle it?

Gemyanks10

Good afternoon everyone. I've been putting together a registry set for about a year and a half now, and have noticed that cards I need are either really low pop commons that I never can find, or super expensive-rare star cards that I can never find lol. I've bought some unopened packs/racks to try my luck with submitting and have done ok..not bad but not great which is the norm for 1980. My question is when building a set how do you handle this dilemma? One could go crazy if your impatient like me...Do you wait around for those cards to come up for sale, or do you expand your horizons and start another set as to keep active while your still pursuing your original set. I'm afraid if I start another set, I may lose focus on my current one as it is drying up..Anyone else been faced with this? Thanks for letting me vent

gemint

For me, I have enough sets I'm working on that this isn't an issue. Fortunately for you the set your building is not scarce. There's a lot of unopened and nice, high grade raw sets out there. The problem you mostly face is the lack of incentive for dealers to grade out 1980T. What grade are you collecting? If anything less than PSA 10, you should be able to find good raw examples and grade them yourself. Otherwise it may take you a long time to build the set since people aren't submitting tons of cards from that year. You could also cold contact people on the registry who have the cards you need and see if they're willing to part with them. Not all sets on the registry are actively being built.

digicat

Dump graded and go raw.

I was doing award winner and rookie registry sets and eventually got tired of paying $25+ for common cards and/or paying a "tax" (grading fees) to PSA for each card in my collection.


Looking at the past-sales on Ebay for 1980 Topps cards, I see that a common Pop 1 just fetched $150+/dlvd. That's just insane IMHO.

Gemyanks10

Yeah I'm working on it in all psa 10's and I'm up to 71% complete...There are many other sets I want to do but I wanted to start with 1980 Topps as my first ever graded set due to sentimental reasons. It was the first ever set I put together as a kid going to shows back in the early 90's with my father...I never thought of reaching out to other registry people. I figured since they had it listed in current status, they may not want to sell. There's only one way to find out I guess. I'm actually looking forward to starting new sets..Like stated earlier it's taken me about a year and a half..I started this in February of 2012, to get to 71%..I haven't listed anything on the registry yet. I'm ready to finish this bad boy up and move on with new sets lol.

Jimmy

Juggs

I'm a big collector of the 1980 set as well. I don't have many graded but I have a ton of raw that are pack fresh. If you want, send me a list of the stuff that's been hard to find and I'll go through mine for you and see if I have anything that would be worthy of submitting.

Mapleleaf

I do multiple sets at one time. It just takes too long to finish a set if you are going one at a time.
I'm having some of the frustrations you are - 4Sharp Corners are jacking their prices up and buyers are paying the higher rates so it makes it harder to get cards.
I've even seen some vendors buy from 4SC and then relist on ebay for more money so you can't blame them for raising their prices.
Eventually, the listed prices just get too high and collectors stop. I've pretty much done that for all my sets as there is a limit to what I will pay for a PSA 10 common.

raykasa

I'm working on a 66-67-68 baseball set and here's what i have done to make it easy and fun: i grade only the HOF's base cards and the all-star cards (for 1968) in PSA 8s or 8.5s. As for all other cards i collect= do my best to keep in NM condition. just my two cents. good luck!

markj111

<< <i>Yeah I'm working on it in all psa 10's and I'm up to 71% complete...There are many other sets I want to do but I wanted to start with 1980 Topps as my first ever graded set due to sentimental reasons. It was the first ever set I put together as a kid going to shows back in the early 90's with my father...I never thought of reaching out to other registry people. I figured since they had it listed in current status, they may not want to sell. There's only one way to find out I guess. I'm actually looking forward to starting new sets..Like stated earlier it's taken me about a year and a half..I started this in February of 2012, to get to 71%..I haven't listed anything on the registry yet. I'm ready to finish this bad boy up and move on with new sets lol.

Jimmy >>




I will offer my advice as a collector of graded sets from 59-72. Do not give up. Slow down if you need to save money. Buy the low pop commons last, perhaps in a lower grade. Most of all have fun, and don't spend the grocery money on cards. I concur with gemmint's advice re contacting people on the registry.

gameusedhoop

What's your end plan for the set and of course your financial situation? If you have the $$ to work on this set and another, then just park it, work on it as the cards pop up for you, and be patient, in the meantime, get started on your next conquest. If you end plan is to sell it off, or, you don't have the cash to start another, then it is probably time to sell. High grades like 10's are going for GOOD money right now, you may be surprised on how much you get for some of the stuff you have.

I spent 6 months building a 1978 set a few years ago. It had 4 8's, a 100+ 10's and the rest were 9's. Even back then, I made some good $$, it would be much more now I think, but I was well into the ++ category. I hit the road block like you did, the 10's were more than I wanted to pay for, and the 4 8's just weren't popping up for sale very often, if at all. Myself, being impatient like you, just gave up, and sold them off, it went really well in the long run, and my new Jeep got a lot more use than that set would have gotten.

mattinglymint23

I go back and forth between graded and raw sets. So I have been doing Stars graded and raw commons. That way I end up with full set then have option to keep going one either front.

hankcaddy

i usually have a few differents sets or partial sets i am working on , so if one seems to have dried up, i move to another.

set building is a marathon for sure....

thehallmark

Work on multiple sets if you have multiple sets you're very interested in completing. Get into a rhythm of hunting for cards from all the sets and you will GREATLY reduce the chances of getting bored or frustrated. I also think buying a box once in a while adds some extra fun to the hobby.

I do the above plus I'm also always looking for short term investment opportunities in the hobby and that has gone really well, too. Flip some cards for profit and you have a bigger budget to buy the cards you need for your registry sets.

jmmiller777

71% in a year and a half is pretty good. I do multiple sets, but if you start on another set, I would be a willing to take 9's and 8's. I would focus on the high dollar cards first, as these will most likely be HOFer's that will only continue to increase in price. I too work multiple sets. My latest attempt is a copy idea from another board member. I only collect the HOFer's and cards that interest me, usually the all star cards, world series cards, and leaders card. Most of my 70's sets are going to be based on this idea. All of my Kelloggs sets are 9-10's and are just the HOFer's. I just picked up a 67 HR Leaders card in a 7 grade. I will accept a lower grade if the centering is good. I am also working 1966-1969 in raw form, been working these for 7-8 years. I always get sidetracked, so my advice is to keep focused on 3-4 projects. Good luck and have fun.

Stooge

I have been stuck at around 45%-50% on the 1980 set in PSA 10 for a while now, as I take breaks from it, and work on other stuff, such as my M*A*S*H set and Space 1999 sets. Also been picking off a couple 1968 Topps baseball in PSA 10.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have fun with my sets and work on one for a while, go back to the other one's, then back to something else like collecting raw sets/boxes/packs/raks. I just recently traded in a bunch of really tight cellos for something I wanted from BBCE at the National. Also picked up from BBCE 2 of the 3 box rakpak cases of 1986 Topps Baseball to rip through. I actually have collected about 4 cases of this stuff.

Good luck,

Paul B. Gunsallus

P.S. I would be willing to let go of any cards in my 1980 set if the price was right...

Gemyanks10

Wow amazing advice from everybody. It's been so much fun putting this set together from the start that I don't want to give up now. I recently thought about the possibility of selling it but I decided not to do that. I came back into this hobby last year after about a 13 year hiatus and I wanted to rebuild my collection from the ground up. I got out of collecting in my early teens and now I'm in my late 20's and I can't ever see myself getting out of it again. I just love baseball card collecting. My financial situation is good. I'm blessed to have a good job and a very supportive wife that has also taken an interest in this so that helps tremendously. There are lots of other sets I can't want to do and judging by everyone's responses maybe its time to start that next set. I now just have to figure out which one I want to do because there's so many I love for many different reasons. I'm interested in pretty much everything pre-1986.

Juggs and stooge I appreciate the support I will compile lists today as this is my day off and I will shoot pm's to you both. Thanks a lot for everything.

BBG I saw those cases and they are nice I was thinking about picking something like that up to store my cards. I also saw that BBCE had handmade wooden boxes for sale does anyone have any experience with those?

Jimmy

stillyz

I have the same quandary as you.

I am working on a 71 Topps baseball set, in 7 or better, and I just get frustrated at it. I have about 200 or so done, but I have lost all motivation to complete it. I've got a lot of money sunk into finding nice gradeable cards, grading fees, buying graded cards... it's been overwhelming.

So while I have 6-8 other sets to work on and distract me, I have this albatross 71 set, while I ponder on completing it, selling it or what. Right now, I feel like I get more happiness from raw sets than this set. 6 months ago, it was the opposite. Who knows what it will be in 6 more months...

baseballfan

I had the top Larry bird player set until I couldn't/didn't want to keep up with the prices and them adding cards I would have not put into the set to begin with. I sold/traded some of my higher grade cards to a guy who was going to attempt to finish the set. I think he is still the top guy. i replaced them with lesser cards but good enough for me.

I also finished the 55 all American set graded. Took about 2 years, it tough to finish a all graded set but fun while you can find the cards. I started the 80 set in psa 8 and 9 but found that was going to be tough and expensive, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze, but I love that set, I can only imagine what a tough time your having in psa 10.

I then started putting raw sets together in as good a condition as I can afford.

Gotta figure out what makes you happy collecting.

Good luck
Fred

Gemyanks10

Its definitely been a long albeit fun road. I'm going to try and reach out to some registry people as i didn't think to do that. I figured that with sets still in current status, that other people may be working on it also. I'm learning new things everyday on here. It's been very tough doing the set in all 10's but im confident that someday i'll be able to finish it..i'm just going to go ahead and start another set while i wait for some of the cards i need to pop up..now the next issue is trying to figure out which set i want to work on next lol. There are many sets that appeal to me pretty much anything pre 1986 will work. I think starting a new set will keep me from getting burned out and wanting to sell it off..i've too far to quit now

jay0791

There are a number of sets I'm working on that have this problem.

The last card for my psa 8 1969 BK set is the checklist. Its low pop and about $3K in a 8.

I will probably settle for an 7 someday.

A 1965 Dick Westmoreland will be very expensive if one ever comes up.

so Thats why I do many sets at once...I can always get something.