Prices of complete sets relative to singles

[rand1com]

Originally Posted by bks14sr

I’m always confused by the fact that complete sets are regularly cheaper than the equivalent summed singles pricing. I understand when buying singles, a person is able to cherry pick condition and typically has shipping associated. But still, a similarly spec’d complete set does not seem to pull the same money. It’s like people expect to pay for the star cards and be essentially given the rest. Is there no value for a set being intact?

Do others have the same experiences, or is this just me?

Thanks,
Bill

Unfortunately, selling complete sets is tough for some of the reasons already mentioned here. Most set builders like the challenge of putting it together card by card and trying to match the set as closely to the grade they can afford as possible.

Most complete sets offered are a hodge podge of individual grades with an overall composite grade. NM cards offset by a similar number of EX cards yield an EX/MT set grade but there is a fair amount of variation from card to card.

I personally hate the process of building a set because half of the cards you think match your standard and purchase online wind up being over graded and you just re-sell them and try again.

I'm speaking only about raw sets/cards here.

I recently bought a large group of near sets from 1948 - 1970. Many of the high dollar cards had been sold individually by the family but the rest of the sets were sold in bulk.

A few sets were pretty close to complete so I decided to just complete them thinking it would add value.

Of course, although they were not missing many cards, they were missing the highest dollar cards. I completed the 1954 Bowman, 1955 Topps, 1956 Topps, and 1960 Topps.

I would have been much better off to have just sold the cards I actually bought in the original deal. You cannot get the big cards at a discount so I just tied up a lot more money with no real chance for additional profit.

Should have just consigned all the sets as purchased to Greg Morris to break individually. I'm sure I would have done much better as he gets more for most cards than the grade indicates it is worth and he will list each card individually.

Lesson learned.