Mark - I am also on the side of leaving the boxes intact. But I am somewhat biased. I collect Post cereal cards and have all the singles and am now concentrating on uncut back panels. The values received for Post panels on Ebay vary dramatically. I've seen panels go for much more than they are worth (in my opinion) and others go for much less than they are worth (again, in my opinion). As everyone knows, the amount you'll get for your boxes/graded cards will depend on whether or not you have at least 2 people who really want them bidding on them. Even for a graded card you might not get much bidding action on it and it could go for very little. If you do a buy it now, you're guaranteed to get what you want, but if nobody wants to pay that price, it won't sell.
When I bid on Post panels, I sum up the value of the cards on the panel and then multiply by 2 to arrive at a value for the uncut panel. Typically, complete boxes would have an even higher multiplier. Unfortunately, there are probably more Bazooka panels and boxes availble than Post panels and boxes so I'm not sure what multiplier should be used for them. But unless you get all 9s and 10s, I would think the complete box value would be higher than the cut graded card values.
Again, I favor keeping the boxes intact. However, if you feel that you must cut the cards out to maximize what you get out of them, you want to cut outside the lines as much as possible. With the Bazooka boxes, this is problamatic for the cards in the center. You can cut a little outside the perimeter lines, but you cannot cut "outside" the interior vertical lines. These you want to cut in the center of the line as much as possible knowing that any deviation will negatively affect the grade of the card that is cut into. That is the downside to cutting the cards out.
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