1973 Topps Baseball Selling a Mystery?

missinglink

Hey everyone! I need you to shed a little light on something for me. Over the last 3 nights I have placed over 100 PSA graded cards from 1973 Topps baseball on ebay. They are all 7's or 8's and I started them off at $7.15 for 7's and $7.99 for 8's. I hardly have any bids!! What gives???

There are currently 15 set builders working on this set in the registry with only 1 person above 19% completion! I would have thought these to be an easy sell for me. I have a couple cards that have never been graded by PSA!!! Shouldn't that alone cause a buying frenzy?! I realize the economy is soft, but aren't vintage cards generally recession proof?

Am I the exception when it comes to buying? If a card I need shows up on ebay then I am all over it like a rooster in a hen house! Are set builders from the 70's not as aggressive?

I have around the same amount of graded cards from 1974 to go out too, but I am apprehensive based on the current results.

DOM has the best tag line on the message boards "If I'm buying it's PRICELESS. If I'm selling, it's WORTHLESS"

Here is a link to the 73's for sale. Thanks for letting me vent and I always welcome feedback!
1973 for sale

LuxuryWines

As some one who does some selling on EBAY I find that most auctions do not generate much action until the last 3 days of the auction(unless you put on unusually low price on them) and sometimes not until the last day depending on how many items are up for bid in 1973 Topps. I do not know what commons of 73 Topps are going for but a $7.99 for an 8 when you figure in the $7 grading fee seems reasonable ... Hang in there .... Jeff

PlayBall

Missinglinks,

I have recently been a collector of 1973's. However, I have put this set on hold for now. I'm at about 13%, but I have yet to put my set on the registry. The insight I can give you is that there are 3 major E-Bay players in the PSA 8-9 realm (sdwetzel, fread, and derek irwin), none to my knowledge are on the registry. These three have pretty much cornered the market and priced everybody else out if they are bidding on the cards. Myself and maybe others are sitting back until these guys run their course, and we can start bidding and winning again.

The PSA 7's are not as fluid in this set. I believe that the registry members with less than an 8 GPA, are either guys with budgets who buy the stars in PSA 7 to save money, or who received 7's on their own submissions.

However, don't be dismayed yet. There tends to be a few late-comers, who if there are no bids on the cards near the auction end will place bids. I was in the same position last week with a group of 1964 Topps PSA 8's with opening bid on $9.99. I had 16 on E-Bay and the day before they ended I had only 1 bid each on 6 cards. But the last day the bidders came out, and every card sold with multiple bids.

Hope this helps,

Bernie

dom

missinglinks...

Thanks. With a compliment like that, I had to answer your post.

I'm not a professional dealer. I've been buying and selling on eBay for nearly three years without any pressure to put food on the table. I only mention that so that you will understand my perspective. Don't worry about it. Your items will sell.

It looks like you've been doing this long enough to know there's never a pattern on eBay. I guarantee you'll get some action on the weekend when most people do their bidding. You're not selling sand in the Sahara. Patience. I just put a bid in on Tug McGraw just to break the ice. Good luck and let us know how the auctions turn out.

invader73

They should sell at that price. Many bidders now snipe in the last seconds but you may be missing out some collectors by only shipping to the US. There are a lot of collectors who live elsewhere, I know several collectors in the UK, Ireland, Germany who collect Graded stuff and have sets registered.

Matt

FB

Missing,

I also believe that June, July and August is one of the weakest times of the year for sales on eBay. Heck - Jay at Qualitycards just bought roughly 15 - 66 PSA 7's for $3 - $4 apiece from me. My wife, myself and all of the orphans that we support will be rummaging through dumpsters until the next round of food stamps come in. As a wise old Chinese philosopher once said, "Never start your auctions off at $1.00 during the summer months..."

You're prices are fine - so you won't get beat. And Bernie, Dom and Matt are correct. Most of the cards will go - but get bids late in the auction. Good luck!!!

helionaut

One factor I've noticed with 73s on ebay is that there are rarely very many of them. I search several times a week for 73 in PSA 7-10 and, IIRC, only during 1 week in the past few months has there been more than 1 page worth of material, while other years like 72 and 75 always have hundreds of items. It could be that people don't search there very oftenbecause of the usual dearth of items, but when they do, your listings will be a welcome sight. And if those prices hold, I may have to break my vow and start a third PSA set.

dom

missinglinks,

I'll often wear a homemade buttom with that tag line when I go to shows. It a great ice breaker. It was born out of a coin transaction a number of years ago. Most of you will find this story familiar regardless of what you collect.

A big coin dealer (I won't mention his name) sold me a slabbed MS-63 1879-CC Morgan for a decent price. He sang its praises from one end of the floor to the other. I held it for years until I was able to upgrade it. At the next large show, I hoped to sell it back to him. He took a look at it and used every negative he could think of describing that dollar. When he was finished I calmly informed him that he had originally sold the coin to me. His face turned varied shades of red, and I had a smug look on my puss.

Well, I eventually put it up on eBay, and none other than Michael Casper bought it for a price that was far and away above what I was looking to get from the other dealer.

So the tag is now used to as a conversation starter with nearly 100% positive reaction across the table.

69topps8

Hi Missinglinks - I'll give you my perspective. I'm currently #2 on the 1973 registry with an 8.41 GPA and about 18% complete. My PSA cards have almost entirely come from my own submissions. I've graded out all the stars from my set and the commons that I had high grade multiples of. If memory serves me correctly, I've only bought 4 graded cards off eBay for this set with one being a PSA 8 Aaron that I eventually replaced with a 9 I got from one of my own submissions.

I've eBayed many PSA 8 and 9 commons from that year with mixed success. Some of the 9's wouldn't even fetch the $19.99 minimum while others reached close to $100. Some 8's did not sell at $8.99 while others went for over $20. alot of it has to do with the population of a particular card in a particular grade. I've sold a few sevens. Unless they're stars or popular commons (yanks, mets, etc), they typically go for around $3 plus shipping. It's very tough to get back your grading fees for 7's. I even have a tough time getting $4 or $5 for 1969 PSA 7 commons. I try to screen out NM commons prior to submitting to PSA because they (7's) are usually a losing proposition.

I think some of your cards will sell and others won't. The run of the mil 7's likely won't at the price you have it listed at. The blue checklists are scarce, so you may get some activity on those, even though they're 7's. Like others have said, don't get discouraged. You will get some sniping activity toward the end. eBay also offers the option of relisting with no insertion fee if the item sells. If I'm really not interested in holding a card in inventory, I'll relist it at a very low price and be willing to take a loss on it.

Good luck.

riccaboni

Well, here is how a young guy like me works. I tend not to bid on items started above $2, unless it is a nice price. I dunno why, but I like bidding a lot early and then waiting to see how my bid stacks up. Just my preference, Ian.

carkim

missinglink,

I would be interest in the following 1974 cards in PSA 8 or higher if you have them...

8 GEORGE THEODORE
69 DEL UNSER
99 DEL CRANDALL (MANAGER)
102 BILL GREIF (PADRES)
111 CLAY CARROLL
115 WILLIE HORTON
126 CHECKLIST (1-132)
174 BILL ROBINSON
218 JOHNNY BRIGGS
221 CHUCK TANNER (MANAGER)
229 FRITZ PETERSON
248 TOM HALL
263 CHECKLIST (133-264)
277 GARY NOLAN
319 RANDY HUNDLEY
347 SANDY ALOMAR
353 RICH COGGINS
364 CLARENCE GASTON (PADRES)
366 LARRY HISLE
597 ROOKIE SHORTSTOPS (MANNY TRILLO)

Carlos

missinglink

Carlos,

I wish I could help, but unfortunately don't have any of those!

gemint

riccaboni - No offense but I think you'll have a hard time procuring any PSA 9 1974's at $2.

1954

Missinglinks,
My thought is that no one has a dollar to their name right now. I list my cards on Ebay for $9.99. First off, it gives the serious buyer a great opportunity to pick up a card at a fair MARKET price. The guy who said he does not bid on cards unless it is under $2.00, wants to bid on 900 items, but has no desire to win a thing. That is the biggest waste of my time as a seller.
The 1973 Topps Set is a very undervalued and undercollected set. I am like you, if I need a card I will bid on it immediately and watch it like a hawk.
Carlos, I believe I will have a couple of 1974 Topps cards for you on Ebay this week.

It is important that we as sellers on Ebay protect the investment of the COLLECTORS and the HOBBY MARKET. These cards are having a tough time even getting a bid. Be patient, and wait until the market improves.

SKINSFAN

another thought is with the big show this weekend maybe not as many buyers will be looking at ebay this weekend ,i hope not because i too have about 20 diff graded cards up in wasteland you guys call football lol(never as much action there )but as staed before in this thread 90% of bids come the last day so

riccaboni

I didn't mean ending at $2.00 silly, I meant starting. I dunno, I have a fetish for items that start low because I dunno, it kinda gives me confidence in the seller that he is willing to sell the item.

carkim

1954,

Would you be interested in selling those 74's to me outright? Email me at
aponte@adelphia.net I will make you a fair offer.

LMK

Carlos

riccaboni

By bidding a lot means, bidding up to the amount I am willing to pay, not early and often. And although I haven't picked up any '74 PSA 9's at $2.00, in other news, I did purchase a 1981 Fleer PSA 9 Tom Seaver for a little under $3.50 the other day .

Ian