Registry now at 1500 even

RobE · May 16, 2002 5:29PM

Amazing!

I think in late March or Early April it just broke 1000.I wonder how long it will take to hit 2000.

Whats even more impressive are those who have multiple,or completed sets to upgrade or work on.That is a great position to stand in.

Nice work folks!

Wayne8348 · May 16, 2002 8:43PM

I think that in a month or 45 days we will be at 2000 sets. I can even imagine 3 years from now having over 10,000 sets registered. That's great but I would imagine that over half of those sets will have less than 1% completion. We need our unofficial statistician (I dont even know how to spell it) to take a look at this to see where we are at now. I'm seeing a lot of new sets being added but most only have a card or 2. A large number of them may have started with a couple of cards and never been added to. Should PSA have a mimimum completion? I personally don't think of 3 cards as a collection for a given year. I'm not sure what the right answer is or if anything at all needs to be done but who knows - we could see 10,000 sets this time next year. The fab five could become the fortune five hundred. I may have to look for a psa 3 common at the next show and join the party.

Wayne

mikeschmidt · May 16, 2002 10:30PM

Remember that there are probably at least 100 completely-graded vintage sets out there that are not yet registered -- and may not be registered anytime soon. I still know a bunch of holdouts who are hesitant to join the fracass...

pinhigh · May 17, 2002 12:14AM

Schmidty - In talking with the collectors who choose not to participate, what have been there reasons? I can understand those who have a great deal invested in their collections not choosing to reveal their identity, but the registry is set up so that they could remain somewhat anonymous. Just curious.

Bailey · May 17, 2002 12:27AM

Does anyone think that the large number of new sets may be related to the 1970s and 1960s grading specials? I know I signed up a set with a few cards just so I could take advantage of the special.

Bailey

waitilltheytrytosell · May 17, 2002 12:37AM

It may be hard to believe, but there are still quite a few people who still don't use the internet. They don't know about the set registry, and even if they did, they have no desire to "learn how to use a computer" so they can go on-line to register their set. A recent thread posted some numbers regarding how many sets could be made from cards registered. I was then curious about how many cards were submitted, but not registered. From the regular Topps sets from 1952 to 1974, and the Bowmans 1948 to 1955, there were a total of 731,825 cards listed in the current pop. There were 74,001 cards from those years registered for sets. That means only 10.11% of the cards graded from those years are listed in the set registry.

mikeschmidt · May 17, 2002 1:08AM

Pinhigh-

Let's say that you have a 1956 Topps set, all PSA 8 and PSA 9 -- a set that you purchased for $250,000. What incentive is there to list it on the registry? With all the stars in PSA 9 -- you know your set is the best out there. And even if it's not -- it's pretty darn impressive. If you share your set -- others may a) purposefully bid up upgrades you need, b) target your place of residence if they know where you live or any of a variety of nefarious purposes.

There are many collectors who collect for themselves, and are very happy with what they have. The perceived benefits of their registering a set are very small (I mean, honestly, what do you gain?). It is time-consuming and annoying to do. The potential risks are there. Obviously if they are planning to sell their set -- they might starting singing a different tune. But right now, why bother?

Sometimes the "mystery" is half the fun of this hobby. How many of the greatest hobby "finds" of the last two decades have come out of the collections of those mysterious/eccentric collectors who accumulate over a matter of decades -- with no one really ever knowing the full extent of what they had. When they do come to sell -- the entire hobby celebrates at the new bounty being re-circulated back into the hobby.

RayBShotz · May 17, 2002 1:08AM

Waittill - A very telling stat. The assumption is that many of the vintage cards graded, among the 90% not on the registry, are a part of collectors sets. Yes I also believe many of those cards are in sets unregistered.
An interesting statistic would be, of the 90%, what percentage is represented by just those key star cards which are listed in the SMR? Once you flush those out and see the real population (percentage) of graded commons you would get a much clearer picture of the set building tendencies of the unregistered vintage collectors.
Just a thought. Do we have a statistician volunteer out there?
RayB69Topps

RobE · May 17, 2002 1:31AM

Not that I'm doing a high profile big $$$ set like a 52,69 Topps, or 48 Bowman but noticed that only a small handfull of commons that I missed don't make it into any registered sets.Unless they wind up in sets that are not able to be viewed.

My question is who would even want these commons unless they were building a set.

LuxuryWines · May 17, 2002 5:10AM

I think the explosion in the number of sets could be due to a number of factors:

1.) THe 60's & 70's grading specials I know I have listed a 63 Fleer single card so I could get some of my nicer 63 Fleer graded at the $6.00 price. It would be interesting to see how many new sets are in the 60's and 70's...

2.) The number of new sets that have been added to the registry... And if you look at the registry with the number of new sets waiting to be listed the number of sets could explode just from these additions.

3.) In a situation like this you will always have turnover.. (ie people losing interest and new people coming online) However the old sets of people no longer participating will still be listed.

and finally I think (especially with large portion of card sales occuring on the internet) that you will see more and more people rely on Graded cards . I mean how many times have you gotten cards the seller advertisies as Near Mint and you get an excellent?

Just my $.02

By the way up to 1507 I'm selling at 10,000
Jeff

aro13 · May 17, 2002 5:54AM

There are some great posts in here on this topic. What benefit is there to having your set on the registry? and does it outweigh the negative aspect of having it on the registry.

RobE · May 17, 2002 6:19AM

Aro 13 a nice Dealer and a few other set builders influenced me to try the registry.The statement below is a small summary of benefits he shared with me to take into account for registering your set.

Its a cool thing that PSA offers,it gives you a record and a checklist of what you have and what you need.It's neat to add a card or 2 and see your completion # and set value # increase. Plus it spurs the competitive juices amongst the others in the set.All you really need is 1 card to register & every 7 you register equals another 1% towards completion.I heard a group of set builders started a chat room thing via Email. Usually 1 will open it and talk about eBay auctions that are available and how their set is coming along.I heard it's kind of a tight nit group.So I believe you will pick up some commraderie with your fellow collectors as well.

In addition,I've had the pleasure of dealing with many dealers/collectors on and off auction who have saved me a lot of time and trouble by offering things to me before they list their auctions.

On another note,my adventure with the registry has barely begun.

qualitycards · May 17, 2002 10:30AM

ROBEBASS - Well put! ...jay

NickM · May 17, 2002 11:32AM

We're now at 1518.
Before the '60s special is over, I expect a lot more '60s sets to go up, and even though many of these are starting at under 1%, that doesn't mean they're going to stay there.

Nick

LuxuryWines · May 17, 2002 11:49AM

Well put Nick, I mean everybody has to start somewhere and more people coming in is good for the Hobby and makes life more interesting....

RobE · May 17, 2002 2:29PM

Jay, I got some help on that one.

pinhigh · May 18, 2002 12:23AM

Schmidty - I completely understand what you are saying concerning the collector who owns such a set as the '56 Topps that you described, but there is the opposite side of the coin. A set, such as the one you described, may not necessarilly be the best out there. If you aren't willing to participate, don't you think that there is a possibilty that others with similar sets wouldn't be willing to participate? Even with stars in PSA 9, there are generally more than one in the population (using the '56 Topps set as an example). Also, if you wish to remain anonymous and that is your reason for not participating, do you really think that you could piece together a set such as the one you described without being noticed? I would believe you would be more noticeable if you purchased the set complete, and if that were the case, someone prior to you had to build it. I understand the big auction houses and dealers do a great job of keeping their customers anonymous, but hey, somebody has to know who you are. I mean, prior to the registry, didn't collectors know who the top guys were? If your paranoia is such that it keeps you from participating in an online registry of cards, why even purchase cards that may increase your anxiety? As far as the benefits, I don't believe that there are that many right now, other than the ones described by robebass. In the future, I believe that will change but have no idea what the benefits may include.

waitill - Being a younger collector, it is difficult for me to consider that there are individuals who don't use the internet, but I understand your point and it was one that I didn't consider.

Registry now at 1500 even

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