For those selling late 1970 and early 1980s ... not the junk wax era
 

Just curious on everyone's thoughts on what's a good price for 1974-1985 Topps, Fleer and Donruss cards? Obviously Topps are 74-85, while Donruss and Fleer are early 1980s.

Condition is probably mid-grade on average if I had to guess. I've gone through and thrown out anything with creases, bends, wrinkles, writing, paper loss, etc. So nothing like that. But nothing that's going to be minty mint if you know what I mean.

So I was just curious what your thoughts were. I know on eBay, the lowest you can sell something is $1. But hard to ask $1 on places like here, Facebook, etc for a 1985 Topps common. I tried to list them at 10 cents apiece on Facebook (listed 1k for $100 plus shipping).

But I didn't get any takers. I figured 10 cents apiece would be good, but I didn't garner any interest. So I guess it kind of confuses me a bit. Am I off thinking some of these should be worth 25-50 cents, especially the mid 1970s stuff?

What are your thoughts?

I get $1.79-$2.49/shipped for late 70s commons and close to the same for All-Stars/Stars/Semi-stars from the early 80s (eBay / Use the 80s commons for shipping or flat-rate them out). May want to consider that or Sportlots

A complete 1985 Topps set goes for $30-$50.

At $50, for 792 cards, that is 6 cents a card, including all the stars and the rookies.

I don’t think there is much of a market for non minty commons. There’s tons of complete sets available for less to the set collectors. It just doesn’t make sense to pay $100 for 1,000 non mint commons when you can get a NR-MT type complete set for $50.

Makes sense. But it was 1k over mixed years from 74-85. So probably 100 maybe from 85 Topps. But I get what you're saying. Will probably just pull the stars and HOFers and toss all the others. Getting the same vibe from the early 1980s as well.

Like I've got probably 200 different 1982 Donruss as well as about the same amount of 1982 Topps. So I was thinking about doing the set. But you can buy the entire set of each for probably $40 apiece. It would cost more to build the set. So may do the same. Keep the stars/HOfers and toss the commons. I threw out probably 25k cards from 1980s-2015 this past spring. Was so nice to get rid of stuff like that.

Thought about the eBay thing.

But it takes probably 4-5 minutes per card to list on eBay. That includes scan, edit, upload, write out a description and title and research price. So just doesn't seem worth it to me for $2. If there were a quicker way to scan, I'd be all for it.

Thought about maybe doing a listing of like 30 for $10 or something and let buyers pick from a list. I know those type listings used to be prevalent on eBay. But they've disappeared for some reason. Now it's 1 card for $1.

And when you're trying to buy or research a complete set, you have to deal with a thousand listings that are for single cards where they put complete set in the title so it comes up in search. It's stupid.

Sounds like a lot that you could throw out there for $20 - $30 cash on Facebook marketplace locally and perhaps get a taker

How long did you wait for takers?

Keep in mind that for any given card, the number of people looking for a mid-grade common on any given day will be low. It might take weeks or months (years?) for someone to come along who wants the specific piece that you're selling, and in that condition, even when the price is low.

Chances are you're not the only one selling. So even when someone does come along who wants that specific card, they might end up buying it from another seller. When selling pieces like this, shipping is also a factor in these sales, since shipping can take a 50 cent card and make it $2-$5 (or more) once you factor in shipping.

Sometimes bundling larger lots together can be a strategy, although when it comes to large lots (i.e. 50-100 cards) of midgrade commons from the 70s and 80s, my experience is that there are even fewer buyers, even if the price is low. For most buyers, unless we have a need for those pieces, or unless we think there's some hidden treasure in there that you've overlooked, we're probably not going to be all that interested.

As an alternative, you might think about maybe trying to bundle a group of commons with a couple of stars, with the stars featured prominently in your listing. You might find more takers that way, although the price might still be a lot less than you're hoping to get. But you might get lucky and have it take off if you list a decent lot with a few stars at auction on eBay.

That's how I do it. I have several partial FB sets for sale that way. I find they will move at $0.05-$0.10 a card if there are lots of stars and HOFers showing. I shoot to get at least 10% HOFers, RCs and stars per lot. The big names I hold out to sell as singles, but if you want to mix in some superstars, it will improve the likelihood of the lots moving.

Yea, I don't do the Facebook Marketplace thing. Heard too many horror stories of people going to meet up then getting robbed, kidnapped, killed and lots of other bad things. So I stay away from that.

This is what I did. I posted a picture with 1k cards from 1974-1985 with some HOFers and stars showing. So I did exactly what you said. And I put 10 cents apiece on them. And nothing.

That’s too bad.

Maybe try an auction starting at $1, or if you go with BIN then you might have to be patient until someone comes along and wants to bite.

Of course, if you go the auction route, then the final auction price might not be much more than $1 in some cases, so you’re taking a risk.

I created a thread last night that I was breaking up a 1979 Topps set. I was asking 80 cents per card, and I didn't get a single response. Just bumped it. But I realize there's a buyer/sellers group here. And I'm not part of it. So probably why I can't buy/sell around here. But I will continue to be patient. Name of the game when it comes to selling cards.

Many police stations have a "Craig's List" room so buyers/sellers can meet in public in a safe place. I would certainly suggest that as an option to meet people.

Rich

card lots
 

80 cents per card..for late 70s stuff... that might be a bit high

The guy just a few posts earlier said he gets $1.75-$2.50 per late 70s common. So I didn't think 80 cents each was bad.

Over the years, through ebay using the variation listings, I have broken multiple late 1970s mid to higher grade Topps sets. The commons sell for, on average, 75-80 cents per card. Typically, it takes 2-3 YEARS to sell the majority of the cards from these drop-down listings. Even during the peak of the market in 2020 and 2021, these cards were tough sells.

As it takes me about an hour total to scan each card and create the listings, I spend a small amount of time up front to create the listings, but in the long run I will quite patiently double/triple my money.

So, if as a seller, I can very slowly sell late 70s commons as singles for 75-80 per card, I am not seeing many (if any) buyers for these types of cards offered in random bulk lots for 80 cents per card.

I thought about the variations listing, but it takes about 4-5 minutes per card to scan, edit and upload. So I can't do that for 600 cards. It'd take almost all day. So that's why I just decided to try and do it in lots of 12 (for $10 shipped) figuring some set builders would need help. Figured selling singles this way for about 50 cents each would be good.

However, you kind of contradict yourself. You say you've been selling for 80 cents, but it takes a year or years. Then you say buyers aren't going to pay 80 cents apiece for these cards. Yet, you had just said that's what you sell them for. It's all good. I might just break down and sell the starter lot for like $50 or something. Then it's about 5 cents apiece. Surely someone, even a reseller, would take them for that cheap.

I don't see a contradiction. In bulk, no one is going to pay close to a buck a card. As singles, people looking to finish sets will, if the cards are really nice, but it takes time to sell them. I sell the bulk stuff at under a dime a card so they will sell in bulk without any hassles and reserve the nicest ones to sell as singles.

I don't believe I contradicted myself, please more carefully read what I typed:

"I am not seeing many (if any) buyers for these types of cards offered in random bulk lots for 80 cents per card."

Loosely translated, buyers will not pay 80 cents per card for these type of cards when they are part of a random bulk lot but over a period of YEARS they will buy 1 or 2 cards at a time for 80 cents per card.

Best of luck.

Yup

I just finished my 1976 and 1979 sets a year ago and had to buy singles
To finish them. I paid about $2 each shipped for the last 10-12.

I bought a few lots here and there for 5-10 cents each but overpaid for the last few to finish

I can't speak to bulk common pricing, but at the shops around me - 1970's to early 80's stars are usually $5 or $3 box fodder. Maybe $10 box if it's a really sharp card.

There is a part of me that still groans when I find a card I paid big bucks (say $25 to $40...) for as a kid in one of these boxes. Like a nice '73 Johnny Bench or something. Dealers back in the day knew what they were doing to kids...