Been buying up packs, sets and boxes now I need to decide how to sort

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Sounds like a lot of work for no gain. I just donate mine to charity. Is your goal to actually make money?

Like swarmee said, donating them is by far the best way to make $ with junk era cards. If you can find a place that will take them.

From my experience those cards are worth WAY more still in packs and boxes. Once opened they are basically worthless.

I tried giving mine away with no luck and finally ended up burning around 250k cards from that era. I even tried selling a full large USPS box full of only star and super star players. I got $.15 for my troubles, yes 15 cents.

[steve B]

That's weird.

A friend of mine picked up a bunch of boxes of junk wax era stuff, something line 10-15 3200 count boxes.
I checked it out for him and found a handful of cards I liked, mostly oddball stuff or UD cards with different holograms.

He got it for free from a town free or cheap stuff website.

I offered $50 sight unseen, but he knows I rarely sell things and basically held that as a last resort. He advertised it all, less a couple boxes of game cards, and ended up getting $60.

I've taken similar boxes to flea markets, and didn't sell much. It did lead to my favorite sale though. One kid asked how many cards he could get for his handful of change. He had maybe 35 cents. After getting moms permission, I told him he could have as many as he could hold in two hands. He ended up with a couple hundred cards.

I have done well with that sort of stuff at yard sales. Unsorted, unless it was a set, and mostly not in baseball card boxes.
I used to pull any card that was in Beckett, plus players I thought had an outside chance at a career milestone like 3000 hits or strikeouts etc.
I still have most of that stuff.

[Tripredacus]

Even tho there has been a recent boom in interest in junk wax era products, the supply is still much larger than the demand. I think it is just due to the cards having very low value, and being priced accordingly people can just buy a box or a complete set for cheap.

If you want a feel for the secondary market, go to a card show. If anyone has those cards, they are likely to be dime box or cheaper, or bulk lots. Then you can get an example of how it is done, and whether your idea will work out. If you are doing it just for fun, maybe do team lots. I used to do that on Ebay but it was a lot of work. Even so, never made a profit.

[buymycards]

I used to sell a lot of this stuff at shows. People won't pay 1 cent each for commons. I was selling 3000 count boxes for $8 (The empty box costs $4). Sometimes they would sell and sometimes they wouldn't. Most stars and rookies from 1986 through 1992 went into my dime box, along with most of the inserts. If someone offered me $30 for a 3000 count box of dime cards, I took it. There were other dealers that brought dozens of these types of boxes.

There are some exceptions, such as tough inserts and big name rookies, but good luck getting more than a buck for most of these.

I purchased most of the cards as parts of larger collections, so I got rid of the junk at the shows and put the better cards on eBay.

Rick

[wdwfan]

That's why I asked in the OP which stars and RCs to pull. Everything else will be going into boxes for like 30/$1. I'd surely buy at that price if there was stuff I needed for sets. I'm not willing to buy a complete box of that when I don't need it. But a handful of cards I need for a buck or two? I'd do that.

That's why I asked which cards (RCs and stars/HOFers) to pull.

Originally Posted by buymycards

I used to sell a lot of this stuff at shows. People won't pay 1 cent each for commons. I was selling 3000 count boxes for $8 (The empty box costs $4). Sometimes they would sell and sometimes they wouldn't. Most stars and rookies from 1986 through 1992 went into my dime box, along with most of the inserts. If someone offered me $30 for a 3000 count box of dime cards, I took it. There were other dealers that brought dozens of these types of boxes.

There are some exceptions, such as tough inserts and big name rookies, but good luck getting more than a buck for most of these.

I purchased most of the cards as parts of larger collections, so I got rid of the junk at the shows and put the better cards on eBay.

Rick

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by wdwfan

That's why I asked in the OP which stars and RCs to pull. Everything else will be going into boxes for like 30/$1. I'd surely buy at that price if there was stuff I needed for sets. I'm not willing to buy a complete box of that when I don't need it. But a handful of cards I need for a buck or two? I'd do that.

That's why I asked which cards (RCs and stars/HOFers) to pull.

The only thing worth keeping is inserts from the 90's. They see to be selling fairly well.

Do people really put junk era set together? Whole sets can be bought for a few dollars.

If you are looking for inventory let me now what you are paying. I still have a ton of 80's-90's stuff.

[wdwfan]

Ok, well I guess it all not worth it. I just can't seem to wrap my head around someone burning a $40 BV Ripken RC or a $20 McGwire RC. Commons that book for 5 cents apiece? Sure. I can see that. But not superstar base and RCs that book for $6, $8, even $15-$30.

But as I said, guess I'll be doing something else. Was just looking to help fellow collectors out by making them available if anyone was working on sets. And yes, people still do build sets. I'm a set builder.

It's more fun to bust 50 cent packs and $8 boxes and trade for stuff you need over going to the LCS and plopping down $50 for a 1985 Topps set or even $25 for a 1987 Topps set.

[Tripredacus]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Do people really put junk era set together? Whole sets can be bought for a few dollars.

Yes, i have done it in recent years. Something about putting the set together yourself is part of the fun. Buying a whole set is just like cheating yourself out of that. I ended up stopping because I had set too lofty of goals for myself.

Even after I stopped doing all sets, I had tried to do a 1988 Topps all-error/misprint set... but the amount of cards to go through took the fun out of it for me.

[wdwfan]

I've talked to the local Boys and Girls Club about donating, and they won't take them. The nearest children's hospital is in Dallas, about 140 miles away. I'm not donating them to Goodwill. So there's really no option to donate.

So you would burn a 1980 Topps Nolan Ryan (BV $10) or 1982 Topps Cal RIpken Jr. RC (BV $40)? I find that hard to believe. I'm really just wanting to pull HOFers and key RCs out of these and then do whatever I need to do with the commons. If I can give them away to people working on sets (for just the cost of shipping), so be it. It helps someone else out.

But I just can't fathom burning or throwing out RCs of guys like Ripken, Sandberg, McGwire, Mattingly and HOFer cards like Ryan, Schmidt, Henderson, etc.

Originally Posted by bnorth

Like swarmee said, donating them is by far the best way to make $ with junk era cards. If you can find a place that will take them.

From my experience those cards are worth WAY more still in packs and boxes. Once opened they are basically worthless.

I tried giving mine away with no luck and finally ended up burning around 250k cards from that era. I even tried selling a full large USPS box full of only star and super star players. I got $.15 for my troubles, yes 15 cents.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by wdwfan

I've talked to the local Boys and Girls Club about donating, and they won't take them. The nearest children's hospital is in Dallas, about 140 miles away. I'm not donating them to Goodwill. So there's really no option to donate.

So you would burn a 1980 Topps Nolan Ryan (BV $10) or 1982 Topps Cal RIpken Jr. RC (BV $40)? I find that hard to believe. I'm really just wanting to pull HOFers and key RCs out of these and then do whatever I need to do with the commons. If I can give them away to people working on sets (for just the cost of shipping), so be it. It helps someone else out.

But I just can't fathom burning or throwing out RCs of guys like Ripken, Sandberg, McGwire, Mattingly and HOFer cards like Ryan, Schmidt, Henderson, etc.

Opening packs from the early 80's is a huge $ loser. Boggs, Sandberg, and Gwynn rookie can be bought for a few $ each. Unless you pull and get one graded a PSA 10 you are throwing $ out the window of a moving vehicle.

I burned cards from 1985-2000 including all the rookies and star players because for me it was not worth sorting. I made a thread and posted pics on here of it.

Maybe you will have better luck than me and several others.