Can you make money from a vending box?

waxpack · January 21, 2010 10:40AM

I'm thinking of buying a couple of late 70's baseball vending boxes. What are the odds of pulling some 9's and 10's?

I'm just looking for another way to support my habbit. Thoughts anyone?

Jeremy

MULLINS5 · January 21, 2010 10:48AM

sure, you can make money off of it, I mean, the guy you're buying it from is.

Estil · January 21, 2010 10:48AM

I've never bought/own/seen a vending box in my life. But from what I heard you can easily get dinged corners because unlike the thicker/more sturdy factory set boxes (you usually get GREAT well-centered cards in those, though I can't promise 9's/10's though), the vending boxes are much thinner and thus the corners of the cards are much more vulnerable to getting dinged/smashed. This is also true for Score factory set boxes.

stevek · January 21, 2010 10:58AM

My viewpoint is if a dealer is selling it, and if the odds were good for making money busting it, then it would have been busted already by the dealer.

But if ya got the itch to do it, what the hey, it's only money.

waxpack · January 21, 2010 11:15AM

I buy all my unopened from Steve Hart - Baseball Card Exchange. Maybe I'll crack a box of early 80's and see how it goes.

bziddy · January 21, 2010 11:20AM

I've picked up a couple vending boxes from BBCE and my experience has been....

#1) You can have most of a box dinged on one corner...just because...
#2) You can have an entire box of beautiful sharp corners
#2a) That are crappy because of so many miscuts or OCs.
#3) You can get some really good cards at really good prices.

It's a total crapshoot -- just like opening wax. You might look at the early 80s fleer vending -- 4 vending boxes make 3 complete sets -- at that rate, you know which cards you are getting, just whether or not they are in decent condition or not.

hammered · January 21, 2010 11:21AM

Yes. I've bought my share of vending from the 70s, and I've busted them all. About 5 years ago, 1977 vending went for $200 or less, and registry competitors (Redsoxjeff and Apostle) were paying crazy prices for 9s (I was too, for awhile). Same with 76, vending went for 300 back then and you could sell just a Luzinski 9 for the same amount. I recently pulled a #10 Reggie Jackson from 77 vending that ended up as a 10 on review. I ended up making 3X the box price on it. But nowadays it's harder to make money from vending. I'd say any vending box 75 or earlier should be left unopened, as the odds of profiting from grading are too low in comparison to the box price, especially if you don't have a clear idea of where the box came from. 76-77 prices are all over the place so it depends. You still have to be real lucky and it helps if you've seen one busted already. If you come across a high quality vending run (like Felicia's) and you get a decent price (500 or less), 76-77 can work. 79 is the best buy in vending, in my opinion. The boxes are still pretty cheap by comparison, and the whole set is undervalued because it's never really had a registry following. But if you get an Ozzie in 8 and a Rose in 9, you've made back your box price, so it doesn't take much. I'd pick one up if it was 150 or less.

waxpack · January 21, 2010 11:38AM

Great info guys, Thank you!

Stone193 · January 21, 2010 11:52AM

<< <i>I'm thinking of buying a couple of late 70's baseball vending boxes. What are the odds of pulling some 9's and 10's?

I'm just looking for another way to support my habbit. Thoughts anyone?

Jeremy >>

Hi Jeremy

I wish I had a simple answer.

I don't open vintage wax since it's a crapshoot.

Older vending like the late 70s can be a crapshoot - but if the goal was just to make a nice raw set - then the answer is yes - it's worth it.

But, buying with the goal to make money is just impossible to determine - the odds may be against ya.

I did buy a 78T vending box and pulled an 8 Molly that I can't find to save my life!

I did send Softparade some of the 78s that I thought were nice - I can't remember how many 10s he got? I think it was like 3 out of about 20 cards.

The problem is that 78/79 common 9s probably don't even sell for the price of grading.

Here's a few 9 commons to support that supposition.

1978 TOPPS #343 JOHN WATHAN PSA 9 B546
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $3.00 Jan-18 11:41

1978 TOPPS #353 DOUG BAIR PSA 9 B256
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $3.00 Jan-18 11:41

1978 TOPPS #355 BILL TRAVERS PSA 9 B552
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $3.00 Jan-18 11:41

1978 TOPPS #367 RICK DEMPSEY PSA 9 B620
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $3.00

Even star 9s don't sell for big bucks:

1978 topps GARY CARTER #120 EXPOS, HI-END PSA 9 MINT!
View similar active items | Sell one like this 7 BidsSold $7.49 Jan-21 15:43

1978 TOPPS #15 TONY PEREZ PSA 9 B073
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $6.99 Jan-21 08:44

1978 TOPPS #173 ROBIN YOUNT PSA 9 B718
View similar active items | Sell one like this 3 BidsSold $9.38 Jan-21 08:44

1978 TOPPS #170 LOU BROCK PSA 9 B079
View similar active items | Sell one like this 2 BidsSold $7.50

So - when the smoke clears, ya might have alot of work done for not a great ROI IMO.

mike

waxpack · January 21, 2010 12:00PM

<< <i>

<< <i>I'm thinking of buying a couple of late 70's baseball vending boxes. What are the odds of pulling some 9's and 10's?

I'm just looking for another way to support my habbit. Thoughts anyone?

Jeremy >>

Hi Jeremy

I wish I had a simple answer.

I don't open vintage wax since it's a crapshoot.

Older vending like the late 70s can be a crapshoot - but if the goal was just to make a nice raw set - then the answer is yes - it's worth it.

But, buying with the goal to make money is just impossible to determine - the odds may be against ya.

I did buy a 78T vending box and pulled an 8 Molly that I can't find to save my life!

I did send Softparade some of the 78s that I thought were nice - I can't remember how many 10s he got? I think it was like 3 out of about 20 cards.

The problem is that 78/79 common 9s probably don't even sell for the price of grading.

Here's a few 9 commons to support that supposition.

1978 TOPPS #343 JOHN WATHAN PSA 9 B546
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $3.00 Jan-18 11:41

1978 TOPPS #353 DOUG BAIR PSA 9 B256
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $3.00 Jan-18 11:41

1978 TOPPS #355 BILL TRAVERS PSA 9 B552
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $3.00 Jan-18 11:41

1978 TOPPS #367 RICK DEMPSEY PSA 9 B620
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $3.00

Even star 9s don't sell for big bucks:

1978 topps GARY CARTER #120 EXPOS, HI-END PSA 9 MINT!
View similar active items | Sell one like this 7 BidsSold $7.49 Jan-21 15:43

1978 TOPPS #15 TONY PEREZ PSA 9 B073
View similar active items | Sell one like this 1 BidSold $6.99 Jan-21 08:44

1978 TOPPS #173 ROBIN YOUNT PSA 9 B718
View similar active items | Sell one like this 3 BidsSold $9.38 Jan-21 08:44

1978 TOPPS #170 LOU BROCK PSA 9 B079
View similar active items | Sell one like this 2 BidsSold $7.50

So - when the smoke clears, ya might have alot of work done for not a great ROI IMO.

mike >>

You could not explained it any better, thank you!

Can you make money from a vending box?

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