What is the best deal you have ever gotten?

AnkurJ · January 6, 2010 11:11PM

I have gotten a few, but this was one of them.

$140 shipped

Also recently purchased a Mantle/Williams and Mantle/Mays signed 8x10 with PSA/DNA auths for $275 each on ebay.

How about YOU?

AJ

itzagoner · January 6, 2010 11:23PM

back in '87 my former roommate got a wild hair up his arse and decided to bail town leaving me with no place to live and very little time to come up with a plan......he also left behind his cute ex-girlfriend, so we got a place together, moved in, hooked up, got married, had kids, got a house, some dogs, some cars, a bank account, some fruit trees........

then there was this one time in Willow Grove a guy handed me a buncha blazing Joe Montana rookies and i paid him 5 bucks apiece for them.....suffice to say those cards earned me a nice payday a few hours later, but the ex-girlfriend was still the better deal.

AnkurJ · January 6, 2010 11:26PM

<< back in '87 my former roommate got a wild hair up his arse and decided to bail town leaving me with no place to live and very little time to come up with a plan......he also left behind his cute ex-girlfriend, so we got a place together, moved in, hooked up, got married, had kids, got a house, some dogs, some cars, a bank account, some fruit trees........
>>

Now THATS a good deal!

Indy78 · January 6, 2010 11:29PM

I bought a really nice complete 1976 topps baseball card set for $125 two summers ago. I was really excited because the cards were so crisp and nicely centered. The set was assembled years before by a retired gentleman working part time at a local card shop. I was looking through the store's 76's and he mentioned to me that he had a really nice set at home and whether I'd be interested in doing a private sale. I sent in the Pete Rose #240 just to get a feel for how well the set might grade, and got an 8.5 on it.

lsutigers1973 · January 6, 2010 11:40PM

If I made a list of the top 20 best card related deals I have ever gotten, about 15 would be transactions from this board.

mbothner · January 6, 2010 11:43PM

I was looking for a nice 1952 Topps # 310 Geoge Metkovich on ebay for a while. I saw a group of 3 1952 cards listed in EX condition. 2 cards were OC and had wear to the corners but the Metkovich had excellent centering and the corners looked good. I got the lot for $35. I sold the 2 OC cards individually on ebay and got my $35 back. I sent in the Metkovich to PSA and came back a PSA 7.

cardbender · January 7, 2010 12:17AM

I bought a '61 Fleer Basketball set for $125 . This was way back in 1988. The set was pack fresh with gum powder still residing on many of the cards, but half the set was majorly off center.

I ended up selling the Chamberlain, which graded out a 9 oc, for $1700 .

That deal was alright.

leadoff4 · January 7, 2010 12:47AM

Jeff, great story on the roommate!!!
LSUTigers, why don't you list at least the top 3 deals from these boards??

cpettimd · January 7, 2010 1:03AM

I picked up a 1970 Johnny Bench all star for HBV of $15 from an overpriced local shop. This graded a PSA 8 , worth $225
I had a signed nellie fox 1964 topps giants card since I was a kid ( got it for free), sent it to PSA/DNA, traded it for a GAI 8.5 Bench rookie at the white plains card show, crossed it into a SGC 92

Nathaniel1960 · January 7, 2010 1:08AM

EBAY

1. 300 1966 Topps BB for around $100 described as "good condition". The lot was EX-MT or better and had over 100 hi numbers, with about 80 of those SPs, including two of the nicest Twins Team cards you'll see.

2. 1969-70 Topps Hockey Set BIN for $150. When I sub, I fully expect minimum 8's on every card.

3. 1956 Clemente PSA 4 for $70. The card is incredible, except for what appears to be a very minor tape stain on the reverse, maybe a millimeter across?

4. 330 1958 Topps for BIN $300, including MANY EX-MT to NM stars.

5. Partial 1965-66 Topps Hockey Set, in 9 card BIN lots, for a total of $200. Included are the nicest SP team cards and CL's I've seen.

6. Original Owner 1960 Topps BB, 750 cards for $600, EX MT or better. Included three Aarons, three Clementes, five Maris, five Mantles, etc. etc.

SHOWS

1. 2000 count box of 50's and 60's "off grade" cards for $400. Many stars, old bowmans, football, baseball, very few creases. Included 80% of the 1958 Topps FB set in EXMT condition with Stars.

2. 200 1959 Topps commons, very well centered EX MT to NM for $100.

3. CASE of 2001 Upper Deck Golf for $40.

leadoff4 · January 7, 2010 1:30AM

I needed this thread to get me refreshed and motivated again. Especially Nathaniel1960's posts about eBay deals.

Brick · January 7, 2010 2:07AM

In the early 90s I took out a license to resell trading cards. A gentleman who ran a card shop near my home whom I visited regularly said he had a friend who would pay $100 per box of Topps Archives (1953) when they came out. I was able to purchase a case of 20 boxes for under $400. The friend came by that same night and paid me $1,000 for 10 boxes. I still have a couple sets I put together and a monster box of these cards. I evened things up by purchasing a lot of low value stuff that I send out to worthless set collectors when I get the chance. The best individual card was a 1955 #76 PSA 9 I purchased from Iratherbedrivingmy57chevy. He had a lot of 55s in PSA 9 he was selling and I decided I would like to have just one for my collection. I paid $327 including shipping. A few years later they got hot and qualityhorseracing & the rear reverend had some serious bidding wars so I decided to sell. I got over $2,000 which helped me finance other cards I wanted.

thedutymon · January 7, 2010 2:16AM

Morning,
Earlier this year I saw an auction for some 1950 Lever Bros. Jets & Rockets cards, lot of 14 or 16, no bids at $9.99. threw in a last minute bid, won at $9.99. Couple of weeks later two clowns got into a bidding war, sold 8-10 of them for north of $1100.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 years ago I sold the #1 Registered Batman Black set which I had no money into (Had already made several thousand profit on the cards that I used to make the set, from extras) for $16,777.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All told for about 2K investment in cards and grading, made about $23,000.00. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

YeeHah

Neil

AFLfan · January 7, 2010 2:22AM

I recently bought a bunch of older football game programs on ebay for $300. I kept two for myself, and resold the rest for about $3,200.

lsutigers1973 · January 7, 2010 2:29AM

Uhaul thread comes to mind.

theczar · January 7, 2010 2:30AM

scooter729 · January 7, 2010 2:37AM

This ball - signed at the 1955 HOF induction ceremony - direct from a Red Sox scout who obtained the ball in person. Bought it from him in the '90s for about $500 if I remember right. It's got the biggest and boldest Jimmie Foxx sig on it, along with a bunch of other tough HOFers.

burke23 · January 7, 2010 2:42AM

<< Uhaul thread comes to mind. >>

Did you ever figure out what your take on that badboy was? Was always curious. Of course the experience itself was priceless.

epatmythes · January 7, 2010 2:59AM

Not sure if it was the best deal I've ever gotten... been collecting for 20+ years now... but this is the most recent major deal that I can recall.

Thread Link

I kept the Mantle, Williams, Mays, Aaron, 1 Rose, Slaughter, Mize & Paul Krause 8x10's and cards of Bob Feller and Robin Roberts. Flipped everything else (a little more than 1/2 of the collection) after receipt for $75.00 to a fellow board member. Dropped another $235 to have the Mantle, Williams, Mays & Aaron 8x10's authenticated by PSA/DNA... and all came back legit!

All in all, spent $335 for PSA/DNA authenticated 8x10's of 4 major Hall of Famers, a few more loose/unauthenticated HOF autographed 8x10's, a nice Pete Rose 8x10 and a couple of 50's Bowman autographed cards of HOFer's.

Made my 2009!

csmtampa · January 7, 2010 3:26AM

2 2006 SI Autograph Maria Sharapovas for $10

Sold for $680, second one is up for auction.

Alfonz24 · January 7, 2010 3:42AM

Free Healthcare

lsutigers1973 · January 7, 2010 3:59AM

<< Did you ever figure out what your take on that badboy was? Was always curious. Of course the experience itself was priceless. >>

The experience itself was at least half the profit. Didn't make as much as we would have made with a little a patience but didn't feel like waiting 6 months to a year to maximize the profit.

gemint · January 7, 2010 4:07AM

Some of my highlights I can recall off the top of my head:

* Bought a 1973 Topps set on eBay for $700 in the late 90s. When I opened the box it knocked my socks off. It looked like a vending box. The set yielded PSA 9s of Schmidt, Gossage, Mays, Ryan, F Robby, Rose, Aaron among others as well as a handful of 10s and most other notable stars in 8.

* Bought a 1971T baseball set from Mastro that included PSA 9's of Frank Robinson and Bob Gibson. But the real highlight was hidden in the raw portion of the set; a perfectly centered Claude Raymond that graded PSA 9. I traded it for a PSA 8.5 Tom Seaver RC and PSA 8 1967s of Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez and PSA 8 1971's of the Claude Raymond, Blyleven RC and Bench as well as dozens of PSA 8 commons and semistars from both sets.

* Bought a 2,000+ count 1969 vending lot from Mastro that yielded 13 PSA 10s. I'm still selling off the remnants of the lot on eBay from time-to-time. I was able to make several upgrades to my set and sell the duplicates off for more than I had into the lot.

There are a lot of other smaller wins but these are the ones that stand out.

bking · January 7, 2010 4:13AM

<< Some of my highlights I can recall off the top of my head:

* Bought a 1973 Topps set on eBay for $700 in the late 90s. When I opened the box it knocked my socks off. It looked like a vending box. The set yielded PSA 9s of Schmidt, Gossage, Mays, Ryan, F Robby, Rose, Aaron among others as well as a handful of 10s and most other notable stars in 8.

* Bought a 1971T baseball set from Mastro that included PSA 9's of Frank Robinson and Bob Gibson. But the real highlight was hidden in the raw portion of the set; a perfectly centered Claude Raymond that graded PSA 9. I traded it for a PSA 8.5 Tom Seaver RC and PSA 8 1967s of Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez and PSA 8 1971's of the Claude Raymond, Blyleven RC and Bench as well as dozens of PSA 8 commons and semistars from both sets.

* Bought a 2,000+ count 1969 vending lot from Mastro that yielded 13 PSA 10s. I'm still selling off the remnants of the lot on eBay from time-to-time. I was able to make several upgrades to my set and sell the duplicates off for more than I had into the lot.

There are a lot of other smaller wins but these are the ones that stand out. >>

I never tire of Claude Raymond card humor.

54topps · January 7, 2010 4:22AM

Bought a 1928 Churchman Men of The Moment set about 8 months ago on Ebay for $600.00. The Bobby Jones came back a PSA 9. sold it for $2500. Spent another $200.00 getting the rest of the set graded and sold the balance for around $600.00

leadoff4 · January 7, 2010 4:32AM

I can't believe this thread hasn't gone awry yet...

ripkenintheminors · January 7, 2010 5:25AM

The overall best deal I ever got came from the world of music. My dad is a bluegrass musician and loves Bill Monroe music. Every year I try to get him something related to Mr. Monroe for Christmas. While Bill was still living the Hatch Show Print in Nashville did a special poster honoring Bill. It was a limited edition and signed by the artist and Bill himself. Of course they immediately sold out after production so they went back and did other variations of the posters in different colors. The unsigned copies sell for $600 through their shop and the Country Music Hall of Fame. I picked up the signed copy on ebay for under $80. I think it sold so cheap because an edge had around a 1/2 inch tear. I had it framed and the matting covered the tear. It was a beautiful piece when completed and my dad loved it.

PowderedH2O · January 7, 2010 5:42AM

Best deal I ever got was a trade. I was ten years old in 1976 and a basketball player for the New Orleans Jazz named EC Coleman moved into our neighborhood. My buddy wanted a card to get signed. I had one, but I had a complete 1975-76 Jazz set and I didn't want to break it up. He went and got his dad's box of cards from his house and ended up trading me a stack of old cards for the Jazz cards and a 1975-76 Julius Erving. Included in the group was a 1952 Topps Ed Mathews, a 1956 Topps Sandy Koufax, and a 1960 Topps All-Star Mickey Mantle. About five years later, a local collector that needed the Mathews traded me a lot of 20 Hall of Famers including 62, 63, and 65 Mantle, 59, 60, 61, 62, and 63 Musial, 62 and 63 Lou Brock, 60, 61, 62, and 63 Yastrzemski, 62 Gaylord Perry, and some others for that card which I would estimate would have graded a 2 or 2.5.
I'd love to tell you how I sold these for thousands of dollars, but in 1983 I needed money for college so they sold for around $500 to help me pay tuition. But still, $500 for a Jazz team set and a Dr J ain't too bad!

As far as a purchase goes, I bought an autograph album from an estate for $40 about ten years ago. The person had lived in San Francisco and was a huge swimming and diving fan. The album had about 80 filled pages with newspaper clippings and autographs from Olympic calibre swimmers and divers from 1948-1956 era. This included David "Skippy" Browning who was killed in an Air Force jet in 1956, plus dozens of other medalists. As I may have mentioned in other posts, I have a huge collection of swimming autographs and this album ten years later is still one of my prized pieces.

mtcards · January 7, 2010 5:49AM

Yard sale purchase-

After turning down an opened box of 1992 UD baseball for $20, I was shown an old style Budweiser Keg Crate loaded with Nascar cards and stuff. My wife wanted the crate for a flower box, I paid the money, got home and this is what was inside:

Full set 1989 Maxx Racing
Full set 1988 Maxx Racing (Factory Sealed)
Dozens of 8x10 Pit Promo Cards with many autos of current drivers
Binder filled with dozens of Earnhart/Gordon cards, including rookies and many old HOF autos of 50's-70's drivers
Old Pit passes/ticket stubs
Not to mention over 100 Yu-Gi-Oh cards

Total value of all these I estimate will over $1000 ($999 if you throw out the YuGiOhs)

Price paid...TEN DOLLARS

Irony has it that I dislike Nascar with a passion

goye · January 7, 2010 5:52AM

does the answer too many apply.......

1982-83 & 1983-84 o pee chee hockey cases at 12.00 per box

1970 nolan ryan for two boxes of 1989 hoops at about 13.00 per box in 1989

etc. etc, etc

NickM · January 7, 2010 6:10AM

Steve Blake Finest gold Xfractor rookie 1/1 in a store's dime box.
Probably worth $50 to $100 on eBay.

Nick

leadoff4 · January 7, 2010 6:25AM

1963 Topps Jim Coates raw for $4(Beckett High BV ouch!) graded PSA 9 by PSA 1/6 at the time...sold for $338 on eBay.

scashaggy · January 7, 2010 6:38AM

Several, and they all have to do with Ali.

I bought an Ali signature on a piece of paper for $12.

I got a lot of 8 Ali signed pamphlets for $150.

I bought a book that was signed by Ali in 2000 for $150. Ali had signed this book 7 or 8 times, which included several Cassius Clay signatures.

Goldlabels · January 7, 2010 6:38AM

A couple things come to mind

1) At a card shop in 1999 and my tab was around like $93 so I decided to open a pack of spx basketball to make an even $100 bill. I pulled a Jordan shoe/jersey Auto #'d to 23. I sold it a week later for $7000.00. Paid for a new TV, my honeymoon and tons more.

2) Bought a large collection for $1600 that was full of tons of sets, rookies, and singles from the 80's and 90's. Tons of player lots of all the stars. Sold everything except what I graded for $3000 and from what I graded, got tons of psa 10's and a bgs 9.5 Jeter sp rc. Made a good 5-6K from the deal.

mj23kg21 · January 7, 2010 6:51AM

I have many but a few that come to mind:

1. At a flea market - 1955 Armour Coin "Mickey Mantle" spelled correctly. I paid 50 cents for it. The ironic thing about this find is a couple weeks prior to this I found the 1955 Armour Mickey Mantel version in a free box at a garage sale. I ended up selling both of these to Mr. Mint for $200.00 shortly after.

2. Garage Sale - I purchased complete sets of 1956 and 1961 Topps Baseball cards. They had from 1955 - 1962 complete and each were $100.00. Trouble is I was in 6th grade at the time funding my card addiction on my own and these were the only sets I could afford. I still have the 1956 set but the 1961 set is long gone.

3. Chicago Sun Times show - I am set up way in the back. For some reason these two people come to my table and ask me if I buy magazines. I said I do and asked them what they had. They said they had many thousand LIFE magazines. Long story short they had over 5000 LIFE's including a hoard of 18 with the Mantle Maris cards in them. I was able to purchase them but what was even better is they had a huge number of Hartlands which I was also able to purchase. I sold off most of the Western's but kept all of the baseball and football Hartlands which were in excess of 70.

4. Auction sale - My wife and I are there with my mom and she purchases a box for 1.00 with what I thought was all junk. I dig through it a little better and find a 1915 PM1 pin of Eppa Rixey. I sold it for 600.00.

5. Card show - I purchase about 10 AFL programs from 1960 and 1961. I think I gave around 150.00 for them. Because they were so cheap I didn't really look at them right away. I get home and look closer at them and 3 of them are signed by the entire team inside on there photo.

goye · January 7, 2010 7:17AM

Double Take flashback........

Enroute to a antique auction in the lower slower area of Delaware / Maryland small town farming community driving thru the slow part of town......happen to look over and noticed they were cleaning out the detached garage on the back part of the property.......too many things to list.......I backed the car up to the garage and whatever didnt end up in the back of the car, we helped them load & carry it to the curb. Made two trips.......easily 3000.00 morning on items that fit a pair of 8 by 4 tables at two different auctions.........

A more recent flashback from ebay was a buy-it-now case of eight boxes of 1994 Panini hockey for like 94.00 dlvd, its not a big deal, but more the thrill of the chase, thou ive never seen another case offered since then.

thanks goye

TheHun · January 7, 2010 10:00AM

I have had a few good deals -

Visiting my regular flea market in the 1980's - found a T205 golden border Ty Cobb. Price $2

At a small shopping mall card show - traded my 1986 fleer Patrick Ewing for a huge sorting box of hockey - including 23 Gretzkys, 19 Yzemans, 10 Lemeiuxs, 15 Roys, 21 Jagrs, - Chechoo, Luongo and Hasek rookies plus about 1500 other cards that ranged from 50 cents to $25 each.

I'm not a basketball fan ...

fkw · January 10, 2010 11:40AM

eBay oldschool

Ive had hundreds of great deal in eBay early days where sellers (usually noncollectors) would often list in the wrong category without good pics or description.

Best % profit
1949 D315-1 Eddie Murphy, won it for opening bid of $1, + $2 shipping ($3 total)..... sold it before I received it in mail, for $175

Best deals I flipped
4 X 1906 Ullman NY Giants Postcards, (Ames, Donlin, McGinnity, C.Mathewson), $40 ea. ($160 total),......... sold them for close to $4K total over next year.

1926 Holland Peckinpaugh (uncataloged at the time, still only known example), won for $300 (along with HOFer Harris), sold it for $3K, and sold Harris for $300.

1933 Blue Bird Babe Ruth (side view) (uncataloged at the time, still only known example), won for $100 BIN,.......... sold it for $3K

Plus many other finds I still own.

Boopotts · January 10, 2010 12:12PM

I'm not sure what my best ever is, but here's a couple from the past six to eight months:

1) Bought a horde of '80's OPC stickers from a guy in Canada for $300. To date I've netted just under $2000 from those (gross minus grading fees).

2) Bought 18 of the 1986 Topps Pete Rose sets (120 cards) for $250, and was lucky enough to hit some low pops. I've made about $1400 in profit from those.

PoppaJ · January 10, 2010 12:13PM

In 1975, my family drove to Florida to visit my late wife's relatives.

On the way, we stopped for gas in North Carolina. While I was pumping gas, my oldest son said "hey dad, look at that sign". There was a sign across the highway that said "bazeball cardz 4 sale".

We decided to check 'em out.

So, we drove down what seemed to be an endless country gravel driveway, and saw a little old lady wearing a sweater (it had to be at least 90 degrees that day!) rocking in a chair on her porch.

I asked her about the baseball cards and she laughed and said they're in the shed around back.

We followed her and she led us to a 2' x 2' old chest-like wooden box. She said she was 85 years old and had no use for the things. Her husband and his friends used to open their packs of tobacco and pick their teeth with the corners of the cards and then throw the cards in the box.

She said "you can have them all for $5.00 plus the chest."

I opened the box and it was filled 3/4 of the way with T206s.

Of course I had no idea what T206s were worth then, so I agreed and paid the lady.

No Wagners, but just about every one else!

I traded them all to a buddy of mine for a couple of his '52 Mantles.

PoppaJ

elsnorto · January 10, 2010 12:27PM

Found a Walter Payton autographed football certified by his foundation (WPF) freshly listed on eBay with a BIN of $300... half the usual market price.

I am lucky someone else didn't come along and snag it as I reviewed the listing 5 or 6 times thinking it was too good to be true.

This was one of the rare times it wasn't and the ball resides in my personal collection now.

I am kind of surprised so many people's "best deal" involves things they flipped for a profit.

Snorto~

BunchOBull · January 10, 2010 12:31PM

$5.00 on eBay for the poorly listed set...$5.00 for the group sub...

result: pop 1 of Frank's earliest card, with a 4 figure market value

Pigs · January 10, 2010 2:40PM

This is the actual list I sent in to buy some 1952 Topps cards back in 1985. There was also a second page of 12 more cards. 71 cards for $715. The good news is I'm glad I bought them and there were NR MT cards mostly in the 251-310 area but most of the cards, 1-80 especially that are in the 5-6-7 grade range. I've actually only got about 10 of them graded so far. I am in no way complaining, and it will always be my best purchase. Here are some cards, graded and raw from that buy. Take care. Doug

PoppaJ · January 10, 2010 10:03PM

Hi Doug,

Wow! Great cards!!!! ... and prices

Beautiful Centering!!!!

Thanks for sharing,
PoppaJ

JHS5120 · June 18, 2010 11:50AM

I felt like this thread needed to be revived

lol

BunchOBull · June 18, 2010 12:40PM

<< I felt like this thread needed to be revived

lol >>

That's not a real signature, just preprint.

peterose4hof · June 18, 2010 12:48PM

Back in 1990 I traded 125 Gregg Jeffries rookie cards for a Ex+ Nolan Ryan Rookie Card.

Stone193 · June 18, 2010 1:01PM

I paid around 600$ for this 32US Caramel Cochrane back in1994:

cardbender · June 18, 2010 1:14PM

Mike, very nice Mickey card.

Pigs : those are some sweet '52's and at a nice price.

lsutigers1973 · June 18, 2010 1:39PM

<< I felt like this thread needed to be revived

lol >>

Don't see the point of bumping the thread because you paid $3.01 for $1 worth of cards.

diamondman · June 18, 2010 2:09PM

I bought a case of 89 score football for 190 dlvd. Held on to 10 of boxes and then sold them for 400 each.

also bought a case of 86 topps football X-outs for 120.00 dlvd. sold them a little early at 180 a box.

What is the best deal you have ever gotten?

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