Set break re: selling whole set together?

[Billy5858]

Originally Posted by vtgmsc

I have a related question to this topic. I seem to remember a major auction house that will list your complete set AND also auction EVERY card in your set individually (typically they are all graded). Depending on how all of the cards do cumulatively is the trigger point for them to either sell them all individually or sell it as a set depending on what total is higher in the bids.

This obviously maximizes the return for the seller and makes some buyers left out in the cold.

Does anyone know which auction house offers this service?

Thanks!

Mike

I remember several years ago the whole set of 1914 Crackers were sold this way. I forgot exactly when and which AH.
But it was back before the 1914s blew up in price for a minute.

[bbeck]

About 3 years ago I gave a complete master 1956 Topps Baseball straight PSA 8 set to a major auction house and they set a reserve which was not met at $45,000 (SMR was $46,000+, the set stopped at $35,000). I broke it up card by card last year on ebay and netted, after fees, $42,000 and kept the Mantle, Aparicio and Aaron for myself. I think some sets like 68, 70, 73 Topps baseball etc. would be better to sell as a whole if they were complete PSA 8 sets. The population on some of the cards are so high in PSA 8 they will go nowhere and the set has its value without the nuisance and shipping costs of a card by card break. It can depend on the set.

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by bbeck

About 3 years ago I gave a complete master 1956 Topps Baseball straight PSA 8 set to a major auction house and they set a reserve which was not met at $45,000 (SMR was $46,000+, the set stopped at $35,000). I broke it up card by card last year on ebay and netted, after fees, $42,000 and kept the Mantle, Aparicio and Aaron for myself. I think some sets like 68, 70, 73 Topps baseball etc. would be better to sell as a whole if they were complete PSA 8 sets. The population on some of the cards are so high in PSA 8 they will go nowhere and the set has its value without the nuisance and shipping costs of a card by card break. It can depend on the set.

That's pretty impressive. Did you list them on eBay yourself or consign?

[GasHouseGang]

A friend of mine had a 33 Goudey set that he put together card by card, all in PSA 6. When he sold it, the auction house sold it as a set. I don't know if that was his decision or theirs, but when the auction concluded he figured he lost around $30K on it. He would have done so much better if they would have broken it up and sold it individually.

[goudey1933]

Since we're on the subject....what's everybody's experience/thoughts on selling small sets like some of the "E" sets or others when the sets number around 20-30? I know this is different because in those sets you tend not to have commons per se.If an individual complted a very difficult set....1914 CJ,T204 Ramly...to name a few ,it would be a shame to break them up just because of the rarity and historical significance.
Thoughts?
Scott

[tuckr1]

Im 20 cards away from this set in VG and I am Going to sell it to try and get a 51 mantle bowman and I am having a hard time deciding which way I go? Sell all together or separate ??

[kailes2872]

I think that VG gets pretty tough to make money on the commons - usually they come with a $.50ish per card handling fee - along with a 20-25% charge. In addition, they charge 3-3.50 for postage. VG commons for 54's will probably not average $3 apiece - therefore, people are going to be asked to pay more for postage than for the actual card. In addition, $.75 plus $.30-$.50 will go for the consignment charge. As a result, a $3 VG card sale will net you $1.75ish - a $2.00 VG common will net $1.00 ($2.00 - $.50 commission - $.50 handlng). With only 250 cards and several commons (I believe I counted 200 commons in the set), you need to do very, very well on Aaron, Kaline, Banks, Williams, Williams, Robinson, Mays to come out ahead of selling it as a set - as you probably won't do better than $200-$300 on the 200 commons.

[bbeck]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

That's pretty impressive. Did you list them on eBay yourself or consign?

I listed them all myself. The entire set took about 8 months to sell, every card was a buy it now. I remember the Dale Mitchell brought in around $1,800 at the time, even more than the Clemente.