Prices
Let’s talk card collectors economics 101.
Over at The Wrigley Wax blog, they keep track every month of the price of yearly sets sold on eBay. Very useful listing that makes it painfully clear that there is a disconnect in many collectors minds.
For example, if you’re selling the entire 1982 Topps base set for $30, you’re ripping yourself off. The Cal Ripken Jr rookie card in this same set, is easily worth $30 at your local card shop all by itself. So when you sell the whole set for about the same price, you’re throwing away 791 cards! Some of those, have some value too.
Due to many people selling the set for far less than the value of the sum of the cards in it, you’d be wiser to actually sell the cards separately. You might even double your money and make $60, maybe even $100 if you do it right.
Of course, some people on eBay are ripping themselves off by selling the Cal Jr rookie card for as little as $0.01. It goes without saying that if you buy at these prices, you’re getting a great deal.
In the end, if you’re going to sell the 1982 Topps base set for less than $60, then you should really sell the cards individually. You’ll make more money that way. This also means that if you’re looking to buy some of the cards, it might be worth grabbing the whole set for under $60 to save some money. You’ll have to do a little homework when buying, to see if the several cards you want, will be worth getting at the price you’d be buying the set.
Question? Send me an email.