Prices of complete sets relative to singles

[GasHouseGang]

I always go back to this example. A friend of mine put together a 1933 Goudey set card by card with every card PSA6. He bought many cards in other graded holders and paid to cross them over to be sure everything was in a PSA6 holder. When he sold it as a set, he lost over $30K. I thought it was a terrible way to sell them, but that's what happened. I'm sure whoever bought it broke it up and made money.

[conor912]

I’m a “project” guy, so I love set building. I enjoy the focus, the hunt, and the clear path to the completion of a goal. I can never wrap my head around just collecting random cards. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, it’s just not how my brain works, I guess.

I think that complete sets tend to sell for less than the sum of the parts for a few reasons.
1. Not many people buy complete sets.
2. Most of those that do buy them, do so to break them up.
3. Buying a set and breaking it takes a ton of time and effort.
4. As mentioned, there is more fun in building it than owning it.